African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 13 - Full Length Research Paper Applying (non)head-movement mechanism to study topic sentences in applied linguistics research articles

Oct 15, 2026

Writing effective topic sentences is demanding because they require coordinated linguistic knowledge to represent paragraph-level meaning. This study applies the A-movement mechanism from generative syntax to examine syntactic structures, semantic denotations, and pragmatic aspects of topic sentences in applied linguistics research articles. Data comprise 303 topic sentences sampled from System and LEARN, both SCOPUS-indexed (Q1 and Q2). Results show System uses A-movement more, especially for pragmatic given/new information and subjectivity-related denotations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Challenges in writing topic sentences

Linguistic competencies and generative grammar

Pragmatics, semantics, and syntactic mechanisms

Prior research on topic sentence development

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 13(1), pp. 65-82, March 2025 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.131.25.004 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper Applying (non)head-movement mechanism to study topic sentences in applied linguistics research articles Abhinan Wongkittiporn English for Business Communication , Faculty of Liberal Arts and Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Surat Thani Campus, Thailand. Accepted 4 March, 2025 | ABSTRACT
Writing a topic sentence is difficult, as a variety of linguistic knowledge is required to represent the main idea of the whole paragraph. This study applies the mechanism of A-movement in generative syntax to observe syntactic structures, semantic denotations and pragmatic aspects of topic sentences in applied linguistics research articles. The data were collected from System and LEARN, which are SCOPUS database indexed in Q1 and Q2, respectively. A sample of 303 topic sentences calculated via Yamane sample size, was collected to be studied. The data analysis was adapted from Radford’s (2009, 2020) Amovement mechanism. The results show that System applies the mechanism of A-movement more than LEARN. The discussion reveals that pragmatic discourse of given and new information is applied in System. Also, the semantic denotations of subjectivity, referring to evaluating certain entities, is commonly applied in System. Despite having differences, the similarities between the two publications are their syntactic structures. This study contributes to journals of applied linguistics to develop themselves in order to reach the SCOPUS Q1 database in the future. With over three years of study in this field, the author expects that this study will contribute some knowledge to other applied linguistics researchers, editors and EFL learners.
Keywords: A-movement, topic sentences, applied linguistics, SCOPUS databases. | | --- | | E-mail: [abhinan.w@psu.ac.th](abhinan.w@psu.ac.th), abhinanwong@gmai[l. com](l. com) . | INTRODUCTION Writing in English is a skill that is quite difficult to develop (Vizzi, Angelelli, Risser and Marinelli, 2023) . The difficulties in writing each paragraph include organization, ideas and language. The components of organization in a paragraph include a topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence. The knowledge of these components takes only a small number of classes for learners to acquire. Similarly, living in the digital era allows us to access different ideas easily via Chat GPT, reliable websites and online libraries. So these two factors seem not to be the main issues in writing. However, McCutchen (2011) pointed out that the major problem that affects writing a paragraph is the ability to use language to express ideas. Various linguistic competencies are required for writing (McCutchen, 2011) , such as the knowledge of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. In generative grammar, syntax is the arrangement of sentence structures; how phrases are arranged into clauses and the clauses are combined into sentences (Radford, 2009; Radford, 2020) . Different syntactic structures are used for different semantic denotations. For example, the subjective complement in English is used for the semantic denotations of providing factual information and/or what is what , as linguistics is the study of language or the study of language is linguistics. Swapping the positions between the subject and copular be complement would comply with pragmatic aspects, such as the pragmatic discourse of given and Afr Educ Res J 66 new information. For example, the study of language is linguistics. The theory of linguistics is divided into three camps, which are cognitive linguistics, generative linguistics and functional linguistics. Accordingly, the phrase the theory of linguistics is moved via Amovement or head-movement to be landed at the subject position of the second sentence to be connected with the previous discourse (Radford, 2020) . Writing in

FAQs

What linguistic mechanism does the study use to analyze topic sentences?

The study applies the A-movement mechanism in generative syntax to observe syntactic structures, semantic denotations, and pragmatic aspects of topic sentences.

Which sources were used to collect the data, and how many topic sentences were studied?

The data were collected from System and LEARN. A sample of 303 topic sentences was gathered for analysis.

What main differences and similarities does the study report between System and LEARN?

System applies the A-movement mechanism more than LEARN. The discussion indicates differences in pragmatic discourse and semantic denotations, while both publications share similar syntactic structures.

Oct 15, 2026

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