Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China

Wenna Dou; Hu Zhao

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

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Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China

Wenna Dou, Hu Zhao

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 7, Issue 1)

Received: 12 December 2018 Accepted: 25 December 2018 Published: 21 January 2019

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Abstract

Through combing out eight patterns of Thematic Progression which are most frequently used in English scientific and technological academic papers, this study aims to examine the usage tendency and internal influencing factors of Thematic Progression patterns in English research abstracts written by postgraduates majoring in architecture and civil engineering in mainland China. Combining corpus-based analyses and group-focus interviews, results show that the overall writing level of Chinese non-English major postgraduates could reach the publishing standards of international journals in the facet of the number of words and sentences. Especially, “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” and “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” were the most frequently used in the students’ abstracts. Findings suggest that the tendency of using “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” was driven by the logic of students’ thinking in the academic writing process, while the application of “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” was correlate with genre types. The specific Move Structure in research abstracts was also found to be potentially affecting the usage tendency of special Thematic Progression patterns. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed in this study.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
Page(s)	1-7
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Thematic Progression, Academic Writing, Non-English Major Postgraduates, Corpus-Based Analyses, Case Study

References

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[2]	Fang, L. and David, K. (2018). A science for verbal art: Elizabeth Gaskell’s contribution to a critique of political economy, Language Sciences, 70, 92-102.
[3]	Cao, Z. H. And Li, L. (2015). Analysis of the Thematic Progression in the Abstracts of Nature’s Articles. Journal of Xidian University(Social Science Edition), 25-6, 104-111.
[4]	Derya A.and Yasemin, B.(2019). An exploratory study on factors influencing undergraduate students’ academic writing practices in Turkey, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 37, 88-103.
[5]	Xu, F. (2016). Coherence Modeling for English Student Essay Based on Theme-rheme Structure Theory. Journal of Chinese Information Processing, 1, 115-123.
[6]	Feng, Y. T. (2017). A Study on Cognitive Thinking of Thematic Progression Patterns in English Thesis Writing for Application-Oriented University English Major Students. The Guide of Science & Education, 11, 48-50.
[7]	Mathesius, V. (1929). Zur Satzperspektive in modern English. Herrigs Archiv, 155, 202-210.
[8]	Danes, F. (1974). Functional sentence on the semantic structure of the sentence. In F. Danes (ed.). Papers on the Functional Sentence Perspective. Prague: Academia, 106-128.
[9]	Huang, Y. (1985). On Theme and Rheme in English. Journal of Foreign Languages, 5, 32-36.
[10]	Huang, G. W. (2001). Theory and Practice of Discourse Analysis. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
[11]	Hu, Z. L. (1994). Cohesion and Coherence of Text. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
[12]	Liu, D. (2012). English-Chinese Thematic Structure Contrast and English Writing Teaching Method Study. Foreign Language Research, 3,121-125.
[13]	Santos, M. (1996). The textual organization of research paper abstracts in applied linguistic. Text-Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 4, 481-500.
[14]	Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. New York: Longman Group UK Limited.
[15]	Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Wenna Dou, Hu Zhao. (2019). Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 7(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

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ACS Style

Wenna Dou; Hu Zhao. Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 7(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

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AMA Style

Wenna Dou, Hu Zhao. Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China. Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;7(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11,
  author = {Wenna Dou and Hu Zhao},
  title = {Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {7},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-7},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20190701.11},
  abstract = {Through combing out eight patterns of Thematic Progression which are most frequently used in English scientific and technological academic papers, this study aims to examine the usage tendency and internal influencing factors of Thematic Progression patterns in English research abstracts written by postgraduates majoring in architecture and civil engineering in mainland China. Combining corpus-based analyses and group-focus interviews, results show that the overall writing level of Chinese non-English major postgraduates could reach the publishing standards of international journals in the facet of the number of words and sentences. Especially, “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” and “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” were the most frequently used in the students’ abstracts. Findings suggest that the tendency of using “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” was driven by the logic of students’ thinking in the academic writing process, while the application of “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” was correlate with genre types. The specific Move Structure in research abstracts was also found to be potentially affecting the usage tendency of special Thematic Progression patterns. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed in this study.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China
AU  - Wenna Dou
AU  - Hu Zhao
Y1  - 2019/01/21
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 1
EP  - 7
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
AB  - Through combing out eight patterns of Thematic Progression which are most frequently used in English scientific and technological academic papers, this study aims to examine the usage tendency and internal influencing factors of Thematic Progression patterns in English research abstracts written by postgraduates majoring in architecture and civil engineering in mainland China. Combining corpus-based analyses and group-focus interviews, results show that the overall writing level of Chinese non-English major postgraduates could reach the publishing standards of international journals in the facet of the number of words and sentences. Especially, “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” and “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” were the most frequently used in the students’ abstracts. Findings suggest that the tendency of using “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” was driven by the logic of students’ thinking in the academic writing process, while the application of “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” was correlate with genre types. The specific Move Structure in research abstracts was also found to be potentially affecting the usage tendency of special Thematic Progression patterns. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed in this study.
VL  - 7
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Wenna Dou

Department of Foreign Languages, School of Human and Law, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China
Hu Zhao

School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China

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APA Style

Wenna Dou, Hu Zhao. (2019). Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 7(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

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ACS Style

Wenna Dou; Hu Zhao. Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 7(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Wenna Dou, Hu Zhao. Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China. Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;7(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11,
  author = {Wenna Dou and Hu Zhao},
  title = {Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {7},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-7},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20190701.11},
  abstract = {Through combing out eight patterns of Thematic Progression which are most frequently used in English scientific and technological academic papers, this study aims to examine the usage tendency and internal influencing factors of Thematic Progression patterns in English research abstracts written by postgraduates majoring in architecture and civil engineering in mainland China. Combining corpus-based analyses and group-focus interviews, results show that the overall writing level of Chinese non-English major postgraduates could reach the publishing standards of international journals in the facet of the number of words and sentences. Especially, “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” and “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” were the most frequently used in the students’ abstracts. Findings suggest that the tendency of using “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” was driven by the logic of students’ thinking in the academic writing process, while the application of “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” was correlate with genre types. The specific Move Structure in research abstracts was also found to be potentially affecting the usage tendency of special Thematic Progression patterns. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed in this study.},
 year = {2019}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Thematic Progression in the Academic Writing of Non-English Major Postgraduates in Mainland China
AU  - Wenna Dou
AU  - Hu Zhao
Y1  - 2019/01/21
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 1
EP  - 7
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190701.11
AB  - Through combing out eight patterns of Thematic Progression which are most frequently used in English scientific and technological academic papers, this study aims to examine the usage tendency and internal influencing factors of Thematic Progression patterns in English research abstracts written by postgraduates majoring in architecture and civil engineering in mainland China. Combining corpus-based analyses and group-focus interviews, results show that the overall writing level of Chinese non-English major postgraduates could reach the publishing standards of international journals in the facet of the number of words and sentences. Especially, “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” and “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” were the most frequently used in the students’ abstracts. Findings suggest that the tendency of using “Simple Linear Thematic Progression” was driven by the logic of students’ thinking in the academic writing process, while the application of “Thematic Progression with a Constant Theme” was correlate with genre types. The specific Move Structure in research abstracts was also found to be potentially affecting the usage tendency of special Thematic Progression patterns. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed in this study.
VL  - 7
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download