Rafita Tioria Sianipar, 2015 THEME AND THEMATIC PROGRESSION ANALYSIS OF ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION TEXTS
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implications of Theme and thematic progression on the nature of analytical exposition texts written by the students.
3.4.1 Reading the texts
Before analyzing the texts, the very first thing to do was to read the text critically. This step aims at examining features running throughout the texts, and also
examining what the texts do to convey the meaning: how patterns of content and language shape the portrayal of the topic and how relationships between those
patterns convey underlying meaning.
3.4.2 Identifying the Theme Choice
This step aims at investigating how the students organized the ideas textually in their texts. Eac
h of the students’ analytical exposition texts was broken down into clauses which are actually “slightly larger than the clause, but smaller than the
sentence” consisting of “an independent clause together with all hypotactically
related clauses and words that are dependent on that independent clause” see
Fries, 1995b: 49. The advantage of analyzing the clauses this way is that “it allows analysts to take into account whether a dependent adverbial clause has
been placed in initial position in the Theme or later in the Rheme Herriman, 2011: 3. This would be missed if the analysis was carried out merely in the level
of single clause. Then the Theme choices was identified based on the works of Halliday 1994, Halliday Matthiessen 2004, and Eggins 2004 in terms of
textual, interpersonal, and topical Theme. Topical Theme will further be analyzed whether it is marked or unmarked. This step is undertaken as an effort to answer
the first research question dealing with the Themes and thematic progressions relized
in students’ analytical exposition texts.
3.4.3 Identifying the Thematic Progression Pattern
