In this manuscript, graduate students’ multiple theses are compared. Furthermore, the study also investigates how reading research affects its linguistic understanding. In particular, the main targets of this study were textual linguistics studies; the development of sentence structure awareness research was temporally compared.
First, the studies of Kazumi Tachikawa and Takashi Ichikawa were compared. The research content’s development was ascertained and three perspectives were employed to gain a deeper understanding: (a) a focus on the introduction, comparison, and evaluation of prior research in the new theses; (b) a clarification of sections that follow from prior research and sections that were newly established with regard to the new theses’ methodology, etc.; and (c) a focus on sections for which questions/criticisms are presented by the reader’s existing knowledge regarding concepts that are handled in the new theses.
Next, to understand the development of Tachikawa’s study in other viewpoint, texts on sentence comprehension research in cognitive psychology were reviewed. Tachikawa’s study was then considered from the three factors of sentence comprehension, the readers perspective, and the condition of reading. Therefore, the primary focus of Tachikawa’s study was on the sentence factor, consistent with traditional linguistics, but could also be seen as addressing a readers perspective that had been clarified in sentence comprehension research. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of sentence comprehension research, significance of Tachikawa’s study can also be seen as supplementing the sentence approach.
Thus, a comparative thesis reading from the perspectives shown above led to a deeper understanding of the key concepts involved in ascertaining the positioning of Tachikawa’s study. The elucidation of these learning processes will be useful for schoolteachers as they research materials to clarify learning processes through the reading of theses in specialist areas, in addition to pursuing the ideals for teaching support.