Writing in German as a foreign language in Norwegian upper sec-ondary school: An investigation of patterns of language choices for meaning-making

The main objective of this article is to identify and describe characteristic patterns language choices in texts written by Norwegian upper secondary school students German as a foreign (GFL) (age 16/17, year 12, 5th FL learning). study maps set 12 learner responses writing prompt about interpreting film title. aim the these terms how learners use ideational meaning-making resources arrive at meaningful content. takes systemic functional linguistics (SFL) approach analyses following lexicogrammatical discourse semantic systems resources: Transitivity, taxonomic logico-semantic relations. finds several strategies that presented themselves particularly relevant for meaning-making. For example, reach an interpretation through clauses relating two messages each other, one those typically structured complex way. Overall, provides insights into expository general such seem important particular context which response was situated. also points sophistication learners’ linguistic demands regarding task hand. In line with existing research, current shows SFL genre theory can be successfully applied analysis beginner intermediate GFL learners.