Mary J. Schleppegrell

Mary J. Schleppegrell (born October 17, 1950) is an applied linguist and Professor of Education at the University of Michigan. Her research and praxis are based on the principles of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), a theory derived from the work of social semiotic linguist Michael Halliday. Schleppegrell is known for the SFL-based literacy practices she has continuously helped to develop for multilingual and English language learners throughout her decades long career, which she began as an educational specialist before transitioning to the field of applied linguistics. As a result, her publications demonstrate a deep understanding of both the theories and practices related to teaching and learning.

Awards Schleppegrell received the 2018 Leadership Through Research Award from the Second Language Research Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association.

Education Schleppegrell received a B.A. in German from the University of Minnesota in 1972 and began her career as an elementary school teacher in California's Elk Grove School District. In 1982, she completed an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the American University in Cairo and subsequently taught at the university level in Egypt before returning to the United States where she earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1989. Schleppegrell's dissertation entitled, "Functions of because in spoken discourse" demonstrates a return to her early career interests as interviews of elementary school students formed the corpus of her research data.

Career After completing her Ph.D., Schleppegrell joined the faculty of the Linguistics department of University of California, Davis, where she would remain until 2005.

In 2005, Schleppegrell became a Professor of Education at the University of Michigan, where she currently teaches courses on language learning and development, linguistics in education, and SFL.

In addition to her work as both a professor and researcher, Schleppeggrell served as the President of the North American Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (NASFLA) from 2010-2011.

Research With the publication of her first book, The Language of Schooling, Schleppegrell made an important contribution to the literature on language use in educational contexts. Fang and Schleppegrell discuss the idea of providing students with a functional metalanguage in order to improve their interpretation and production of academic language.

Books

De Oliviera, L. C., & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2015). Focus on grammar and meaning. Oxford University Press. Fang, Z. & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2011). Reading in secondary content areas: A language-based pedagogy. The University of Michigan Press. Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. Routledge.

Representative articles

Schleppegrell, M. J. (2016). Content-based language teaching with functional grammar in the elementary school. Language Teaching, 49(1), 116–128. Schleppegrell, M. J. (2012). Academic Language in Teaching and Learning: Introduction to the Special Issue. The Elementary School Journal, 112(3), 409–418. Schleppegrell, M. J. (2007) The Linguistic Challenges of Mathematics Teaching and Learning: A Research Review, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23:2, 139-159. Schleppegrell, M. J., Achugar M, & Oteiza T. (2004). The Grammar of History: Enhancing Content-Based Instruction Through a Functional Focus on Language. TESOL Quarterly, 38(1), 67–93. Schleppegrell, M. J. (2001). Linguistic features of the language of schooling. Linguistics and Education 12 (4), 431-459.

Grants

In 2017, Schleppegrell and other colleagues were awarded $2.5 million by the James S. McDonnell Foundation. The grant, entitled, "Teachers Learning to Facilitate Communication and Reasoning Through Inquiry with History and Social Science Sources" focuses on Inquiry Teaching (IT) professional development for middle school social studies instructors. Schleppegrell and her colleagues study how teachers modify their instructional practices after completing the social studies-oriented IT training developed by the research team. In 2010, Schleppegrell received a grant for approximately $1.4 million from the Institute of Education Sciences. The purpose of the study entitled, "The Iterative Development of Modules to Support Teachers' Engagement in Exploring Language and Meaning in Text with English Language Learners" was to research, develop, and implement five professional development modules for teachers of elementary school age English language learners. The modules aimed at providing these teachers with practical strategies for drawing learners' attention not only to textual content but to the linguistic choices that informed the organization of the texts to be studied.