Static Writing Style in Reaction Papers: The Role of Thematic Progression

This descriptive qualitative study described the defining characteristics of reaction papers written by college freshman writers in terms of theme markedness and theme types. Anchored on the combined frameworks of Danes’s (1978) three types of theme progression and Hawes’ (2014) subcategories to Danes’ constant progression, constant gap progression, constant type progression, and constant rheme progression, it further examined the thematic development patterns in reaction papers. Using purposeful sampling, 41 reaction papers for the topic, Wiring the Web by Gordon Brown served as data. Results revealed that student writers use numerous marked themes and variations in the theme choices of student writers. Their theme choices include topical, textual, existential, interrogative, interpersonal, imperative, and exclamative. In sum, the differences in the use of theme types and theme markedness among freshman student writers show an obvious development of theme choices. Across the data, almost one-half of the themes form progressions. The students’ reaction papers are mostly developed through constant progression. The essay’s development through constant progression created a “static” style of writing among student writers. The differences in the use of theme types and theme markedness among freshman student writers show an obvious development of theme choices. However, the many types of unmarked themes somehow reveal a level of writing proficiency in this category among student writers. This study concludes with the need to teach the rudiments of thematic progression so that students gain full control of their essay structure and obtain an overview of the choices available for writing compositions.