An investigation into the use of conjunctions for developing coherence in writing english by third year students at hue university college of foreign languages

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- DANG THI HUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF CONJUNTIONS FOR DEVELOPING COHERENCE IN WRITING ENGL

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-

DANG THI HUONG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF CONJUNTIONS FOR DEVELOPING COHERENCE IN WRITING ENGLISH

BY THIRD YEAR STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR:

TON NU NHU HUONG, D.Ed

HUE, 2014

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

- ĐẶNG THỊ HƯỜNG

NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG LIÊN TỪ ĐỂ TẠO TÍNH LIÊN KẾT TRONG HỌC VIẾT TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA TẠI ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP

DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH

MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:

TIẾN SĨ: TÔN NỮ NHƯ HƯƠNG

HUẾ, 2014

ABSTRACT

This research investigates the use of conjunctions for developing coherence

in writing English, at Hue University College of Foreign Language First, it attempts to clarify students‟ perceptions of using conjunctions in developing coherence in English writing Second, it seeks to find what types of conjunctions of coherence students often use in their writing Third, it aims to identify students‟ problems with using conjunctions in their writing Last, it seeks to address some suggestions for improving students‟ ability in using conjunctions

The subjects for this study consisted of 70 students, and 5 teachers of English at HUCFL The data were collected through questionnaires, interviews They were analyzed based on both quantitative and qualitative approaches

The findings of this study indicate that most of the students are well aware

of the importance of using conjunctions in the writing With the main purpose of identifying difficulties faced by students to find possible solutions, these difficulties are carefully put into consideration Based on the findings, suggestions are drawn out for students to have better achievement in English learning process

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my supervisor, who has provided me with the invaluable guidance, the valuable advice, reference books and materials during the time I wrote the study

I am grateful to teachers and third year students of Hue University College of Foreign Language The data collection for my research paper was supported by them Without their valuable contributions with real and truthful ideas, I could not do well with my research paper I also want to thank the teachers and students who were willing

to spend their time participating in the interviews

I am also grateful to the staff of librarians working in the college of Foreign Languages, who helped me assess the necessary and valuable materials for the fulfillment of the study

I wish to send my last expression of greatest gratitude

to my family members and my friends whose great affection, considerate care, both spiritual and material supports, and in time encouragement in moments of difficulty have meant a very big mobilization to me during the process of doing this thesis

TABLE OF CONTENT

SUB COVER PAGE i, ii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

ABSTRACT iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF TABLES……….……… x

LIST OF APPENDICES ……… ……… xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 The background of the research 1

1.2.Rationale of the research 2

1.3 Purposes of the research 2

Scope of the research 3

1.4 Significance of the research 3

v

1.5 Research Questions 3

1.6 Structure of the thesis 3

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Writing 5

2.1.1 Definition of writing and of academic writing 5

2.1.2 The importance of academic writing 7

2.1.3 Coherence and cohesion in academic writing 9

2.2 Coherence 12

2.2.1 Definition of coherence 12

2.2.2 The importance of coherence 13

2.2.3 Factors to create coherence in academic writing 13

2.3 Conjunctions 15

2.3.1 Definition of conjunction 15

2.3.2 Types of conjunctions for developing coherence in academic writing 16

2.3.3 The importance of conjunctions in academic writing 18

2.4 Teaching & learning essay writing skills in EFL environments 19

2.4.1 Teaching & learning essay writing skill at Vietnamese universities 19

2.4.2 Teaching & learning essay writing skill at Hue‟s College of Foreign Language 20

2.5 Conclusion 21

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 Research Design 22

3.2 Participants 22

3.3 Data collection instruments 23

3.3.1.The Questionnaire 23

3.3.2.The Interview 24

3.4.Data collection 24

3.5.Chapter summary 25

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Students‟ perceptions of using conjunctions 26

4.1.1 A comparison between students using and not using conjunctions 26

4.1.2 The importance of conjunctions 27

4.1.3 The necessity of using conjunctions 29

4.1.4 Benefits of using conjunctions 30

4.1.5 The frequency of using conjunctions 32

4.2 Types of conjunctions used by the students 34

4.2.1 The students‟ self-evaluation on the use of conjunctions 34

4.2.2 Kinds of conjunction used by students 35

4.3 Students‟ problems with using conjunctions 37

4.3.1 The existence of difficulties in using conjunctions 37

4.3.2 Types of difficulties in using conjunctions 38

4.3.3 The ways to deal with difficulties 39

4.4 Suggestions for improving students‟ ability in using conjunctions 41

4.5 Summary 42

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 43

5.1 Summary 43

5.2 Implications 43

5.2.1 For teachers 44

5.2.2 For students 45

5.2.3 For administrators 45

5.3 The limitation of the study 46

5.4 Suggestions for further studies 46

REFERENCES 47

APPENDICES ……… 51

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 4.1 A comparison between students with and without using conjunctions 26

Figure 4.2 The important of conjunctions 28

Figure 4.3 The necessity of using conjunctions 29

Figure 4.4 The frequency of using conjunctions 32

Figure 4.5 The students‟ self-evaluation on their use of conjunctions 34

Figure 4.6 The existence of difficulties in using conjunction 37

Figure 4.7 The ways to deal with difficulties 40

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1 Structure of the questionnaire content 23

Table 4.1 Benefits of using conjunctions 31

Table 4.2 Kinds of conjunctions used by students 35

Table 4.3 Types of difficulties in using conjunction 38 Table 4.4 Suggestions for improving students‟ ability in using conjunctions 41

LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

Appendix 1A: Questionnaire for students in English 51

Appendix 1B: Questionnaire for students in Vietnamese 56

Appendix 2A: Interview questions for students in English 61

Appendix 2B: Interview questions for students in Vietnamese 62

Appendix 3A: Interview questions for teachers in English 63

Appendix 3B: Interview questions for teachers in Vietnamese 64

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the introduction to the thesis It is divided into seven

sections: the background of the research; the rationale; the purposes of the research,

the scope in which my research has been implemented; the significance of the research; research questions and the structure of the thesis

1.1 The background of the research

Nowadays, English has become a popular and international language around the world In Vietnam, since the government has realized the important role of English in the development of the country, the need of learning English has increased quickly Hence, there is more and more University College of Foreign Languages in Vietnam At almost all colleges and universities in Vietnam, students

of English learn the four basic language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Among these four main skills, according to Richards and Renandya (2003), writing is always regarded as one of the most difficult skills, especially academic writing skill Here, students are required to know how to write essays According to Mc Laurent (2001), essay writing is regarded an act of exploration of mountain climbing Vietnamese students of English also meet several difficulties in writing academic essays They do not have experience in writing academic essays

It is said that they are unskilled students in this field So academic writing has been

an extremely difficult task to them Therefore, English writing outcomes by Vietnamese students of English have been limited about English proficiency

Being an English learner in many years, the researcher realizes that it is difficult for her to be able to write a good essay And English students of Hue University College of Foreign Languages also have similar difficulties Among the difficulties, the most outstanding seems to be the use of cohesive devices This has also been shown in Worrall‟s (2009) standpoint that Vietnamese students fail to produce a formal English essay because they often leave cohesive devices out of their writing altogether rather than risk confusing the reader Their essays often lack cohesion and coherence, which effectively contributes to the logic and unity

for a meaningful discourse Because of the fact that the researcher wants to have a lot of deeper experience for teaching better English writing to her students after she

graduates, she would like to conduct an experimental a study entitled “An investigation into the use of conjunctions for developing coherence in writing English by third year students at Hue University College of Foreign Languages”

1.2 Rationale of the research

Being an English learner for many years, I know how important English is in the modern life today It is considered an essential means of communication in the world And in order to be able to communicate with other people in English well, learners have to be fluent in all the fours skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Especially in writing skill, if the learners want to have a good writing, first

of all, their vocabulary must be extensive And the next, their writing must be connected and fluent Good writers use cohesion to explicate meaning within and across clauses in a text (Halliday, 1985) According to Halliday (1985)‟s point, a writing which loses the connectedness will not attract the readers Hence,

conjunction is one of the elements to help the writers be able to have fluent and

coherent writing

I really would like to know what English learners thought about conjunctions and how they used conjunctions in developing coherence in English writing classes

Based on all of the above reasons, I made a decision to do a study on “the use of

Conjunctions in developing coherence in writing English by the third year students at Hue University College of Foreign Languages”

1.3 Purposes of the research

The study aims to investigate what students of English at HUCFL think about the role of conjunctions, how conjunctions are used in writing classes In addition, the study is carried out in order to find what types of conjunctions students use to develop the coherence in their writing Furthermore, the researcher wants to know about some suggestions to teachers‟ ways of teaching to improve students‟ use of conjunctions in developing coherence in their students‟ writings

Scope of the research

Conjunctions are used in all the fours skills of studying of English However,

in writing this paper, the writer just wants to investigate the use of conjunctions in developing coherence in English Writing classes It will be carried out with third year students at Hue University College of Foreign Languages

1.4 Significance of the research

The researcher hopes to offer help to students of English in terms of how to make better use of the conjunctions in their English writing learning And with the research implication, it is expected to be able to raise the writing skill by third year students in writing classes of English at HUCFL Moreover, it might partially contribute to the better implementation of learning and teaching EFL

1.5 Research Questions

My paper aims to investigate the use of conjunctions in developing coherence

in writing English of students This study will deal with the following research questions:

1 What are students‟ perceptions of using conjunctions in developing coherence in English writing?

2 What types of conjunctions of coherence do students use in their writing?

3 What are some suggestions to teachers‟ ways of teaching to improve students‟ use of conjunctions in developing coherence in writing English?

1.6 Structure of the thesis

This thesis includes the following five chapters

Chapter I: Introduction

In this chapter, I introduce my research project, the reasons for choosing this topic, as well as the aims of research, scope of research, significance of research, and research questions

Chapter II: Literature Review

This chapter offers a fundamental overview of theoretical concepts relating to the research

Chapter III: Research Methods

In this chapter, I will give methods used to collect data and information of

participants such as: questionnaires, interviews

Chapter IV: Findings and Discussions

In the chapter, after collecting data, I will analyze and discuss the outcomes of the research based on the collected information and my own reflections on the project

Chapter V: Conclusion and Implication

This chapter summarizes the research findings, limitations of the investigation

and makes suggestions for classroom practice and future research

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical background of this study, the reality of teaching and learning writing skill in the EFL environment and an overview of the previous studies related to this thesis

2.1 Writing

2.1.1 Definition of writing and of academic writing

There are many ways of defining of writing According to Klein (1985, cited

in Tan, 2009), writing is the ability to put pen and paper to express ideas through symbols This way, representation on the paper will have meaning and content that could be communicated to other people by the writer Oluwadiya (1992: 128) confirms: “Writing is a basical process of communicating something on paper to

an audience.” To share the idea with Oluwadia (1992), Harris (1993:10-11) defines:

“ Writing is a process that occurs over a period of time, particularly if we take into account the sometimes extended periods of thinking that precede creating an initial draft.” Similarly, a third year student (1994, cited in Mandal, 2009:96) points out

“Writing is a creative process because it is a process of reaching out for one‟s thought and discovering them Writing, as such is a process of meaning making” Furthermore, Grabe and Kaplan (1996), in their book “Theory and Practice of Writing”, explore the meaning of writing in terms of the rhetorical triangle in writing And such triangle consists of the reader, the recipient of the final product

of the writing process; the writer, the originator of the message; and the subject matter and text itself Both the writer and the reader have to consider all these aspects when writing and reading, respectively, for each one plays a significant role

in the journey towards meaning (p.114-p.117) From the above definitions, it can

be inferred that writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, make them visible and concrete Writing encourages thinking and learning for it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection Writing skills are an important part of communication Writing is one of the language skills which are important in our life Through writing, we can inform

others, carry out transactions, persuade, and tell what we feel However, we know that writing or learning to write especially in a second language is not simply a matter of “writing things down” It is one of the four basic skills that is very complex and difficult to learn Writing is one of the ways to give an idea or message which is form in writing on a piece of paper or the other area It is an act

of making marks on certain surface Specifically, writing is one kind of expression

in language which is created by particular set of symbol, having conventional values for representing the wordings of particular language which is drawn up visually It means that writing is one of language skills, another author says, “It can

be used as a means of communication to convey massages by using written language or symbols It is able to function as a system of symbols and writing is a representation or symbols of a language” (Ramelan, 1992: 14)

Towards academic writing, however, it is difficult to have a simple definition According to White & Arndt (1991) academic writing is a writing process Academic writing, as its name implies, differs from other kinds of writing in several ways which can be explained in part by its special audience, tone, and purpose Writing in academic English forms or styles is usually serious, intended for a critical and informed audience, based on closely-investigated knowledge, and posits ideas or arguments (Wikipedia, 2010) In Jordan‟s (2004) opinion, the main features of academic writing are it is formal in an impersonal or objective styles; cautious language is frequently used in reporting research and making claims; vocabulary appropriate for particular academic contexts is used; the structure of the writing will vary according to the particular type This means it is important that academic writing styles, the formal styles, should not be mixed with the other informal styles: there should be uniformity and consistency, and appropriate language for the specific context In short, with academic writing, it is particularly important that writers should check and double check to ensure that it has the appropriate formal styles A piece of academic writing is always possibly required

to review and revise, and review and revise again (Jordan, 2004; Oshima and Hogue, 1st ed.; Pincas et al., 1992) Therefore, it is said that academic writing is very important in our life

2.1.2 The importance of academic writing

According to Graves (1978), writing is important in our lives Writing is a basic and important skill that helps students in their learning process When writing, students have time to practice and reinforce their vocabulary and structures This is easier for them to remember what they have learnt and to think creatively Hence, the English writing skill helps students to learn better Students can enhance the reading skill by reading materials to get information, speaking skill by communicating and sharing ideas with the others, collecting and choosing ideas to have a good writing For many reasons, writing plays an important role in students‟ learning process

Additionally, the ability to write effectively is becoming increasingly important in our global community, and instruction in writing is thus assuming an increasing role in foreign language education As advances in transportation and technology allow people from nations and cultures throughout the world to interact with each other, communication across languages becomes ever more essential As

a result, the ability to speak and write a second language is becoming widely recognized as an important skill for educational, business, and personal reasons Thus, writing has also become more important as tenets of communicative language teaching That is teaching language as system of communication rather than as an object of study (Charles Alderson and Bachman, 2002) Besides that Alderson and Bachman pointed out that writing functions primarily to support and reinforce patterns of oral language use, grammar, and vocabulary And it is being supplanted by the notion that writing in a second language is a worthwhile enterprise in and of itself We see that all children are able to speak their native language when they begin school, writing must be explicitly taught Furthermore,

in comparison to speaking, listening, and reading, writing outside of school settings

is relatively rare, and extensive public writing is reserved for those employed in specialized careers such as education, law, journalism Therefore we can say that writing is very important It is seen not just as a standardized system of communication but also as an essential tool for learning

Mandal (2009) firmly believes that in English classrooms, the aim of the teacher is to develop four skills of the learners: listening, speaking, reading and writing Although writing skill occupies the last place in this order, it does not

mean that it is the least important As Ton (2002: 54) stresses “instead of being a

last skill taught and instead of being a servant to grammar, writing has now become much more important in the second- language curriculum.” Writing

enables man to communicate with other people in many ways as Coffey (1987: 2)

believes “Writing, like speaking, is an important means of communication” In fact,

writing is also a creative art in which the acquired language skills and innate interests are made manifest While it may be argued that the writing skill is mainly for examination purpose, nevertheless, it helps students learn and practice new words and structures as Doff (1998) states that once writing is done slowly and carefully help to focus students‟ attention on what they are learning Also, Ton

(1998) believes, “through writing, students can consolidate the learning of

structure and vocabularies” Hedge (1994: 3774, cited in Ton, 1998:1) talks of

writing problem-solving activity in which students generate and organize their own arguments and clarify ideas to themselves as they try to communicate them clearly

to their readers Therefore, writing can be viewed as an instrument in the process of learning, and effective writing pedagogy

Grower, Phillip, and Walters ( 1995: 113-114) note that writing skill involves

many different aspects: (1) It is handwriting which is a problem for students who

are not familiar with Roman script: Far Eastern and Arabic-speaking students, for

example; (2) Spelling is usually more of a problem for speakers of non-European languages; (3) The convention of English capital letters and punctuation are not

universal so students that are grammatically correct, the correct word order to the

students; (5) Organizing a text and paragraphing: dividing the information into

paragraphs, ordering the paragraphs to present a logical argument, tell a story, etc;

(6) Text cohesion: writers know how to use the appropriate linking words and phrases so that the organization of the text is clear to the reader; and (7) Register /

style: Using language ( structures and vocabulary ) appropriately to the formality

and style of the text

Academic writing is even more important because it also has requirements of a normal writing skill Moreover, it also has high requirements which ask academic writers must have Academic writing is an essential requirement that university students develop the proper tone, technique and style for their university assignments Developing good academic writing skills has many advantages beyond obtaining higher grades It teaches the student how to think critically and objectively while clearly conveying complex ideas in a well-structured, concise format For this reason, academic writing is mainly presented in the third person with a formal style that reflects a logical pattern of reasoning for the main argument or 'thesis' of the text Students should use language that is easily understood and conveys the exact meaning

of their ideas and thoughts that is supported by empirical evidence from reliable academic sources Once a university student has improved their academic writing skills, they will eventually learn to think naturally in a logical and objective manner With these importances, therefore, academic writing needs to have essential requirements such as logic, coherence, cohesion, etc

2.1.3 Coherence and cohesion in academic writing

Coherence and cohesion are significant elements in organizing a writing Although the terms cohesion and coherence are often used together, they are not the same Cohesion usually refers to connections between sentences and paragraphs meanwhile coherence refers to the organization of discourse with all elements presenting and fitting together logically (Hinkel, 2004) In a similar vein, Shields

(2010) claims, “in writing, cohesion refers to the way sentences and paragraphs

flow on from one to another whereas coherence refers to how the ideas connect to make sense” (p.167) In order to create a good discourse, Nunan (1993) argues that

cohesion is “the formal links that mark various types of clause and sentence relationship within discourse” while coherence is “the extent to which discourse is perceived to „hang together‟ rather than being a set of unrelated sentences or utterances” (p.116) In brief, we can see the differences between cohesion and coherence through William‟s (2003) interesting example:

inter-Thinking of cohesion as the experience of seeing pairs of sentences fit neatly together, the way Lego pieces do Think of coherence as the experience of

recognizing what all the sentences in a piece of writing add up to, the way lots of Lego pieces add up to a building, bridge or boat (p.10)

Despite the differences between them, both cohesion and coherence play the same important role in writing While McCarthy (1991) says, “cohesion is only guide to coherence, and coherence is the feeling that a text hangs together, that it makes sense, and it is not just a jumble of sentences” (p.26), Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) claim that if the coherence of a text is central, cohesion is a linguistic consequence of coherence In summary, coherence and cohesion cannot

be separated In writing, cohesion must be viewed as a means to ensure, or simplify coherence and comprehension (Millward, 2009)

To enable writers to create both cohesion and coherence in writing, cohesive elements are things that cannot be ignored Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) suggest that in order to create the thread that holds the text together and creates unity and interest, an experienced writer will use the cohesive elements in the language In fact, the writer must use certain words or phrases, and their location within the discourse will activate a set of assumptions as to the meaning of what has gone beforehand or will generate a set of expectations as to what may follow (Millward, 2009)

I totally agree with the author‟s definitions and comments; I also think that coherence is a complex aspect of writing, and should be approached with caution For example, untrained students who are asked to write a text could theoretically approach the task by simply drafting some sentences, instead of selecting only those ideas that could be considered relevant for the general structure of their text

So I think that, their texts can be well written from a grammatical perspective, with clearly-cut independent sentences, but without an overall meaning while reading the text as a whole Similarly, some other texts may seem syntactically wrong, but they could convey a clear message Thus, it is interesting to observe the difference between cohesion and coherence

Bamberg (1983: 417) stated that the first analysis on coherence was carried out in the nineteenth century by Alexander Bain, who worked on paragraph structure, and who stated in his first rule that “the bearing of each sentence upon

what precedes shall be explicit and unmistakable.” Halliday and Hasan (1976: 13) defined the term as “the property of signaling that the interpretation of the passage

in question depends on something else.” On the other hand Bander (1983: 6) only focuses on how the main ideas of a text are structured, without paying any attention

to other aspects implied by coherence, saying that a paragraph is coherent “when its ideas are clearly related to each other in orderly sequence” Bamberg ( 1983: 418)

is more precise when she states that cohesion “ describes a linguistic system that extends through the text and binds together larger chunks of discourse, in addition

to forming smaller discourse units”, though she does not pay any attention to lexical cohesion We also find incomplete the definition given by Lauer et al (1985: 94) who said, “ coherence is a matter of putting the selected material in the right order with the right connectives”, not realizing that all these “right connectives” are not necessary for a text to be coherent However, one of the flaws that we have found in previous analyses is the lack of attention towards the fact that coherence is

a device used to stress the meaning of a text.( Palmer, 1999) Besides, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976, 1993: 4), the concept of cohesion is a semantic one, referring to “relations of meaning” that exist within the text, and it “occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another.” Cohesion is expressed “partly through the grammar and partly through the vocabulary” (p.5) In comparison, coherence, generally defined, refers to the quality of a text when it makes senses or is pleasing because all the parts or steps fit together well and logically (Collins Cobuild, 1996) It is the connection that is established partly through cohesion (Halliday & Hasan, 1989) and partly through something outside the text that is usually the knowledge which a listener or reader

is assumed to possess (Renkema, 1993: 35), such as background knowledge, genre expectations, and reader expectations Also as Palmer (1999) said, Cohesion is the way that “internal coherence” appears in the text, throughout diverse linguistic devices It can be based on syntax, as well as on lexis

Therefore, if we have cohesion and coherence with the overall sense of coherence as a textual device enhancing the comprehensibility of a text, we should point out which are the main differences between coherence and cohesion And

coherence is a necessary factor for academic writing Therefore, coherence will be presented in the next part of my study

2.2 Coherence

There are many factors to create successful essay writing However, the researcher found that coherence is a very important factor It contains other factors and makes successful to essay writing Therefore, the researcher decided to choose only coherence factor to present here

2.2.1 Definition of coherence

The term coherence has been defined by many scholars from different perspectives, hence there is no clarity of definitions of its own However, within the set scale of the study, the researcher only wants to select three definitions which are found most informative, and well- matched to the content of her study to start with She will then present why a combination of them will be chosen The first to be

introduced here is by Fitzgerald & Spiegel (1990) In the article entitled Children‟s

writing, page 263, they defined the term as follows: “Coherence is an overall

discourse-level property that makes a text held together” The definition is brief and condense It shows us that coherence means holding together in a text

However, the definition has one week point: it does not mention what an overall

discourse-level property is In case readers are quite new to the field of discourse,

hardly can they understand what the definition entails To clarify the hidden meanings, the researcher introduces two more definitions, one by Halliday and Hasan (1989) and the other by Lauer et al (1985: 94) Concerning the issue, Lauer

et al (1985: 94) said, “coherence is a matter of putting the selected material in the right order with right connectives” We also find that this definition showed us

what an overall discourse-level property is It is exactly right connectives Similar

to Lauer et al, Halliday and Hasan (1989) said, “coherence can be created by

cohesive markers that are appropriately used” We can see the word cohesive

markers in this definition that mean right connectives These two definitions are

very short and understandable They somewhat help to decode the term in the

former, which is an overall discourse-level property in the definition of Fitzgerald

& Spiegel (1990) Nevertheless, we find that above two definitions are incomplete

They are considered by the researcher as an oversimplication, because as mentioned above, coherence is much more so Despite limitation, above two definitions are also included in the research Because they are used as a part to support for the first definition And they help to make the definition by Fitzgerald

& Spiegel (1990) clear and complete That is to say, the thesis will be based on all the three above-mentioned definitions to develop

2.2.2 The importance of coherence

Coherence holds an important role in writing As many researchers have commented coherence can be considered as the basis for any kind of study related

to discourse analysis and it becomes a necessary subject regarding any kind of reading writing activity.(Henner-Stanchina, 1985; Ellis, 1985; Friedlander, 1990; Schiffrin, 1994) Actually, coherence refers to the unity created between the ideas, sentences, paragraphs and sections of a piece of writing It is what gives a piece of writing flow Because it links sentences and paragraphs together, makes discourse flow smoothly and creates a closure conclusion Besides, coherence gives the reader a sense of what to expect and, therefore, makes the reading easier to follow

as the ideas appear to be presented in a natural When writing lacks of coherence, the reader is forced to stop and reread Occasionally, the reader may just give up out of frustration Furthermore, basic on definition of Beaugrande and Dressler‟s

(1981:3), “concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text, i.e the

actual words we hear or see, are mutually connected within a sequence.” We see

that coherence can help texts to be meaningful and enhance the persuasive for texts Therefore, Witte and Faigley (1981) concluded that features of coherence greatly contributed to the overall success, or quality of texts

2.2.3 Factors to create coherence in academic writing

Coherence is product of many different factors, which combine to make every paragraph, every sentence, and every phrase contribute to the meaning of the whole piece Coherence in writing is much more difficult to sustain than coherent speech simply because writers have no nonverbal clues to inform them if their message is clear or not Therefore, writers must make their patterns of coherence much more

explicit and much more carefully planned According to Daniel Kies (1995,

itself is the product of two factors — paragraph unity and sentence cohesion

About the paragraph unity, he said that to achieve paragraph unity, a writer must ensure two things only First, the paragraph must have a single generalization that serves as the focus of attention, that is, a topic sentence Secondly, a writer must control the content of every other sentence in the paragraph's body such that (a) it contains more specific information than the topic sentence and (b) it maintains the same focus of attention as the topic sentence

This generalization about paragraph structure holds true for the essay in particular The two major exceptions to this formula for paragraph unity are found

in novel (where paragraph boundaries serve other functions, such as indicating when a new speaker is talking in a story) and in journalism (where paragraphs are especially short to promote 'visual' ease by creating white space)

About the sentence cohesion, he points out that to achieve cohesion, the link

of one sentence to the next, consider the following techniques: (1) repetition,that is,

in sentence B (the second of any two sentences), repeat a word from sentence A (2)

synonymy , If direct repetition is too obvious, use a synonym of the word you wish

to repeat This strategy is call 'elegant variation.' (3) Antonymy Using the 'opposite'

word, an antonym, can also create sentence cohesion, since in language antonyms actually share more elements of meaning than you might imagine (4) Pro-forms

Use a pronoun, pro-verb, or another pro-form to make explicit reference back to a

form mentioned earlier (5) Collocation Use a commonly paired or expected or highly probable word to connect one sentence to another (6) Transitions Use a

conjunction or conjunctive adverb to link sentences with particular logical relationships In this study, however, the researcher only focuses on using conjunctions to create the coherence in writing

2.3 Conjunctions

2.3.1 Definition of conjunction

In the book entitled Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers (1991: 49),

McCarthy says that “the conjunctions are better thought of as discourse markers, in that they organize and „manage‟ quite extended stretches of discourse” And Penston (2005) defines:

Discourse markers are cohesive devices, used mainly (1) to relate one sentence (or clause) to another or (2) to signal the speakers‟ / writers‟ attitude or style Without discourse markers, we just have bare sentences, no discourse Discourse markers are sometimes called signposts The term linkers may be also

used but this usually includes conjunctions” (p 10)

From the above definitions, therefore, the researcher can say that conjunction

is one of elements to develop coherence in writing English Furthermore, according

to Ehrlich (2000), conjunctions are words that link words, phrases and clauses It can be said that conjunctions were „linking‟ or „joining‟ words which joined together various things (Ehrlich, 2000:142) In addition, there are many definitions

of conjunctions which are proposed by people or scientists like Harris and Nordquist Harris (2009) states that as their name implies, conjunctions join together element of thought: words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs At that same time, Nordquist (2009) also agrees with Harris (2009) when giving a

definition as this: Conjunction is part of speech (or word class) that serves to

connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences

This definition is quite easy to understand for readers, it shows readers that

conjunction is part of speech and conjunction is to connect words, phrases, clauses,

or sentences However, the researcher thinks that this definition is not sufficient for

readers to gain an insight into the nature of the issue According to her, it is necessary to combine between Michael McCarthy‟s definition, Penston‟s definition

and Nordquist‟s definition Because they not only tell readers conjunctions are

discourse markers, cohesive devices, but also mention their function is to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences From that, the readers will have total and

sufficient knowledge about the definition of conjunctions The researcher therefore employs them as the basis for her thesis development

2.3.2 Types of conjunctions for developing coherence in academic writing

As analyzed above (in the part 2.1.3), it is easily recognized that coherence and cohesion have a close relationship and conjunctions are one of cohesive elements that contribute to the coherence in writing

In this line, Halliday and Hassan (1976) classify conjunctions into four following main categories:

+ Additive: and, and also, or also, in addition, furthermore, besides, likewise,

similarly, on the other hand, thus,…

+ Adversative: yet, but, though, however, nevertheless, instead, on the

contrary, in fact, actually,…

+ Causal: so, then, hence, therefore, consequently, as a result, for, because,

otherwise, for this reason,…

+ Temporal: then, next, after that, firstly, secondly, finally, in conclusion, in

short, briefly, previously, …

(Halliday and Hassan, 1976: 242-243) Halliday‟s and Hassan‟s (1976) classification of conjunction is a great achievement Many years later, several different scholars employ four categories in their studies as well as their books

In “Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers”, McCarthy (1991) formulated

“ when we look at natural data, we see that a few conjunctions ( and , but, so and

then) are overwhelmingly frequent We can also observe the wide use of and, where the reader/ listener can supply additive, adversative, causal and temporal meanings” Moreover, in this book, McCarthy (1991) based on four classification

of conjunction of Halliday and Hassan (1976) in order to tell about the author‟s perspective McCarthy (1991) also agreed with Halliday‟s and Hassan‟s (1976)

classification of conjunction In addition, he said, “the conjunctions are better

thought of as discourse markers, in that they organize and „manage‟ quite extended stretches of discourse”

While Halliday and Hassan (1976) and McCarthy (1991) give four main categories of conjunction, Downing and Locke (1995) have a particular taxonomy with various conjunctions

+ Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, either, neither, but, yet, so, then

+ Subordinating conjunctions: after, although, because, before, since, unless,

when, while, whether, even if, in spite of the fact that, etc…

(Angela Downing and Philip Locke, 1995: 232)

However, the researcher realizes that Quirk‟s and Greenbaum‟s (1973) classification of conjunction is easy to understand And it might be familiar with academic essay writing by the students under study In this scope of this study, therefore, the researcher decided to choose two classifications of conjunctions of Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) for her study They classified conjunction into categories depending on their functions as follows:

+ Enumerative: first, second, third….;firstly, secondly, thirdly…; one, two,

three…; for one thing…, for another (thing); for a start; to begin with, to start with;

in the first place, in the second place; next, then; finally, last, lastly; to conclude

+ Reinforcing: also, furthermore, moreover, then, in addition, above all, what

is more

+ Equative: equally, likewise, similarly, in the same way

+ Transitional: by the way, incidentally

+ Summative: then, in all, in conclusion, to sum up

+ Apposition: namely, in other words, for example, for instance, that is, that

is to say

+ Result: consequently, hence, so, therefore, thus, as a result

+ Inferential: else, otherwise, then, in other words, in that case

+ Reformulatory: better, rather, in other words

+ Replacive: alternatively, rather, on the other hand

+ Antithetic: instead, then, on the contrary, in contrast, by comparison, on

the other hand

+ Concessive: anyhow, anyway, besides, else, however, nevertheless, still,

though, yet, in any case, at any rate, in spite of that, after all, on the other hand, all the same

+ Temporal transition: meantime, meanwhile, in the meantime

(Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum, 1973: 247-248)

These categories reflect semantic relations between sentences in text It is thus important for students to understand the role of conjunctions in organizing written text

2.3.3 The importance of conjunctions in academic writing

As mentioned in the previous part, we all know that conjunctions may be a small class of words, but they are highly functional and very important for constructing sentences According to (Geva, 1992; Heino, 2010), the significance

of conjunctions is to signal logical relations in a written text and increase the readability of it In fact, using conjunctions to combine sentence units makes writing more mature, sophisticated, and meaningful They will help the reader not only understand the meaning better, but also help the writer achieve rhythm, balance, and meaning in their writing Moreover, using conjunctions in writing can make the logical relationships between ideas Thanks to this, the reader can easily understand the relationship between the parts of a text

Next, conjunctions can add meaning to what you are writing Zamel (1983) asserts that it would be difficult, without conjunctions, to make sense of ideas, since these conjunctions prepare the readers to anticipate the ideas which follow It

is clear that new information, with conjunctions, is presented in a way which does not disrupt the flow of the text and its meaning Hence, the lack of understanding to the importance of conjunctions, the writers will not have good writing Then, it might say that conjunctions are very essential for learners to improve their writing skill

It cannot be denied that conjunctions are important elements for creating coherent texts; their presence should cause coherence and hence contribute to the quality of the text (Ting, 2003) Indeed, conjunctions are also employed to express efficiently the logical relationships between clauses, between sentences, and between paragraphs Especially, conjunctions play an important role in creating lexical cohesion In addition, conjunctions also contribute a part in order to develop the paragraph of the text From the above reasons, it can be said that conjunctions

take part in creating a connected, fluent, and coherent writing In other words, conjunctions take part in developing coherence in writing

Thus, how teaching and learning to have a successful essay writing is a problem which being interested in For this reason, the researcher wants to focus on the teaching and learning essay writing skill in EFL environments in the next part of her study

2.4 Teaching & learning essay writing skills in EFL environments

2.4.1 Teaching & learning essay writing skill at Vietnamese universities

For a long time, grammar along with sentence structure has been an important component in the teaching of writing in Vietnam This common practice is greatly shaped by the grammar translation method that has dominated the language teaching and learning reality in Vietnam for decades (Pham, 2000) And writing has been conducted in the classroom as an individual activity with the teacher as the sole audience, and the students are quite quiet (Tran, 2001) Students also do not practice writing essays very often A student is only required to write essays in the final tests or graduate exams In addition, Vietnamese teachers of English only focus largely on grammar and the way of using words (Phan, 2011: 33) Pham‟s (2000: 25) study contends that Vietnamese language learners would be disappointed and confused if the explanation of the vocabulary, and sections on grammatical rules and style-points were absent in a writing lesson or an English lesson in general Traditionally, it has been expected by students that grammar should be an important component in the learning of writing

Le (2000), also shares the view that Vietnamese learners are bound to extrinsic motivation as a result of the pressure to pass exams Moreover, as a matter

of fact, many Vietnamese students tend to be more interested in learning other skills such as speaking, reading and listening than writing, and writing seems to be regarded as a chore or a burden, for a homework exercise is always waiting for them after each writing lesson (Tran, 2001) Also, most students consider writing difficult and unrewarding It is obvious that lack of interest and motivation in writing is a problem facing many students in Vietnam Thus, Vietnamese students often think that it is more beneficial to let teachers decide their needs, because

teachers know more about what they need to learn and how their knowledge will be assessed in examinations (Tran, 2007: 153) The researcher thinks that this reality will make Vietnamese students become more passive This makes the writing curriculum document for them be not good Because learners‟ needs have been decided for them by the curriculum developers from the university and from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, who develop policies based on their perceptions of what is best and necessary for students to study

Moreover, Vietnamese students feel difficult when learning writing skill because their writing style and discourse structure are not good enough to write an English essay Most students‟ writing level tends to lack a clear structure and academic vocabulary In her research, Nguyen (2009) analyzes that Vietnamese students fail to produce a formal English essay because they are deficient in the knowledge of academic English Most of them are unable to identify the distinction between spoken and written academic style Another important factor is that although linking devices can improve the coherence a text, EFL students will often leave them out of their writing altogether rather than risk confusing the reader (Worrall, 2009)

2.4.2 Teaching & learning essay writing skill at Hue’s College of Foreign Languages

College of Foreign Languages is a large college in Hue province There are many EFL classes, and English major classes are frequently enrolled However, because essay writing is very difficult, the researcher thinks that it is also similar to other universities in Vietnam, there are many challenges faced by teachers and students in teaching and learning writing skill at Hue‟s College of Foreign Language Indeed, writing in a foreign language is often seen to be such a difficult skill that many learners consider it unachievable Teachers and students at Hue College of foreign language faced with many challenges are the similar to what Vietnamese teachers and students are encountering In fact, in the university degree curriculum, also the same to Vietnamese English-majored students, Hue‟s English-majored students have five semesters to learn writing with two credits in each semester Such limited time practically causes difficulties for both teachers and

students in achieving the goal of learning writing Moreover, during two hours per week in class intended for both theory and practice, teachers often “struggle”

to organize the class and balance learning and practice so that students can benefit more from the teacher‟s instruction In addition, teachers and students of Hue College of Foreign Language encounter some other particular problems Firstly, as for teachers, they meet large difficulties in helping students improve essay writing skills because students‟ proficiency in English is quite low Most students are not good at grammar, vocabulary and spelling They do not have enough academic vocabulary to write an essay Secondly, as for students, it seems that they are not got access to several good conditions for improving English essay writing skill, and they are in shortage of research materials

Observing teaching writing skill for third of years, the researcher realizes that teachers of English often concentrate on correcting grammatical and spelling mistakes It appears that teaching students to have knowledge of discourse, discourse structure, discourse analysis in essay writing is not much mentioned The teachers only present a list of conjunctions in the textbooks and then students practice in the isolated sentences Students have not been taught to know how to use correctly conjunctions in the written discourse and how to create a coherent and cohesive discourse In short, these real situations are the main reasons for the researcher to do this study

2.5 Conclusion

This chapter presents the theoretical background that helps to elucidate the issues or theories related directly to the contents of the study Regarding conjunctions, the above review reveals though conjunctions are very important in academic writing; there has been so little research on how the EFL tertiary students have used them and how frequently This is what the study can hopefully contribute

to the field The following chapter will present the methodology of doing the research

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research methods and techniques used for the data collection After explaining the research design and participants in the survey, the researcher gives a detailed description of each data collection instrument: questionnaire, interview Finally, it displays the data collection and data analysis

The research sought to find answers to the following three research questions:

1 What are students‟ perceptions of using conjunctions for developing coherence in English writing?

2 What types of conjunctions of coherence do students use in their writing?

3 What are some suggestions to teachers‟ ways of teaching to improve students‟ use of conjunctions for developing coherence in writing English?

3.2 Participants

The participants of this survey consisted of two groups:

- The first group consisted of five teachers of English who had been teaching writing skills for third year students at Hue University College of Foreign Languages All of them were chosen to answer the interview questions

- The second group comprised seventy third-year EFL students at Hue University College of Foreign Languages Five of seventy students answered interview questions and all of them were chosen to complete the questionnaires

3.3 Data collection instruments

Data for this research were mainly collected from the following types of techniques: questionnaires, interviews

3.3.1 The Questionnaire

According to Nunan (1989), questionnaires came in various shapes and forms that could be used to investigate a lot of aspects in the teaching and learning process, thus practically being very quantitative The aim of the questionnaire was

to collect quantitative data to answer three research questions Using questionnaire was a way to have reliable data In addition, Bell (1993) stated that the use of questionnaire was considered as a good way of collecting certain types of information quickly and relatively cheap For these reasons, it was appropriate to use questionnaires as a method of data collection in this research project Moreover, the researcher chose questionnaire for learners because of its efficiency, considering the large number of participants involved in the study In fact, this type

of data collection method could help learners avoid fear and embarrassment probably resulting from direct contact However, there were some disadvantages of questionnaires such as lack of validity, there was no way to tell how truthful a respondent is being

In this survey, the questionnaires aimed to investigate the use of conjunctions

to develop the coherence in writing Therefore, to explore the EFL students‟ awareness of using conjunctions in writing, 70 copies of the questionnaires including thirteen questions were designed and delivered to EFL 3rd year students The content of questionnaires was classified in four clusters:

Table 3.1 Structure of the questionnaire content

for developing coherence in English writing 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8

All of the seventy students were invited to finish the questionnaires By using questionnaire, the privacy of the respondents was protected and the students were able to provide an honest response to facilitate the reliability of the study Also, time was arranged efficiently so that the aim of the study could be reached without difficulty And to facilitate the process of answering this survey by the students, the questionnaires were translated into Vietnamese

3.3.2 The Interview

Interviews could be used in groups or individually In this research, individual interviews had been preferentially conducted because they allowed gathering personal responses and viewed privately This could lead to insights into the real opinions of the participants involved (Brown, 1995) Especially when what the researcher was looking for was related to people‟s feeling, or their interpretation of the world around them Therefore, interviews were used in this research

Five teachers and five EFL students were randomly chosen to interview and got the information about their reality of using conjunctions in teaching and learning in writing skill According to Nunan (1993, p.69), there were three types

of interviews: structured, structured, and unstructured In this research, structure interviews were used, aiming to develop ideas related to the research questions, rather than to collect facts and figures The interviews were conducted in

semi-an informal semi-and conversational msemi-anner, semi-and in Vietnamese so that interviewees could feel comfortable, and open to response There were 10 questions for interview In order to carry out the process effectively, the researcher contacted 5 student interviewees and 5 teacher interviewees in advance to arrange a suitable time for the interview The researcher conducted the interviews in Vietnamese

3.4 Data collection

The researcher attempted to analyze the data based on the quantitative approach The data collected from the questions in the questionnaires for students were coded and transferred into summary sheet Then the data were presented in tables and analyzed quantitatively by categorizing and counting in percentage Additionally, the information collected from teachers‟ and students' interviews were also analyzed qualitatively to provide more valid information about using of

conjunctions in teaching and learning in writing at Hue University College of Foreign Languages

3.5 Chapter summary

In conclusion, this chapter presented the research methodology employed to collect data and the procedure of the data collection The next chapter will describe the findings in detail with comments based on the literature review and the researcher‟s opinions

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the data from the questionnaires and interviews are analyzed

in light of the three research questions and organized into four main categories The first category focuses on students‟ perceptions of using conjunctions in the essay writing The second category gives a careful look at types of conjunction used in students‟ writing The next category presents some existing problems with using conjunctions by students Finally, the suggestions for improvement of students‟ ability in using conjunctions will be demonstrated In this, students‟ suggestions on ways of dealing with these difficulties are also presented

4.1 Students’ perceptions of using conjunctions

The data shows that using conjunction was understood in a variety of ways from students‟ perspective In this section, the students‟ perception of using conjunction is presented in light of a comparison between students using and not using conjunctions, the necessity of using conjunctions, the frequency of using conjunctions, the importance of using conjunctions, the benefits of using conjunctions

4.1.1 A comparison between students using and not using conjunctions

“ Do you think students using conjunctions in their writing have better marks than students not using them?” is the question that the researcher asked in order to

have a comparison between students using conjunctions and students not using conjunctions The answer to this question is shown in figure 4.1 below

Figure 4.1 A comparison between students with and without using conjunctions