Improving EFL Students’ Academic Writing by Raising Awareness of Thematic Progression Patterns
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Abstract
The analysis of Theme and Rheme, and thematic progression, based on a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach to language, has, in the context of English language teaching, been largely limited to analyzing student writing, and has not investigated if these concepts are helpful to the students themselves. This paper examines the use and potential value of teaching the concept of thematic progression to EFL learners in an academic writing course in a Thai university. First, the paper aims to discover if Thai EFL writers exhibit the same issues with their writing as previous international studies have found, such as overuse of constant progression. It then reports on the results of an investigation as to whether knowledge of the concept impacts their writing in any way. Students were also asked whether they found the concepts useful during their composition. Results indicate that their writing does change as a result of instruction, that they find it a useful aid, and that they feel they can apply the concept relatively unproblematically while drafting essays. The paper closes by discussing the potential benefits and weaknesses of this approach and suggests ways it may be adopted in EFL writing classes.
Keywords: Essay writing, Theme, thematic progression patterns
Article Details
References
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