在台灣，相當多大考中心的研究顯示出，優越的閱讀能力對成功的應試者來說，可視為一個決定性的指標。因此，從2002年開始，大學英文指定科目考試加入了一項新的測驗─篇章測驗。此種測驗是一種訊息填補的克漏字測驗模式，類似有理式克漏字測驗，應試者必須從好幾個選項中選擇最適當句子來恢復篇章的完整性。為了要解決這類測驗問題，對應試者來說，有語篇機制的概念，超越句子的層面，從篇章結構的層次上去統合語意，尋找線索是很重要的。然而，將系統功能語言學應用於篇章測驗的研究相當缺乏，因此，本研究旨在應用系統功能語言學中的語篇元功能來分析指定科目考試中的篇章測驗，以便探索語篇主位推進及其與述位之間的關係。本研究方法屬言談分析法，收集2002年到2008年的篇章測驗為語料。語料分析的結果以描述性統計量性呈現出。研究結果顯示，無標記主位和平行型主位推進出現最多；至於銜接手段，指稱詞方面以人稱照應出現最多，詞彙銜接方面大部分都是相同字一再的重複出現；連接詞方面以添加跟時空兩類頻率最多。總結而言，此研究希望以語篇元功能理論作為基礎，通過對語篇的標記與無標記主位、主位推進模式和銜接手段的分析，提供學習者不同方法來理解篇章，和觀察分析語篇的信息分布。同時，語篇元功能的概念亦可應用於教學及語言測驗。

Considerable research on Joint College Entrance Examinations (JCEE) has shown that superior reading ability serves as a crucial index to successful test-takers in Taiwan. Therefore, in 2002 the Department Required English Test (DRET) began incorporating a new individual test component called the Discourse Structure Test (DST). It is a gap-filling cloze-type test, similar to a rational cloze test, in which the test-takers have to choose sentences or phrases from among several alternatives to restore a text. In order to solve the test problems, it is important that test takers have the concept of texture to look for clues and organize meanings beyond the sentence level at the stratification of text structure. However, research done on the application of textual metafunction in analyzing and interpreting DST is rare. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore Theme-Rheme relationship and thematic progression in the texts. This research adopts a discourse analysis method and collects the years of 2002 to 2008 DSTs as corpus data. The quantitative analysis of the corpus data is conducted and the results are represented by descriptive statistics. The results of this study show that unmarked theme and constant thematic progression (TP) type distribute most. As for cohesive devices, in terms of reference, personal reference predominates the frequency of occurrence. Of all the lexical cohesive ties, items of the same word are found to appear most frequently. As for the outcome of conjunctive cohesion, additive and temporal conjunctions significantly rank higher than other types’ frequencies. This study hopes to utilize the textual metafunction as a base to provide learners an entry to approach written discourse, as well as to understand the distribution of information, through the analysis of marked and unmarked theme, TP and cohesive devices in texts. To put it further, the research findings have pedagogical implications for English instruction and language testing.

Table of Contents
Abstract(Chinese) i
Abstract ii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
Tables vii
Figures viii
CHAPTER 1 1
Introduction 1
Background and Motivation 1
Problem Statement 5
Purpose of the Study 6
Research Questions 7
Significance of the Study 7
Definitions of Key Terms 8
Organization of the Thesis 11
CHAPTER 2 13
Literature Review 13
An Introduction to SFL 13
The Historical Development of SFL 13
The Nature of SFL 14
Stratification. 15
Contexts. 17
Three Metafunctions. 19
The Textual Metafunction 22
Theme and Rheme 22
Functions of the Marked Theme 23
Unmarked and Marked Theme 24
Thematic Progression (TP) 26
Text Types in Relation to TP 32
Cohesive Devices 33
Reference. 33
Conjunction. 35
Lexical Cohesion. 35
Relevant Studies on Theme/Rheme of the Textual Metafunction 37
CHAPTER 3 40
Methodology 40
The Description of the Method Chosen 40
Data Collection 41
Source of Data 41
A Brief Introduction to the Chosen Texts 42
Data Analysis 43
Identifying Cohesive Ties in Texts 44
Discriminating Unmarked and Marked Theme 46
Ways to Present the Results of Data Analysis 47
Overall Framework of the Method 47
CHAPTER 4 49
Results and Discussion 49
Results 49
Research Question 1 49
Research Question 2 52
Research Question 3 55
Research Question 4 60
Discussion 62
The Use of marked theme in the DSTs of DRET 62
TP Categories in the DSTs of DRET 64
Reference and Lexical Cohesion Distribution in the DSTs of DRET 65
Conjunction Distribution in the DSTs of DRET 67
CHAPTER 5 69
Conclusion 69
Major Findings 69
Limitations of the Study 70
Pedagogical Implications 71
Suggestions for Further Research 74
References 76
Appendix A: Text 1 to Text 8 89
Appendix B: Theme Analysis of Text1 to Text 8 (categorized) 96
Appendix C: Thematic Progression Analysis of Text1 to Text 8 (categorized) 108
Appendix D: Reference and Lexical Cohesion Analysis of Text1 to Text 8 113
Appendix E: Analysis of Conjunction from Text 1 to Text 8 123

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