A thematic structure analysis of the essays by 2nd year students at a university in hanoi

A thematic structure analysis of the essays by 2nd year students at a university in Hanoi A thematic structure analysis of the essays by 2nd year students at a university in Hanoi A thematic structure analysis of the essays by 2nd year students at a university in Hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ NGUYỄN HOÀI NGÂN

A THEMATIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF THE ESSAYS BY 2 ND

YEAR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

(Phân tích cấu trúc chủ đề các bài luận của sinh viên năm 2 tại một

trường Đại học tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Hanoi, 2021

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ NGUYỄN HOÀI NGÂN

A THEMATIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF THE ESSAYS BY 2 ND

YEAR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

(Phân tích cấu trúc chủ đề các bài luận của sinh viên năm 2 tại một

trường đại học tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01

Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi, 2021

DECLARATION

I hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled

“A thematic structure analysis of the essays by 2 nd

year students at a university in Hanoi” (Phân tích cấu trúc chủ đề của các bài luận của sinh viên năm 2 tại một trường đại học tại Hà Nội) submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty

of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is the result of my own research

Hanoi, 2021

Lê Nguyễn Hoài Ngân

I am extremely grateful to Ms Hoang Thi Hong Hai and Ms Tran Hoang Anh for their encouragement and enthusiasm in helping me collect data for this study

Finally, I owe the completion of this study to my family and my friends who gave me understanding and encouragement throughout the study

ABSTRACT

This thesis entitled ―A thematic structure analysis of the essays by 2nd

year students at a university in Hanoi‖ was conducted as a contribution to enhance awareness of applying a wide variety of thematic progression patterns and cohesive tie devices in order that students could master their writing skills In order to reach the goals of the study and determine answers

to the research questions, the researcher used the combination of quantitative and qualitative method The qualitative method was used in order to give a detailed description of the thematic structure and cohesive ties by 2nd year students‘ essays; their practical applications in writings and problems students experienced Furthermore, the quantitative method collected from the essays was analyzed The writing tasks were distributed among 2nd year students Then, their writing performances were gathered, categorized and analyzed Writing tasks are given to 2nd year students as tests because they are a reliable and quick method to collect information in an efficient and timely manner The result of the study indicated that beside using thematic progression patterns (constant thematic progression, linear thematic progression, derived hyper-thematic progression, split rhematic progression), cohesive ties, types

of themes in students‘ essays, 2nd

year students also encountered some rheme problems (the problems of the brand-new theme, the over-use of

theme-―There‖ in the theme selection, empty rheme and non-constant progression, themes with unclear reference)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the Study 1

1.2 Aims of the Study 2

1.3 Scope of the Study 2

1.4 Methods of the Study 2

1.5 Significance of the Study 3

1.6 Design of the Study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Previous Studies 5

2.2 Literature Review 8

2.2.1 Definitions of Theme and Rheme 8

2.2.2 Experiential, Interpersonal and Textual Theme 9

2.2.3 Types of Theme 11

2.2.4 Thematic Progression Patterns 13

2.2.5 Overview of an Essay 16

2.2.6 Cohesive Ties 18

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Research Design 20

3.2 Research Methods 20

3.3 Data Collection 21

3.3.1 USTH‘ Overview and Education 21

3.3.2 Settings and Participants 22

3.3.3 Methods of Data Collection 23

3.4 Procedures of Study 23

3.5 Data Analysis 24

3.6 Reliability and Validity 24

3.7 Summary 25

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Findings 26

4.1.1 Thematic Progression Patterns of Students‘ Essays 26

4.1.2 Cohesive Ties of Students‘ Essays 28

4.1.3 The Use of Types of Theme in Students‘ Essays 30

4.1.4 Theme-Rheme Problems 32

4.2 Discussion 34

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 41

5.1 Recapitulation 41

5.2 Limitations and Suggestion for Further Research 42

REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX I

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS

Table 2.1 Analysis of experiential Theme 9

Table 2.2 Analysis of unmarked Theme 10

Table 2.3 Analysis of interpersonal Theme 10

Table 2.4 Analysis of multiple Theme 12

Table 2.5 Types of writings and organizations 17

Table 2.6 Transition words and phrases in English 18

Figure 2.1 An example of constant thematic progression 14

Figure 2.2 An example of linear of ‗zig-zag‘ progression 14

Figure 2.3 An example of derived hyperthematic progression 15

Figure 2.4 An example of the split rheme pattern 15

Figure 2.5 An example of the split theme progression 16

Chart 4.1 The use of thematic progression patterns in students' essays 26

Chart 4.2 Distribution of the use of thematic progression patterns 27

in each part of essay 27

Chart 4.3 Cohesive ties in students' essays 28

Chart 4.4 Transition in students‘ essays 29

Chart 4.5 The Use of Experiential, Interpersonal and Textual Theme 30

in Students‘ Essays 30

Chart 4.6 The Use of Simple Theme, Multiple Theme and Clausal Theme in Students' Essays 31

Diagram 4.1 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 1 35

Diagram 4.2 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 2 36

Diagram 4.3 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 3 37

Diagram 4.4 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 4 37

Diagram 4.5 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 5 38

Diagram 4.6 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 6 38

Diagram 4.7 Thematic progression of students‘ essays 7 39

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the Study

Writing is an important skill for language learners not only at school but also for their future job Writing skills provides students with a lot of chances to compose ideas, organize their thoughts and arguments, support key points and share information in an effective way It is the fact that making mistakes related to thematic structure in essays is more and more common in students‘ essays Therefore, the awareness of the thematic structure as well as the functional grammar will also prepare students for their future academic and professional endeavors As a result, it helps students find ideal jobs because in the area of technology and information writers are required to master writing for marketing campaigns, for making documents, records, contracts, etc…

However, most Vietnamese students have major difficulties in conveying their ideas into words, connecting them by effective glues and creating persuasive writing essays or compositions

Being aware of these challenges, I engage in a study in English and Vietnamese essays in terms of theme-rheme patterns to have a clear look into their effects on theme-rheme This will help students master how essays are written in the right way in term of theme-rheme patterns or thematic progression

For these reasons, with a view to providing Vietnamese learners of English with the awareness of thematic structure in writing essays so that learners can better understand and make better use of thematic structure in

writing more and more successfully, I have decided to work on “A thematic

structure analysis of the essays by 2 nd year students at a university in Hanoi‖ as the topic of my research paper

1.2 Aims of the Study

The aim of this study is to use theme-rheme analysis framework to explore how the essays written by the 2nd year students organized and developed in terms of the theme-rheme patterns, cohesive ties and theme-rheme students‘ problems To realize this aim, the following two questions are raised for exploration:

1 How are the texts (students‘ essays) organized and developed in terms

of theme-rheme patterns by the 2nd year students?

2 How are the different cohesive ties of contexts hung together to make the texts cohesive?

3 What problems do students experience when writing essays in terms of theme-rheme patterns?

To answer these questions, I will first review some fundamental concepts relevant to the study: the definitions of theme and rheme, types of theme and rheme, thematic progression patterns, overview of an essay, the importance of coherence of an essay and cohesion ties

1.3 Scope of the Study

Writing skill seems to be a big challenge for students of English as a foreign Therefore, this study wishes to help students improve their writing skill However, given the scope, this study is confined to investigating only the theme-rheme patterns in essays written by 2nd year students at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi

1.4 Methods of the Study

The study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods The

former is concerned with the description of the main aspects of theme-rheme

patterns, cohesive ties and other textual aspects; and the latter deals with the analysis of the essays written by the students in terms of theme-rheme patterns, cohesive ties, and then turn it into quantifiable data for discussion

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study lied in its focus on exploring how the essays written by the 2nd year students organized and developed in terms of the theme-rheme patterns, cohesive ties and theme-rheme students‘ problems

On the basis of the findings of this study, researcher hopes that English teachers can design the suitable content for students‘ writing tasks in great effort to support students to write different types of academic essay patterns and master key academic writing skills

1.6 Design of the Study

The thesis is presented in five chapters:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – presents general issues of the study such

as the reasons for choosing this topic, aims of the study including research questions, scope of the study, methods of the study and design of the study

Chapter 2 – Literature Review – provides an overview of related

studies and establishes the framework employed as the basis for arguments and analysis of the data in the study The chapter attempts to define key terms such as theme-rheme definition, thematic analysis, Halliday‘s theory of theme-rheme, types of theme, thematic progression, overview of an essay and cohesive ties

Chapter 3 – Research Methodology – is concerned with research

design and data collection This chapter demonstrates the setting, the participants, and the method of collecting data as well as the process of analyzing data in particular and the procedures for conducting the research

in general

Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussion – answers the research

questions

Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summarizes what has been studied in

answering to the research questions, points out some limitations of the research and make suggestion for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is concerned with literature review of the minor thesis

It will first provide an overview of related studies Then it will discuss about the definition of theme and rheme, thematic analysis, Halliday‘s theory of theme-rheme, types of theme, thematic progression patterns, cohesive ties and overview of an essay

2.1 Previous Studies

There has been a consensus that instruction in thematic structure should

be included in teaching of English (Alonso & McCabe, 2003; Bohnacker, 2010; Cheng, 2002; Christie & Dreyfus, 2007; Hawe & Thomas, 2012; Ventola, 1994; Wang, 2007) Ventola (1994), for example, advocated that courses for academic writing in a foreign language should develop learners‘ consciousness and linguistic skills in organizing information in texts in a way which was referentially and thematically cohesive Similarly, Cheng (2002),

in his study discussing how the problems with thematic progression would compromise coherence in Chinese college students‘ writing, proposed that the theory of theme and thematic progression should be included in English teaching to Chinese students Emphasizing the importance of theme-rheme structures in essay writing, Alonso and McCabe (2003), pointed out that English learners of English as a second/foreign language often wrote essays that consisted of sentences which did not seem to connect into a cohesive text They recommended that more attention should be paid to the progression of information in texts in addition to focus on cohesive devices

Wang (2007) claimed that the theory of theme and thematic progression was a valuable tool for teachers to diagnose writing difficulties and students should be taught how to arrange old and new information to help improve cohesion and coherence in their writing Christie and Dreyfus (2007) advocated

a genre-based approach to teaching deconstructing genre models for theme and thematic progression likely to monitor for differences concerning the interaction of information structure and word order, as they were probably not even aware that Swedish differed from German in this regard

Hawe and Thomas (2012) proposed that ―there is a need for coaching

in thematisation teaching at least rudimentary thematisation theory and giving students practice with an assortment of thematic options based on our students‘ apparent inadequate familiarity with English information structure‖ (p.182) In contrast, however, there have not been a lot of investigations regarding how teachers could apply the theory of theme and thematic progression (Wang, 2007), or studies that have developed and studied teaching materials informed by theme and thematic progression (Bonhnacker, 2010) Cheng (2008) provided a genre-based pedagogy on EFL students‘ writing development by incorporating ―analyzing thematic choices‖ as part of the three-stage EFL composition course in Taiwan for college freshmen‘s narrative writing course, where stage three focused students on analyzing lexical-grammatical features associated with English narrative writing, intending to help the students understand how the situational context was constructed through linguistic features, which included type of verbs, use of appraisal terms, syntactic features, thematic choices and cohesive ties

Ho (2009) tried helping students understand the macro and micro elements following analysis of theme and thematic progression in a text The research subject is a second-year student pursuing an English medium science degree at the university She was first asked to read a science article of her choice from the different sources (for e.g., journals and books), and then asked to write a review of the article The completed written text was collected by the instructor Over the next two weeks, the student was presented with a number of model review texts under the review genre Using

the whole text SFG (Systemic Functional Grammar)-based approach, instruction consisted of joint instructor-student analysis of the obligatory and optional sequence of stages found in a review text, the types of clauses and their patterns of thematic progression The instruction is aimed at raising the student‘s awareness of the generic identity of the review text, its clause structure and thematic development Mello (2011) presented classroom activities that introduced students to the grammar of theme and thematic progression in order to improve the coherence of their writing, with a model

of Theme-Rheme analytical framework in academic writing curriculum Comprised of five sections, i.e., Introduction to Theme/Rheme, Analysis of authentic and model texts, Introduction to thematic patterns, Analysis of theme and thematic progression in student texts, and Application to the students‘ writing, the lessons were intended for an undergraduate ESL academic reading and writing course and with adaptation, could be used for other levels and contexts Cheng (2008)‘s genre-based pedagogy included

―analyzing thematic choice‖ as part of a three-stage EFL composition course,

Ho (2009) implemented his instruction in theme and thematic progression with one participant, Mellos developed a comparatively complete but brief Theme-Rheme analytical framework in academic writing curriculum comprising of five sessions for ESL students The present research, however, intends to develop a more complete and detailed instructional package in theme and thematic progression for Vietnamese EFL students by examining theories in Systemic Functional Grammar and reviewing relevant literature

Within this academic domain, there has been no prior study into the thematic structure and cohesive ties in writing essays experienced by 2nd year students at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi Therefore, this study is intended to raise awareness of the thematic structure and cohesive ties on writing essays and provide students of English as a foreign

language a better insight into the use of thematic structure and thematic progression

2.2 Literature Review

2.2.1 Definitions of Theme and Rheme

The Theme is defined by Halliday as ―the point of departure for the message the element the speaker selects for ‗grounding‘‖ (2014, p 83) It is

―the peg on which the message is hung‖ and can be recognized by the fact that it ―is put in the first position‖ (Halliday, 1970, p 161) The Theme orients the listener/reader to the message that is about to be perceived and provides a framework for the interpretation of the message The Theme typically contains familiar, old or given information, which has already been mentioned somewhere in the text, or it is shared or mutual knowledge from the immediate context

The Theme is followed by the Rheme, ―the remainder of the message, the part in which the Theme is developed‖ (Halliday, 2004, p 64) The Rheme is the remainder of the message in a clause in which the Theme is developed, which means the Rheme typically contains unfamiliar or new information As a message structure, a clause consists of a Theme accompanied by a Rheme and the structure is expressed by the order—whatever is chosen as the Theme is put first (Halliday, 2004, p 65) The Theme extends from the beginning of a clause up to (and including) the first element that has a function in transitivity This means that the Theme of a clause ends with the first constituent that is participant, circumstance, or process, which is referred to as the topical Theme The topical Theme may be preceded by elements which are textual and/or interpersonal in function, and they are called textual Theme and interpersonal Theme respectively in SFG This typology of Themes into topical, textual and interpersonal Themes is made in terms of textual metafunction

2.2.2 Experiential, Interpersonal and Textual Theme

According to the thematic content and what function it performs, theme can be divided into three categories, they are experiential, interpersonal and textual Theme

(1) Experiential/Topical Theme

According to Halliday (1985, 1994), experiential Theme represents human experience, inner world, conceptions mostly obtained by people from the outside world The topical or experiential element in a multiple theme is the obligatory constituent, a representative of experiential elements a transitivity part involves In a sentence, experiential Theme invariably occurs

in the initial position followed by Rheme, it can be the participants, temporal adjuncts or adverbials, etc In functional terminology, it can be Actor—the subject of a material process, or Circumstance which is realized mostly by the adverbial or prepositional phrase in all different process, or Senser—subject

or object of a mental process Examples are provided in Table 1 below

Table 2.1 Analysis of experiential Theme

On the university campus they dance every evening

(Adapted from Junying, 2016)

Theme can be further divided into marked and unmarked Theme

If Theme element conflates with the Subject of the clause, it is unmarked Theme Otherwise, it is marked Theme The unmarked Theme is realized by (i) the Subject of the declarative clause, (ii) the finite verbal operator plus Subject in the yes/no question, (iii) Wh-word or group in wh-question, (iv) the thematic equative, and (v) the initial element in the imperative clause and the exclamatory clause as illustrated in Table 2 below

Table 2.2 Analysis of unmarked Theme

(Adapted from Junying, 2016)

(2) Interpersonal Theme

By interpersonal, it is meant interaction between writers and readers Interpersonal Theme is composed of vocative, modal and mood-making elements (Halliday, 2000) A vocative is an item used to address, it may appear in any position of the clause and is thematic if it appears before topical

Theme A modal adjunct like surprisingly, frankly etc becomes a modal

Theme when it occurs before the topical Theme Such modal adjuncts convey

to readers the speakers‘ judgment of the relevance or truth value of their message They can be regarded as the comment on the message rather than the content itself (Thompson, 2000, p 134-135) Finite verbal operator like

would, can, should, etc also serves as the interpersonal Theme Examples are

provided in Table 3 below

Table 2.3 Analysis of interpersonal Theme

Interpersonal Theme Experiential Theme Rheme

(Adapted from Junying, 2016)

(3) Textual Theme

Textual theme is used to arrange information in a certain order There are three types: continuative, conjunctive and structural Theme Continuatives

refer to the discourse markers such as yes, no, well, oh, now, etc which signal

the beginning of a new move in the exchange, if more than one textual element is present, they occur in the order of continuative, conjunction,

conjunctive, for example, ‗Well but on the other hand…‘ (Thompson, 2000, p.136) Conjunctions such as and, but, obviously work primarily between two

or more clauses, join two clauses into one sentence and indicate the types of semantic relationships Conjunctive adjuncts do not link the clause into a larger structural unit, but link the content of the clause to that of other clauses without forming part of the content, and show how two sentences relate to each other through the use of alternatively, as a result, etc., they relate the clause to the preceding text, signal how the clause as a whole fit in with the preceding text

an independent unit which can no longer be further divided into smaller

functional unit For example: My brother (T) | has been assigned that task by

the teacher Very carefully (T) | she put him back on his feet again On weekend days (T) | I go back home from school

(2) Multiple Theme

Multiple Theme is the Theme that consists of topical Theme together with anything else that comes before it (Halliday, 1994, p 53) According to its semantic constituents, multiple Theme can be further divided into three

types of Themes, namely, the experiential, interpersonal, and textual Theme

In a multiple Theme, the Theme of the clause ends with the first constituent that is participant, circumstance, process and it extends from the beginning of the clause up to the first element that has a function in transitivity, which means that the last constituent in a multiple Theme has to be an experiential

or topical Theme The element that comes before the topical Theme can vary from elements which are textual and /or interpersonal in function An example

is provided in Table 4 below

Table 2.4 Analysis of multiple Theme

of two or more equal clauses, it is a paratactic clause-complex If the combination is made up of clauses with unequal status, it is a hypotactic clause-complex In the clause-complex, the clause that takes the initial position in the clause complex is given the Theme status, and at the same time Halliday (1994) states that there will still be a thematic structure in each of all

the constituent clauses (p 57) The following examples illustrate the two

means of identifying clausal Theme John ran away, (T) | and Fred stayed

behind (R) John (T) | ran away (R) ‖ and Fred (T) | stayed behind (R) In

analyzing a text, to signal more clearly the method of text development, we can choose any of the two ways of analysis, either to identify the dependent clause in initial position as the Theme or the subject of the clause as Theme, different analyses indicate different aspects of what is going on

2.2.4 Thematic Progression Patterns

Thematic progression, as understood by Danes (1974), is the study of how Theme in a text is developed from clause to clause to build larger stretches Eggins (1994) prefers to use Thematic development instead of Thematic progression She states that the choice of Theme for any individual clause is generally related to the way information is being developed over the course of the whole text Danes (1974) presents three models of Thematic Progression These are re-iteration, zigzag, and multiple patterns (see Nikmah, 2010: 18)

McCabe (1999) modified the thematic progression scheme proposed by Danes (ibid.) and identified four main patterns of thematic progression:

‗constant TP‘, ‗linear TP‘, ‗split theme TP‘, and ‗split rheme progression‘ that might manifest differently in different genres These thematic progressions are presented as follows:

1) Constant thematic progression: The theme of one clause is derived from

the theme of the previous clause:

T - R1

T - R2

T - R3

Theme Rheme

Salim Mohammed was born in UAE

And (he) always tried to find opportunities to speak English with

his friends

Figure 2.1 An example of constant thematic progression

2) Linear thematic progression: The theme of one clause is derived

from the rheme of the previous clause:

T1 -R1

T2 (R1) - R2

T3 (R2) - R3

In the middle of the lawn is a flower bed

Figure 2.2 An example of linear of ‘zig-zag’ progression

3) Derived hyperthematic progression: Particular themes in

subsequent clauses are derived from a hypertheme or from the same overriding theme;

T1 - R1

T2 -R2

T3 -R3

Theme Rheme

A young man and a young woman (T3) troubled me (R3/ T2)

(R4/ T3) But they (T5) didn‘t pay any attention to me (R5/ T4)

Figure 2.3 An example of derived hyperthematic progression

4) Split rhematic progression: The rheme of the first clause is split into

two items, each in turn being taken as a theme element in subsequent clauses

There (T1) are four basic types of clowns (R1)

Whiteface clowns (T2/ R1.1) cover their face with white make-up

(R2) And (they) (T2/ R1.1) do a lot physical stunt like leaping and

tumbling (R3) Auguste clowns (T3/ R1.3) wear colourful, ill-fitting clothing and

Figure 2.4 An example of the split rheme pattern

He later proposed a fifth category to Danes‘s, split theme progression, where the theme of the first clause is split into two or more ideas, and these ideas aredeveloped in the themes of subsequent clauses (Jalilifar, 2010a: 34 and

The destruction of Earth‘s ozone

layer for example,

could contribute to the general process

of impoverishment by allowing ultraviolet ray to harm plants and animals

And global warming could wipe out species unable to quickly

adapt to changing climates

Clearly, protecting will come only through coordinated

international efforts to control human population, stabilize the composition of the atmosphere, and preserve intact Earth‘s complex web of life

2-Bill and Mary had opposite ideas about the weather

Figure 2.5 An example of the split theme progression

2.2.5 Overview of an Essay

2.2.5.1 The Definition of an Essay

According to Zemach & Rumisech (2005), an essay is a group of paragraphs written about a single topic and a central main idea It must have

at least three paragraphs, but a five-paragraph essay is a common length for academic writing

2.2.5.2 The Structure of an Essay

An essay consists of three main parts: the introduction, the main body and the conclusion

- The introduction

This is the first paragraph of an essay It explains the topic with general

ideas It also has a thesis statement This is a sentence that gives the main

idea It usually comes at or near the end of the paragraph

- The main body

These are the paragraphs that explain and support the thesis statement and come between the introduction and the conclusion There must be one or more paragraphs in the main body of an essay

- The conclusion

This is the last paragraph of an essay It summarizes or restates the thesis and the supporting ideas of the essay

2.2.5.3 The Importance of Coherence in an Essay

Coherence is related to unity Ideas that are arranged in a clear and logical way are coherent When a text is unified and coherent, the reader can easily understand the main points Creating a good outline helps make a well-organised essay Zemach & Rumisech (Ibid.) advise students that when organizing their ideas, they should think about what type of organization is the best for the topic or essay type They provide some examples of types of writing and good ways to organize them as follows:

Table 2.5 Types of writings and organizations

Chronology (historical events,

personal narratives, processes)

Order by time or order of events/ steps

Order by position, size, and shape of things Group ideas and explain them in a logical order

Organise in point-by-point or block type Order from least important to most important

(Source: Zemach & Rumisech, 2005: 82)

2.2.6 Cohesive Ties

Cohesive ties are words and phrases that connect sentences and paragraphs together, creating a smooth flow of ideas In this unit, we‘ll look at transitions, pronoun references, and repetition of key ideas

Transitions

There are many transitions words and phrases in English that are used

to connect sentences together or relate ideas to one another Here are several types of writing and some common transitions that are used with them

Table 2.6 Transition words and phrases in English

Chronology Comparison Contrast Additional

information

Examples Cause

and effect

Concluding ideas

in spite of

in contrast although instead

and also

in addition

in fact furthermore moreover Another …

is/ was

for example

in general generally

as a result since because

in conclusion

in summary finally therefore

to conclude

to summarise

(Zemach & Rumisech, 2005: 83)

Pronoun reference

Two sentences can be connected by the use of a pronoun A pronoun

(he, she, it, they, etc.) takes the place of a noun (a person, place, thing, or

idea) or a noun phrase (several words that refer to a person, place, thing, or idea) Below is an example taken from the essay on sign language:

American Sign Language developed from the mixture of signs used by

deaf Americans and French Sign Language Today, it is used by more than

500,000 deaf people in the United States and Canada

(Zemach & Rumisech, 2005: 83)

The pronoun it refers back to the subject, American Sign Language, and

connects the two sentences together

Repetition of key nouns or ideas

Another way to connect ideas in an essay is by repeating important words and phrases This will help the reader remember the main ideas in the text

Modern medicine focuses on illness If a patient with a cough visits a modern doctor, then the doctor will give the patient a medicine to stop the cough If the patient also has a fever, the doctor may give a different medicine

to stop the fever For every person with a cough, the doctor will probably

recommend the same cough medicine The philosophy of modern medicine is

to stop problems like coughing and fever as quickly as possible

(Zemach & Rumisech, 2005: 85)

In the above example shows that one of the strategies the writer used to

connect the ideas of the paragraph is to repeat the noun medicine four times

This chapter has carried out an overview of related studies and established the framework employed as the basis for arguments and analysis

of the data in the study The chapter also attempts to define key terms such as theme-rheme definition, thematic analysis, Halliday‘s theory of theme-rheme, types of theme, thematic progression patterns, cohesive ties and overview of

an essay

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

This piece of research mainly takes a descriptive approach with quantifiable data taken from essays of 2nd year students at University of Science and Technology of Hanoi because it best serves to answer the questions and the purposes of the study

In this study, 100 students who are 2nd year students at University of Science and Technology of Hanoi were sampled in terms of thematic structure and cohesive ties in writing essays

3.2 Research Methods

The study described and analyzed thematic structure and cohesive ties in the writings by 2nd year students at University of Science and Technology of Hanoi

To meet the demand for objectivity, the description of the students‘ writings in this study is a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods The quantitative method was used to collect essays from the students for analysis The qualitative method was used in order to give a detailed description of the thematic structure and cohesive ties by student‘s essays; their practical applications in writing essays and problems student‘s essays experience Furthermore, the quantitative information collected from the essays was analyzed The writing tasks were distributed among 2nd year students Then, their writing performances were gathered, categorized and analyzed Writing tasks are given to 2nd year students as tests because they are

a reliable and quick method to collect information in an efficient and timely manner

3.3 Data Collection

3.3.1 USTH’ Overview and Education

University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH, also called Vietnam-France University) is a public university, which was established in

2009 under the Intergovernmental Agreement between Vietnam and France with the ambition to become one of the most excellent research-oriented university at international standard in Vietnam

USTH is under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), the nation‘s leading research institution; also, strongly supported by the Consortium of more than 40 French leading universities and research institutes in training and research USTH is proud to be the symbol of Vietnam-France cooperation in education and research

USTH is the leading university in Asia following the Bologna process

for Diploma, which is widely applied in more than 45 European countries Accordingly, the training duration for Bachelor, Master and Doctoral programs is 3, 2 and 3 years respectively

USTH's Bachelor training programs were recognized and accredited by the High Council of Evaluation of Research and Higher Education in France (HCERES)—the most prestigious education quality accreditation organization

in France and Europe In addition, the University cooperates with the prestigious universities and research institutes in France to co-award Master‘s degrees

USTH provides an international high-quality training environment with the main language in English and a team of dedicated and experienced lecturers in training and researching in Vietnam and in the world The University aims to train students comprehensively through extensive research and research activities, encouraging autonomy, critical creative thinking; also,

creating an environment to nurture and develop the passion in science Students learn theoretical and practical knowledge through practice sessions in modern laboratories, opportunities of participating in research projects with lecturers, and field trips at enterprises and manufactories, etc

A unique feature of USTH‘s training program is that students are introduced and supported to find internship opportunities for 3-6 months abroad Average of 70% of USTH's students have had the opportunity to do internships at universities and research institutes in France and many other countries with advanced science and technology in Europe and Asia such as Germany, Finland, Italia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc

3.3.2 Settings and Participants

All the essays had written in 2019 by 100 2nd year students at University of Science and Technology of Hanoi Topic 1 was written by students at the first semester (first-term test) Topic 2 was written by students

at the mid semester (mid-term test) Topic 3 was written by students at the final semester (final test) Prior to writing these essays, the students had not been explicitly coached in thematic progression However, they had investigated about cohesion and coherence in academic writing carefully, to heighten their awareness of discourse structure, the ordering of elements at sentence level and whole text level, as well as how these interact together The topics students are given to write are as follows:

1 Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

“All universities should require students to take a science class even though their major has no relevance to this field.”

2 It’s claimed that many people have to suffer from work-life imbalance What are the causes and what are possible effects on them and their families?

3 It is claimed that many countries have to suffer from migration from developing countries What are the causes? And what may be possible effects

on the host countries?

Data supporting the research were mainly collected in the classrooms of three different classes of the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi

The participants of the research include:

- 100 Vietnamese learners of English who are 2nd year students of the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi of participated in the research The 2nd year students are in three classes with high levels in writing skills, especially writing essays

- English level of participants: Participants are 2nd year students with from B1+ to B2 level They also passed IELTS entrance exam Therefore, they can gain grammatical structures, vocabularies and writing styles as well

as show their own points of view about the issues by their experiences

3.3.3 Methods of Data Collection

Data supporting the research were collected as follows:

The questionnaires were issued to the population of 100 2nd year students of the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi To facilitate the survey, the researcher made clear all the questions posed to students to get rid of students‘ confusion with the instructions in the tasks

3.4 Procedures of Study

To ensure proper implementation, the procedures below were followed:

- Collecting thematic structure and cohesive ties in students‘ essays;

- Identifying the usage and application of thematic structure and

cohesive ties in students‘ essays;

- Analyzing the results;

- Analyzing the thematic structure and cohesive ties; problems made by students‘ essays;

- Pointing out some limitations of the research and making suggestion for further research

3.5 Data Analysis

- Data were categorized, as follows:

 In terms of thematic structure;

 In terms of cohesive ties

- Data were analyzed, as follows:

 Thematic structure was analyzed in terms of types of thematic progression and the problems made by 2nd year students in writing essays;

 Cohesive ties were analyzed for types of cohesive devices made by

2nd year students on writing essays

- Systematizing and generalizing:

 Clarifying the thematic structure and cohesive ties and problems made in students‘ essays;

 Figuring out the causes of problems by the effects of thematic structure and cohesive ties;

 Drawing some conclusions on how to make good use of thematic

structure and cohesive ties in students‘ essays

3.6 Reliability and Validity

In terms of reliability, the researcher chose only 2nd year students and gave three topics in the first term, mid-term and final term test The researcher hopes the results will be objective and valuable to be analyzed and evaluated Additionally, any quotation in this thesis is cited exactly from the origin with the name of authors, the time, the place of publication and the page number Moreover, the findings and conclusions in the study are drawn from the analysis of frequency and standard deviation of samples and proofs concerned without any prejudices Hence, the objectivity of the study is assured

In terms of validity, the samples were collected in the classroom equally with the control of the researcher and teachers at schools All collected samples in this thesis could be representative Also, the analysis

in the study has always been conducted in the theoretical framework to ensure the demand of the study

3.7 Summary

This chapter described the methods and procedures of the study It also presented how data were collected and analyzed Finally, it explained the procedures for categorizing and analyzing the collected data

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Findings

This part will analyze the students‘ essays in terms of thematic progression patterns The findings and discussion of the findings are presented below

4.1.1 Thematic Progression Patterns of Students’ Essays

Chart 4.1 The use of thematic progression patterns in students' essays

The figures show that using thematic progression patterns, constant thematic progression makes up the greatest proportion at 38.2% Spilt rhematic progression closely follows at 33.7% Linear thematic progression ranks third with 15% and the least proportion is thematic progression pattern with merely 13.1%

38.2%

15%

13.1%

33.7%

Constant thematic progression Linear thematic progression

Derived hyper-thematic progression Split rhematic progression

Chart 4.2 Distribution of the use of thematic progression patterns

in each part of essay

- Each thematic progression is used in different proportion in every part

of essay In the introduction part, constant thematic progression is dominant with 50.2 % due to the fact that repeating the first theme in next clause helps

to emphasize the main topic For instance, it is extracted from Pseudo name

03’s essay as In life, many people spend a lot of time on work and they never

have a little time with their family Linear thematic progression is less

preferable than with 20.7% when the important message in rheme is carried

on into following clause as a theme Split rhematic progression and derived hyper-thematic progression share the third and last position at 18.5% and 10.6% respectively

In the body part, spilt rhematic progression hit the highest point with 45.3% of students‘ essays To illustrate, students frequently use this pattern

Because of those reasons, there are many possible effects on the host country

At first, it is the economic impact…Besides, the social impact is also the effect

Constant thematic progression Linear thematic progression Derived hyper-thematic progression Split rhematic progression