Topical Structure Analysis of Students’ Written Discourse

The present study examined the 30 written discourses of 15 teacher education and 15 computer education students in a single topic, Finding Your Inner Hero: Rizalians’ Semblance of Sustainability and Social Importance, using the TSA Model of Liisa Lautamati (1987). The quantitative method was adopted to examine the physical characteristics of the paragraphs; the number of independent and dependent clauses; the predominantly used topical progressions; and the topical depth. The findings revealed that students' written discourses showed greater frequency in sequential progression and extended parallel progression. This further means they had to explain the given topic a lot to express their thoughts. Consequently, the longer the explanation, the clearer the ideas. However, it was observed that students must undergo intensive instruction in English grammar and vocabulary building, which are essential in quality writing. Addressing the predicament of their writing skills will better prepare them to become competitive and productive not just in their academic life but as citizens beyond the threshold of Jose Rizal University.