Text Complexity in English Textbooks for Junior High School: A Systemic Functional Perspective

This study investigates the progression of text complexity based on Systemic Functional Linguistics theory.Being largely qualitative, this study analyzed three consecutive textbooks (grade VII, VIII, and IX) issued by the Ministry of Education.The data were analyzed in terms of lexical density, lexical variation, and grammatical complexity to determine the level of complexity of the texts.The findings show that the lexical density and lexical variation fluctuated as the level progressed.It means that the lexical density and lexical variation throughout the textbooks were found to have an inconsistent development from lower to higher grades.Meanwhile, the findings in grammatical intricacy indicate that the complexity of texts decreased as the level progressed.Thus, it can be concluded that the texts required reviewing to correspond to the stages of students' intellectual development.