Thematicity in Published vs. Unpublished Iranian TEFL Theses

Abstract

Writing up their theses, postgraduate/MA students investigate patterns that can guide them in efficiently preparing their theses. Analyzing theme/rheme patterning, proven as a signaler of coherence and cohesion in written discourse, may provide the patterns postgraduate students search for. There is, therefore, an urgent necessity to scrutinize the issue from different perspectives, and propose recommendations to improve the written discourse quality especially among non-native writers. Accordingly, this study addressed thematicity in two rhetorical sections, that is, method and results sections of three categories of MA students’ theses: (1) those with theses-driven articles published in scholarly journals, (2) those with theses-driven articles presented in conferences, and (3) those with no such presentations in any academic fields. Following Halliday’s (1994) and McCabe’s (1999) models of thematic organization and progression, 45 theses, 15 from each category, were compared in terms of thematicity. Although frequency data indicated that the tendency in using different thematic patterns was higher in published theses, but Chi-square test did not reveal any significant differences among the three categories in terms of theme selection and progression. These similarities in terms of thematicity can be attributed to the same genre to which different theses belonged. The results of the study are discussed to provide fruitful insights about thematic conventions applied in written discourse.