Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium
Master’s theses

J 2020

Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium Master’s theses

DONTCHEVA-NAVRÁTILOVÁ, Olga, Renata JANČAŘÍKOVÁ, Irena HŮLKOVÁ and Josef SCHMIED

Basic information

Original name

Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium Master’s theses

Authors

DONTCHEVA-NAVRÁTILOVÁ, Olga (100 Bulgaria, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Renata JANČAŘÍKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Irena HŮLKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Josef SCHMIED (276 Germany)

Edition

Lingua, Elsevier, 2020, 0024-3841

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

60203 Linguistics

Country of publisher

Netherlands

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 0.719

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14410/20:00115903

Organization unit

Faculty of Education

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102892

UT WoS

000551878100005

Keywords in English

academic writing; coherence; Theme zone; thematic structure; Master’s theses

Abstract

V originále

Drawing on Halliday’s approach to information structure in discourse, this paper explores the discursive function of the initial part of the sentence, i.e. the Theme zone, in a learner corpus of Master’s theses by Czech university students of English. The aims of the study are to identify the major patterns of Themes, to analyse the realisations of textual and interpersonal Themes and to compare the Theme choices in Czech students’ theses with the academic discourse of Anglophone student writers as illustrated by BAWE, and to consider how the findings of the study can contribute to the teaching of academic writing at university level. The results of the investigation show that Czech students tend to use primarily simple and two-component Theme patterns; textual Themes tend to be overused, whereas interpersonal Themes are strongly underused. Since the underuse or overuse of some thematic patterns and their realisations may be addressed by explicit instruction aiming at expanding the range of rhetorical resources that the students have at their disposal to build a coherent discourse, the findings of this study are intended to inform the design of courses and study materials for the teaching of academic writing at university level.

Links

LTC18015, research and development project

Name: Výzkum a výuka akademického psaní z mezikulturního hlediska

Investor: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR, Researching and teaching academic writing from a cross-cultural perspective, INTER-COST

Citovat

DONTCHEVA-NAVRÁTILOVÁ, Olga, Renata JANČAŘÍKOVÁ, Irena HŮLKOVÁ and Josef SCHMIED. Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium Master’s theses. Lingua. Elsevier, 2020, vol. 243, AUG 2020, p. 1-17. ISSN 0024-3841. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102892.

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   author = {DontchevaandNavrátilová, Olga and Jančaříková, Renata and Hůlková, Irena and Schmied, Josef},
   article_number = {AUG 2020},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102892},
   keywords = {academic writing; coherence; Theme zone; thematic structure; Master’s theses},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {0024-3841},
   journal = {Lingua},
   title = {Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium Master’s theses},
   url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384120301005?via%3Dihub},
   volume = {243},
   year = {2020}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 1668799
AU  - Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Olga - Jančaříková, Renata - Hůlková, Irena - Schmied, Josef
PY  - 2020
TI  - Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium Master’s theses
JF  - Lingua
VL  - 243
IS  - AUG 2020
SP  - 1-17
EP  - 1-17
PB  - Elsevier
SN  - 00243841
KW  - academic writing
KW  - coherence
KW  - Theme zone
KW  - thematic structure
KW  - Master’s theses
UR  - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384120301005?via%3Dihub
L2  - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384120301005?via%3Dihub
N2  - Drawing on Halliday’s approach to information structure in discourse, this paper explores the discursive function of the initial part of the sentence, i.e. the Theme zone, in a learner corpus of Master’s theses by Czech university students of English. The aims of the study are to identify the major patterns of Themes, to analyse the realisations of textual and interpersonal Themes and to compare the Theme choices in Czech students’ theses with the academic discourse of Anglophone student writers as illustrated by BAWE, and to consider how the findings of the study can contribute to the teaching of academic writing at university level. The results of the investigation show that Czech students tend to use primarily simple and two-component Theme patterns; textual Themes tend to be overused, whereas interpersonal Themes are strongly underused. Since the underuse or overuse of some thematic patterns and their realisations may be addressed by explicit instruction aiming at expanding the range of rhetorical resources that the students have at their disposal to build a coherent discourse, the findings of this study are intended to inform the design of courses and study materials for the teaching of academic writing at university level.
ER  -

DONTCHEVA-NAVRÁTILOVÁ, Olga, Renata JANČAŘÍKOVÁ, Irena HŮLKOVÁ and Josef SCHMIED. Theme choices in Czech university students’ English-medium Master’s theses. \textit{Lingua}. Elsevier, 2020, vol.~243, AUG 2020, p.~1-17. ISSN~0024-3841. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102892.

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