About us
Our Mission
Lingo Star is a website dedicated to Functional Grammar and language education.
We believe that knowledge of grammar is vital for educational success, not only in language education, but in all disciplines.
This is because learning happens through language – language is central to learning. According to functional linguist Michael Halliday, educational failure is related to linguistic failure.
Obviously, being illiterate is a major barrier to learning. But even if people can read and write, it doesn’t guarantee that they are able to use the kind of language that is required for the learning context. For example, academic English is very different from regular English, and it must be learned – it is not automatically acquired.
The problem is that many educational institutions do not do a very good job of teaching people how to use language for such purposes, and many people do not achieve the language ability that they need to succeed. This is because the mechanics of language – the way that language functions to achieve its purpose – remains invisible to us.
Systemic Functional Grammar is special because it lets us see the functions of language. It helps us to understand how language works and empowers us to use language in the way that is needed for us to succeed at learning.

About the Founder
Hi my name is Martin. I started Lingo Star because I wanted to share my knowledge of functional grammar with the world.
I am a practicing English language and literacy teacher and I have learned a lot about grammar through my work and studies. I have a PhD in linguistics and I have published articles in leading linguistics journals.
If you are interested in my research, please visit my Academia profile.
Although some Lingo Star courses are not free, I am always happy to try to help you access them if you really can’t afford to pay. Just send me a message through the contact form.
I hope you enjoy this website.
Quality Content
At Lingo Star we strive to provide high-quality content that is theoretically sound.
We aim to make the complex nature of systemic functional linguistics accessible and applicable for practical purposes.
Our Principles
Lingo Star’s content is guided by three principles:
- Language is central to learning
- Grammar is central to language
- Grammar is functional