Publisher： Common Ground Publishing
E-ISSN： 1447-9540|17|7|33-46
ISSN： 1447-9494
Source： The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, Vol.17, Iss.7, 2010-01, pp. : 33-46
Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.
Abstract
The theory of cohesion in English proposed by Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Halliday (1994) has made significant contributions to the understanding of cohesion and, to a certain extent, coherence of English texts. Cohesive ties, therefore, are considered to be crucial elements that can create flow in texts. In L2 writing by ESL/EFL students, this linguistic feature should be taught in an attempt to help improve the readability of L2 compositions. In this presentation, findings from an experimental study conducted with Thai graduate students will be delivered. The study employs pre- and post-tests to compare the degree of cohesion in the expository essays composed by sixty graduate students, divided into an experimental group, in which students received explicit instruction of cohesion, and a control group, which received no treatment and was taught how to write in a traditional approach stressing only grammatical accuracy. Data were collected from the students’ expository pre-test and post-test essays and analyzed using manual cohesion analysis and ANCONC. Then the independent t-test was conducted to analyse the statistical differences in the use of cohesive ties across groups, and the paired t-test was conducted to analyse the statistical significance in the use of cohesive devices within the experimental group and the control group. The results revealed that teaching activities can indeed enhance all types of cohesive ties in the students’ expository essays, i.e. reference, substitution, conjunction and lexical cohesion. Even though cohesion does not guarantee the coherence of an L2 text, it is an essential linguistic feature that can help L2 writers develop coherence or flow in their writing. This presentation will also include recommendations and implications about teaching writing to enhance L2 learners’ ability to write more cohesively and coherently, as well as discussions of a few problematic areas that remain to be explored.
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