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Synchrotron radiation has been used to measure the rocking curves from a (GaIn)(AsP) single layer grown on an InP (100)-oriented substrate. For angles of incidence ΦB = (ΘB − φ) ≤ 0.7° measured at the Bragg angle ΘB (φ is the angle between the diffracting lattice plane and the surface), the rocking curve (RC) is very strongly influenced by total external reflection (TER). This causes a decrease in the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and an asymmetrical shape for the RC for small ΦB. Both of these effects are due to the Bragg-angle shift from the actual incident angle Φ which is not considered in the conventional dynamical theory. In this paper the essential influence of TER on any thin-layer rocking curve is investigated using a numerical solution of the extended dynamical theory. The pattern can be interpreted up to ΦB ≥ ΘC (ΘC is the angle of TER) by semiempirical incorporation of the results of the extended theory with the coupling formalism of Barrels, Hornstra & Lobeek [Acta Cryst. (1986). A42, 539–545].