THEMATIC AND TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN'S SONGS AND STORIES *

Thematic and Transitivity Analysis of Children’s Songs and Stories
(Diah Gusrayani)

THEMATIC AND TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF
CHILDREN’S SONGS AND STORIES *

Diah Gusrayani
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229
Bandung 40154
Phone: (62 22) 2013161/4, Fax: (62 22) 2013651


ABSTRACT

Songs and stories appear to be two among the many entertaining forms of
language teaching resources in Indonesia. To children especially, songs and
stories bring a lot of joy and happiness. How far children can understand the
meaning of some vocabularies contained in a song and a story is the main
concern of this study. One story and one song are chosen—both contain
verbs representing verbal, mental and material processes—and are tested to
the children to figure out their level of understanding. Thirty children aged
10 are chosen as the participants of this study. Thematic and transitivity are
served as a tool of analysis and applied to both the song and story. The data
from each source were quantitatively listed and the results were then
analyzed.


KEYWORDS:
Thematic analysis, Transitivity, Mental process, Verbal process, Material
process, Conceptual, Metalinguistic

INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary is considered the most prominent subject to teach to children
who learn language. Only after understanding the meaning of a word will
they be able to apply it in the context of usage. Through this mastery,
children extend their understanding of the concept of discourse: all
linguistic patterns exist beyond the words, clauses and sentences (Gerrot
and Wignel, 1994; Paltridge, 2000). At the same time, they begin to enter
larger units of language, one of which is conversation. In brief, the

* Diah Gusrayan, Lecturer in Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung.

61

---

Volume 8 No. 1, Februari 2008 : 61-75

mastery of vocabulary enables children to begin a very important phase in
their life, namely to perform communication. Having mentioned the fact, I
believe the teaching of vocabulary is consequently very important.

Teaching vocabulary, especially to children, should be conducted through
joyful learning activities since they learn fruitfully in a low tense
atmosphere (Lie, 2002; Gusrayani, 2007). In a low tense atmosphere, they
are facilitated to acquire and learn useful amounts of vocabulary, retain
them in a long period of time, understand the context of usage and finally,
of course, use them appropriately in the right context. Songs and stories
are two among the many tools believed by Indonesian teachers to serve
this purpose. They find encouraging results when they give songs and
stories to children to facilitate their learning (of first, second or foreign
language). The class is enlivened by the students’ participations: raising
hands, answering questions, contextualizing words and other such
reactions. (Melani, 2004). It is easy for the children to understand and
contextualize the words because of these three points: (a) the number of
occurrences of new words is great; (b) the frequency of the words pictured
is high; (c) the clues to meaning in text (situation, gestures, etc) are very
helpful (Cameron, 2001; Pinter, 1999). When the teacher’s explanations of
the new words are added to the process, the children’s gains in vocabulary
become double.

The assumption that songs and stories provide a perfect environment and
setting for children to learn a new language should not be made in a rush.
It is important that the content of the songs and the stories should be
considered first—whether they are relevant and understandable for
children or not. In learning English, Indonesian children have to work hard
since English is neither their first nor second language. They are facilitated
to study English only in their formal class and hardly any outside the class.
Therefore, the teachers should think of providing an appropriate learning
context and atmosphere in order to enable children to acquire English as
smoothly as in their acquisition of the first language.

Stories and songs have been largely assumed of having a number of
vocabularies which are relevant to children’s world and, therefore,
understandable to them. The teachers need these kinds of material to
improve the students’ mastery of vocabulary. Nevertheless, stories and
songs themselves should be analyzed in terms of their meanings, cohesion
and coherence in order to serve the needs. This is the core of this study—

62

---

Thematic and Transitivity Analysis of Children’s Songs and Stories
(Diah Gusrayani)

analyzing theoretically how a story and a song make their meaning and
convey the message, and confirming practically how they are grasped by
Indonesian children as indicated by their mastery of the vocabulary taught.
Disbanding the song and story to grasp the meaning and coherence would
be the first concern of this study. After applying thematic analysis (theme
and rheme) and transitivity as the tools of analysis of both the song and the
story, the coherence and meanings would expectantly be revealed.
Afterwards, the implementation of both tools to children—how they
acquire them successfully in terms of meaning, especially for several main
vocabularies—will also be described here as the second concern of this
study. In a later analysis, I will unveil which one, between the song and
the story, serves the cohesion and coherence at best and I will also
compare the result to the real implication in children’s mastery of the song
and the story.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Thematic Analysis
Thematic analysis is based on the drawing of thematic structure. Halliday
(1985) describes thematic structure as follows:

Of the various structures which, when mapped on to
each other, make up a clause, we will consider first
the one which gives the clause its character as a
message. This is known as thematic structure.(p.38)

Thematic structure applies to the clause in all languages. As Halliday (1985)
mentions:

We may assume that in all languages the clause has
the character of a message: it has some form of
organization giving it the status of a communicative
event. But there are different ways in which this
may be achieved. In English, as in many other
languages, the clause is organized as a message by
having a special status assigned to one part of it.
One element in the clause is enunciated as the
theme; this then combines with the remainder so
that the two parts together constitute a message.
(p.37)

63

---

Volume 8 No. 1, Februari 2008 : 61-75


A theme sets up the local context for each clause. This local context often
relates to the method of development of the text: the theme is selected in
such a way that it indicates how a clause relates to this method and
contributes to the identification of the current step in the development. The
remainder is called rheme. Rheme follows the theme–the presentation
moves after the point of departure. A clause as a message is analyzed by
theme and rheme; theme is with which the clause is concerned and rheme
is the part where the theme is developed. Theme and rheme help us
understand how information is conveyed in clauses. Writers put the theme
first, which leads the reader to understand what is about to be
communicated. The rest of the clause tells the reader something about the
theme and this “rest of the clause” is called the rheme. New information,
which is the focus of the message, usually comes at the end of the clause
or sentence. Writers usually begin sentences by referring to information
known by the reader (“given information,” which is not always exactly the
same as the theme) and then add new information. Writers use theme and
rheme to highlight information. The rheme in one sentence frequently
becomes the theme in the following sentence. For example:

How Theme encodes Information
SYSTEM
EXAMPLE

Emily
was encouraged
by Liz.
Mood
Subject
Verb
Adverbial
Theme
Rheme
Theme
Given
New
Table 1 Theme-Rheme
(from Modern English Grammar, 1995)

Another example of the analysis of multiple theme (Halliday 1994:56) is:

On the other hand maybe
on a weekday it would be less crowded
textual
interpersonal experiential

(topical)

64

---

Thematic and Transitivity Analysis of Children’s Songs and Stories
(Diah Gusrayani)

Theme


Rheme
Table 2 Multiple-Theme

There are three types of theme, i.e. topical, interpersonal, and textual; and
three patterns of thematic progression; i.e. zigzag, re-iteration, and
multiple-theme patterns (Eggins, 1994). Analyzing theme and rheme will
reveal the level of difficulty of both genres for children to understand
theoretically since theme and rheme can express one pattern of cohesion.

B. Transitivity
The transitivity system encodes the ideational content of the text, that is
the content and ideas expressed by the text. This content is typically
expressed by patterns of processes, participants and circumstances. For
example (taken from Halliday, 1994):

Bats
hunt
at night
Participant: Actor
Process:
Material Circumstance: Time
process
Table 3 Transitivity

Transitivity system helps us recognize and encode our experiences of the
world. In the world, it is well understood that some things function as
“actors,” making things happen. It is commonly understood also that
actors are usually humans. Actors will consequently do different kinds of
acts for different goals. Those acts — or “processes” — could be material
(such as “kill the mouse”) or mental (such as “consider the possibilities”).
Likewise, the goals could vary from intangible abstractions (such as the
possibilities) to concrete realities (such as the book). The function of the
transitivity system to make these distinctions of meaning (Halliday, 1985)
is what this article attempts to analyze. After the song and the story are
analyzed by transitivity, the function of all elements will be unveiled so
that the understanding of the whole text would be brought about.

C. Children’s Learning a Foreign Language
There are many unique phenomena in children’s learning a foreign
language. It is very different compared with adults because a) children are
often more enthusiastic and lively, b) children want to please the teacher
rather than their peer group, c) children will have a go at an activity even
when they do not quite understand why or how, and do not have the same

65

---

Volume 8 No. 1, Februari 2008 : 61-75

access as older learners to meta language (Cameron, 2001; Pinter, 1999).
Considering these characteristics of learning, teachers should be careful in
bringing teaching material to the classroom since the notable
characteristics can be challenging or even impending.

Some experts’ remarkable theories of children’s characteristics should also
be taken into consideration. Piaget’s concern, for example, is on the child
as an active learner and sense maker (in Cameron, 2001). The child is seen
as continually interacting with the world as he or she is solving problems
that are presented by the environment. Through taking action to solve
problems, learning significantly occurs. Children also deal with concrete
thinking and concrete objects in their initial stage of life. The implication
of learning suggests that children are active learners and thinkers and,
thus, seek out intentions and purposes in what they see in other people’s
actions and language. Children are active “sense makers,” but their sense-
making is limited to their experience. This is the key for them to respond
to all classroom activities including when a teacher involves them in story
telling or singing. The teacher, therefore, should think of classroom
activities as creating and offering opportunities to learners for learning.

Meanwhile, Vygotsky (in Cameron, 2001) has a different concern
compared with Piaget’s because he relates a child with his social life
instead of merely concentrating on a child’s individual cognitive
development. According to this theory, language provides the child with a
new tool, opens up new opportunities for doing things and for organizing
information through the use of words as symbols (Clark and Clark, 1977;
Ellis, 1994). Vygotsky further emphasizes that children’s learning to do
things and learning to think are both assisted by interacting with adults.
Besides the concept of ZPD (zone of proximal development) and
internalization, another Vygotsky’s theory which is quite helpful to this
study is the concept of how children learn words and meanings. Since the
earliest lesson, children are encouraged to think of the new language as a
set of words.

Brunner (in Cameron, 2001) proposes the concept of scaffolding and
routines in setting the tasks and activities for children learning a new
language. Doing routine introduction to the new language gives an
opportunity to scaffold the new language to a child’s mind. Routines can
provide opportunities for meaningful language development and will open
up many possibilities for developing language skills. All these theories

66

---

Thematic and Transitivity Analysis of Children’s Songs and Stories
(Diah Gusrayani)

will shed light on how the story and the song would effectively serve the
children’s learning of a new language since the theories reflect on the
naturalness of songs and stories in exposing context and vocabularies
within.

D. Vocabulary Mastery
Richards and Nation (1990) in Cameron (2001) describe some types of
understanding or knowledge about a word, which are: receptive
(understanding when it is spoken/written), memory (recalling it when
needed), conceptual (using it with the correct meaning), phonological
(hearing the word and pronounce it correctly), grammatical (using it in a
grammatically accurate way; knowing grammatical connections with other
words), collocational (knowing which other words can be used with it),
orthographic (spelling it correctly), pragmatic (using it in the right
situation), connotational (knowing its positive and negative associations;
knowing its associations with related words) and metalinguistic
knowledge (knowing explicitly about the word, i.e. grammatical
properties). The children’s understanding of the vocabulary drawn from
the song and the story will be categorized into these types.


RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research involves 30 children aged 6-12 at the 5th grade of SD Salman
Al-Farisi as the subjects. They are taught some new vocabularies by being
introduced to two texts: “Oly, The Fat Caterpillar” (a story) and “Angels,
Watching Over Me” (a song). This step is performed in order to figure out
which text is best in aiding the children to master new vocabulary. Both
texts are chosen because they are used by seven English teachers in two
different elementary schools (SD Salman Al-Farisi and SD Darul Hikam)
as their learning material.

Having selected the book, theme-rheme analysis is applied to find out the
cohesion pattern of both the song and story. Transitivity analysis is
subsequently applied to seek what is experienced by both texts. The
theme-rheme is then patterned based on the given and new information
that each sentence carries within. Transitivity analysis is afterward
performed in order to find out what processes are experienced in both
texts, by whom and in what circumstances. The process is quantitatively
analyzed in order to find out which type of processes dominates each song

67

---

Volume 8 No. 1, Februari 2008 : 61-75

and story. Qualitative analysis is then applied to find out theoretically
which one seems to be the better text for teaching vocabulary to children.

This elementary school is chosen due to the fact that they have English
lessons for more than 10 hours a week. Therefore, it is assumed that the
students have a good background in English. The students are taught new
vocabularies in the two texts (the song and story) and their understanding
and mastery of the vocabularies are then to be compared. What happened
during the teaching and all phenomena involved are related to the theories
of children’s learning a new language. After I taught both texts to the
students and drawn some practical conclusions, I will then confirm the
results to the theoretical conclusions.


THEMATIC AND TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS

A. Analysis of Processes
From the analysis, it is found that “Oly, the Fat Caterpilar” contains 56
clauses whereas “Angels, Watching Over Me” contains only 10
clauses. The analysis of transitivity to both texts is shown in the table
below:

No Categories
SONG
STORY
1
Material Process
8=80%
15=26.8%
2
Verbal Process
--
6=10.7%
3
Relational Process
1=10%
28=50%
4
Mental Process
--
1=1.78%
5
Behavioral Process
--
6=10.7%
6
Existential Process
1=10%
--
Table 4 Types of Processes in both texts

Here we can see that material process seems to be dominant in the
song, and according to Piaget, this accommodates concrete operation
in children’s mind. A child, as a sense-maker, can really “see” other
people’s “actions.” To a child, the value of language is measured by its
ability to help him better enjoy his primary interests. Hearing the tune
played and seeing the demonstration performed will be one of their
primary interests in coming to school. Providing songs can be
categorized as preparing learning material which Piaget (in Cameron
2001) calls as “… [to] serve the environment for development through
the opportunities it offers the child for action”. This is reasonable to

68

---

Thematic and Transitivity Analysis of Children’s Songs and Stories
(Diah Gusrayani)

explain why a song—to certain children when it is demonstrated—is
quite joyful and remarkable.

A song also provides what Brunner (in Cameron, 2001) coins as
scaffolding activity and routines. An activity that makes the children
interested in the task is considered a scaffolding task; for example, a
song. Having a song with material process dominating the process
types will enable the teacher to act each word out. The teacher helps
the students perform certain actions that they will habitually perform
in the future, e.g. watch (in the song, there is the word “watching”).
Vygotsky refers to such an interaction as the concept of “adults’
assistance in children’s learning and thinking.”

Meanwhile, the story contains relational process in almost half of all
the clauses. It means that the story tries to relate children to the real
life and therefore enables them to organize information since, cited
from Vygotsky, children are also social beings and language has to
provide them with the opportunities to realize that. Some clauses from
the story deliver relational messages; they define things (She is a
caterpillar, she is long, and she is green). It helps children to grasp an
idea of what a caterpillar looks like. This phenomenon shows that the
children are aided to understand the messages that the story delivers by
bringing the context of each word by definitions.

B. Analysis of Participants
Story

= Existent Participants i.e. names (Oly, Ibel)
Song

=”Unreal” actors, i.e. Angels, God
From this viewpoint, what is considered to be “real” by children will
help them understand the context it lies within. God and angels might
have become two familiar concepts in children’s mind, but still they
are “unreal”. Adults are sometimes confused in explaining these two
concepts to children. It results in a confusing concept that not all
children can easily grasp. Vygotsky (in Cameron, 2001) suggests that
children do not let language that they do not understand confuse them.
When they hear something they do not understand, it disturbs them
about as much as water disturbs a duck's back. This is related to the
fact that language is never the center of their attention. So, they simply
do not care about what they cannot understand. Referring to his theory
on children’s ZPD, I find it worth considering that the teacher should

69

---

Volume 8 No. 1, Februari 2008 : 61-75

provide clear and definite learning material for children who are
learning their new language—especially learning new vocabularies.

C. Analysis of Theme-Rheme
The theme and rheme analysis for both texts yields the result as
follows:
1. The story shows re-iteration pattern as its thematic progression; i.e.
what becomes rheme in the first clause turns out to be the second
theme in the second, third, fourth clause, and so on; e.g Her name
is Oly. She is a caterpillar. She is green. She is long. She has a lot
of hair. She has a lot of legs. She eats fruit. She eats leaves. It
forms a theme re-iteration, which shows a tight cohesion between
the clauses. Eggins (1994) argues that theme re-iteration is one
basic way to keep a text focused. Repetition is an effective means
to create cohesion. This clear focus is well thought-out as helping
the children to understand the message better. Meanwhile the song
shows no pattern of theme development; the rheme in the first
clause is not attributed to or developed in any other clause. There
are many repetitions indeed, but the patterns are the same and there
is no re-explanation.

2. Interpersonal and textual themes occur mostly in the story, and
only topical theme appears in the song. Interpersonal theme creates
interpersonal effects on the hearers; that is one good reason why
the story involves the hearers more deeply than the song. As the
effect, the children can be drawn into the messages of the story, or
in other words, children can be made to understand the story more
easily than the song. Textual theme creates a continuation of the
message, and it also unifies the messages. As the textual theme is
found more in the story than in the song, the unification of
messages in the story seems to be stronger than in the song. It also
indicates that the story is built more cohesively than the song. As
Eggins (1994) states: “…textual themes are doing important
cohesive work in relating the clause to its context…” It strengthens
the thought that the story will be more easily understood than the
song.

Having drawn the theoretical conclusions above, I will proceed to state
what happened in reality when the song and the story were taught to the
students. My findings are as follows: (1) Children showed a great response

70

---