1887
Volume 46, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0155-0640
  • E-ISSN: 1833-7139
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The present study examines the ways Chinese high school EFL learners organize information in their writing. A class of 50 students at grade 9 from a local high school in Guangzhou, China, were recruited as participants. The students’ writing at grade 9 was collected as a corpus, comprising ten writing tasks from different text types. In order to gain a holistic understanding of the organization of information in student writing, the analytical framework of Theme at three levels – that is, clause, paragraph, and text – from Derewianka and Jones (2010) was adopted. Findings show that the students have varying degrees of control over information organization at different levels. In particular, the students are not proficient in organizing information at the paragraph level. Findings also show that registerial differences affect the organization of information. The study provides relevant pedagogical implications and recommendations for this group of learners.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/aral.20045.xua
2021-08-02
2025-02-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Berry, M.
    (1995) Thematic options and success in writing. InM. Ghadessy (Ed.), Thematic development in English texts (pp.55–84). Pinter.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bolton, K., & Graddol, D.
    (2012) English in China today: The current popularity of English in China is unprecedented, and has been fuelled by the recent political and social development of Chinese society. English Today, 28(3), 3–9. doi:  10.1017/S0266078412000223
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078412000223 [Google Scholar]
  3. Byrnes, H.
    (2009) Emergent L2 German writing ability in a curricular context: A longitudinal study of grammatical metaphor. Linguistics and Education, 20(1), 50–66. doi:  10.1016/j.linged.2009.01.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2009.01.005 [Google Scholar]
  4. Chen, Q.
    (2019) Theme-Rheme structure in Chinese doctoral students’ research writing: From the first draft to the published paper. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 371, 154–167. doi:  10.1016/j.jeap.2018.12.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.12.004 [Google Scholar]
  5. Cheng, X. T.
    (2002) Cohesion and coherence in English compositions. Journal of School of Foreign Languages Shandong Teachers’ University, 2(11), 94–98.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Christie, F., & Derewianka, B.
    (2008) School discourse: Learning to write across the years of schooling. Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Christie, F., & Dreyfus, S.
    (2007) Letting the secret out: Successful writing in secondary English. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 30(3), 235–247.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Daneš, F.
    (1974) Functional sentence perspective and the organization of the text. InF. Daneš (Ed.), Papers on functional sentence perspective (pp.106–128). Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783111676524.106
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111676524.106 [Google Scholar]
  9. Derewianka, B., & Jones, P.
    (2010) Teaching language in context. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Ebrahimi, S. F., & Khedri, M.
    (2011) Thematicity in research article abstracts: A cross-disciplinary study. Educational Quest-An International Journal of Education and Applied Social Sciences, 2(3), 287–292.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Fan, F.
    (2010) A discussion on developing students’ communicative competence in college English teaching in China. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(2), 111–116.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Fries, P. H.
    (1981) On the status of theme in English: Arguments from discourse. Forum Linguisticum, 6(1), 1–38).
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Gao, W.
    (2012) Nominalization in medical papers: A comparative study. Studies in Literature and Language, 4(1), 86–93.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Green, C. F., Christopher, E. R., & Lam, J. K. M.
    (2000) The incidence and effects on coherence of marked themes in interlanguage texts: A corpus-based enquiry. English for Specific Purposes, 19(2), 99–113. doi:  10.1016/S0889‑4906(98)00014‑3
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(98)00014-3 [Google Scholar]
  15. Halliday, M. A. K.
    (1985) An introduction to functional grammar. Arnold.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. (1994) An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). Arnold.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R.
    (1976) Cohesion in English. Longman.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M.
    (2004) An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed.). Hodder Arnold.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. (2014) Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203783771
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203783771 [Google Scholar]
  20. Hawes, T., & Thomas, S.
    (2012) Theme choice in EAP and media language. Journal of English for academic purposes, 11(3), 175–183. 10.1016/j.jeap.2012.04.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.04.005 [Google Scholar]
  21. Herriman, J.
    (2011) Themes and theme progression in Swedish advanced learners’ writing in English. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 10(1), 1–28. 10.35360/njes.240
    https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.240 [Google Scholar]
  22. Leong, P. A.
    (2007) Developing the Message: Thematic progression and student writing. Journal of Asia TEFL, 4(3), 93–127.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Liu, N., Lin, C. K., & Wiley, T. G.
    (2016) Learner views on English and English language teaching in China. International Multilingual Research Journal, 10(2), 137–157. doi:  10.1080/19313152.2016.1147308
    https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2016.1147308 [Google Scholar]
  24. Lorés, R.
    (2004) On RA abstracts: From rhetorical structure to thematic organisation. English for Specific Purposes, 23(3), 280–302. doi:  10.1016/j.esp.2003.06.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2003.06.001 [Google Scholar]
  25. Lu, A.
    (2013) A functional grammar approach to analysing Asian students’ writing. American Journal of Educational Research, 1(2), 49–57. 10.12691/education‑1‑2‑3
    https://doi.org/10.12691/education-1-2-3 [Google Scholar]
  26. Ma, J.
    (2001) Thematic progression, cohesive devices and coherence in English writing: Analysis of CET-4 and CET-6 writing papers. Foreign Language Education, 22(5), 45–50.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Martin, J. R.
    (1992) English text: System and structure. John Benjamins Publishing. 10.1075/z.59
    https://doi.org/10.1075/z.59 [Google Scholar]
  28. Martin, J. R., & Rose, D.
    (2007) Working with discourse (2nd ed.). Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. (2008) Genre relations: Mapping culture. Equinox Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Martınez, I. A.
    (2003) Aspects of theme in the method and discussion sections of biology journal articles in English. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2(2), 103–123. doi:  10.1016/S1475‑1585(03)00003‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S1475-1585(03)00003-1 [Google Scholar]
  31. Matthiessen, C. M. I. M.
    (1995) THEME as an enabling resource in ideational ‘knowledge’ construction. InM. Ghadessy (Ed.), Thematic development in English texts (1st ed., pp.20–54). Pinter.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. (2015) Register in the round: Registerial cartography. Functional Linguistics, 2(1), 9. doi:  10.1186/s40554‑015‑0015‑8
    https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-015-0015-8 [Google Scholar]
  33. Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., Teruya, K., & Lam, M.
    (2010) Key terms in systemic functional linguistics. A&C Black.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. North, S.
    (2005) Disciplinary variation in the use of theme in undergraduate essays. Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 431–452. doi:  10.1093/applin/ami023
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami023 [Google Scholar]
  35. Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H.
    (2009) The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities. Routledge. 10.4324/9780203871652
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203871652 [Google Scholar]
  36. Pan, L.
    (2015) English as a global language in China: Deconstructing the ideological discourses of English in language education. Springer. 10.1007/978‑3‑319‑10392‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10392-1 [Google Scholar]
  37. Ryshina-Pankova, M.
    (2011) Developmental changes in the use of interactional resources: Persuading the reader in FL book reviews. Journal of Second Language Writing, 20(4), 243–256. doi:  10.1016/j.jslw.2011.05.011
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2011.05.011 [Google Scholar]
  38. Thompson, G.
    (1996) Introducing functional grammar (2nd ed.). Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. (2013) Introducing functional grammar. Routledge. 10.4324/9780203431474
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203431474 [Google Scholar]
  40. Wang, X. W.
    (2010) TP pattern and coherence in English writing: Analysis of TEM-4 writing papers. Foreign Language Research, 21, 103–106.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Wei, R., & Su, J.
    (2008) An analysis of foreign language use in Mainland China. The Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics, 21, 9–24.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Whittaker, R.
    (1995) Theme, process and the realization of meanings in academic articles. InM. Ghadessy (Ed.), Thematic development in English texts (pp.129–146). Pinter.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Xuan, W. W.
    (2015) A longitudinal study of Chinese high school students learning English based on systemic functional text analysis [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Hong Kong Polytechnic University. https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/8165
    [Google Scholar]
  44. (2018) Understanding experiential meaning-making in Chinese adolescent L2 writing: A systemic functional perspective. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 3(1), 5. doi:  10.1186/s40862‑018‑0046‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-018-0046-2 [Google Scholar]
  45. (2019) Understanding logical meaning-making in Chinese high school students’ EFL writing: A systemic functional perspective. Asian EFL Journal, 23(6.1), 7–33.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Xuan, W. W., & Huang, X. E.
    (2017) Understanding interpersonal meaning-making in Chinese high school students’ ESL writing: A systemic functional perspective. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 26(5), 227–238. doi:  10.1007/s40299‑017‑0343‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-017-0343-4 [Google Scholar]
  47. Yang, Q., Ramírez, J. A., & Harman, R.
    (2007) EFL Chinese students and high stakes expository writing: A theme analysis. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, (9), 99–125. 10.14483/22487085.3147
    https://doi.org/10.14483/22487085.3147 [Google Scholar]
  48. Zhang, H., & Xuan, W. W.
    (2019) Word knowledge in academic literacy skills among collegiate ESL learners. Applied Linguistics Review, 10(2), 201–218. doi:  10.1515/applirev‑2017‑0057
    https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2017-0057 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/aral.20045.xua
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/aral.20045.xua
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error