The Realization of Thematic Progression in Academic Writing in Global Citizenship Program: A Case Study

Abstract

This study aims to explore thematic progression (TP) patterns and their effects on the cohesion and coherence of academic essays written by Level 5 Swinburne University of Technology students. Thematic progression is defined as “the way in which the theme of a clause may pick up, or repeat, a meaning from a preceding theme or rheme” (Paltrigde, 2006, p. 148). The five patterns of TP are Simple Linear Progression (SLP), Constant Progression (CP), Split Rheme Progression (SRP), Split Theme Progression (STP), and Derived Hypertheme Progression (DHP), and are studied in the context of a systemic functional approach (McCabe, 1999). Using qualitative methodology with the assistance of the quantitative one, the corpus of 20 sample essays from the Level 5 Global Citizenship Programs (GCED) final assignment was evaluated in this study. According to the study’s findings, SLP is the pattern that appears in the corpus the most frequently, followed by CP, SRP, STP, and DHP patterns. The analysis demonstrates that each pattern of effective TP usage has a unique impact on the text’s coherence and cohesion.