Includes bibliographical references and index.

Developing socially responsible language research / Frances Christie and Len Unsworth -- Getting started with functional analysis of texts / Louise Ravelli -- Researching first language development in children / Clare Painter -- Researching first language and foreign language development / Gillian Perrett -- Children's literature, children and uses of language description / Geoffrey Williams -- Researching everyday talk / Suzanne Eggins -- Socio-semantic variation : different wordings, different meanings / Carmel Cloran -- The language of classroom interaction and learning / Frances Christie -- Exploring reading processes / Linda Gerot -- Interpreting literature : the role of APPRAISAL / Joan Rothery and Maree Stenglin -- Investigating subject-specific literacies in school learning / Len Unsworth -- Close reading : functional linguistics as a tool for critical discourse analysis / J.R. Martin.