<![CDATA[Writing coherence remains a challenge for lower secondary EFL learners. Framed within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this qualitative descriptive study examines how five ninth-grade EFL students construct textual coherence in recount texts through Theme–Rheme organization and thematic progression, while also exploring their perceived cognitive challenges during the writing process. Data were collected from students’ written recount texts to analyze thematic progression and from semi-structured interviews to explore students’ perceptions of coherence and the cognitive challenges they experienced during writing. The textual analysis followed Danes’ (2015) and Emilia’s (2014) frameworks, while interview data underwent thematic analysis. Findings reveal a heavy dominance of Constant Theme Progression (CTP), where students consistently relied on first-person pronouns as unchanging thematic anchors to maintain topical focus. Conversely, Zig-Zag progression was noticeably absent; students relied on basic coordinating and temporal conjunctions for paragraph connectivity. Interview data elucidate that this rigid structure serves as a practical coping strategy driven by cognitive and linguistic constraints, including first language interference, mental translation barriers, vocabulary retrieval load, and past-tense grammatical anxiety. While students possess an intuitive awareness of coherence, their execution remains restricted by these developmental hurdles. Because students predominantly relied on repetitive CTP and basic conjunctions while showing limited use of more varied thematic progression, explicit instruction in thematic progression and structured planning is recommended to help them develop more coherent information flow.]]>
