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54 

 

 
ELT FORUM 7 (2) (2018) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 

 
http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 
 

AN ANALYSIS OF TEXTUAL MEANING ON 

STUDENTS’ WRITING OF RECOUNT TEXTS 

 

Anggie Febriyana, Ahmad Sofwan, Alief Noor Farida  

 
English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia

 

Article Info 
________________  
Article History: 

Received in October 

2018  
Approved in November 

2018  

Published in January 

2019 

________________  
Keywords: Students’ 
Recount Texts, Textual 
Meaning, Theme, Rheme, 
Thematic Structure, 
Thematic Progression  
____________________ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract  
___________________________________________________________________ 
The topic of this study is the textual meaning on students‟ recount texts of the 4th 

semester students of English Department, Semarang State University in the 

Academic Year 2016/2017. The analyses intend to figure out what Thematic 

structures are displayed and what Thematic progressions are employed in the 

students‟ recount texts. The approach used in this study is qualitative descriptive 

method, and some quantitative approaches to enhance the depth of results. The 

units of analysis of this study were clauses in the 4th semester students‟ recount texts 

taken from Genre-Based Writing course. The results of the Thematic structures 

analysis show that unmarked topical Theme is the most frequently used rather than 

the marked one. Modal adjunct is the only constituent of interpersonal Theme that 

is found to show the writer‟s judgment. Moreover, structural and conjunctive 

adjunct are used in relating the clause to its context or another clause. In addition, 

there only one continuative found in the text to signal a new move is made. The 

study also shows that the students used re-iteration (constant) to make the text keep 

focused. Then, zigzag pattern is commonly used in relative clauses which replace 

subject. While multiple (split) pattern is used to introduce a number of different 

pieces of information which is made as Theme in subsequent clauses. 

 
 © 2018 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

  


 Correspondent Address: ISSN 2252-6706 
B3 Building FBS Unnes  

Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229  

E-mail: anggief300@gmail.com  



A. Febriyana, A. Sofwan, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

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INTRODUCTION 

In the process of communication, people express their ideas, thought and feelings or give 

other people information. In other word, communication is used to convey and interpret meanings. 

Hence, as a language students, they should be able to negotiate meaning with the other by using 

what we called as text in order to achieve goals. The term text, based on Eggins (1994: 5), refers to 

“a complete linguistic interaction (spoken or written), preferably from beginning to end”.  Yet, 

English in Indonesia is used as a foreign language so it is rather hard for the students to create a 

good text. As the result, the communication will not run well effectively. Thus, it becomes our job to 

help the students to create a good text so that they are able to communicate effectively. 

By using the good grammar, the meaning of a text will be clearer. There are three kinds of 

grammar. They are traditional grammar, formal grammar and functional grammar. Both traditional 

and formal grammar focus on the structures (syntax), whereas functional grammar not only focus 

with the structures but also the function of language to construct the meaning (semantics). Thus, 

functional grammar can help us to understand how texts work to make meaning both in the form of 

spoken and written text. One of the types of meaning that I am going to unveil on this study is 

Textual meaning, which concerns about how and what we are saying or writing hang together and 

relate to what was said before. It is a meaning about the message inside the text which relate to the 

context around us. Each clause has meaning that will correlate to the next clauses. Moreover, the 

meaning of a text will be intelligible for the listeners or the readers when it relates to its context.  

These textual meanings are realized through the Theme patterns of the grammar which are in 

the form of Thematic structures and Thematic Progressions. Theme is the beginning of the clause 

where we put information which links the clause to what has come before. Broadly speaking, Theme 

is what comes first in a clause and what the clause is going to be about. The remainder of the clause, 

which explains about the Theme and contains new information is then called Rheme. Textual 

meanings look at how we structure information in a clause that will tell us about where the clause is 

coming from (beginning) and where it is going to (end). Every clause has the character of a message 

in the form of organization that fits in with, and contributes to the flow of discourse. Halliday & 

Matthiessen, (2004: 64) stated, “One part of the clause is enunciated as the Theme, and it is 

combined with the remainder of the clause so that those parts together constitute message”. In a 

clause structure, it consists of a Theme and accompanied by Rheme. Whereas Theme is always put 

at first and starts from beginning of a clause.  

Themes are divided into three types; ideational/topical Theme, interpersonal Theme, and 

textual Theme. The first nominal group in a clause is usually the Ideational or Topical Theme. It 

means that when the elements of Transitivity that is either participant, circumstance, or process can 

be assigned occurs in the first position in a clause. Gerot & Wignell (1995: 104) stated, “Topical 

Themes may also be nominal group complexes, adverbial groups, prepositional phrases or 

embedded clauses”. Since a participant in thematic structure coincides to the topic, we refer this 

constituent as Topical Theme.  

A topical Theme which is not the subject, in a declarative clause, is called a marked topical 

Theme. The term marked is used because it stands out. The most common form of marked topical 

Theme is an adverbial group, prepositional phrase, and complement, which is nominal group that is 

not functioning as subject. While Unmarked topical Theme put the Theme as subject of the 

declarative clause. In daily conversation the most often item functioning as unmarked topical Theme 

is pronoun, nominal group such as common or proper noun, and nominalization (embedded 

clause). When a constituent to which we would assign a Mood label occurs at the beginning of a 

clause before the Topical Theme, we call it an interpersonal Theme. According to Gerot & Wignell 

(1995: 107) the constituent which can function as interpersonal Themes are: Modal Adjuncts, 



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Vocative, finite or Wh-elements. Textual Theme as the last type of Theme which does not express 

any ideational or interpersonal meaning, but which is doing important cohesive work in relating the 

clause to its context. Structural, conjunctive adjunct and continuative are the constituents of textual 

Theme. 

The progressions from Theme to Rheme show the flow of information in a clause. It is 

essential to keep the coherent of the text in order to get successful communication and exchange 

meaning between others. Furthermore, the pattern of interaction among clauses within a text is 

called Thematic Progressions. Eggins (2004: 324-325) proposes three main patterns of Thematic 

progressions; theme re-iteration (constant), zigzag pattern (linear), and multiple –Theme pattern 

(split). 

One basic way to keep a text focused (cohesive) is to simply re-iterate an element. Repetition 

is an effective means of creating cohesion. Having the same participant made Theme on a regular 

basis provides the text with a clear focus. The same element occurs regularly as Theme in this 

Thematic pattern. However, it causes to be boring to read or listen because the Theme in the text 

never varied.  

Clause 1  Theme 1  Rheme 2 

Clause 2  Theme 2  Rheme 2 

Clause 3  Theme 3  Rheme 3 

Clause 4               Theme 4     Rheme 4 

Figure 1.1 Theme Re-iteration 

In zigzag pattern, an element which is introduced in theme in clause 1 gets promoted to 

become the Theme of clause 2. This pattern achieves cohesion in the text by building on newly 

introduced information. This gives the text a sense of cumulative development which may be absent 

in the repeated Theme pattern. 

Clause 1  Theme 1  Rheme 1 

Clause 2  Theme 2  Rheme 2 

Clause 3 ` Theme 3  Rheme 3 

Clause 4  Theme 4  Rheme 4 

Figure 1.2 Zigzag Pattern 



A. Febriyana, A. Sofwan, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

57 

 

While in the multiple-Theme pattern, the Theme of one clause introduces a number of 

different pieces of information, each of which is then picked up and made Theme in subsequent 

clauses. 

Clauses 1 Theme   1  Rheme 1 

Clause 2  Theme 2  Rheme 2 

Clause 3  Theme 3  Rheme 3 

Clause 4  Theme 4   Rheme 4 

Figure 1.3 Multiple-Theme Pattern 

Different Theme will determine the point of the clause. Thus, textual organization is essential 

because without structures such as Theme there could be no text. Contextual properties (coherence) 

and internal properties (cohesion) are essential elements in the process of meaningful 

communication. A good text should consist of clauses which are constructed in coherent and 

cohesive structure. Moreover, the clauses hang together and relate to the context. However, EFL 

students still find it difficult to maintain the coherence and cohesion in both written and spoken 

texts. For this reason, I try to analyse the textual meanings in terms of Thematic structures and 

Thematic progressions displayed on recount texts of the 4th semester students of English 

Department, Semarang State University in the academic year 2016/2017 on the Genre-Based 

Writing course. 

METHODS 

This study investigates what Thematic structures and Thematic progression are realized in 

students „recount texts, so this study elaborates the realization of the data analysis to find out the 

meanings realized from the data. Therefore, the qualitative approach was used to figure out the 

realization of the meaning. The object of the study is students„ texts which include in discourse 

analysis. A discourse research is commonly a qualitative descriptive because it interprets and 

exemplifies social phenomena subjectively by the researcher„s perspective in analysing what happen 

beyond the text. The qualitative researcher interprets the meaning of the data based on the 

investigation. Then, the result of investigation is presented descriptively in order to draw conclusion.  

I employed qualitative approach to analyse the data. In addition, the quantitative approach 

was also used to produce some statistical data in calculating the findings in order to strengthen the 

qualitative analysis. Thus, the data can be reasonable and objective. The object of the study is 

recount text developed by 4th semester students of Genre-Based Writing course in English 

Department of Semarang State University in the academic year 2016/2017. The texts then to be 

analysed the Thematic structures and Thematic progressions to investigate the organization of the 

texts. 

Thematic structures were analysed in order to figure out the point of departure and remainder 

of each clause. While Thematic progressions were examined to see the flow of information in the 

text that contained coherent and cohesion text. First, I read and choose 12 sample of the data 

(students‟ recount texts). Next, the texts were divided into clauses and given number of sequence per 

clauses from each text. Then, the clauses were analysed in terms of Theme and Rheme to figure out 



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58 

 

the textual meaning of each text. On this step, the Thematic structures were classified into each 

category that had its own table to enable the result of the study to be easily understood. 

Furthermore, each sub-element was categorized and counted its frequency in percentage. Hence, it 

used quantitative approach besides qualitative analysis in order to support the data. Next, Thematic 

progressions were then analysed using arrows to see the flow of information in each clause 

developed to make a coherent and cohesive text. The last step was then interpreting and elaborating 

the result of the data.  

In analyse the Thematic structures, firstly the text were divided into clauses. Then, each 

clause was given numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on) from the first clause to the last clause in the text. 

Thematic structure consist of Theme which is the starting point of the message in the clause, and 

Rheme which is the development of that starting point. Furthermore, each Theme was analysed 

based on the types of Theme, whether it was Topical, Interpersonal, or Textual Theme. Once 

Thematic structures study was completed, I examined the pattern of ideas among clauses within a 

text that is called Thematic Progressions. It was investigated to see whether the clauses make 

cohesive and coherent text. According to Eggins (2004: 324) “a final, but very significant, 

contribution that Theme makes to the cohesion and coherence of a texts has to do with how 

Thematic elements succeed each other”. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 

This study investigates the Textual meaning of 4th semester students‟ recount text on Genre 

Based Writing course. There were twelve recount texts taken from C‟s class of Genre-Based writing 

course. The result of this analysis was derived from Theme and Rheme system in each clause of the 

texts. This two points were used to uncover the Thematic structures and Thematic progressions of 

students‟ recount text. The Thematic structures were analyzed to indicate the types of Themes used 

by the students. The type of Theme will show the point of departure of the message that tell us about 

what the clause is going to be about. While Thematic progressions were analyzed to unveil the 

development of ideas and the flow of information on students‟ recount text in order to make a 

cohesive and coherent text. The results of the analysis are portrayed in tables, and they are followed 

by the interpretation of the result. 

Eggins (2004: 301) states, “When an element of the clause to which a Transitivity function 

can be assigned occurs in first position in a clause, we describe it as a topical theme”. Furthermore, 

every clause only contain one topical theme, so once a topical Theme is identified, the remaining 

clause will be the Rheme. Table 4.1 below displays the Theme types used by the students in their 

recount texts.  

Text Clauses 
Topical 

Interpersonal Textual 
Marked Unmarked 

1 26 2 23 - 12 

2 24 3 21 1 9 

3 18 3 15 - 9 

4 40 3 37 1 26 

5 45 3 42 3 21 

6 11 1 10 - 6 

7 31 2 29 - 13 

8 18 4 14 - 5 

9 24 2 22 2 13 

10 15 2 13 1 5 



A. Febriyana, A. Sofwan, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

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11 24 4 20 1 14 

12 36 2 34 2 15 

Total 312 31 280 11 148 

(%)  9.93% 89.74% 3.52% 47.43% 

Table 3.1 Theme Categories in Students‟ Recount Text 

As showed in the table 4.1, there are three major Themes analyzed in students‟ recount text. 

They are topical, interpersonal, and textual Themes. However, in this case, topical Themes are 

divided into two patterns of Theme choice which are marked and unmarked. In the marked case, the 

topical Theme is not the subject and not what we normally expect to find. Whereas a topical Theme 

which is also the subject is unmarked topical Theme. The most frequent Theme used in overall 

recount texts is unmarked topical Theme with 89.74%. On the other hand, marked topical Theme 

takes insignificant part with 9.93%. Moreover, interpersonal Theme also shows minor number with 

3.52% which also the lowest. It shows large contrast with Textual Theme which gets almost half of 

percentage with 47.43%. 

The comparison between marked and unmarked Themes shows great difference in which 

unmarked topical Theme occurs 280 times, and marked topical Theme is used only 31 times. The 

marked topical Theme found in the students‟ recount text only the adverbial group and prepositional 

phrase. The contradiction between these two components is slightly different.  

The next result of the analysis show that there is only one constituent of interpersonal Theme 

that exist.  That is modal adjuncts which gets 100%. There is neither finite nor vocative. The last 

constituent that can occur in thematic position is the category of textual Theme. There are three 

kinds of constituent of textual Theme which are continuative, structural, and conjunctive adjunct.  

Structural get the highest point which is used 127 times followed by conjunctive adjunct with 20 

times and continuative with only one time.  

A clause must contain only one Thematic element (topical Theme), yet it is possible for 

clauses to have a sequence of Themes in which textual and interpersonal precede topical Theme. 

This group of Themes is then called multiple Theme. The pattern which contains textual Theme 

preceding topical Theme is mostly used by 135 times. The second multiple Theme in the students‟ 

recount texts is interpersonal-topical Theme. There are 9 interpersonal-topical Themes in the 

students‟ recount texts. The last one, both textual and interpersonal Themes that come before topical 

Theme occur only by 2 times.  

The next analysis is about Thematic progressions in the students‟ recount texts which 

contribute to the cohesion and coherence of a text. The analysis was conducted using the theory of 

Thematic progressions from Eggins (2004: 324-326). There are three main patterns of Thematic 

progressions which are examined based on this theory, which are re-iteration (constant), zigzag 

(linear), and multiple (split). Those three patterns are served in the following table : 

Text Clauses 
Re-iteration 

(Constant) 
Zigzag (Linear) Multiple (Split) 

1 26 9 1 1 

2 24 4 4 1 

3 18 1 3 1 

4 40 6 9 1 

5 45 11 2 - 

6 11 4 3 - 

7 31 6 6 - 

8 18 2 5 - 

9 24 7 5 - 



A. Febriyana, A. Sofwan, A. N. Farida / Journal of English Language Teaching 7 (2) (2018) 

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Table 3.2 Thematic Progressions Patterns of Students‟ Recount Texts 

The students mostly employ re-iteration pattern by 63 times, and zigzag pattern is also used 

59 times. While multiple pattern is the lowest with 6 times. Re-iteration is the basic way to keep a 

text focused since repeating Theme will provide the text with a clear focus. Repetition is also an 

effective means of creating cohesion in text. While zigzag pattern gets cohesion by building on 

newly introduced information in a text. As suggested by Eggins (2004: 324), “In this pattern, an 

element which is introduced in the Rheme in clause 1 gets promoted to become the Theme of clause 

2”. Multiple Theme pattern as the last pattern get the lowest total from all the types of pattern. This 

pattern happens when the Rheme of a clause has different pieces of information, and each of which 

is taken in turn as the Theme of a subsequent clause. 

CONCLUSIONS 

This study has analyzed textual meaning found in the 4th semester students‟ recount texts 

taken from Genre-Based Writing course. It investigates Thematic structures displayed and Thematic 

progressions employed in the students‟ recount texts. Based on the data analysis and the results of 

the study in the previous chapter, the conclusions can be drawn as follows. 

Firstly, unmarked topical Theme is dominantly used in the students‟ recount texts compared 

to the marked one. As showed in the table 4.1, it gets the highest result with 89.74%. This occurs as 

students‟ recount texts mostly consist of declarative clauses which put subject in the beginning of the 

clause. In contrast, marked topical Theme gets small number in the students‟ recount texts. It only 

gets 9.93 % from whole texts. However, there are only two types of marked topical Theme found in 

the students‟ recount texts. They are adverbial group and prepositional phrase. Complement which 

put in the beginning of a clause is rarely found since it is uncommon to find a nominal group that is 

not functioning as subject. Moreover, interpersonal Theme which also the types of Theme occur in 

the students‟ recount texts with 11 times. Yet, modal adjunct is the one and only constituent of 

interpersonal Theme which is employed in the texts. It is used to show the writers‟ point of view and 

judgment. For instance, Actually, I wanted to go with my mother, but my mother had not prepared 

yet. From the example above, modal adjunct „actually‟ means something that contrast with the 

writer‟ expectation. (Text 2, appendix 2) 

The next type of Theme that occurs in the students‟ recount text is textual Theme.  Structural, 

which is one of the constituents of textual Theme is dominantly used in the texts. It gets 85.81 % or 

127 times. It is found that students apply some complex clauses in their texts. Hence, the students 

relate the complex clauses using structural. In addition, conjunctive adjunct is insignificantly used in 

the students‟ recount texts. It is used to connect a clause to preceding text. The last constituent of 

textual Theme found in the students‟ recount texts is continuative. It only happens once which 

signaling that a new move is beginning.  

The next conclusion is about thematic progressions employed in the students‟ recount texts. It 

is how the students organize their ideas in order to make coherent and cohesive text. As showed in 

the table 4.6, re-iteration is the dominant one with 63 times. It happens because one of the easiest 

ways to keep a text focused and is to re-reiterate an element. It makes sure that text is going 

nowhere. Next, zigzag pattern with 59 times. This pattern achieves cohesion by developing idea in 

the preceding information. The last, multiple pattern with only 6 times. However, it is also found 

10 15 1 9 - 

11 24 2 4 1 

12 36 10 10 1 

Total 312 63 59 6 



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that many clauses in the students‟ recount texts do not employ any pattern. They use different 

Themes in each clause. Although those Themes support the previous Theme, it is considered to have 

less cohesion. 

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