A Contrastive Study On Thematic Structure In Concluding Parts Of English Journal Articles

Originating from the Prague School in the 1930s, the thematic theory has been gradually researched and developed by the Systemic Functional Linguistic School represented by Halliday, and has now become a widely accepted method in discourse analysis. In terms of the research on thematic theory at the discourse level, Danes (1974) first proposed the term "thematic progression pattern". Since then, these patterns have gradually been applied in research on various types of discourse.As far as academic discourses are concerned, English academic journals contribute to the academic exchanges between domestic and foreign scholars, and accordingly set strict requirements on the articles. The concluding parts of English journal articles present essence of the research results and the thematic structures of these concluding parts can influence the organization and quality of the whole thesis. However, the concluding parts are hardly researched from the perspective of thematic structure. Working within the framework of the thematic theory by Halliday (1985) and the four basic thematic progression patterns by Zhu Yongsheng (1995), this study combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to conduct a contrastive analysis on the adoption of the thematic structures in the concluding parts written by the Chinese and native English writers in an attempt to address the following questions:1) What are the similarities and differences in the adoption of themes in the concluding parts of English journal articles written by the Chinese and native English writers? What are the main reasons that may account for the similarities or differences?2) What are the similarities and differences in the adoption of thematic progression patterns in the concluding parts of English journal articles written by the Chinese and native English writers? What are the main reasons that may account for the similarities or differences?Totally 40 pieces of concluding parts are selected for analysis in this study from the year 2011 to 2015,20 from Applied Linguistics published by Oxford University Press and the other 20 from Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics published by China’s Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. A number of similarities and differences are observed in the present study:1) in both groups of the concluding parts written by the Chinese writers and the native English writers, simple themes occupy a larger proportion (69.65% in the Chinese group and 76.51% in the English group); 2) with regard to the multiple theme, the textual elements are preferred to the interpersonal elements in both groups (87.31%> 12.69% in the Chinese group; 73.65%> 26.35% in the English group), but in terms of volume, the Chinese writers adopt much more textual elements in the concluding parts than the native English writers (120> 84); 3) in both groups of the concluding parts, the unmarked themes make up the majority (respectively 85.31% in the Chinese group and 81.95% in the English group). Moreover, the marked themes are also used for certain purpose in a specific discourse; 4) in terms of the thematic progression patterns, the continuous pattern is the most frequently used in both groups of the concluding parts (respectively 50.32% in the Chinese group and 36.72% in the English group), which indicates that the continuous pattern is preferred in the concluding parts of English journal articles; 5) however, the continuous pattern is favored by the Chinese writers while the native English writers lend similar weight to the same theme pattern and the same rheme pattern.Through the analysis on thematic structures in the concluding parts, this study has explored the commonly used themes and thematic progression patterns in the concluding parts of English journal articles and is expected to provide instruction on writing the concluding parts of English journal articles. As the adoption of different thematic structures contributes to coherence of the discourse, second language learners can carry out logical narration in language organization and writing by choosing suitable themes and thematic progression patterns. Furthermore, the thematic structures also help facilitate the understanding of source texts in translation practice in an effort to produce a complete and coherent translation.