This text discusses the concept of theme and its application as an analytical tool to a number of spoken and written registers of English. To date, studies of text organization have paid less attention to what is called the method of development of a text, that is thematic organization. The book shows that the study of this organization can reveal many different strategies employed by speakers and writers when texts are created.
Within the splendour of the Time Shield, six hours is equivalent to a minute on earth; but beware, in the midst of its beauty hides a terrible spell-would you dare to enter? Inquisitive seventeen-year-old Sarah Brown had resigned herself to a quiet summer with her aunt in their town Cherryfield - then she meets Mark Louis. Mark Louis de la Mer is an eighteen-year-old fairy-human hybrid, who, in 1908, was hidden in a Time Shield by his supernatural mother following the murder of his father. Due to the unforeseen presence of a Holding Spell within the shield, Mark has since been trapped. He cannot directly access the spell which is hidden within a maze of terror, but Sarah can ... that is, if she consents to. For Sarah to destroy the spell, she will not only need to undergo intense physical training, but also must face her innermost fears. Destroying the Holding Spell is just one part of the trial that awaits them both. His father's evil killers have been on the lookout for him, and Mark's release would bring the supernatural into Cherryfield; parasite imps, fiendish monsters, and last but not the least, his mother's brother Noel - a formidable fairy-sorcerer hybrid. Ancient magic, superheroines, the realms to Faie, Victorian princes, murder and love ... Welcome to The Time Shield Series.
One of the most influential teaching guides ever—updated! Teach Like a Champion 2.0 is a complete update to the international bestseller. This teaching guide is a must-have for new and experienced teachers alike. Over 1.3 million teachers around the world already know how the techniques in this book turn educators into classroom champions. With ideas for everything from boosting academic rigor, to improving classroom management, and inspiring student engagement, you will be able to strengthen your teaching practice right away. The first edition of Teach Like a Champion influenced thousands of educators because author Doug Lemov's teaching strategies are simple and powerful. Now, updated techniques and tools make it even easier to put students on the path to college readiness. Here are just a few of the brand new resources available in the 2.0 edition: Over 70 new video clips of real teachers modeling the techniques in the classroom (note: for online access of this content, please visit my.teachlikeachampion.com) A selection of never before seen techniques inspired by top teachers around the world Brand new structure emphasizing the most important techniques and step by step teaching guidelines Updated content reflecting the latest best practices from outstanding educators Organized by category and technique, the book’s structure enables you to read start to finish, or dip in anywhere for the specific challenge you’re seeking to address. With examples from outstanding teachers, videos, and additional, continuously updated resources at teachlikeachampion.com, you will soon be teaching like a champion. The classroom techniques you'll learn in this book can be adapted to suit any context. Find out why Teach Like a Champion is a "teaching Bible" for so many educators worldwide.
This book focuses on how instruction affects English learners’ use of Theme and thematic progression (thematic organization). While thematic organization in learner English has been extensively studied, little research has been done to investigate the effects of instruction on the use of Theme and thematic progression. Adopting a Systemic Functional Grammar approach, this study explores how a ten-week instruction on thematic organization affects Chinese college students’ use of Theme and thematic progression by comparing their English essays before and after the instruction, with native-speaker essays as the research baseline. Second-language acquisition researchers, curriculum developers and foreign language teachers will find this book useful as it not only presents a clear and detailed report of how Chinese college students learn to make better thematic choices, but also provides a well-developed instructional package on Theme and thematic progression.
Recent developments in this field of small corpus studies, largely brought about by the personal computer, have yielded remarkable insights into the nature and use of real language. This book presents work by a number of leading researchers in the field and covers a series of topics directly related to language teaching and language research. The ultimate aim of this book is to encourage the exploitation of small corpora by the ELT profession to make language learning more effective. In addition to descriptions of the basic corpus analysis tools, chapters in the collection cover syllabus and materials design, comparisons of different genres, descriptions of local and functional grammars, compilation and use of learner corpora, and making cross-linguistic comparisons. The message of this collection is that language use is purposeful and culture specific and that small corpus analysis is an effective method of linguistic investigation."Preface by: " John Sinclair;
TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.
This book, a tribute to Angela Downing, consists of twenty papers taking a broadly functional perspective on language, with topics ranging from the general (grammar as an evolutionary product, text comprehension, integrative linguistics) to particular aspects of the grammars of languages (Bulgarian, English, Icelandic, Spanish, Swedish). The more specific papers are sequenced according to Halliday’s division into ideational, textual and interpersonal aspects of the grammar, and cover a wide range of areas, including aspect, argument structure, noun phrase/nominal group structure and nominalisations, pronominal clitics, theme in relation to writing skills, discourse structures and markers, the role of attention in conversation, the functions of topic, phatic communion, subjectification, formulaic language and modality. A recurrent theme in the volume is the use of corpus materials in order to base functional descriptions on authentic productions. Overall, the volume constitutes a panoramic but nevertheless detailed view of some important current trends in functional linguistics.
The book is based on systemic-functional grammar (SFG) and focuses on the concept of Theme (the element which occupies the initial position in the clause in English), which plays a special role in the textual organization of the message contained in the clause. Theme represents one of the ways by which writers construct meaningful communicative language or stretches of discourse. It signals the relationship between the thought in the speakers mind and its expression in the discourse. Therefore, it contributes to the method of development of the texts proper. The reason for choosing Theme as a tool of analysis stems from the fact that it is a fruitful approach to the understanding of texts as is shown by the fact that it has been the concern of a number of major studies. I will adopt both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis. The results of this analysis will be presented and tabulated in such a way as to underline the distinguishing features of the genre. The tools of functional grammar (Theme and Transitivity) will be applied to the data being collected. A significant, positive facet pertinent to this study lies in its pedagogical implications. The study of the structure of Theme has resulted in useful applications, and the findings drawn from the data collected will, it is hoped, have wider application; they are not meant to be merely suggestive. The findings in this book show how Theme-Rheme can have significant pedagogical values and impacts on the native and non-native learners. The learner not only has to construct his/her sentences, choosing appropriate lexis, but he/she has to make those sentences cohere into a text belonging to the genre being tackled. The findings in this book also suggest that control of the Theme-Rheme system is part of what the successful writer (native or non-native) uses to achieve such coherence. In this regard, students can be aware of a variety of linguistics choices to help them write more effectively and coherently.
This volume covers the writing not only of native speakers of the language in which they are being taught, but also that of those to whom the language of pedagogy is secondary. Australian editors.
The main focus of this book is on Theme-Rheme analysis. In English the Theme is realized as the initial constituent of the clause or sentence. The information that is contained within the themes of the various sentences of a passage correlates with the method of development of the passage. The meaning of Theme and its realization in English explains the general correlation of given information with the initial position in the sentence. The findings and analysis of Theme-Rheme in this book will immensely aid both researchers and students who seek to understand and unfold language structures and analyze written discourse. It also provides teachers with efficient tools to analyze their students academic writing and find ways to leverage it. This book also sheds lights on the semantic and structure of the language based on the four analytical approaches implemented in this study. The findings in this book suggest that control of the Theme-Rheme system is part of what the successful writer (native or non-native) uses to achieve such coherence. In this regard, students can be aware of a variety of linguistics choices to help them write more effectively. This book suggests that control of the Theme-Rheme system in academic writing is part of what the successful writer uses to achieve coherence. This book offers a new perspective on the way written discourse is organized and structured that is of some relevance to language teachers and applied linguists, as well as to theoretical and descriptive linguists. I have tried to offer in this book new insights into analyzing texts and investigating the thematic organization of the grammatical properties of Theme at clause level, and that, I hope, will be found sufficient reason for reading it.
