Thematic Sequence and English Reading

In functional linguistics, Theme is regarded as the starting point of information and communication. Mathesius' Theme Rheme theory originated for studying how a clause is related to its context. As a matter of fact, a clause is formed just on the basis of a certain context. The linear characteristic of language largely requires that in the process of communication, the speaker / writer should take the arrangement of language structure into consideration. This paper points out that we may use Thematic Sequence to deal with text analysis instead of applying the complicated Thematic Progression Theory. The authors claim that by thematic sequence we may easily find out the macro theme and super sentential theme in a text,and thereby we are able to epitomize an overall understanding of a text simply by listing the themes. Thus the paper finally focuses on the application of this approach to effective reading.