The Relation Between Thematic Choices And Text Types

This paper mainly discusses the relation between text types and thematic progressions. They have been discussed for a long time. Concurrently and consistently, the topics of theme and text type have been discussed and debated. As for the relation between the two, many believe that a focus on thematic choices can be a useful aid to the establishment of text types. This paper attempts to make an exhaustive and convincing analysis of the relation between thematic choices and text types, to establish the relation between them. The method of thesis adopted is from two perspectives: thematic choice and patterns of thematic progression. Through the latter study we found that it is not enough to prove the relation between thematic choice and text types. So we extend the notion of theme to the level of text. In the end we found that only the combination of thematic choice and patterns of thematic choice can the text type be established.The thesis is divided into four chapters. The topic for discussion is introduced at the beginning part of paper, and the then the author goes on reviewing the two related aspects of analysis and notions which are often used interchangeably. The first chapter is literature review. It mainly includes former linguists study on thematic choice, text type and patterns of thematic progression. It also gives detailed explanation of two groups of confused concepts. Chapter Two offers the criteria of how the 30 samples are collected and categorized, and the methodology adopted. Chapter Three is the main body of the whole paper. It approaches the analysis of data from the two perspectives of each thematic element and the patterns of thematic progression. The Fourth chapter starts an attack on the problems discovered by extending the notion of theme to the level of discourse and it also includes the implications for English Teaching and Learning. Then we get the result is that only the integration of the analyses of both thematic element and thematic progression patterns can text types be established. Finally the author proposes the limitation of this paper and its influence on English teacher and English learner's reading and writing.This paper mainly discusses the relation between thematic choice and patterns of thematic progression. The results found in this paper are consistent with previous studies showing that coherence of texts may not be realized solely by cohesive devices. We hope this research can do some help for English teachers and learner especially in their writing and learning. On the other hand, language researchers delve further into the system of theme and the other aspects of the textual metafunction in functional grammar.