To determine formal principles of discourse processing and production, a study reviewed theories in various disciplines related to language and/or thought and thereby rationalized an approach of quantitative matrix analysis to the problems caused by discrepant discourse structures encountered in second language learning. Statistical analyses of newspaper editorials from the People's Republic of China and Taiwan revealed that language (English versus Chinese) and political stance (communist versus capitalist) respectively influenced discourse structures. Structures affected were length of clauses, relationship of propositions within paragraphs (subordinate, coordinate, superordinate), relation of subtopics to main topics, and amount of detail in subtopics, among others. These results indicated that language learning should be examined at the discourse level and in context, and that teachers and researchers should be aware of these discrepant discourse structures that can be envisaged in the matrix analysis. (Nine statistical tables and four figures are included, and a sample of the matrix analysis of a text is appended.) (Author/SKC)