The Relationship Between Thematic Progression and English Discourse Coherence: An Investigation Based on some University of Zambia Students' written Discourse
type: CreativeWork
description: This study investigated the relationship between thematic progression patterns and English discourse coherence in the written pieces of discourse produced by a sample of University of Zambia students registered for the 2009 Academic Year in the School of Education and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The purpose of the exercise was to establish the types of theme-rheme patterns used by students at different levels of study at the University of Zambia in order to determine the extent to which these patterns enhanced discourse coherence. The investigation was motivated by informal complaints from lecturers about lack of coherence in most of the students' written pieces of discourse. Two types of patterns were examined: those which enhanced coherence and those which obscured it. The former included simple linear, constant, derived hyper-thematic and split progression while the latter included brand new theme, empty rheme, incomplete split progression, split-theme progression, empty use of there, use of dummy it, and use of conversational personal pronouns. The data were collected from 200 scripts comprising samples of written pieces of discourse produced by students at four academic levels of study which are: first year, second year, third year and fourth year as part of their normal coursework test and examination tasks. Of the 200 scripts, 50 were drawn from each of the four academic levels. From each script, coherence-enhancing and coherence-obscuring theme-rheme patterns were identified and categorized according to types. As regards data analysis and interpretation, the study adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Each of the findings was categorized further according to the set research objectives. The major findings indicate that there is a relationship between thematic progression patterns and discourse coherence in that there was evidence of discourse coherence in the scripts which had adhered to the application of the coherence-enha…
abstract: This study investigated the relationship between thematic progression patterns and English discourse coherence in the written pieces of discourse produced by a sample of University of Zambia students registered for the 2009 Academic Year in the School of Education and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The purpose of the exercise was to establish the types of theme-rheme patterns used by students at different levels of study at the University of Zambia in order to determine the extent to which these patterns enhanced discourse coherence. The investigation was motivated by informal complaints from lecturers about lack of coherence in most of the students' written pieces of discourse. Two types of patterns were examined: those which enhanced coherence and those which obscured it. The former included simple linear, constant, derived hyper-thematic and split progression while the latter included brand new theme, empty rheme, incomplete split progression, split-theme progression, empty use of there, use of dummy it, and use of conversational personal pronouns. The data were collected from 200 scripts comprising samples of written pieces of discourse produced by students at four academic levels of study which are: first year, second year, third year and fourth year as part of their normal coursework test and examination tasks. Of the 200 scripts, 50 were drawn from each of the four academic levels. From each script, coherence-enhancing and coherence-obscuring theme-rheme patterns were identified and categorized according to types. As regards data analysis and interpretation, the study adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Each of the findings was categorized further according to the set research objectives. The major findings indicate that there is a relationship between thematic progression patterns and discourse coherence in that there was evidence of discourse coherence in the scripts which had adhered to the application of the coherence-enha…
author: Njobvu, Naomi
language: en
keywords: Thematic Progression, English-Discourse Coherence
date published: 2012-03-27
date modified: 2026-07-27T22:06:10Z
provider: University of Zambia
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Zambia