Volume 7-3 April 2011.

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Title
The Relation between Paragraph Organization and the Topic Progression Used in English Paragraphs Selected from Native Books on Teaching Writing

Authors

Zargham Ghabanchi,(Ph.D.)
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Sahar Zahed Alavi,(M.A.)
Bojnord University, Bojnord, Iran

Bio data

Zargham Ghabanchi got his Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool, UK in Applied Linguistics. Now he has a chair at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.  He was the chancellor of Sabzevar Payam Noor University for five years. He has published several books and articles.

Sahar Zahed Alavigot her M.A. in TEFL from Sabzevar Teacher Training University in 1388. She has been teaching various English courses in different English institutes, Sabzevar University,Bojnord State University and Bojnord Payam noor University.

Abstract

Coherence is one of the most important factors in effective writing. Lautmatti (1978) proposed a model, based on the progression of topics in a paragraph, for marinating coherence. Using Lautmatti’s (ibid) framework, the study examines the types of topic progression techniques used in 120 paragraphs which are selected from a number of academic books on teaching writing. Three types of paragraph, namely forty paragraphs of comparison and contrast, forty paragraphs of cause-effect and forty paragraphs of chronology, with two different types of organization, listing and time, are selected to be analyzed. The present study investigates the relationship between the paragraph organization and the types of topic progression techniques used in them. As the results of the Chi-square tests show, there is a relationship between the paragraph organization and the types of topic progression techniques. Among four types of topic progression techniques_ parallel, sequential, extended parallel and extended sequential_ in paragraphs with listing organization sequential progression (38%), and in paragraphs with time organization extended parallel progression (35%) and parallel progression (29.4%) were the dominant types of topic progression techniques. The knowledge of the types of progression in paragraphs with specific organization helps one in writing a coherent paragraph.

Keywords: Lautmatti’s (1978) framework, Types of topic progression techniques, Paragraph organization, Types of paragraph, Paragraphs of comparison and contrast, Cause-effect and chronology