The impact of theme-rheme progression method on improving textual coherence and cohesion in L2 writing: A study of L2 learners of English

Abstract

Coherence and cohesion are considered two main elements of essay writing. Despite their importance in writing, they are still regarded as difficult to teach and learn as compared to grammar and spelling. Theme-rheme development is suggested to be a tool to teach coherence and cohesion in writing. This experimental study was carried out to verify whether the teaching of theme-rheme approach helps the learners to improve their textual coherence. Forty graduate-level students (20 males and 20 females), aging between 19 and 23, participated in the study. The participants were equally divided into two groups. The experimental group was taught coherence and cohesion by using the thematic progression method, whereas the controlled group was taught by using the ordinary method. Pre- and post-tests were conducted to compare the effects of the thematic progression method. The findings show that the teaching of coherence and cohesion through the thematic progression method helped the learners to improve their essay writing quality. The experimental group outweighed the controlled group as it got twice higher marks in the post-test than the pre-test. In contrast, the controlled group showed a negligible improvement.

The Effects of Thematic Progression in Improving Coherence and Cohesion in EFL Writing

“…The finding of coherence and cohesion improvement after learning thematic progression in this current research is in line with some previous studies (Jingxia & Li, 2013;Soleymanzadeh & Gholami, 2014;Nguyen, 2021;Saeed, Karim, & Mughal, 2021). These studies prove that the teaching of thematic is of some assistance to enhance coherence and cohesion in students' writings.…”

“…In the current literature, many studies paid attention to analyzing the correlation between thematic progression and the marking of coherence and cohesion (Jingxia & Li, 2013;Soleymanzadeh & Gholami, 2014;Nguyen, 2021;Saeed, Karim, & Mughal, 2021). Another field of interest is instructions of thematic progression application in teaching writing which was conducted by Wang (2007), and Le & Wijitsonpon (2015).…”

Paragraph Organization Errors in the Writing of Pakistani College-Going Students: An Error Analysis Study

“…Therefore, in any text, the value of paragraphs is important. A paragraph is made up of a topic sentence followed by supporting details, and ending with a concluding or closing sentence (Sattayatham & Ratanapinyowong, 2008); and only one idea must be dealt with in each paragraph (Saeed, et al, 2021). A topic sentence is a sentence that usually takes the first place in a paragraph, stating the main idea of the whole paragraph, followed by supporting ideas that give information about or explain the core theme.…”

What is Thematic Progression in Students’ Essay? Revision of Systematic Literature Review

“…In general, in written teachings, most teachers still use traditional ways based on their experience and knowledge that they have and more focused on the aspects of grammar, punctuation, spelling although ignoring aspects of cohesion and coherence in essay writing ( Purba et al, 2019;Saeed et al, 2021;Styani & Rodliyah, 2021). At the same time, students struggle with writing that isn't coherent and cohesive in sentences, paragraphs, and essays (Sri Yunita, 2018).…”