Abstract
This paper explores the insights concerning the relationship between Theme and Rheme derived from theory of Systemic-Functional Grammar, with the aim to improve cohesion in academic texts. The paper shows that, by analyzing Theme and Rheme in a text, the students can learn to perform the same analysis in their own writings, and thus improve cohesion in their own work. The paper begins by briefly overviewing the theoretical framework underlying this approach, in particular discussing the definition of Theme and Rheme, together with three common problems resulting from misuse of Theme and Rheme, and overall Thematic Progression in an academic text. Using a university student’s writing as an example, the paper demonstrates the application of this approach to show how the student’s textual cohesion could be improved. The paper concludes by exploring the pedagogical implications of the relationship between Theme and Rheme.

Keywords: Theme; Rheme; Thematic Progression

Introduction

It is generally recognized that many second language learners have difficulties with writing. One of the main difficulties is lack of cohesion in their writings, which contributes substantially to lower scores in examinations (Bamberg, 1983). Studies of cohesion often focus on cohesive ties as part of creating textual cohesion (Halliday & Hasan, 1976); however, cohesive ties themselves are not sufficient to create a coherent text (Stotsky, 1983). So far there has been little pedagogic use made of the relationship between Theme and Rheme to the teaching of academic writing. Research done by Witt and Faigley (1981) found that students write better papers when they develop an ability to use Theme and Rheme more effectively in their writings. Currently, many language teachers still focus their feedback to learners on errors which occur below the clause level, such as lack of subject-verb agreement, incorrect use of verb tenses, and so on. They feel the lack of tools necessary to analyze their students’ texts at the discourse level. The purpose of this paper is to apply insights gained from observing patterns of Theme and Rheme relations in students’ writings to help improve cohesion at the discourse level. The paper begins by overviewing the theoretical framework underlying this approach, in particular discussing the definition of Theme and Rheme, it goes on to examine three common problems resulting from misuse of Theme and Rheme and its affect on Thematic Progression in  academic writing. Using a university student’s writing as an example, the paper demonstrates the application of the approach to diagnosing language weaknesses in the student’s writing and to show how textual cohesion could be improved. The paper concludes by exploring the pedagogical implications of the relationship between Theme and Rheme.

Theoretical Framework

What is Theme and Rheme?
The theoretical principles underlying the study of Theme and Rheme are derived mainly from the theory of Systemic-Functional Grammar, but these issues have been debated in linguistic research as early as the eighteen century (Weil, 1844). In Weil’s influential thesis of 1844, he called point of departure and enunciation to refer to the structural division within a clause. Following Weil, linguists have produced quite a range of terms, such as topic and comment (Bates, 1976), topic and dominance (Erteschik-Shir, 1988) etc, in attempting to account for the certain aspects of the communicative function of a sentence. Theme and Rheme, on the other hand is the one favored by Halliday (1968, 1985), whose insights in this area form a very important part of this paper.

   Theme and Rheme are two terms which represent the way in which information is distributed in a sentence. The definition of Theme given by Halliday (1985, p.38) is that Theme is given information serving as “the point of departure” of a message. The given information is the information which has already been mentioned somewhere in the text, or it is shared or mutual knowledge from the immediate context. In other words, Theme typically contains familiar, old or given information. Theme provides the settings for the remainder of the sentence – Rheme. Rheme is the remainder of the message in a clause in which Theme is developed, that is to say, Rheme typically contains unfamiliar or new information. New information is knowledge that a writer assumes the reader does not know, but needs to have in order to follow the progression of the argument. The boundary between Theme and Rheme is simple: Theme is the first element occurring in a clause; the remainder clause is Rheme. For example:

Theme                                                            Rheme     
The lion                                      beat the unicorn all round the town
All round the town                               the lion beat the unicorn
However, the unicorn                 still did not want to bow to the lion
The lion                                       decided to beat him to death
Would the unicorn                                            give in to the lion
When the lion got to the battle field   the unicorn was ready for the battle

   From the above division of Themes and Rhemes in the sentences, we can see that Theme is not equated with the subject of a sentence; nor is Rheme equated with the predicate. However, in the example given above, two sentences e.g. in the first and fourth sentence, it happens that the Theme ‘The lion’ overlaps with the grammatical subjects of the sentences. This kind of Theme Halliday (1985) calls unmarked Theme. He states that unmarked sentences typically have Themes that overlap with subjects. On the other hand, marked sentences often contain a Theme that is separate from the subject containing pre-posed adverbial groups or prepositional phrases, for example ‘All around the town’ is Theme in sentence 2 above. From the above sample, we could conclude that Theme may be realized by a nominal group, verbal group, adverbial group, prepositional phrase or a dependent clause. The characteristic of these elements is that they appear first in a clause and represent ‘given’ information. All the rest of a clause is Rheme representing ‘new’ information. Knowing where to place the Theme-Rheme boundary in a more complex sentence requires a careful reading of the sentence in context to understand the meaning a writer is communicating. In a study of spoken data conducted by Lovejoy and Lance in1991, they found that there was a noticeable pitch drop at the end of Theme, and near the beginning of Rheme, often on the first word, an abrupt peak in pitch level.

   The initial place has an enormous importance in a clause. Whatever is chosen to be in the first place will influence a reader’s interpretation of everything that comes next. Accordingly, in cohesive writing, ‘given’ information in a clause needs be presented in Theme position, which acts like a signpost signaling a reader where the meanings have come from and where they are going to. The new information needs to be located in Rheme position. The balance and movement of a clause between Theme and Rheme is an essential component in composing a cohesive text. If a writer fails to control the flow of information from Theme to Rheme, his or her text is difficult for a reader to follow, because there is no clear signpost directing the reader, who therefore cannot easily follow the progression of an idea or argument.   

   The problems of inappropriately handling the flow of Theme and Rheme are quite common among inexperienced writers. Bloor & Bloor (1992) identify three common problems resulting from misuse Theme and Rheme.
The problem of the brand new ThemeThe problem of a brand new Theme is extremely common in the work of inexperienced writers, who put new information in Theme position. For example, the illiteracy rate is quite high in some rural areas. Here Theme ‘The illiteracy rate’ is in Theme position in the sentence, however this is the first mention of this information. Where this goes wrong, the communication can suddenly break down at the sentence level.

 The problem of the double Rheme

The problem of the double Rheme means a sentence has two Rhemes with one of the Rheme not mentioned previously. For example, the educational reform had a big influence on young teachers and the students’ families paid a lot of money for their children. There are two Rhemes in this clause. One Rheme is ‘had a big influence on young teachers’. The other Rheme is ‘had a big influence on the students’ families’. The latter Rheme has had no previous mention.

The problem of the empty Rheme
The problem of empty Rheme is also common in students’ writings, who fail to present ‘new’ information in Rheme position. For example, lack of qualified teachers is a serious problem. Rheme ‘is a serious problem’ fails to offer any information, which should be mentioned previously or it is shared by the potential readers.

Thematic Progression

The flow of information in a sentence from Theme to Rheme is crucial in achieving communicative effectiveness in a message. The exchange of information between successive Theme and Rheme pairings in a text is called Thematic Progression (Eggins, 1994). Thematic progression contributes to the cohesive development of a text, that is to say, in a cohesive text the distribution of given and new information needs to follow certain patterns. There are several main types of Thematic progression, which depends on different text types. For example, in a narrative-type text we often repeat Theme of one clause into Theme of subsequent clauses. For example,

Theme                         Rheme
A good teacher      need show great passion to the teaching
He or she               should be intellectually and morally honest
He or she      should have a genuine capacity to understand students

   However the Thematic development of an academic text is different. Fries (1983) made the point that the Thematic progression of an academic text needs to have a high incidence of cross-referential links from the Rheme of one clause to the Theme of the next clause, as the academic texts present complex arguments in which each successive ideas is an expansion of an idea in the previous sentence. The Thematic development of an academic text is illustrated below:

Let us have a look at an example of Thematic progression in an academic text:
‘To stop the outbreak of the unknown disease, two medical teams were sent immediately to the affected area in Sichuan to diagnose the disease. Each medical team was formed by ten doctors selected from the first-rate hospitals across the country. The expertise of all the doctors was well-known in China, and some was world-famous.’

   In this example, the infinitive ‘to stop the outbreak of the unknown disease’ is Theme, ‘two medical teams’ first appearing as Rheme in the first clause becomes Theme of the second clause. The element ‘doctors’ which is Rheme of the second clause becomes Theme of the third clause. This text demonstrates high cross-referential linking between Rheme of one clause and Theme of the next. This Thematic progression gives a reader orientation as to where the information has come from and where it is going, and hence creates cohesion in a written text.

Diagnosing a Student’s Writing
The text to be analyzed was written by Bai, a sophomore majoring in Politics from South-Eastern University in China (see Appendix 1). A detailed analysis of Theme-Rheme structure can help us to diagnose whether her text is cohesive or not, and if not, how it can be improved.

Theme-Rheme structure of the text by Bai

Based on the above analysis, we conclude her text is lacking in Thematic progression. There are only four instances of cross-referential Thematic progression in Bai’s text. At these four points new information is sited in Rheme position and becomes the Theme of the next clause (T3=R2, T5=R4, T6=R4, T10=R11). Therefore, the overall effect is of a stream of disconnected ideas, which contributes significantly to the sense that the text is lacking in the development of ideas. For example, the first two sentences present two separate, unconnected pieces of information about examinations; Theme of the second clause has no cross-referential link with Rheme of the first clause. If we take up Rheme in the first sentence to incorporate it as Theme in the second sentence, then the two separate ideas are linked and developed:

The results of examination are used as criteria for measuring a student’s achievements
Another problem in terms of Thematic progression is student Bai overuses constant progression, where the same Theme is chosen over several clauses or sentences. Bai uses ‘Examination’ in Theme position a total of four times out of seventeen clauses. In these cases, the text often reads like a list, as there is a lack of further development of Rheme. Bai tends not to expand on information introduced in the Rheme. As we mentioned earlier, narration and description are characterized by constant progression to provide a more static text. While in an argumentative text the cross-referential links from the Rheme of one clause to the Theme of the next clause can provide a more dynamic effect. The problem of overuse of constant progression is quite common in students’ academic writings, in which they overuse either ‘There’, or personal pronouns and indefinite pronouns in the Theme selection.

   Starting a sentence with Theme is especially useful in helping students to communicate their ideas successfully. However, the implications of Theme go beyond the clause, where Theme and Rheme pattern of the clause can be seen as merely a micro-level realization of organization. The same principle can operate at from macro to micro level in a given text. A dependent clause may act as Theme for a complete sentence; a topic sentence may act as Theme for a paragraph; a paragraph likewise can acts Theme for an entire text. In Bai’s text, the third paragraph seems to start abruptly. There is no close link between the second and third paragraph, in which a topic sentence is needed to act as Theme to the third paragraph. If we add a topic sentence ‘There are three negative sides of examinations’, the third paragraph is closely linked with the second paragraph.

   The problems of misuse Theme and Rheme can also be seen in her text. There are two instances of brand new Themes in her text. One occurred in the second clause, and was just analyzed. Another is in the eleventh clause. Theme ‘teachers’ is in Theme position, and hence expects to indicate given information; yet this is the first mention of ‘teacher’ in the text. One strategy of avoiding this problem is to rewrite the sentence to make ‘teachers’ sited in Theme position. The reconstruction of the sentence can be done through the process of nominalization. Nominalization refers to turning things that are not normally nouns into nouns. The main elements of clauses that get turned into nouns are verbs (e.g. to extend, to consume, to submit become extension, consumption, submission), and conjunctions or logical connectives (because becomes reason). By nominalizing action and logical relations, we can organize our text not in terms of ourselves, but in terms of ideas, reasons, causes, etc. Once these elements have been placed in Theme position, they can be commented on in Rheme.

   In addition to the use of nominalization, we can also add adverbial, prepositional or infinitive phrases in front of ‘teachers’ so that it appears in Rheme position. Thus the eleventh clause could be changed to:
To relieve the heavy pressure of exams, the teachers need to teach students some exam techniques.

   The problem of double Rheme does not appear in her text. We take the example earlier in this paper.
The educational reform had a big influence on young teachers and the students’ families paid a lot of money for their children.

   There are two Rhemes in this clause. One Rheme is ‘had a big influence on young teachers’. The other Rheme is ‘had a big influence on the students’ families’. The latter Rheme has had no previous mention. One way of rectifying the problem is to make use of the phrase ‘not only…. but also…’, which is a device for presenting given information before new information. Using the above device, this clause can be changed to:
The educational reform had a big influence not only on young teachers but also on the students’ families, who were paid a lot of money for their children.

   The problem of the empty Rheme also appears in her text. She made a similar mistake in the eleventh clause: 
The teachers would teach students exam techniques.

   The problem here is that Rheme is virtually free of information. What are the exam techniques? The text does not tell us anything about them. There are two ways of overcoming this problem. One way is to add new content to Rheme to make Rheme complete. This sentence can be changed to:
The teachers could teach students some exam techniques, such as how to read between the lines and how to understand questions etc.

   Another solution would be to build up Theme so that it suggests a great deal of pre-supposed information. This technique leads to a sentence with a high density of information, which is so typical of academic writing. The following revision is a good try.
Currently, the techniques of relieving exam pressure come to the attention of the Department of Education.

   By working on Thematic progression and Thematic selection to improve cohesion in Bai’s text, a second draft of the text could be something like this (see the Appendix2). Learners need try to avoid these problems resulting from misuse of Theme and Rheme in their writings.

Pedagogical Implications
To convey information effectively, writers must be able to control the flow of given and new information in developing the argument in the text. A focus on Theme and Rheme structure in a clause can have startling and immediate results in teaching writing. Once a language teacher shows learners how to properly arrange old and new information, the students have gained a powerful tool for managing the meanings of their writings. The learners can consciously and strategically draw on this knowledge to construct cohesive writing. The cohesion in students’ writings can be improved dramatically if attention is given to Theme selection and Thematic progression in texts.

   The relationship between Theme and Rheme is essential in creating a cohesive text. However, the insights gained from Theme and Rheme pattern are valuable in teaching writing as well as in teaching literacy. The notion of Theme can show students how to read effectively by paying attention to the first paragraph, the topic sentence of each paragraph, and Theme of a clause. Generally, the first paragraph orients a reader to what the text will be about and predicts the topic sentences of each paragraph of the text. A topic sentence orients a reader to what a paragraph will be about, and it tends to predict the Themes of the sentences in the paragraph. Theme of a clause orients a reader to the message in clause.

Conclusion

This paper has explored the insights gained from the relationship between Theme and Rheme to improve cohesion at the level of discourse. Teachers need to look beyond the traditional grammar of the clause when teaching writing. The paper shows that Theme and Rheme patterning can be effectively applied in classrooms to diagnosis students’ weaknesses. Students’ weaknesses in their arguments are due to problems with either Thematic progression or Thematic selection, or both. The paper demonstrates useful solution to these problems. In addition to equipping teachers with an effective instrument in teaching writing, the insights gained on the relationship between Theme and Rheme are valuable in teaching literacy. 

References

Bamberg, B. (1983). What makes a text coherent? College Composition and Communication, 34(4), 417-429.

Bates, E. (1976). Language and context: The acquisition of pragmatics. New York: Academic Press.

Bloor, M., and Bloor, T. (1992). Given and new information in the thematic organization of text: An application to the teaching of academic writing. Occasional Papers in Systemic Linguistics, 6, 33-43.

Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to systemic functional linguistic. London: Printer Publishers.

Erteschik-Shir, N. (1988). Topic-chaining and dominance-chaining. In Y. Tobin (Ed.), The Prague school and its legacy in linguistics, literature, semiotics, folklore, and the arts (pp.145-53). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Fries, P. H. (1983). On the status of theme in English: Arguments in discourse. In J.S. Petofi & E. Sozer (Eds.), Micro and macro connexity of text. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1968). Notes on transitivity and theme in English (part 3). Journal of Linguistics, 4(2), 179-215.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). Introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.

Halliday, M. A. K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.

Lovejoy, K. B. & Lance, D. M. (1991). Information management and cohesion in the study of written discourse. Linguistics and Education, 3, 251-73.

Stotsky, S. (1983). Type of lexical cohesion in expository writing: Implications for developing the vocabulary of academic discourse. College Composition and Communication, 34(4), 430-46.

Weil, H. (1844). In Super, C.W. (Ed.), De L’ordre des Mots dans les Langues Anciennes Comparees aux Langues Modernes. Amsterdam: John Benjamins (trans.) (1978).

Witt, S. & Faigley, L. (1981). Coherence, cohesion, and writing quality. College Composition and Communication, 32, 189-204.

Appendix 1:  My Views on Examination (the original text by Bai)

Examination is a common way of testing students. People use the score to judge your study. The score by examine will influence your future.
   There are two different views on examination. One is that examination is the best way of to test the students. Another is not the best way. In my opinion, I believe examination is not the best way to test the students, because it has more negative influence than its advantages.
Exams are the results of cramming. Most of them are tests of memories, working under pressure, not ability. Teachers would teach students exam techniques. The heavy pressure of exams and anxiety has increased number of suicide dropouts. This has been a very serious society problem. Besides, most successful candidates are not best educated, but best trained in techniques.
   All these make examination the worst thing in students’ mind. So we should change the condition and find a better way to test the students.

Appendix 2: My Views on Examination (after improving coherence)

Examination is a common way of testing the students. The results of examination are used as criteria for measuring a student’s achievements, and the results can sometimes influence a student’s future.
   There are two different views on examination. Some people think examination is the best way of testing students; others do not think so. In my opinion, examination is not the best way of testing students, because the negative side of examination overweighs the positive side. There are three negative points of examination.
Firstly, most of the exams are testing students’ memories rather than testing students’ real abilities. Secondly, the heavy pressure of exams is a major cause for some psychological problems among students, such as anxiety, quitting school and even suicide. The increased number of committing suicide has been a serious social problem. Finally, there is no direct link between high scores and future success. Many successful politicians and businessmen did not get high scores during their studies, but they still have achieved success in their lives.

   In short, examination is not the best way of testing students. A better way to test students should be found through reform on examination system.