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CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION
This chapter summarizes and concludes the whole study. There are three sections in this chapter. The first section summarizes the major findings of the present study.
The second section highlights the significance of this study. The last section presents the limitations of the present study and proposes suggestions for future research.
Summary of the Major Findings
The present study has investigated theme types and their establishment in Taiwanese senior high school students’ narratives. The entire study consists of a pilot study and a formal one. In the pilot study, we sampled 7 student texts, from which we established the criteria for analysis to be used in the main study. In the main study, 111 student compositions were collected and rated. Two raters were recruited in rating the student compositions. They were trained prior to the study and the results of their rating indicated a high degree of agreement. The result from the scoring produced 15 HI, 62 MID, and 34 LOW narratives. Ten samples from each group were then randomly selected for theme analysis in the formal study.
At the beginning, a quantitative analysis was conducted to answer our first research question: What are the theme types most frequently found in the high-rated, middle-rated and low- rated narratives composed by Taiwanese senior high school students? The result shows that the student texts exhibit a variety of themes, which can be categorized into 6 major types: NP, PP + NP, Adv + NP, Conj + NP, Adv C + NP, and Non-fi C + NP.
Of these theme types, NP is the most common and it comprises the highest percentage of overall theme types used by all three levels of writers. We thus conclude that the unmarked theme, that is, the noun-phrase subject is the most favored by our students
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when they compose a narrative. In detailed analysis, we also find that the HI group employs a higher percentage of NP theme than the MID or the LOW group. Since narratives tend to thematize the major characters in the plot, the finding suggests that the HI’s employment of NP theme is strongly related to its effectiveness in maintaining theme continuity in the narrative and the coherence of the text.
On marked themes, we identify the configuration of PP + NP, Adv + NP, Conj + NP, Adv C + NP and Non-fi C + NP as well as marked structures like wh-cleft, anticipatory it or existential there. In general, the distributions of marked themes in the three levels of essays are alike with the Adv + NP theme being the most desirable and the Non-fi C + NP the least favored by our students. The low frequency of Non-fi C + NP indicates that our students may be less acquainted or less confident with such a structure. In terms of differences between groups, both the HI and the MID groups show preference for the use of PP + NP theme over the other marked structures. The result suggests that PP + NP theme is a common theme type that higher proficiency writers employ to add texture to their texts. In contrast, the LOW group uses significantly fewer PP + NP themes but far more Conj + NP themes in their narratives than the other two groups. It shows that the LOW students tend to rely heavily on the use of conjunctions to connect sentences instead of trying other possibilities. The above findings on theme types in the student narratives confirm that writers of different proficiency levels structure their “point of departure” in different ways. We believe that their motivation and strategies involved in text
construction also vary.
In order to understand how theme, that is, the initial constituent interacts with its textual environment in contributing to the quality of writing, we then conduct a
qualitative analysis on theme types to provide answers to our second research question:
How do theme types contribute to the quality of writing in the high-rated, middle-rated and low- rated narratives composed by Taiwanese senior high school students?
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The qualitative analysis shows that the function of theme is exploited by the three levels of writers differently and to different degrees of success. In terms of unmarked theme use, we find that although all three groups employ a high percentage of NP theme, the structures of their themes are not the same. In particular, the HI group tends to use NP theme more effectively to distinguish the different characters in the story, while many MID’s or LOW’s NP themes are quite confusing and are thus less effective in either reintroducing an old character or differentiating the various individuals in the discourse.
For instance, we find that the HI group’s use of Proper N theme is particularly helpful in distinguishing the different characters in the narration involving several characters of the same gender. The application of Proper N theme has the advantage of discriminating these characters from each other and of avoiding potential confusion when any of them is referred to in the subsequent discourse. Nevertheless, this function of theme is relatively unexplored by our MID and LOW students. Instead, these writers tend to use Com-N theme to reintroduce a recurring character long after it is first mentioned. The
presentation of Com-N theme unrelated to the immediate discourse often gives a sense of disorientation because the readers are unprepared for the presentation of the characters.
Meanwhile, these writers’ use of Pron theme is also problematic. Ambiguity tends to occur when the Pron theme appears in a discourse involving more than one possible referent. This use of Pron theme may confuse the readers because they are not sure about which character the writer is referring to. The above misuses of NP theme constitute the major causes of coherence breaks in many MID and LOW essays.
On marked themes, we also find their use to be distinctive among different writers.
That is, despite a similar distribution of occurrences, the establishments of marked themes by the three levels of writers are not identical. The HI group is found to be more skillful in using marked themes to provide relevant background information for the continuation or introduction of recurring characters and thus maintain the flow of the discourse. It is
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observed that when these students employ a marked theme, they tend to use it to supply temporal, local, attitudinal or pertinent background information for the sentence to support the development of the existent discourse. Moreover, their marked theme is either related to the occurrence of a continuous character or helps initiate a new textual unit involving a recurring character so that topic continuity is always maintained.
In contrast to the HI’s explicit use of theme, the MID and the LOW groups are less successful in using the marked theme to either sustain or establish a textual unit smoothly.
Instead, these writers tend to include in the marked theme referents that have not been mentioned in the preceding sentences or are irrelevant to a new textual unit. Other times, they include in the marked theme information which is either unconnected to the
preceding discourse or is unavailable in the immediate textual environment. In some extreme cases, some writers employ marked themes in several consecutive sentences.
Because of the extra attention that the marked themes attract, they demand more efforts from the readers on processing the information. This use of theme may hinder the comprehension of the more important information in the discourse and disrupt the coherence of the text.
Clear examples showing the ineffective use of marked themes by the students may be observed in the LOW group’s use of Conj + NP theme. Since conjunctions signal transitions in the text, the misuse of such themes may often lead to coherence breaks in the discourse. In fact, the misuse of Conj + NP theme is most disruptive when the development of the discourse does not require a conjunction. This use of Conj + NP theme is thus found to be the major cause of incoherence in the LOW essays.
Comparisons with the Previous Studies
Our finding corresponds to Chao’s (2002) study, which concludes that higher proficiency writers are more adept in maintaining text coherence through the
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manipulation of theme-rheme structure in the text. The analysis shows that the HI students are more skillful in including clear references in the theme to maintain the flow of the discourse than the MID or the LOW students. Our analysis also confirms Chang’s (1995) finding that the less proficient writers tend to include irrelevant information in the sentences and produce incoherent texts. In particular, we discover that it is typical for the MID or LOW students to incorporate new or unrelated background information in the theme. Since these themes are not connected to the immediate discourse, they are likely to break the coherence of the texts. Finally, our result agrees with Yu’s (2001) finding, which concludes that Taiwanese students are not aware of the global function of an adverbial clause. It is evident from our analysis that many of our students fail to use the Adv C + NP theme appropriately to help them connect units of a discourse. In general, our finding has provided further support to current knowledge of theme development in Taiwanese students’ writing. Nevertheless, since the natures and focuses of the above mentioned studies may differ, special precautions should still be taken when making comparisons between them.
In conclusion, theme is crucial to the organization of a coherent text. The writers’
thematic choice serves as an important means of reader orientation and is a vital influence on the way the text is interpreted. In our analysis, we find significant differences in theme types used by the three levels of writers. The disparity confirms that different writers have exploited the function of theme differently and that their establishment of theme is relevant to the degree of coherence in their text.
Significance of the Present Study
A coherent narrative is more than a composite of random sentences but a structural discourse, which reflects the main intention of the writer and provides a clear perspective for the readers. In constructing a coherent narrative, the writer needs to relate a
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sequence of events in association to some characters and settings in a logical and consistent manner. The quality of the text may be clearly indicated by the writer’s thematic choice. The result from the present study on theme types provides significant insights into the way Taiwanese senior high school students structure their narratives.
The study uncovers substantial evidence to show that the writers’ choice of theme has a great effect on the coherence of their texts. In particular, we have noticed that high-rated essays tend to establish a theme that presents clear referents or important information for the interpretation of the subsequent text; whereas, the mid-rated or low-rated essays tend to favor a theme that introduces unclear referents or irrelevant information. The identification of these characteristics that distinguish the three levels of writers thus offers valuable reference for our students in constructing coherent narratives. Equipped with the knowledge of theme, the students will learn to monitor their thematic choice and develop their narratives more efficiently. Furthermore, the process of composition will become more meaningful and the communication will be made more effective.
On the pedagogical level, the result from our analysis on theme types provides the teachers useful information and practical suggestions in teaching the concept of coherent writing. The analysis indicates that traditional writing instruction which focuses on correcting grammatical and mechanical errors is not sufficient and that coherence issues must also be addressed on the discourse level. With an informed knowledge on the functions of theme, the teachers will be able to talk about text coherence more explicitly and offer suggestions that are more concrete and constructive. Coherence breaks arising from problematic thematic structure in the student texts will be identified more easily and a more comprehensive plan of intervention may be made possible. In a word, the present study helps shed light on the study of theme and offers valuable insights into the teaching of coherence in narrative writing.
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Limitations of the Present Study
The present study has made significant findings on theme types in Taiwanese senior high school students’ narratives. Nevertheless, there exist the following limitations.
First, due to the limited size of our samples, the analysis only reveals the tendency of occurrences of theme types in the sample writings selected for the analysis. We believe the results of our analysis would be more convincing if the sample size is made larger.
Moreover, since we only include in our analysis a few passages which exemplify typical theme use, a detailed examination of theme’s establishment in all the sample texts is required to provide a complete picture of theme’s function in the students’ narratives.
Second, the writings collected for our study are produced by the students from one single senior high school in Taipei. For the data to be more representative, narratives
composed by students in different cities or areas should be included. Finally, the writings in our study are induced by picture prompts, which only represent one type of narratives. We may not generalize our findings on the students’ performances to other types of narratives such as biographies, myths, or narratives based on a given topic, say
“an unforgettable experience.”
Suggestions for Future Research
The limitations of the present study suggest possibilities for further enquiry on a similar topic. First, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the occurrences and behavior of theme in the students’ narratives, a complete analysis of theme establishment in all the sample texts is required. In addition, for the result to be more convincing, future studies may include more writings in the data analysis or incorporate narratives written by students from different schools or areas. These endeavors may yield considerable insights into the similar or different structural strategies employed by the different writers to achieve coherence in texts. Finally, since there is relatively little
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literature on theme types manifested in the Taiwanese students’ compositions, further research may inquire into their occurrences and establishment in different styles of writing such as the expository, argumentative, or descriptive.
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