Özet:

The present study aims to determine the role of Theme and Rheme in thematic progression patterns in Turkish EFL students’ argumentative essays in relation to their language education background. The data in this study were collected from two groups of students who study in English Language Teaching (ELT) and Psychological Counselling and Guidance (PCG) departments in a private university in Turkey. In order to analyze the data, first, the use and flow of Theme and Rheme were examined at the clause level based on Danes’ (1974) progression model. The results revealed that although students from both of the departments used similar types of thematic progression patterns in their essays, ELT students used higher numbers of thematic progression patterns than PCG students. In addition, problem areas that arise from misuse of Theme and Rheme, Thematic progression or both are described to understand the role of Theme and Rheme in thematic progression in argumentative essays. In general, ELT group in this study were found to be more successful in managing Theme and Rheme patterns to support the flow of their arguments because of their English education background. The results showed that studying Theme and Rheme relationships in EFL students’ texts is important to understand writing development even at the advanced levels, because when the writers cannot succeed in the flow of information, their texts become difficult for readers to follow an idea or argument. Therefore, this study argues for the necessity of teaching Theme and Rheme relationships explicitly in advanced writing classes to support EFL students’ writing development.

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