Cohesive Devices Research Articles

Analysis of high-frequency errors and linguistic patterns in EFL medical students’ English writing: Insights from a learner corpus

BackgroundThe perceived language barrier in English is said to hinder, and in certain instances, impede the global dissemination of knowledge, including medical information, to non-native English speakers within medical institutions. As English for medical purposes instructors, we contend that the issue persists in medical universities across various EFL contexts. Medical students face the challenge of presenting their research findings in English for international journals and conferences. Given this, the present research study aimed to compile a comprehensive catalog of high-frequency errors and examine them in recurring linguistic patterns commonly found in the writing of Iranian medical students.MethodsIn conducting the present study, we developed a learner corpus of 1,040 essays (339,040 words and 18,235 sentences in total). Through using the results obtained from Wordsmith Tools 8 and sifting the leaner corpus, we identified 11 high-frequency errors and five commonly used linguistic patterns.ResultsOnly five out of 11 high-frequency errors account for 61% of the total number of errors. Results also showed that a majority of errors were of grammatical nature. In this regard, cohesion and cohesive devices (16%) were the most prevalent errors followed by omission/misusing of articles/determiners (14%). Additionally, results showed that discourse markers were extensively used in the corpus (22.07%), followed by hedges (11.42%).ConclusionsThe outcomes of this study are expected to assist English for medical purposes instructors in designing focused lesson plans and classroom activities. Ultimately, these efforts might contribute to enhancing medical education in non-English speaking universities.

A A corpus-based study on the use of cohesive devices in the lesson plans of pre-service teachers

This study explores the use of cohesive devices in lesson plans (LPs) prepared by pre-service teachers across various subjects, specifically focusing on English, Math, and Biology majorships in a state university in the Philippines. The research highlights the prevalent use of personal references among English pre-service teachers, who favor the word "you" for its role in maintaining a second- and third-person perspective. In contrast, Math and Biology pre-service teachers predominantly employ nominal substitutions and conjunctions to enhance coherence in their LPs. The study also notes the absence of ellipsis in the analyzed LPs and identifies the predominant use of nominal substitution and extension conjunctions across subjects. By comparing the frequency and types of cohesive devices used, the research underscores the variations in linguistic strategies employed by pre-service teachers of different disciplines. The findings suggest a need for greater awareness and training on the effective use of cohesive devices to improve lesson planning and instructional clarity.

Narrative Retelling Abilities of Kindergarteners Considering Early Literacy and Language Skills

Objectives: This study investigated the narrative retelling abilities of 5-year-old children at risk of narrative development, early literacy, and language skills focusing on story grammar, linguistic cohesive devices, and semantic-grammatical index.Methods: Narrative Retelling production using KONA was conducted on a total of fifty kindergarten children, 10 typically developing children (TD), 10 at risk of developmental dyslexia (DD), 10 at risk of narrative discourse (ND), 10 at risk of narrative discourse and early literacy (ND·DD), and 10 at risk of early literacy and language as well as narrative discourse to compare the production of story grammars, linguistic cohesive markers, and use of linguistic indicators total number of words (NTW), number of grammatical morphemes, mean length of T-units in morpheme (MLT-m), grammatical morpheme error rate (GME) between groups.Results: ND, ND·DD and ND·DD·SLI groups showed lower performance in producing story grammars, linguistic cohesive markers, NTW, and number of grammatical morphemes compared to the TD and DD groups. There were no significant differences between groups in the number of inappropriate uses of linguistic cohesive devices, MLT-m, and grammatical morpheme error rate.Conclusion: The ND·DD·SLI group with poor semantics and grammar showed significantly lower narrative retelling ability. This suggests that early intervention may be beneficial for children at risk for difficulties in language and narrative development. The ND group with good semantics and grammar was identified with their low narrative retelling abilities. In addition to typical development in semantics and grammar, there were children at risk of narratives with low abilities in early literacy. In addition to language skills, we need to screen and identity narrative abilities considering early literacy skills during the kindergarten period.

Grammatical Cohesion in the Introduction Chapters of Linguistics Ph.D. Theses Written by Anglophone Academic Writers

Effective formal writing skills are crucial for educational success and improved academic status; however, writing in English can be challenging, especially for inexperienced English writers and for those individuals for whom English is not their primary language. One often experienced challenge is the appropriate use of cohesive devices (CDs) to organize texts and enhance their semantic potential. Thus, this study analyzed the grammatical CDs utilized by Anglophone Academic Writers (AAWs) in the introduction chapters of 45 Ph.D. theses (86,000 words) in the field of linguistics using Halliday and Hasan’s CDs taxonomy. The analysis showed that AAWs mainly employed references, particularly personal and demonstrative, followed by conjunctions, particularly additive ones, as their dominant CDs. Additive conjunctions helped establish the coherent progressions of ideas in the introductions, while personal references, especially first-person pronouns, conveyed authorial presence. Demonstrative references emphasized important ideas discussed in the theses. The strategic application of these grammatical CDs effectively directed readers through the introductions, creating a logical flow for the writers’ points. Therefore, this study presents valuable insights into the cohesive writing practices of AAWs, which can be used to enhance writing instruction and help novice English writers in improving their formal writing skills.

An Analysis of Coherence and Cohesion in English Majors’ Academic Essays

This research investigates coherence (how ideas are logically connected) and cohesion (how sentences flow together) errors in essays written by junior English majors. Analyzing 80 essays and conducting 10 interviews, the researchers identified common errors and usage patterns. Using Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) framework for cohesion and Oshima and Hogue's (2006) framework for coherence, the findings reveal frequent use of lexical cohesion, such as repetition and synonyms, but also misuse of cohesive devices. The study suggests that clear instructional interventions should be developed to improve writing skills, and regular feedback should be provided. Teachers should demonstrate the use of cohesive devices to connect ideas and enhance coherence and peer review activities can also help students learn from each other's writing. Future research should consider longitudinal studies and cross-institutional comparisons to track progress and identify common issues.

The development of phrase‐frames in EFL learners’ essays: Variability, structures, and functions

AbstractPhrase‐frames (i.e., p‐frames) are a type of discontinuous formulaic language that have long been of interest to linguists in L2 writing research. Studies have explored p‐frames in different types of texts, but few have investigated p‐frames in learners’ essays, and it remains unclear at which level learners will begin to use p‐frames in native‐like ways. Drawing on a self‐compiled corpus of 1061 learner essays, this study explores the four‐word p‐frames used by Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners across four proficiency groups (pre‐B1, B1, B2, C1&C2) and analyzes the p‐frames regarding their variability, structures, and functions. The study also compares the p‐frames used by learners with those used by L1 English‐speaking students in terms of the three characteristics mentioned above. The results show that: (1) learners at more advanced proficiency levels use more varied p‐frames and more function word frames; (2) when learners have achieved C1&C2 levels they can use p‐frames in similar ways to L1 English‐speaking students regarding variability and structure; and (3) pre‐B1 learners are less skilled in using referential and discourse organizing expressions, probably due to a lower capability in the use of function word structures and cohesive devices. The findings help to advance our understanding of p‐frame development across proficiency levels, and offer some pedagogical implications for the teaching and learning of formulaic language.

금연공익광고 ‘노담’시리즈에 대한 텍스트 언어학적 연구 -2020년 광고를 중심으로-

This study analyzes the linguistic characteristics of the 2020 anti-smoking public service advertisement series 'Nodam'. The 2020 Nodam advertisements consist of three stories. The first story comprises three independent texts in an interview format, but they are unified into a single text through a repeated ‘question-answer' structure and recurring slogans. The second story is a single text woven from the relay-style narratives of five individuals, with independent subtexts bound together by cohesive devices. The third story has a single text structure consisting of one main text and a slogan. In terms of meaning construction, the first and second stories expand the advertisement's meaning and reinforce its purpose by linking subtexts through the same message and cohesive devices. The third story addresses e-cigarettes and smoking students, broadening the target and scope of the anti-smoking message. Additionally, as the advertisements target teenagers, they use abbreviations, neologisms, trendy expressions, and loanwords to capture teenagers' interest and elicit their empathy and participation.

An Analysis of Grammatical Cohesion in TED Speech Texts: A Case Study of Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection

Based on the cohesion theory of Halliday and Hasan, this study analyzed the application of cohesion devices and explored the significant characteristics of their frequency and distribution in a TED speech Teach girls bravery, not perfection . Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, it is found that reference is the most frequently used grammatically cohesive device, mainly due to the high frequency of personal reference in the whole speech text, which refers to both the speaker and the audience. And in the subcategory of conjunctions, additive conjunctions are the most frequently used, and the simplest form and , is used to add some new information and promote the development of the speech content. Finally, substitution and omission were used in a limited way.

Additive and Causal Connectives in GFL Argumentative Writing

The main objective of foreign language learning and teaching is the development of communicative language competence. One of its key components is discourse competence which consists of three main elements: cohesion, coherence and text composition (Bagarić Medve and Pavičić Takač 2013). The development of writing skills is acknowledged as one of the main challenges in foreign language learning and teaching, which includes the appropriate usage of cohesive devices in order to tackle the semantic relationships within a text. In German, explicit cohesive devices refer to coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions and adverbial connectors. While a bulk of previous research has focused on English as a foreign language, the studies conducted among the learners of German are still scarce Earlier studies (e.g. Breindl 2016; Vaakanainen and Maijala 2022) pointed to a limited range of variations within the same semantic group and an inappropriate use of connectives when comparing their usage between native speakers and learners of German as a foreign language (GFL). The aim of the present study is to analyse the frequency, variation and errors of causal and additive connectives (coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions and adverbial connectors) in GFL argumentative writing. The corpus consists of 43 argumentative essays written by Croatian GFL students at B2 level. The findings concerning frequency show that additional connectives are most frequently used within the whole corpus, whereas causal connectives take third place. The additive coordinating conjunction und is the most frequent additive item, the subordinating conjunction weil is the most frequently used causal item. The results connected to variation point to a wider range in the use of additional connectives in comparison to causal, but also reveal more error recognition within the additive semantic group. The most common types of errors concerning connectors detected in the corpus are as follows: syntax, meaning, spelling/punctuation, redundancy and register. In order to utilize these research findings aiming at improving the writing skills of GFL students in the learning/instructional process, practical implications are presented at the end.

Discourse Analysis on the Cohesive Devices in the Graduate Student Thesis

Discourse Analysis on the Cohesive Devices in the Graduate Student Thesis

A Corpus-based Investigation on the English Majors’ Use of Cohesive Devices in Argumentative Writing

Many factors affect the quality of English writing. Among them, the cohesion of discourse has been an important topic in writing research. This study aims to investigate the use of local, global, and text cohesion features in Chinese English majors’ argumentative writing and how EFL learners of higher proficiency (Grade 4) develop their written discourse competence as compared with the lower proficiency (Grade 1). The Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (WECCL 2.0) was adopted as the main corpus. The research finds that connectives and lexical overlaps are more frequently used in English writing, and a tiny minority of cohesive devices showed growth across the two grade levels. The findings provide important insights for researchers and teachers on second language acquisition, English writing development and English writing teaching.

Conjunction as a cohesive device in the disturbed discourse of people with aphasia

Aphasia is a speech disorder that signifi cantly affects the social functioning of people who have suffered a stroke. Although there is an increase in linguistic research on discourse, there is also an observable shortage of studies concerning cohesion and coherence in mixed aphasia in the Polish context. One of the determinants of cohesion is the conjunction, which was analysed in the utterances in the presented research. Among other things, a more frequent use of conjunctions was observed in the control group, and, by contrast, conjunctions were the rarest in those with mixed aphasia with a motor component. The study showed that patients with mixed aphasia with a sensory component used more conjunctions indicating purpose and cause-and-effect reltionship, which may indicate attempts to form subordinate sentences and a desire to continue speaking. Research indicates the need to enrich therapeutic activities in exercises that develop the skill of using conjuncƟ ons properly in utt erances.

GRAMMATICAL COHESIVE FEATURES IN INDONESIAN EFL STUDENTS’ ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

This study investigates the use of grammatical cohesion in the argumentative essays written by Indonesian English as a Foreign Language students. Cohesion, a crucial component of textual coherence, ensures that discourse elements are logically connected, thereby enhancing the readability and comprehensibility of written texts. By analyzing a corpus of 7 students’ essays, this research identifies the frequency and types of cohesive devices employed while at the same time observing the coherence built through the use of these devices using Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesion conceptual framework. The findings demonstrate prevalent patterns where the reference devices were used more frequently than conjunctive devices. It suggests that the lack of understanding of grammatical cohesion can lead to potential challenges for learners in utilizing cohesive mechanisms effectively.

Process-Genre Approach: Iranian EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing as an Example

Comparing the effect of implementing process versus process-genre approach on Iranian EFL students’ argumentative writing was the primary aim of the study. Three discourse features were selected for analysis (i.e., organizationpattern, coherence, and cohesion). In a quasi-experimental design, ninety-two EFL learners (from a subject pool of 117) were selected based on the BABEL test at upper-intermediate level in the age range of 18-36. The chosen participants were randomly allocated to an experimental group (N = 47) given process-genre approach instruction and a control group (N = 45) that was instructed utilizing the process approach. Then, two post-tests were taken: one right away and the other later. The results showed that the distinction between the two groups regarding three discourse features was statistically significant and the effects of process-genre approach retained in delayed post-test. The findings suggested that the integration of genre with writing processes can enhance Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative writing. The pedagogical implications of the study are also discussed. Keywords: Argumentative Writing, Coherence, Cohesive devices, Organization patterns, Process-Genre Approach.

중국인 한국어 고급 학습자의 어휘적 응결 장치 인식 양상 연구

중국인 한국어 고급 학습자의 어휘적 응결 장치 인식 양상 연구

A Corpus-Based Study on Cohesion Development in Writing by EFL Novices

This corpus-based study explored the development of cohesive devices in the writing of Chinese beginner learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) over a three-year span. Quantitative analysis utilizing the Tool for Automatic Analysis of Cohesion (TAACO) was conducted on a longitudinal learner corpus comprising over 500 exam essays. Lexical, syntactic, semantic, and discourse features were examined to identify reliable indices for tracking learners’ progressive mastery of cohesion. Results revealed that pronoun-related features, including pronoun density and repetition, significantly differed across year pairs and robustly predicted writing development. However, most lexical and connective indices showed ambiguous trajectories over time. The findings highlight the vital role of pronouns in building coherence for novice writers and underscore persistent difficulties in acquiring sophisticated content words and their collocations. This study contributes data-driven insights into the nonlinear processes and enduring challenges shaping EFL beginners’ cohesive competence. It demonstrates the value of computational tools and learner corpora in exploring discourse acquisition.

“Anti-Texture” Agents in the Written English Essays of Students in a Ghanaian University

Texture proves to be a key indicator for measuring the quality of a text but establishing this text quality is a challenge for most English as a Second Language (ESL) students. This challenge has led to an array of studies to find the root cause(s) of this/these writing challenge(s) of ESL students. Despite these numerous studies, there is still paucity of research on “anti-texture” agents in the written English essays of students from the Ghanaian context, especially those at the tertiary level. In filling this gap, this study uses Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesive theory as a framework to explore the types of cohesive errors that serve as “anti-texture” agents in 150 written English essays of students from a Ghanaian university. Because of the highly descriptive nature of this current investigation, it uses the qualitative content analysis as its design. The findings show that challenges like unclear pronoun references, wrong selection of cohesive devices, over usages of one cohesive device within the same textual environments, wider textual distances between references and their referents, the omission of cohesive devices, wrong insertions of cohesive devices and references lacking referents served as barriers to ESL students quest to use cohesive devices as means of creating texture in their texts. The findings further confirmed that the inappropriate use of cohesive devices in the students’ essays disrupted the free flow of information and as such, rendered the essays incoherent. The study has pedagogical implication for ESL academic writing instructors and curriculum developers.

LEXICAL COHESION ANALYSIS OF DONALD TRUMP’S SCRIPT SPEECH

Abstract This study has target to find lexical cohesion in the text of a speech delivered by a controversial president, Donald Trump. The researcher also reveals several reasons why the writing problem is on lexical cohesion where cohesive devices play an important role in shaping a speech and the use of language that is organized and easily understood by others in delivering a speech will have an impact on communication that goes well, so as to avoid misunderstandings between speakers and listeners. Therefore, the method used in this research is qualitative and this descriptive qualitative research also used observational method and note taking technique. In supporting data collection techniques, researchers use the theory of Creswell (2018) and also support by Merriam &Tisdell (2016) .The next by Litosseliti (2010). The lexical cohesion proposed by Matthienssen & Halliday, (2014) has several types of lexical cohesion consist of repetition, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and meronymy. For the results of data analysis, there are 50 repetitions then 1 hyponymy then 1 meronym, 2 synonyms, and finally 1 antonym. Keywords: Speech Script, Cohesion, Lexical cohesion, Qualitative

How Does the Use of Cohesive Devices in L2 Individual Writing Change After Writing Collaboratively or Independently?

This study looked at how completing collaborative or independent writing can affect the individual writing that students subsequently produce; specifically at how the use of cohesive devices in individual L2 student writing changes as a result of completing these two writing procedures under the same conditions. To do so, this large-scale study (n=128) looked at the use of cohesive devices in individual writing completed before (pre-test) and after (post-test) either collaborative or independent writing had been carried out. It also assessed examples of collaborative writing dialogue (n=94) to identify student deliberation about cohesion and the organization of the coauthored text; comparing the frequency of these to discussions about language use and mechanics of writing. Results revealed that there were very similar significant changes in the use of cohesive devices in the individual post-test writing of students from both writing groups and minimal student discussion about the use of cohesive devices in collaborative writing dialogue. Therefore, it is possible that the changes noted in the collaborative writing group (and the independent writing group) were possibly due to instruction and not due to the type of writing completed. On the other hand, students frequently engaged in discussions about language use and thus collaborative writing may be more conducive to learning about this aspect of writing.

Grammatical Cohesion in Online Minute-By-Minute Football Commentary

Linguistic inquiry into football commentary has become prevalent in recent times. Despite the plethora of studies on football commentary, the cohesive elements within it remain unexplored. The present study, therefore, investigated the grammatical cohesive devices in Online Minute-By-Minute Football Commentary (OMBMFC). Three OMBMFCs from The Guardian news were collected, processed, and analysed. Drawing on Halliday and Hasan’s Cohesion Theory, the study found that all four types of grammatical cohesive devices (reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunctions) were employed in the OMBMFC. The most dominant grammatical cohesive devices were references followed by conjunctive devices and the least used were ellipsis and substitution. The study also found that these devices were employed to avoid repetition and to link sentences. It was recommended that an investigation of both grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in OMBMFCs be carried out to ascertain a holistic view of the role cohesion devices play in these commentaries. The study extends research in cohesion studies, particularly in football commentary. Keywords: Sports Commentary, Cohesion, Cohesive Devices, Online Minute-By-Minute Football Commentary