Theme and Thematic Progression in Chinese College Studentsℓ́ℓ English Essays

This book focuses on how instruction affects English learners' use of Theme and thematic progression (thematic organization). While thematic organization in learner English has been extensively studied, little research has been done to investigate the effects of instruction on the use of Theme and thematic progression. Adopting a Systemic Functional Grammar approach, this study explores how a ten-week instruction on thematic organization affects Chinese college students' use of Theme and thematic progression by comparing their English essays before and after the instruction, with native-speaker essays as the research baseline. Second-language acquisition researchers, curriculum developers and foreign language teachers will find this book useful as it not only presents a clear and detailed report of how Chinese college students learn to make better thematic choices, but also provides a well-developed instructional package on Theme and thematic progression.-- Provided by publisher This book focuses on how instruction affects English learnersĺl use of Theme and thematic progression (thematic organization). While thematic organization in learner English has been extensively studied, little research has been done to investigate the effects of instruction on the use of Theme and thematic progression. Adopting a Systemic Functional Grammar approach, this study explores how a ten-week instruction on thematic organization affects Chinese college studentsĺl use of Theme and thematic progression by comparing their English essays before and after the instruction, with native-speaker essays as the research baseline. Second-language acquisition researchers, curriculum developers and foreign language teachers will find this book useful as it not only presents a clear and detailed report of how Chinese college students learn to make better thematic choices, but also provides a well-developed instructional package on Theme and thematic progression Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-8 Literature Review....Pages 9-26 Theoretical Background....Pages 27-46 Research Design....Pages 47-63 Results and Analysis of Pre-essays....Pages 65-88 Results and Analysis of Post-essays....Pages 89-103 Results and Analysis of Pre- and Post-essays....Pages 105-118 Results and Analysis of the Questionnaire....Pages 119-128 Discussion....Pages 129-158 Conclusion....Pages 159-161 Back Matter....Pages 163-191