The discourse of history

This paper analyzes two texts taken from an Australian and an Italian history textbook, using the systemic-functional model of language developed by Halliday, Martin and others. The analysis highlights fundamental differences in the way the discourse of history is realized in each text, both in terms of register and genre.

It is argued that such a diversity can be explained with different expectations in each country not only towards the role of history as a subject, but also towards the role of education in general.

It is suggested that, in the current debate about education reforms, the Australian educational system could look at other educational systems beyond the Anglo-American model.