Making a Paragraph Cohesive with Linear Thematic Progression in EFL Writing

This paper examines whether Korean EFL writers effectively use linear thematic progression (LTP), a type of theme-rheme patterns, in their expository paragraph. Specifically, this paper explores what characterizes their paragraph in terms of cohesion; it also discovers what difficulties pose to those writers when they use LTP. Analysis of 18 expository paragraphs written by Korean EFL writers shows that LTP is rarely used; instead, their paragraphs feature (1) fuzziness caused by demonstrative pronouns (2) the use of animate pronouns and (3) the reverse of LTP. These characteristics turn out to make a paragraph less cohesive. The findings of 14 think-aloud protocols indicate that the choice of summary words encapsulating what the previous clause says makes it difficult for the Korean writers to form LTP. Another problem with the formation of LTP is that even after a summary word is properly selected, choosing a verb that is to follow the summary word remains challenging. All this suggests that vocabulary competence plays a pivotal role in forming LTP; vocabulary teaching should be put in its right place in writing courses.