A Contrastive Study On Thematic Structure And Thematic Progression Patterns Of Conclusion Sections Of Master Theses In Linguistics

As an important device in discourse analysis, the adoption of thematic structure and thematic progression patterns in conclusion sections of master theses may have an effect on its organization and its quality. Based on Halliday’s thematic theory (1985), Zhu and Yan’s four thematic progression patterns (2001) and Xu’s seven logical semantic relations in defining the repeated Themes and Rhemes (1985), the present study makes a contrastive analysis on thematic structure and thematic progression patterns of conclusion sections of master theses in linguistics through analyzing60conclusions of master theses in Linguistics written from2010to2012, of which30conclusions written by native English writers are selected from PQDT, and another30conclusions written by Chinese writers are selected from CMFD. Its purpose is to figure out the similarities and differences between the conclusion sections of master theses in linguistics written by native English writers and Chinese writers in terms of the adoption of thematic structure and thematic progression patterns as well as possible influencing factors.Major findings are yielded:(1) Simple Themes are preferred both by native English writers and Chinese writers (75.90%and63.31%);(2) In multiple Themes, textual Themes are adopted more frequently than interpersonal Themes (91.16%>10.04%;94.20%>6.86%), and more textual Themes are used in conclusion sections of master theses written by Chinese writers than those written by native English writers (357>227);(3) To ensure the objectivity of the conclusions, interpersonal Themes are seldom used (10.04%and6.86%);(4) Unmarked Themes dominate in conclusion sections (74.25%and69.22%);(5) In terms of the employment of thematic progression patterns, concentrated progression patterns and continuous progression patterns are both most frequently employed (30.11%and25.72%;31.11%and22.63%). The findings of this study play a guiding role in the teaching and writing of conclusion sections of English master theses in linguistics.