Analisis Pola Gerak Tema dalam Teks Diskusi yang Ditulis oleh Mahasiswa Tahun Kedua Jurusan Bahasa Inggris UNP

This research aims at finding out the types of theme and the patterns of thematic progression used in the students’ discussion texts written by the second-year students of the English Department of Universitas Negeri Padang. This study used a descriptive research method. The population of this research was the second-year students of the English Department of Universitas Negeri Padang. They were selected because they had taken a course on essay writing. The sample was 30 students taken using a cluster random sampling. The data were collected using a test that has been administered twice in order to get more representative data. The results show that the dominant theme types used in the students’ discussion text are the simple unmarked theme (44.61 %), and multiple unmarked themes (42.35 %), and the types of theme least frequently used are the simple marked theme (10.14 %), and multiple marked themes (2.90 %). The dominant use of the unmarked theme is motivated by the students’ desire to emphasize the points of the arguments which are indicated by the use of nominal groups. Meanwhile, the type of thematic progression that dominant used in students’ discussion text written by the second year of English Department of Universitas Negeri Padang was a constant continued pattern (CCP) with the frequency (61.83 %). The second type that dominant used was a new theme pattern (NTP) with the frequency (19.29 %). Meanwhile, the least frequently used in the data are derived theme pattern (2.06%) and simple linear progression (16.82) patterns. In addition, there is no split rheme pattern found in the text, because the rheme is consists of two components which is turn into the theme. It was similar to the use of SLP in a clause