The realization of thematic progressionin online ielts writing task 2 samples inan english learning website a case study

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER THE REALIZATION O

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

GRADUATION PAPER

THE REALIZATION OF THEMATIC PROGRESSION

IN ONLINE IELTS WRITING TASK 2 SAMPLES IN

AN ENGLISH-LEARNING WEBSITE: A CASE STUDY

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm (Ph.D.) Student: Nguyễn Văn Thắng

Course: QH2016.F1.E1

HA NOI – 2020

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HOÁ CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH

KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

PHÂN TÍCH SỰ TIẾN TRIỂN ĐỀ NGỮ TRONG CÁC BÀI MẪU IELTS TASK 2 TRỰC TUYẾN CỦA MỘT TRANG MẠNG HỌC TIẾNG ANH

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: TS Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm Sinh viên: Nguyễn Văn Thắng

Khoá: QH2016.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI – 2020

I hereby state that I: Nguyen Van Thang – Class QH2016.F1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (B.A Honours Programme) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited

in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Date

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Tam (Ph.D.) for teaching me “Functional Grammar” course, which laid the foundation for my study Given my first encounter with research in Linguistics, she guided me through every step of conducting this paper with her highly selective and enlightening consultation sessions Furthermore, her sense of humour and constant heart-warming encouragement lightened the atmosphere and spurred me on to handle the heavy workload

I would also like to acknowledge the Website from which my corpus was taken Without the availability of such materials, this study would not have taken shape

Besides, I am immensely grateful to other fellow classmates In the process

of completing this research, they willingly offered valuable clarification and explanation for my misgivings

Finally, I am appreciative of our families and friends’ love and moral support, which urged me to forge ahead despite setbacks

With deepest gratitude,

ABSTRACT

This research aims at investigating the frequency of Thematic Progression (TP) patterns and their effects on text quality of online IELTS Writing Task 2 samples Derived from an online website, the corpus consisting of 24 sample essays was analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods as well as McCabe’s (1999) model of thematic progression According to the results of this study, Simple Linear pattern is the most frequently employed one in the corpus, followed by Constant, Split Rheme, Split Theme and Derived Hypertheme patterns respectively Such order of frequency is generally in line with the existing literature, while that of Split Rheme is found to be considerably higher than in other studies The analysis also shows that proper employment of TP overall is a contributing factor to the coherence and cohesion of the text, with each type exerting different effects Simple Linear pattern, with its cross-referential links, yields a constantly developing and cohesive text whereas Constant Progression keeps a strong thematic focus Meanwhile, Split Rheme and Split Theme patterns are both found to offer a planned text development and Derived Hypertheme progression creates cohesion with hypernym-hyponym relation Problems related

to the overuse of the theme “It” and “There” are also reported from the corpus Future research into this topic is recommended to investigate on a larger scale with the full range of essay genres and other aspects, for example the impact of L1 on

TP in essays should be studied in depth as well

Keywords: Thematic Progression, Sample IELTS Writing Task 2, text

quality

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Systemic Functional Linguistics and the Metafunctions 5

1.4 Thematic Progression and text quality 11

3.7 Problems Related to Thematic Progressions 38

3.1 Limitations 46

LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Proportions of three types of themes 24 Table 3.2: Proportions of five TP types in the corpus 26

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Analytical Framework of TP patterns 21 Figure 3.1: TP patterns of Text 2 and Text 7 26 Figure 3.2: TP pattern of Text 10 (T-units 8-12) 28 Figure 3.3: TP pattern of Text 21 (T-units 13-15) 29 Figure 3.4: TP pattern of Text 7 (T-units 4-7) 32 Figure 3.5: TP pattern of Text 19 (T-units 1-13) 34 Figure 3.6: TP pattern of Text 9 (T-units 9-15) 36 Figure 3.7: TP pattern of Text 8 (T-units 12-14) 37 Figure 3.8: TP pattern of Text 10 (T-units 6-8) 38 Figure 3.9: TP pattern of Text 20 (T-units 2-4) 39 Figure 3.10: TP pattern of Text 9 (T-units 3-5) 39

SRP: Split Rheme Pattern

STP: Split Theme Pattern

DHP: Derived Hypertheme Pattern

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the Study

The Theme-Rheme system has been a topic of research for language researchers and educators such as Belmonte and McCabe (2001), Bloor and Bloor (1992, 2003), Brown et al (1983), Green et al (2000), Halliday (1994), Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), McCarthy (1991) and McCabe (1999) Generally, there is

a consensus among these researchers regarding the role of Theme and Thematic Progression (hereafter called TP) in text coherence and cohesion (Halliday, 1994;

Ma, 2001; Mellos, 2011; Naderi & Koohestanian, 2014; Rakhman, 2013; Ren et al., 2009; Wang, 2010) From the perspective of Functional Grammar by M.A.K Halliday, TP plays a crucial part in producing a cohesive and coherent piece of writing Specifically, Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014) assert that TP patterns first

“enhance connectivity between ideas” and second “guide the readers through the logical paths constructed by the writers” In the same vein, concerning IELTS Writing Task 2, Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) find that besides morphological, lexical and syntactic aspects, unity, cohesion and coherence, which can be partly achieved through TP, are requirements for effective writing In IELTS Writing Task 2 (Academic Module) specifically, the writers aim at academically and inherently presenting their opinions and supporting ideas using many techniques, among which is the choice and positioning of sentence parts Therefore, the study of Theme and TP is worthwhile as it analyses the contributing factors to the making, persuasive import as well as academic nature of a text (Rørvik, 2003) Besides, writing samples are an intriguing source for analysis as they are supposed to be the model or reference for students Accordingly, the analysis of TP in these writings can highlight certain features related to Theme and

TP choices that can influence and be adopted in students’ writings

Despite their significance, much research has alluded to the lack of attention

to Theme and TP in writing generally and in IELTS Task 2 particularly It is found that too much emphasis is still placed on errors below sentence level such as punctuation, spelling, vocabulary or subject-verb agreement (Soleymanzadeh &

Gholami, 2014; Wang, 2007; Wei, 2015; Yang, 2015) while other requirements of coherent discourse organisation, including TP, have been neglected (Yang, 2015) This lack of focus on macro-level discourse is also reported to exist in IELTS Writing Task 2, according to Cotton and Wilson (2011) and Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014) For example, Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014) note that the majority of IELTS examiners tend to focus on linking devices or discourse markers, while only about 30% of them pay attention to logical progression when marking Such insufficient focus on TP is considered as a contributing factor to problems related to text organisation, as highlighted in Bitchener and Basturkmen (2006), Ostrom and Cook (1993, cited in Wei, 2015), Todd, Khongput and Darasawang (2007, as cited in Soleymanzadeh & Gholami, 2014) In particular, Wei (2015, p.1) states that “loosely related events or facts, lack of a focus or central idea”, which are partly due to inappropriate TP choices, are some of the notable problems in students’ writing

One further point accounting for the necessity of conducting this study is that this aspect in IELTS Task 2 essays is under-researched According to Ebrahimi (2014, as cited in Coffin & Hewings, 2005), most of research to date has been conducted into the role of argument in IELTS writing and the washback of IELTS tests on the education systems and societies in which they operate (Green, 2006, 2007) while the linguistic features used in the writing section of the IELTS Test have been largely overlooked, except for the research by Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014), Nguyen and Nguyen (2018), Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) Nevertheless, the former is concerned with the correlation between the scoring of IELTS Writing Task 2 and TP patterns while the corpora of the latter two studies consist of samples from published books rather than online sources Such gaps in the current body of research well justify the necessity of investigating Themes and

TP in online IELTS Writing Task 2 samples

In short, all of the aforementioned conditions afford the researcher a chance

to conduct a study entitled “The Realisation of Thematic Progression in Online IELTS Writing Task 2 Samples in an English-learning Website: A Case Study”

2 Research Aims and Objectives

The overarching aim of this research is to investigate the realisation of TP

of Online IELTS Writing Task 2 Samples To realise this aim, two research objectives are set out, which are: (i) exploring the realisation of Themes and TP in Online IELTS Writing Task 2 Samples and (ii) investigating the potential impacts

of such realisation on text quality

In accordance with these aim and objectives, the two research questions of this study are:

- What is the realisation of Thematic Progression in Online IELTS Writing Task 2 Samples?

- What are the potential impacts that such realisation has on the texts?

3 Significance

Although the study is conducted in the context of one online site only, the researcher hopes that the results could offer an overview of the types and distribution of Theme as well as TP in online IELTS samples On a personal level,

as a pre-service teacher, this study would give the researcher a deeper insight into

TP – one important aspect of text coherence and cohesion Equipped with such knowledge, I believe that in the future, I will be able to inform my students of the appropriate TP patterns in different essay genres and their effects on essay development Most importantly, I can also help them to better apply Theme and

TP to achieve a coherent text development With such better understanding and application of TP choice, it is expected that the quality of their writing will be improved Similarly, teachers and learners can use the findings of this study as a source of reference for their academic purposes Lastly, despite its limited generalisability, this study may hopefully address the current gap in the literature

regarding the realisation of TP in online IELTS Writing Task 2

4 Scope of Research

The corpus in this study is 24 IELTS Writing Task 2 Samples taken from

an IELTS Website (hereafter called Website X) It is a popular site for IELTS learners with 407.000 followers on Facebook Fanpage and 217.000 followers in its group as of September 2019 Since its foundation, it has grown to become an ample resource of tips and samples for would-be test-takers to refer to

The chosen writings are stated to be samples of the actual tests from January

2019 to September 2019 There are some genres of IELTS Writing Task 2; however, given the time constraint, the scope of this study is limited to three genres, namely Argumentative, Discussion and Cause – Problem – Solution

5 Design of the Study

The study is divided into the parts as follows:

Part 1: Introduction is concerned with research problems and rationale for the

research Furthermore, it also presents research aims and objectives, research questions, significance, and the scope

Chapter 1: Theoretical Background and Literature Review provides an

overview of the theories and previous studies related to the research topic

Chapter 2: Research Methodology is concerned with research methods, data

corpus, analytical framework, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion presents the findings and discussion in

accordance with the research questions

Part 3: Conclusion provides the summary and limitations of the study as well as

offers some suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Systemic Functional Linguistics and the Metafunctions

Primarily developed by M.A.K Halliday, the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar views language “not as a set of structures but as a network of SYSTEMS,

or interrelated sets of options for making meaning” (Halliday, 1994, p 15, upper case in original) In accordance with this theory, language is inherently functional

In other words, it “creates and expresses meaning” (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004,

p 19) through meaningful choices of, for example, sentence element order, as opposed to the notion of formal grammar which focuses on semantics, syntax or word classes It has been posited by Thompson (2013) that the main foci of this approach are how and why we use language in our daily life In the book entitled Introducing Functional Grammar (Thompson, 2013, p 28), he summarises these main purposes or functions we use language as:

- to represent our experience of the inner and outer worlds, to describe the involved phenomena, states and entities;

- to establish and maintain interactions as well as relations with other people, to influence their behaviour, to talk about our perspectives of the world, and to elicit or change theirs;

- to organise messages in such a way to make them cohere with the surrounding messages and the broader context of interaction

The three significant language functions above can be labelled into three metafunctions, including ideational, interpersonal, and textual, which are outlined

in the following table:

Ideational Language is used to construe human experience of the outer

and inner world

Interpersonal Language is also used to enact human relationships

Textual Language is lastly used to create coherent text relevant to the

context

Table 1.1: Three Metafunctions of Language

(Adapted from Halliday, 1994, p.30)

Among these metafunctions, textual metafunction is the main focus of the present study However, the two remaining metafunctions will also be considered since Matthiessen (1995) argues that the choice in textual metafunction is closely linked to those of ideational and interpersonal ones in that it makes speakers’ expression of experience and relations understood Indeed, “it [textual metafunction] has a distinctive part to play in the overall creation of meaning – one that is oriented specifically towards the creation of meaning in the realm of semiosis” (Matthiessen, 1995, p.20) Within textual metafunction, the choice of Theme and Rheme forms the major system, as claimed by Forey (2002)

1.2 Theme - Rheme System

1.2.1 Definition

First put forward by Mathesius of Prague school in 1939, Theme is defined

in a variety of ways, according to McCabe (1999) For example, Babby (1980, as cited in Kopple, 1991) proposes the definition of Theme as “conveying the old or given information”, which accords with Erdmann (1990), Ordoñez (1997) or Salih (2008) Meanwhile, similar to Connor and Farmer (1990), Witte (1983, p 338) defines Theme as topic or “what the sentence is about” However, in this study, the definition of Halliday and Matthiessen (2013) is adopted This definition posits that Theme is “the point of departure of the message” (Halliday & Matthiessen,

(Thompson, 2013, p 165) While this definition seems to be strictly positional, it

is chosen as the working definition in this study because the point of departure indeed means more than just occupying the first position (Davies, 1997, cited in Wei, 2015; Fries, 1983; Green et al., 2000; Halliday, 1994; Hoey, 2012; Martin, 1992) Specifically, Halliday (1994) states that Theme provides the context for the rest of the message and McCabe (1999) further comments that it initiates “the semantic journey” (p 62) Therefore, if a word expressing another idea is in place

of the original word, “a wrong scent” and “a sort of correction and partial change

of concept” will ensue (Bentham, 1839, p 268) Rheme, on the other hand, is the

“remainder of the message, the part in which the Theme is developed” (Halliday

& Matthiessen, 2014, p 89) and typically contains unfamiliar or new information (Eggins, 2004)

1.2.2 Categorisation

Theme can be categorised using different schemes In relation to the three metafunctions, Halliday (1994) categorises the Theme into three types, namely Topical (Experiential) Theme, Interpersonal Theme and Textual Theme

1.2.2.1 Topical (Experiential) Theme

According to Halliday (1994), Topical or Experiential Theme (henceforth Topical Theme) represents human experience, inner world, conceptions Topical Theme can be a participant, circumstance or process (Halliday, 1994)

Table 1.2: Types of Topical Themes

1.2.2.2 Interpersonal Theme

Interpersonal Theme indicates the interaction between writers and readers

It includes vocative, modal/comment adjunct and finite verbal operator

Table 1.3: Types of Interpersonal Themes

1.2.2.3 Textual Theme

Textual Theme is used to arrange information in a certain order It can be divided into three types, including continuative, conjunction and conjunctive adjuncts

Table 1.4: Types of Textual Themes

According to Halliday (1994), among the three Theme types, Topical Theme is obligatory while Textual and Interpersonal Theme are optional

Another categorisation is based on the composition of the Theme First, if the Theme is composed of only one structural element given above, it is categorised as “Simple Theme” Second, if Interpersonal and/or Textual Themes occur before Topical Theme, it is also part of Theme and is called “Multiple Theme” (Thompson, 2013) The last case is a clause serving as the Theme or

“Clausal Theme”

As affirmed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), the fundamental principle

of Thematic structure is that the Theme can contain only one of the three elements above In other words, the boundary between Theme and Rheme will be drawn right behind the first constituent that is either participant, circumstance or process

Following are examples of different theme types:

as the working definition of TP in the present study According to his definition,

TP is “the way in which the Theme of a clause may pick up, or repeat a meaning from a preceding Theme or Rheme” (Paltrigde, 2006, p 148)

1.3.2 Categorisation

As the topic of TP has drawn much scholarly attention, in the existing literature, there are a variety of categorisation schemes for TP For instance, Eggins (2004) labels three patterns of TP, namely Re-iteration pattern, Zig-zag pattern and Multiple-Theme pattern In addition to this, Daneš (1974) mentions the fourth sub-

type of TP called Split Rheme pattern Meanwhile, Dubois (1987) reduces Daneš’ three types to two main ones, including themic and rhemic, each of which may be simple or multiple, contiguous or gapped

McCabe’s (1999) model of TP, which is a revised version of Daneš’s (1974) model, is preferred in this study According to this model, there are five patterns, including Simple Linear, Constant Theme, Derived Hypertheme, Split Rheme and Split Theme “The rationale for the selection of the above classifications was that they are more plausible, attestable, and complete than the other categorisations used for analyzing theme and TP patterns in texts” (Martínez, 2003, p 108)

Below is the definition of 5 types of TP by McCabe (1999) adopted in this study:

1 Simple Linear Progression (SLP): The rheme of the previous clause becomes

the theme of the following clause

2 Constant Progression (CP): The theme of the previous clause is the same as

the theme of the following clause

3 Derived Hypertheme Progression (DHP): The themes in following clauses

are derived from a hypertheme or from the same overriding theme in the previous clause

4 Split Rheme Progression (SRP): The rheme of a clause contains two or more

ideas which are picked up in following clauses

5 Split Theme Progression (STP): The theme of the first clause is composed of

two or more items, each of which is considered a theme in the following clause

1.4 Thematic Progression and text quality

In this part, the proportion of each TP type as well as their effects on texts

as have been found by the existing literature will be presented The organisation will be divided into six subparts, including the general effects of using TP on text quality in the first sub-part while the remaining five parts correspond to the type

of TP patterns in which both its frequency and effects will be looked into

1.4.1 The effects of TP employment on the quality of the texts

The majority of studies in the current body of research concur regarding the significant role of TP in text quality, particularly in terms of cohesion and coherence To be more specific, the first definition proposed by Daneš (1974, p.144) implies that TP represents the coherence and cohesion between different parts of the text as it is the “concatenation and hierarchy” of themes in relation to the previous one, to the text as a whole or to the surrounding circumstance In fact,

TP is a major aspect of “how speakers construct their messages in a way which makes them fit smoothly into the unfolding language event” (Thompson, 2013, p 145) and it “propels the text to develop forward and provide continuity in discourse” (Kang, 2016, p 1) This view is also agreed by Ma (2001), Mellos (2011), Naderi and Koohestanian (2014, in Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018), Ren et al (2009, as cited in Rakhman, 2013), Rakhman (2013) and Wang (2010) Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014) go further to highlight that TP patterns guide readers through the path that is logically constructed by the choice and ordering of Themes As a result, writings that employ TP patterns appropriately are likely to be marked higher For example, Wang (2010) researches the use of TP in low-, middle- and high-scoring essays of students He finds out that the more effectively TP patterns are employed, the more coherent the writing is, hence the higher score In another study by Ho (2009), writings composed after training sessions about Themes and

TP show a significantly higher degree of text coherence and cohesion in comparison to pre-training ones

In contrast, many studies have also focused on the problems related to the insufficient and inappropriate use of TP in writings such as Jing (2013), Khedri and Ebrahimi (2012), Wang (2007) and Wei (2015) In particular, Wang (2007), which explores this aspect in a university student’s writing, finds that the text overall lacks TP patterns with only 4 cross-referential links He then goes on to claim that this lack of TP is a contributor to the problematic coherence and cohesion of the writing itself

Below are the effects of each TP type on text quality in general as well as coherence and cohesion in particular

1.4.2 Simple Linear Progression and text quality

There is a consensus among researchers about the role and proportion of SLP in writing Compared to other types, this pattern receives writers’ favour and thus is realised with a high proportion, according to Francis (1989), Hawes and Thomas (1997), Jalilifar (2010), Nwogu and Bloor (1991), Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) In his study, Jalilifar (2009) analyses the academic linguistic articles in terms of TP patterns and finds that the SLP is realised in 40.61% of the total progression patterns In comparison to other types of progression, SLP is also the dominant one in argumentative essays, as noted by Khedri and Ebrahimi (2012), Medve and Takač (2013) and Yang (2015) In IELTS Writing Task 2 particularly, SLP is mostly realised in the body section to develop the topic presented in the theme of cause-effect essays (Jalilifar, 2014; McCabe, 1999) This finding, however, runs counter to some studies which discover lower frequency of SLP compared to CP, for example in Purnomo (2014) and Yang (2015) In particular, Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014), who study the scoring of argumentative essays in relation to TP patterns, conclude that the percentage of SLP (33.62%) is half of CP (62.50%)

Such a high proportion of SLP can be attributed to its contribution to text development, coherence and cohesion With its cross-referential links from the rheme of the clause to the theme of the next clause, SLP progression is a factor that yields a cohesive text flow In fact, Christie and Dreyfus (2007, p 242, as cited

in Mellos, 2011) suggested that SLP is conducive to organised and coherent texts, which also accords with many studies such as Hawes (2015), Eggins (2004), Herriman (2011), McCabe (1999) and Khedri and Ebrahimi (2011) Besides, since the theme is constantly derived from the previous rheme, this pattern offers continuous unfolding information in order to give the text “a sense of cumulative development” (Eggins, 2004, p 325) The literature also indicates that high level

of text coherence and cohesion and organisation ensures easier tracking of idea

development because readers are more aware of the source of information as well

as its projected trajectory (Ebrahimi & Khedri, 2012) Given these findings, it emerges from the existing literature that applying this pattern is likely to improve text quality and hence its score This feature partly justifies the finding of Mellos (2011) that TP appears more in high-scoring writings (31%) than low-scoring ones (22%)

In short, given the cross-referential links between clauses in SLP, the cohesion and coherence of texts can be ensured Furthermore, SLP is conducive to

a constantly progressing texts as the theme is continuously picked up on from the preceding rheme This pattern can also facilitate idea tracking as the process of tracing back the origin of points of departure is rendered easier

1.4.3 Constant Progression and text quality

Along with SLP, CP is also found to be popular in essay writings However, the proportion of this type is lower in comparison to SLP, according to the majority

of research, for example Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014), Purnomo (2014), Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) For example, Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014), which examines TP in IELTS Writing Task 2, discovers that the percentage of this pattern is roughly 17% compared to 22% of the SLP This study also claims that it

is used mostly to list the advantages and/or disadvantages in Argumentative essays Such finding draws a distinction vis-à-vis Rakhman (2005), which reports that CP

is the pattern that most frequently appears in the students’ Argumentative texts

One particular point reiterated by many studies is the ratio between SLP and

CP Generally, it is agreed that the bigger this ratio is, the better an essay will be

“according to argumentative essay writing norms” (Soleymanzadeh & Gholami,

2014, p.3) This point is also highlighted in Belmonte and McCabe (1998, as cited

in Ren et al., 2009), Daneš (1974), McCabe (1999), North (2005) For instance, Rakhman (2013) investigating the difference in TP application by low-, middle- and high-achievers, finds that texts from the latter two groups employ a higher ratio between SLP and CP Another note-worthy case is that students in Yang (2015), after a training session in TP, are reported to have the reverse SLP-CP ratio

which is consistent with the norm and thus achieving a more argumentative-like essay

A majority of studies refer to the notable contribution of CP to the coherence and cohesion of the texts in that they offer a strong thematic focus and avoid digression from the main topic, according to Eggins (2004), McCabe (1999), Mellos (2011), Nwogu (1990) and Rakhman (2013) In addition, Nwogu (1990) claims that this pattern is advantageous in facilitating information absorption as with a fixed point of departure, readers are able to pay more attention to the new information in the rheme

However, a number of studies also caution against the overuse of CP (McCabe, 1999; Mellos, 2011; Wei, 2015) These studies suggest that as the theme remains unchanged, it is likely that such overuse would create a simplistic, repetitive and monotonous text flow that only revolves around a single topic Furthermore, due to the constant point of departure, such excessive use may result

in the lack of topic development because new information contained in the previous rhemes is not expanded on in the following themes (Eggins, 2004) This static feature, which is in contrast with SLP, may partly account for the comparatively low frequency of CP compared to SLP one

In summary, despite its lower frequency compared to SLP, especially in Argumentative genre, CP can create a strong thematic focus and reduce the possibility of off-topic issues Moreover, this pattern is stated to add emphasis to the new information positioned in the rheme

1.4.4 Derived Hypertheme Progression and text quality

This pattern is generally found to be of limited frequency in the literature (Hawes, 2015; Soleymanzadeh & Gholami, 2014; Yang, 2015) For example, Yang (2015), which researches into TP in argumentative writings of non-English majors, finds that this pattern only accounts for roughly 6% both before and after training session about TP in essays Notably, in some studies, for example, Marfuaty and Wahyud (2015), this pattern is reported to be absent These studies

attribute such a low frequency to the entailed academic and specialised knowledge when it is applied However, Lu and Zhang (2009) discovers that DHP can be found regularly in expository and argumentative essays while Kurzon (1984) and Nwogu and Bloor (1989) claim that academic writings are also reported to contain

a high proportion of this pattern For instance, in a study by Hawes and Thomas (1997), a high proportion of DHP (33.5%) is found to appear in advanced students’ writings This high frequency can be explained by the fact that DHP reminds the readers of the main overarching topic and therefore keeps them focused as they need to make a connection between the hypertheme and the derived themes that follow (Hawes, 2015) This study also highlights that this pattern creates an academic nature for the text since it assumes a relatively high level of shared specialised knowledge

However, many researchers have noted the difficulties in identifying this pattern due to the requirement for common specialist knowledge Moreover, Herriman (2011), McCabe (1999) and Nwogu (1990) highlight that the distinction between DHP and other patterns is rather ambiguous Consequently, to readers of non-specialised background knowledge, these studies assert that this pattern can often be mistaken for SLP or CP

As highlighted in the literature, DHP contributes to the coherence and cohesion of texts given the hypernym-hyponym relationship this pattern denotes Also, the academic level of the texts is also enhanced thanks to specialised knowledge when employing this pattern

1.4.5 Split Theme Progression and text quality

In the existing literature, this type of pattern is found to be much less common than the others, with frequency in essays recorded to range from less than 1% in Wei (2016) to approximately 4% in Babaii et al (2016), Jalilifar (2010), Khedri and Ebrahimi (2011) For instance, Jalilifar (2010), who conducted a study

on the thematisation in students’ academic composition, discovers that STP is not realised in Junior’s and Senior’s writings whereas those of Sophomore only contain 4% of this type The reason for such low frequency is that the sentences

containing information for further development are often topic sentences, which appear only twice or at most three times in the whole essay Another reason put forth by Khedri and Ebrahimi (2011) is that this pattern positions new information

in the theme, which does not follow the conventional Given-to-New approach preferred by writers, as highlighted by many studies, for example Yang (2015)

As is noted by Wei (2015, p 41), STP in general is “expository in character”

as they offer a list of related information to expand on the main point He further adds that using STP is also effective in organising information into subordinate parts that will be developed in the following part Therefore, it creates a planned development of text similar to DHP and thus renders idea tracking and following easier for the readers Given this function, it is regarded as a means of content organisation to “scaffold the content of longer stretch of texts” (Wei, 2015, p 82)

In short, STP, which appears less frequently than others, plays a role in coherent and cohesive text organisation in that it can outline the list of sub-ideas

to be developed later in the text

1.4.6 Split Rheme Progression and text quality

Generally, the majority of findings highlight that this pattern receives little attention and is not realised frequently in texts Particularly, Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014), which investigates TP in IELTS Writing Task 2 in books, highlights that this pattern is realised in only 10% out of all TP patterns; however, this statistic is far higher than what is found by Ebrahimi (2008), Ebrahimi and Khedri (2012) and Jalilifar (2009, 2010) For example, Jalilifar (2010) finds that SRP accounts for 1% to 2% in the surveyed writing of university students while 3.02% of this pattern is found in argumentative IELTS essays according to Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014)

Similar to STP, SRP is also stated to outline a list of ideas for further development in the texts Given this nature, SRP plays an important role in the coherence and cohesion of texts, according to Mellos (2011) In other words, this pattern provides the “underlying organising principle for a text” (Eggins, 2004, p

326), which differs from CP and SLP used for elaborating on each of the following thematic points This pattern is also noted to be beneficial for the readers in that it provides a clear layout for them to expect and catch what the passage is about (Jalilifar, 2010) Therefore, according to these studies, IELTS Writing Task 2 that has more of this pattern can be regarded as more logical and coherent

To summarise, the literature notes that SRP contributes to a coherent and cohesive text organisation in that its theme scaffolds the texts into sub-ideas, which

is similar to STP

1.5 Review of Previous Studies

Since the second half of the previous century, writing as a main skill in language has received increasing attention as a topic of research, according to Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) Among many aspects of this skill, the notion

of Theme and Rheme has been a matter of great concern for language researchers and educators alike such as Belmonte and McCabe (2001), Bloor and Bloor (1992, 2003), Brown et al (1983), Firbas and Jan (1992), Green et al (2000), Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), Mardani (2016), McCabe (1999), McCarthy (1991) The first main domain focuses on the analysis of TP in students’ writing, some of which also investigate the correlation between TP and the marking of writings (Ebrahimi

& Khedri, 2012; Gunawan & Aziza, 2017; Hawes, 2015; Rakhman, 2013; Yang, 2015) For example, Yang (2015) investigates the correlation between the employment of various TP patterns in non-English majors’ writings and their corresponding grades and discovers that there is a positive correlation between these two variables Another field of interest is the instruction of TP for better application in writing, which has been carried out by Nurdianingsih and Purnama (2017), Purnomo (2014) and Yang (2008) All of these studies, which involve the analysis of samples before and after training session, report the positive impact of

TP on the students’ composition quality Meanwhile, there is another line of comparative research investigating the deviation of TP choice by learners of English compared to native speakers, most noticeably those by Jing (2013) and Wei (2015) For instance, Jing (2013) aims at finding the differences between

speeches made by Chinese learners and native speakers and the results show that advanced learners’ TP patterns demonstrate closer similarity to those by native speakers Other studies also investigate the use of TP in other genres apart from students’ writings, most commonly articles (Babaii et al., 2016; Jalilifar, 2010; Martı́nez, 2013) Regarding research related to IELTS writing, as mentioned above, TP in this aspect has been insufficiently studied except for Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014), Nguyen and Nguyen (2018) and Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) Indeed, there exists a lacuna in the investigation into TP patterns in online IELTS writing samples, which the present study aims to address

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 IELTS and IELTS Writing Task 2

IELTS, which stands for International English Language Testing System,

is among the few English language proficiency tests that measure four main language skills, namely speaking, reading, listening, and writing (Soleymanzadeh

& Gholami, 2014; Uysal, 2010) In the scope of this research, Writing Task 2 (Academic Module) is studied In this 40-minute task, test-takers are required to

“provide general factual information, outline and/or present solution, justify an opinion, and evaluate ideas and evidence” in response to a question or proposition

in 250 words (Ebrahimi, 2014, p 390) IELTS Writing Task 2 can be categorised into some genres such as Argumentative, Discussion, Cause – Problem – Solution and Direct Questions This task is scored based on four criteria, namely Task Achievement (TA), Coherence and Cohesion (CC), Lexical Resource (LR), and Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA) (Cambridge ESOL, 2009)

IELTS Writing is chosen in this study given that TP is an important criterion in Coherence and Cohesion, which contributes to the making and band score of a composition Furthermore, this study is only concerned with Task 2 essay due to its heavier weighting compared to Task 1 and the greater attention drawn to it by teachers as well as learners, as highlighted by Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014)

the effects of different TP patterns on essay organisation with the consideration of genre This choice follows the claim by Sandelowski (2000) that “all inquiries entail description, and all description entail interpretation” (p 335)

The analysis unit in this study is “T-unit”, which consists of “an independent clause together with all hypotactically related clauses and words that are dependent on that independent clause” (Fries, 1995, p.49) In accordance with this, if a dependent clause precedes an independent one, the former is taken as the Theme while the latter functions as the Rheme Meanwhile, when the independent clause comes first, the Theme of that clause functions as the Theme for the whole clause complex Lastly, if a sentence has more than one independent clause, it follows that there will be two T-units consisting of Theme and Rheme of their own T-unit analysis, according to many studies, is viewed as the most useful unit for analysing themes in a text (Herriman, 2011; Jalilifar, 2010; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018)

2.5 Data Collection and Sampling

The researcher first visited Website X Subsequently, the researcher accessed the Repository Section in which the samples are stored These samples were then downloaded by consent of the owner clearly stated on the website This step was followed by the selection and organisation of these samples for sampling and analysis

The total number of sample essays available on the website is 28, consisting

of (1) Argumentative essays – 12 samples, (2) Discussion essays – 8 samples and (3) Cause – Effect – Solution – 8 samples

Therefore, in order to achieve the same number for Argumentative genre, systematic sampling was applied Firstly, all essays of this genre were randomly numbered from 1 to 12 Subsequently, the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th essays were removed, leaving 8 essays for the corpus

2.6 Data Analysis Procedure

This study is mainly based on two analytical frameworks, including Halliday’s (2014) model of thematicity and McCabe’s (1999) model of TP patterns

to address the two research questions

Data analysis, which consists of two major phases, goes as follows:

a Theme and TP identification and categorisation:

1) In each essay, “T-units” were identified

2) Within each T-unit, the boundary between Theme and Rheme was drawn in accordance with Halliday’s (2014) model of thematicity

3) Themes were then labelled into Topical, Interpersonal and Textual

4) The total numbers of all Theme and of each type were then calculated and converted into percentage terms

5) Based on the identification of Theme-Rheme from the previous stage, a diagram illustrating TP for each essay was drawn In case of Multiple Theme, only Topical Theme was considered in drawing the theme-rheme relation In other words, the boundary between Theme and Rheme was drawn right behind the first constituent that is either participant, circumstance or process In case of paratactic and hypotactic clauses, the identification scheme followed that of Fries (1995) as mentioned in Section 2.4

6) From this diagram, the total numbers of all TP and each pattern were counted

7) These numbers were also converted into percentage terms

8) The statistics were subsequently presented in tables

b Effects of TP choice on texts:

9) Based on the significant statistics from the two previous main stages, interpretation of the effects of TP on the coherence and cohesion of the texts was attempted along with the analysis of examples from the corpus 10) The relation between those statistics and the genres was then drawn to examine the similarity and deviation compared to the existing literature

CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The following part reports and discusses this study results The general findings of Theme and TP are first presented, followed by the specific distributions

of separate patterns The effects of such realisation on text quality will also be analysed and reported citing specific examples from the corpus Problems related

to TP are then indicated before the result discussion with regard to the main research questions

Table 3.1: Proportions of three types of themes

As can be seen from the table, there are a total of 532 themes found in the

24 texts Among these, 310 themes belong to the category of Topical Theme, dominantly accounting for 59.2% This proportion is followed by Textual Theme with 161 items (29.8%) while the lowest figures can be seen in Interpersonal type whose number stands at 61, constituting 10.9% Such order of proportions accords with the findings by Gunawan and Aziza (2017), Khedri and Ebrahimi (2011), Nguyen and Nguyen (2018) and Wei (2015) Particularly, the ratio found in this study is roughly proportional to that of Nguyen and Nguyen (2018) which are 63%:29.3%:7.3% Furthermore, in Wei (2015) whose corpus bears a close resemblance to this research’s (sample IELTS Task 2 Writing in books), the results are that students employed roughly 70% Topical Themes, 20% Textual Themes and 8% Interpersonal Themes

With the highest frequency, Topical Theme appears in all surveyed clauses The majority of texts all have well over 50% Topical Themes Notably, such texts

as text 13, 14 and 21 employ up to 71-72% Topical Themes out of the total sum This realisation of Topical Themes corroborates the fact that this type is an obligatory constituent in any T-unit (Halliday, 2014)

Textual Theme is found to be the second most common type and it also appears in all the texts in this study The use of this pattern is quite stable and consistent across the texts, as evidenced by the narrow range of frequency between

25% and 40% Text 24 uses the highest proportion of this type (42.9%), which is

followed closely by texts 3 and 20 Textual Theme accounts for the significant part partly owing to its potential contribution to the coherence and cohesion of a text –

an important marking criterion in the band descriptor of IELTS Among three types, conjunctive adjuncts occupy the largest proportion since they are used to link a clause to the previous one, indicating the relation between them and also to the text as a whole That this sub-type receives the most attention substantiates the claim by Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014) that the majority of IELTS examiners focus on linking devices or discourse markers in order to maintain a continuing text development

sub-Meanwhile, the least common theme type is reported to be Interpersonal Theme, whose frequency in most texts varies between 10% and 20% It is notable that text 11 has the highest proportion of this type at 25% whereas it does not appear in text 20 and is rarely used in texts 14, 17 and 18 The analysis shows that this theme type is more commonly used in the Argumentative genre, with the average proportion of 13.6%, whereas Cause – Problem – Solution genre only has 6.6% respectively Such differing frequencies can be accounted for by the fact that

in Argumentative essays, it is required of the writer to explicitly express their own standpoint and set a personal tone, especially in the introduction and conclusion This can be partly achieved through the use of interpersonal themes, particularly

comment/modal adjunct such as “Personally” and “I think”, for example in texts

2, 4 and 10 In contrast, in Cause – Problem – Solution essays, the writers usually need to list the ideas only

3.1.2 Thematic Progression

There are a total of 150 TP patterns out of 3054 T-units in the 24 surveyed texts Accordingly, on average, each text contains approximately 6.25 TP patterns The highest number of Thematic patterns can be found in texts 7 and 8, which share the same figures of 10 patterns out of 16 T-units In contrast, the analysis shows that texts 2 and 19 employ the lowest numbers of patterns, narrowly ranging from 3 to 4 patterns each

Figure 3.1: TP patterns of Text 2 and Text 7

Specific proportions of each TP pattern’s realisation are summarised in the

following table (for specific figures, See Appendix 4)

Table 3.2: Proportions of five TP types in the corpus

Concerning the figures for separate TP patterns, it is seen that SLP makes

up the most significant proportion at 42.7% with 64 patterns The second position

is occupied by CP whose percentage is reported to be 26.7%, followed closely by

that of SRP (24.0%) Meanwhile, DHP and STP share comparable figures at merely 3.3% each This order of frequency is similar to many studies in the existing body of literature (Babaii et al., 2016; Jalilifar, 2014; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018; Wei, 2016) For example, Babaii et al (2016), which investigates the use of TP in research articles, finds out that the proportion of SLP overwhelmingly outnumbers others, at roughly 50%, followed by CP and SRP, respectively Moreover, Nguyen and Nguyen (2018) which aims at analysing TP in IELTS Task 2 Sample in published books also reports that SLP accounts for 46.6% of the total number whereas the figures for CP and DHP occupy 36.7% and 16.7% respectively Such similarity in the findings can be partly ascribed to the resemblance in the corpus of the two studies, which is both IELTS Task 2 Samples Notably, the figures of frequency of SRP found in this study much surpasses other studies (Ebrahimi & Khedri, 2012; Jalilifar, 2010; Soleymanzadeh & Gholami, 2014; Wei, 2016)

A deeper textual analysis shows that such differing frequencies of TP in texts may to some extent affect the coherence of text and the ease with which the readers can follow its development The specific realisation of each TP type along with its effects will be discussed in the following sections

3.2 Simple Linear Progression

As illustrated by the table in Appendix 4, SLP has the highest frequency in

most of the texts except for texts 7, 19 and 20 It is significant that in certain texts such as 1, 2, 6, 11, 13 and 14, the proportion of this pattern far exceeds others For example, in text 6, there are five patterns of this type, which accounts for 71.4% and is roughly five times as high as the figures for CP and SRP For the vast majority of the remaining texts, the percentage of this pattern also varies between 33% and 60% However, it is only text 19 that has no SLP

Such a high proportion accords with the findings of most studies, for example Babaii et al (2016), Hawes (2015) and Wei (2015) For example, Babaii

et al (2016) which compares Thematic and TP choices in the research articles reported that the proportion of SLP dominates the four others with over a half of

Nguyen and Nguyen (2018) shows a strikingly similar proportion of this type (46.6%)

The analysis also demonstrates that this pattern is mostly realised in the body part of the essays This is coherent with the claim by Jalilifar (2014) that the writer uses SLP to unfold and develop the central ideas presented in the topic sentence of each paragraph

It emerges from textual analysis that TP type significantly contributes to text cohesion and coherence, as is illustrated by the following analysis

Figure 3.2: TP pattern of Text 10 (T-units 8-12)

As can be seen from the excerpt from text 10, SLP is employed effectively

to provide a closely linked and progressively developing paragraph Specifically,

Rheme 8 “family history” is picked up on by the following Theme 9 “this sense

of history” with an anaphoric referent “this”, forming a close connection between

the two sentences and making the flow of ideas smoother and more cohesive

Theme 10 “they” then follows the Rheme 9“people” from the previous sentence, and similarly, Rheme 10 “studying their family history” is continued by “the

origins, the occupations and some of the life stories of previous generations of family members” It is clear that such continuous concatenation of themes and

rhemes yields a continuous thread of ideas and propels the ideas forward, from

“socioeconomic changes” (Rheme 9) to “understanding of time and place” and “a

sense of belonging to their family” (Rheme 11) Notably, despite offering a

constantly developing theme-rheme system, the text’s main topic does not digress

in that all the clauses in the texts revolves around the benefits of acquiring a sense

of history stated in the topic sentence Indeed, from the above analysis, SLP can

be an effective means in unfolding and expounding information while ensuring the idea unity in the texts at the same time

Concerning genre-based frequency, Argumentative texts employ SLP the most at 51.9% This dominant frequency in Argumentative is similar to the findings of other studies, for example, Khedri and Ebrahimi (2012), Medve and Takač (2013), Rakhman (2013) and Herriman (2011), Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) and Yang (2015) Specifically, Nwogu and Bloor (1991) posit that

in an Argumentative text, SLP has the advantage of arranging the information in a meaningful and progressively developing way to gradually build on and cement the argumentation, as corroborated by the analysis above SLP is also popular in the genre of Cause – Problem – Solution at the mean frequency of 35% since its realisation establishes chains of relationship effective in implying causality, as noted by Jalilifar (2014) and McCabe (1999)

The following analysis of Text 21 provides an example of SLP in illustrating the cause-effect chain

Figure 3.3: TP pattern of Text 21 (T-units 13-15)

Rheme 13 mentioning the benefits of routine diet with “wholesome

home-made food” is followed by Theme 14 “Without this routine” and immediately

Rheme 14, which delineates its consequences related to an unwholesome diet

Theme 15 smoothly picks up on this rheme by referring to “this unhealthy habit”,

followed by the impacts on children’s health described in Rheme 15 It is clear from the analysis that SLP particularly facilitates the construction of a smooth and continuous chain relationship of causes and effects, in this case beginning with the lack of routine family meals to the adverse impacts on children’s health In such a way, the main argument expressed in the text is likely to carry more weight on the part of the readers Meanwhile, the readers can also benefit from the coherent and

closely linked theme-rheme systems in that it is easy for them to trace the thread

of ideas in the text

From the above analysis, the high frequency in IELTS Task 2 Samples can

be justified given that SLP lends an “aura of sequence” (Hawes, 2015, p 97) to text development, possibly rendering it more coherent In other words, the use of cross-referential links between the rheme of one clause to the theme of the following clause enhances the connectivity of the discourse (Christie & Dreyfus, 2007; Eggins, 2004; Schleppegrell, 2004; Wang, 2007) This also offers a dynamic effect in which the ideas in the text are constantly expanded upon so that the argument is constantly built on, thus improving its conviction Furthermore, it is easier for the readers to trace back the points of departure as well as to be aware of both their origin and the course that the text is taking All these factors may improve the text’s quality Indeed, as mentioned in the previous section, the existing literature unanimously agrees that the high frequency of this pattern is often used by skilled writers and is indicative of higher score in the texts (Rakhman, 2013) and particularly in IELTS Writing Task 2 (Jalilifar, 2014)

3.3 Constant Progression

CP is the second most frequently used pattern at over one-fourth of the total number Among all texts, text 7 employs the highest number of this type with four patterns out of the total T-units The majority of texts employ from 1 to 2 patterns

of this type whilst texts 1 and 22 are found to lack this progression (Refer to

Appendix 4) Similar results can also be found in the studies by Babaii et al (2016),

Jalilifar (2014), and Khedri and Ebrahimi (2011) Particularly, Jalilifar (2014), which investigates the distribution of TP in IELTS Writing Task 2, discovers the roughly similar proportion of CP is used in the corpus at 25.6% The statistics also shows that this pattern is not realised so frequently in IELTS Writing Task 2 compared to SLP One possible explanation for this lower frequency is that CP could yield a simple and repetitive flow of ideas, thus deterring text developments (Belmonte & McCabe, 1998; Rakhman, 2013)

However, this result runs counter to the findings by Ebrahimi (2008) and Jalilifar (2010), which report a much higher percentage of this pattern at 38% In other studies, the proportion of CP is reported to be even higher than SLP (Dong, Shao & Jia, 2016; Jalilifar; 2010; Purnomo, 2014; Yang, 2015) Such disparity can

be firstly accounted for by the difference in genres Specifically, Jalilifar (2010) studies TP in research articles which contain certain rhetorical parts of introduction and methodology The author notes that these sections densely employ this pattern

in order to name and present a list of research aims, instruments, and procedures

In contrast, in IELTS Writing Task 2, this progression is mostly used for introducing the advantages and disadvantages of a phenomenon, according to Ebrahimi and Ebrahimi (2014) Additionally, Rakhman (2013) also notes that the word limit to some extent restrains the number of T-units that have this pattern Meanwhile, in Ebrahimi (2008), the texts belong to the category of narrative type

He states that this type is characteristic of this genre to refer to the same person or event in a chain of action in the theme, which draws quite a distinction with essay writing

One notable finding emerging from the corpus that conforms to the existing literature is related to the ratio between SLP and CP in Argumentative essays On average, the ratio between these two patterns is over 2:1 (48.45:21.1%) Some argumentative texts, in particular texts 1 and 6 are found to have a significantly higher frequency of SLP with the ratio reported to be 4:0 and 5:1, respectively Soleymanzadeh and Gholami (2014) assert that according to the Argumentative essay norm, the bigger ratio between Linear and CP renders more successful essays This point is also concurred with in Belmonte and McCabe (1998), Daneš (1974), McCabe (1999), North (2005), and Ren et al (2009)

Contrary to many studies such as Mellos (2011), Wei (2015) and McCabe (1999), the problem of overusing CP that produces repetitive and development-lacking discourse does not emerge from data analysis Most of the texts only employ from 1 to 2 patterns of this type for the purpose of highlighting the themes

and offering a central focus without necessarily rendering a text simplistic and monotonous

The following analysis illustrates the realisation of CP in Text 7

Figure 3.4: TP pattern of Text 7 (T-units 4-7)

As can be seen from the extract, CP is effectively used in this instance to emphasise the benefits that graduates reap after receiving university education

Specifically, Themes 5, 6 and 7 all refer to the subject of “Graduates” while the

following rhemes underline the positive effects of tertiary education, for example,

“higher pay and good promotion opportunities” (Rheme 5), “to live in prosperous

neighbourhoods, with an enviable lifestyle” (Rheme 6) or “earn two or three times

as much as an unskilled worker in the USA” With “Graduates” and the anaphoric

reference “they” positioned at the beginning of three sentences, it offers a clear

and strong thematic focus to avoid topic digression More importantly, as the themes remain static, readers’ attention is also more likely to be paid to the newly introduced information in the rhemes (Nwogu, 1990) Since these pieces of information is central to the argument, the writer has achieved his/her aim in sustaining a constant and focused point of departure while at the same time convincing the readers of the benefits that graduates enjoy thanks to university education mentioned in the topic sentence

3.4 Split Rheme Progression

The frequency of SRP mostly ranges from 14% to 33%, with noticeable exceptions belonging to text 19 (75%) and text 2 (0%) These two in turn have the highest and lowest proportions of SRP among all the texts Accordingly, it can be stated that the frequency of SRP is quite stable cross the studied texts Such narrow variation is understandable in the sense that most texts employ this progression