Luận văn a study on some discourse features in the reading texts in the vietnamese new english textbook for non english major students with implication for teaching and learning

POST-GRADUATE FACULTY NGUYEN THI HUONG GIANG STUDY ON SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE READING TEXTS IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW ENLISH TEX TROOK FOR NON-ENGLISH.. UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND

POST-GRADUATE FACULTY

NGUYEN THI HUONG GIANG

STUDY ON SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE READING TEXTS

IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW ENLISH TEX TROOK FOR NON-ENGLISH

MAJOR STUDENTS (WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACIIING AND

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND FOREIGN STUDIES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY:

POST-GRADUATE FACULTY

NGUYEN THI HUONG GIANG

STUDY ON SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE READING TEXTS

IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW ENLISH TEXTBOOK FOR NON-ENGLISH

MAJOR STUDENTS (WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACIIING AND

4 Method of the study

5 Organization of the study

Part II: JEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

11 Theory of discourse

1.1.1 Definition of discourse

1.1.2 Discaurse versus lext

11.3 Spoken and writin discourse

1.3.1 The concept of cohesion

13.2 Cohesion versus coherence

1.3.3 Main types of cohesion

1.3.4 Aspects of coherence

1.3.4.1, Topical coherences 1.3.4.2 Logical coherence

Chapter 2: Analysis of main discourse features in the reading text in the

Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students

2.1, Reference

2.1.1 Personal reference 2.1.2, Demonstrative reference 2.1.3 Comparative reference 2.1.4 Concluding remarks on reference 2.2 Substitution:

2.2.1 Nominal substitution 2.2.2, Verbal substitution 2.2.3 Clausal substitution 2.2.4 Concluding remarks on substitution 2.3 Ellipsis:

2.3.1, Nominal ellipsis 2.3.2 Verbal ellipsis 2.3.3, Clausal ellipsis 2.3.4 Concluding remarks on ellipsis 2.4, Conjunction:

2.4.1, Additive 2.4.2, Adversative 2.4.3 Causal

2.4.4, Temporal 2.4.5 Concluding remarks on conjunction 2.5 Lexical ouhesive devices:

2.5.1 Repetition 3.5.2 Synonyms 2.5.3 Super-ordinate anil general word

Part II: Conclusion

1 Major findings and conclusion remarks

2 Implications for teaching and learning English for

non - English- major students at Tram Phu High School

3 Suggestions for further study

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

‘Table 1: 1 Literacy text types

Table 1: 2 Personal reference

Table 1: 3 Demonstrative reference

Table 1: 4

Comparative reference Table 1: 5 Grammatical and lexical cohesion

Figure 2: 1 Analysis of three types of reference in the chosen reading texts Vigure 2: 2 Analysis of four types of conjunction in the chosen reading texts

Figure 2:3 Analysis pf lexical cohesive devives in the chosen reading Lexis

1 Rationale:

Nowadays, teachers of languages in Vietnam with the pressnre of professionalization are more aware of the important role of linguistics in their field They spend much time and energy not only keeping up with the field but also doing a lot of research on linguistics in

gonoral and discourse analysis in particular To a teacher of language, it is vital to understand how textbooks are seen in the light of discourse analysis, i.e how language is used in when designing teaching materials or engaging leamers in learning activities aimed at improving their target language proficiency or when evaluating piece of materials before deciding using them

“Discourse feature” is a broad category which covers a variety of oriteria, including both

intraclinguis

s factors and oxtra-Hinguisties clerments, such as cohesive, [home-rhyme

structure, text structure, speech acts, writer’s/ speaker's intensions, background

knowledge, eto Ilalliday and Ilasan (1976:3) claim that: if @ passage of English

containing mora than one sentence perceived as a text, there will he certain linguistics features present in that passage which can be identified as contributing to its total unity and giving it texture” Yo the researcher, the linguistics features that are of great

imperizneo and inter

these two factors make influential conttibution to defining a genre of discourse

Iligh school English teachers in general and English teachsrs at ‘Iran Phu high school, Vinh Phuc province in particular focus so intensively on their English subject, And they wannly welcome the new set of English textbocks for non-English-major students which based on quits a new approach - communicative approach - is highly appreciated by bath

is arc those of goneri¢ slructure and cohesion duc to the betief thal

teachers and students As a teacher of English here, I am deeply aware of challenges in dealing with the interest but demanding subject of English | also realize some obstacles that needs in solving the teaching and learning process of this subject Most of my sludents face up with the difficulties in reading and decply undarstanding the reading texts in the textbook These difficulties surely will hinder the effectiveness and improvement of students’ study Further more, though there are many researchers who have been paying mach attention and doing rescarches on cohesive devices uscd in the textbooks not for high school students but for those who leam English with special

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purposes (ESP) Therefore, I decided to study on some discourse features in the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students (because of the limit of time and my knowledge), from the point of view of discourse

analysis, (he researcher only fucus on colwsion devices uscd in the reading texts These

cohesive devices are related to properties that make the text a unified whole They refer

to both tex! characleristics and readers’ interaction with the texl Awareness of echerence

as a quality that make a text conform fo a consistent world picture, to experiences,

culture, and convention and cohesive devices used the linguistics means by which ements of a toxt arc arranged and concern is vital for students of English in improving reading comprehension, Based on my analysis tiom the point of view of cohesive devices, some suggestions are given for improving the effectiveness of teaching reading, skit] and learning reading skill for English teachers and sindents

Aim of the study:

Examining the cohesive devices in the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11

lextbook for non-English - major students incudmg grammatical cohesive devicos, lexical cohesive devices and conjunctions, with the aim of working out the typical features of cohesive in reading texts in the Vietnamese new Linglish 11 textbook for non-

English - major sludents which to salis{v (he research questions:

Scope of the study:

Foenses of consideration for the investigation of onc of the greatest calegory of the discourse features that is cohesion, used in collected reading texts in a certain textbook: the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-Lnglish - major students

Method of the study:

To reach the final goal of revealing the discourse features of the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English IL Iextbook for non-English - major students, the methods of description, analysis and statistic in linguistics are used in this thesis and are carried out inthe following steps:

Collecting data, including relevant theories for analysis, Reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students will be collected Relevant theories will be extracted from various linguistics book written by several linguistics, such as; Cook (1989), Hatim and Mason (1990), Swales (1990), Halliday and Hasan (1976), ete, as unavailable in printed books in Vietnam, will be collected from the Intemel sourcas, the addbress of which will bs provided in the lis! of References at the end of this thesis

© Relevant theories will be presented on the ground of several linguists’ view of points

& 16 reading texts in the Victnamesc now English I1 textbook for non-English - major students will be comprehensively investigated for cohesive devices so as to find out the most typical cohesive devices used in written text

& Based on the results of the analysis, some concluding remarks can be generalized and some implication for teaching and learning reading skills can be proposed

5 Organization of the study

‘This rescarch is composed of Urea main parls

Part J, the Introduction, present brietly the rationale, the aims, the scope, and the

methods of the study as well as the organization of the study

Part Ifis the Development, which consist of two chapters

Chapter 1 discusses the Theoretical Background related to discourse analysis, In this chapter, the researcher will present the basic concept of discourse and discourse analysis, the discourse foulures, loxt typos and ils important rols

is alt the reading lsxts

in the chosen textbook is performed in the text fom, as well as the notion of cohesion which mainly focus on

Chapter 2 is devoted to the analysis of Cohesive Devices uscd in lhe reading text in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students so as to reveal some typical features And finally, some remarks are discussed to answer the research

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Part II: DEVERLOPMENT

Chapter I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Cook (1989: 156) shares the same idea with Crystal in stating that discourse is “stretches

of language porceived lo be meaningful, unified and pumpuseful” In his point of view, discourse may be composed of one or more well-formed grammatical sentences and

indeed it often is — but it does not have to be There can be some grammatical mistakes in

a discourse, which do not affect the overatt struciins and meaning of the discourse Discourse treats the rules of grammar as a resource, conforming to them when it needs to, but departing fom them when it does not Discourse can be anything from a canversation

to a gical novel or a longth legel caso Cook aso argues thal “Whal’ matters is not its conformity to rules, but the fact that it commrunicates and is recognized by its receivers as coherent” discourse is supposed to be meaningful and thus used to communicate with one person int a way that anoltier person docs not have the necessary knowledge to make sense of,

Halliday & Hasan define discourse as follow: “We can define text (disconrse) in the simplest way perhaps, by saying that it is language that is functional By functional, we simply mean language that is doing the same job in some context as opposed to isolated words or sentences that { might put on the blackboard (hese might also be functional of course, if Twas using them as linguistic cxamples) So any instanea of living language that is playing some part in a context of situation, we shall call a text It may be either spoken ot written or indeed in any other medium of expression that we like to think of”

We can understand from Halliday & Hasan’s perspective on discourse is that discourse is

a unit of meaning and is functional It is functional in the sense that it occurs in a context

of situation, In terms of size, a discoume may be realized by a word, a phrase, a clause or

a sentenee, a paragraph, a cluster of paragraph, a book or even the whole library of books

‘To sum up, the majority of linguists seem to share a common view when defining the conecpt of discourse, Their definitions, though cxpressed in difftrent ways, all emphasized the two most important aspects of a discourse:

1 The structure of a discourse: a discourse is a well-formed organization above the level of a sentence

2 ‘The function ofa discourse: a discourse serves as a mean of communication

1.1.2 Discourse versus text

There are, in fact, many ambiguities around the two terms “text” and “discourse”, According to some linguists, the two terms seem to be used almost interchangeably, For example, Talliday and Tlasan (as 1 quoted above) uses “text” to refer to “discourse” because they say “a text is a unit of language in use and it may be spoken or written, prose or verse, dialogue or monologue”

Crystal (1992: 72) defincs text as “a pi

vo of alurally occuring spoken, written ar signed discourse identified for purposes of analysis It is often a language unit with a definable communicative fonction such as a conversation, a notice, and a poster”

Morcover, some people argue that discourse is the language in action while a text is the wiitten record of that interaction, According to this view of point, discourse brings together language the individuals producing the language and the canfext within which the language is used Thus, il is characterized as a discourse — as a process view, For

other linguists, they tend to avoid using the term “discourse” altogether, they prefer the

term “text” for all recorded instances of language in vse Brown and Yule (1983: 6) point

oul that “text is the representation of diseours: and the verbal record of a communicative act” Cook (1989; 158) sees text as “a stretch of language interpreted formally without context This can be described as a text -as product view So, do we need to distinguish belwoon the two lerm “tex!” and “discourse”? My answer is we really do nol, as T shall present in this thesis, because text or discourse is an instance of Janguage in use and no

text occurs without a context

1.1.3 Spoken and writien discourse

The two form, spoken and written discourse, have some similar features but have some

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different in term of form and function Halliday (1985: a) state that “speaking does not show clearly sentence and paragraph boundaries ot signal the move into direct quotation while writing leaves out the prosodic and paralingnistic contributions” Meanwhile writin discourse complies of complete semtence with subordination, rich lexis and frequent modifications via adjectives and adverbs, spoken contents incomplete sentences Although spoken and wrillen discourse have (he general function of communication, spoken and written serve various functions: the former is the primarily concemed with interactional use and latier with the transactional use, (Brown and Yule, 1983: 13)

To sum up, speaking and writing arc alicmative oulpats thal roative the meaning potential

of language The major differences between them derive ftom the fact that speaking is essentially transitory and writing is designed to be permanent, In this thesis, the two terms “text” and “discourse” both refer to written discourse

Lid Discourse features

What are the features for distinguishing a discourse from a non-discourse? According to

Roll (1991), in order 1o identify @ language unil as a discourse, i must mect at Ios

standards but hare to make it brief’ we can organize them into five: (i) cohesion and coherence, (ii) intentionality and acceptability, (iii) informative tiv) relevance, and (v)

(fective reader can take

effort to make the discourse cohesive and coherent, the

advantage of these features

1.1.5 Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis (DA) is concerned with the study of ths relationship between language and the context in which it is used This has been developed from the work of different disciplines in the 19603 and early 1970s, including linguistics semiotics, psychology,

anthropotagy and sociology Discourse ønalys

spoken data of all kinds under the approach different from that of old grammarians

studies language in usc, wrillen lext and

Yule (1996) states in his Sizdy of language that:

“in the study af language, some af the most interesting questions arise ia connection with the way language is used, rather than what its components are ( ) We were, in effect asking how it ts that languagesusers intent to convey When we carry this investigation further and ask how it is that we, as language — users, make sense of what

we read in texis, understand what speakers mean despite what they say, recognise connected as opposed to jambled or incoherent discourse, and successfully take part in that complex activity called conversation, we are understand what is known as discourse

analysis”

British DA was mainly influenced by M.A.K Halliday’s functional approach of language

Halliday’s framework emphasizes the social function of language and the thematic and informational structure of speech and writing lalliday and Tlasan (1976) as well as

Prague Scholl of linguists have made their significant contribution to this branch of

linguistics in pointing out the links between grammar and discourse

To sum up, the brief over view of discourse analysis we have provide above has shown

that the area of research has grown into a wide ranging and heterogeneous discipline

which finds its unity in the description of langnage above the sentence and interest in the

context and cultural influences which affect language in use

1.1.5.1.Context in discourse analysis

Calce and Murcia (2000) use the term “context” in DA to refer to “all the factors and

dlements that are non- linguistic and textual bul which alTect spoken or written communicative interaction”, There are different classifications of context but there are

two main types as follow

Context of situation: il is an inlegral concept of DA According 10 Nunan (1983: 7)

“context refers to the situation giving rise to the discourse and within which the discourse

is embedded” And ITymes states thal “the role of context in interpretation as, ơn the one hand, limiting the range of possible interaction, and on the ofher hand, as supporting the

intended interaction” Many other linguists have shared a common view that readers can

understand thoroughly what someone says or writes only when they know the context of

silastion Thus, in order to understand a d

description of discourse but also the context in which it is embedded

ourse we need not only focus on its

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Contest of culture: beside the language itself, we need to pay attention to many other factors to understand deeply a discourse among those is context of culture When analyzing a discourse, we need to know well about the culture in which the utterance is used, As Malinowsky states “Ef you are nol a member of cullurc, you canmol understand what it meant”, that expresses the important role of knowing the culture in interpreting

and understanding given messages

In short, it is hard, if net possible, to fully understand a linguistic message if one is

foreign to a discourse community In other words, text interpretation must take into

account, logelher with the conloxt of situation, the larger context of culture

1.1.5.2.Discourse anul

is and language teaching

The most prominent characteristic of linguistics from its process of historical devetopment in the past towards the first half of this century was that it did not sscape from the concept of sentence The sentence was always considered to be the largest complete unit studied in the linguistics sphere Because of this misunderstanding point of view, wo arc incapable of helping sludunls to write coherent compositions, and analyzing

exrors and suggesting ways of correcting errors in students’ works as well as help them deeply understand the meaning of what are going on in spoken and wnitten discourse As the result of these drawbacks, a new subjccl DA grew out of the work in different disciplines in the 1960s and ealy 1970s, including linguistics, semiotics (the study of signs and symbols in language), psychology, anthropology and sociology it can draw allontion lo the skills nooded lo pul this knowledge into action to achieve successful communication and is therefore of great importance in language teaching,

In the introduction to Mc Carthy's book Discourse analysis for language teachers he maintains:

“The various disciplines that feed into discourse analysis have shared a commen interest

in tanguage in use, in created sentences, Discourse analysis is therefore of immediate intercst lo language tcachars boeause we have had ton long the question of haw peapls use uppermost in our mind when we design teaching materials or when we engage leamers in exercise and activities aimed at making them proficient user of their published

materials before deciding lo us

1.2 Testtypes

1.2.1 Definition of text

Jenni Conner says: “ We live in a world of wards, when these words are put together to

conmunicate a meaning, a piece of text is created”

everyday life such as everyday conversalions, phone conversations, or Tellers Hewever,

there are ists of different types of texts and teachers need to know how to help their students to interpreter and create these various types of texts

1.2.2 Types of text

Texts are around us and certainly they are not the same They are various in different

types with different purposes

“Whenever a text is created, it depends on our purpose and context It requires us

to make carefid choices about the words we use, and how these wordy are pul together

and this creates a wide variety of language forms in which have particular structure, style and purpose And these various forms we create are called text-tvpes”

(wwnw.education.tas.gov.aw/English, p1)

In learning foreign language in general and specially in leaming English, students should experiones and actively erzale a wide variety of loxl lypes, proceeding from simple ta

more complex ones and this process will develop their language knowledge And this

process can not be separated from the teachers” help, thus, teachers should Jeam how to

help their students to interpret and create all differen aspecis of these Lexi types becauss:

“Lateracy involves the integration of speaking, listening, viewing and critical thinking with reading and writing” (Literacy policy p2)

Different types of texis invite different ways of reading and writing and make different

demands on students and required different skills for students

‘Text types are often used as: literacy texts, mass-media texts and everyday texts ‘The

following quotes from the website of Tasmanian Government Fducation Board define

“Literacy texts are characterized by the aesthetic use of language and the

imagination te shape, explore, reproduce understandings about, reflect on, represent and

speculate about juunan experience through the construction of real and imagine

fincluding vietual) worlds” Hxample: narratives, novels, poems, dramas, short stories,

biographies, autobiographies, essays, etc

“Mass-media texts are those produce in a variety of paper and electronic media

for mass audience such as: children’s TF programs, journalism, TV news, advertising,

radio talk back, web puges, etc”

‘Everyday texts are those associated with education, leisure, work, family and

dail

life as: information reports, face-to-face and online discussions, speeches, personal

emuil, letters, interviews, daily conversations and so are”

(owww.edueation.tas.gov.aw?English, p!) All the texts given in the Reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 texthonk for

non-English - major students are literacy texts So, what are literacy text types? To make

this question clear, we can have a look at this following table

~ Used for entertainment legends

Narralives ~ Using spoken or written languag lo leil whal happened | Travel, advenlure, diaries

by orderly, logical sequence based on life experiences | accident, reports, poems, real and person-oriented, especiaily it is the construction of | life fictions, new reports

real world, Pastries ~ To express acsthctic fecling, sensory experiences, | Song lyrics, pocins, ballads,

imaginalive perveplions and impressions of life sonnels

- To tell a story with the poets’ viewers on people and

events All poetry is presented through different kinds of

lechniques much as simite, motaphor, rhythm, sound palterns and personifications

Deseriptions | - Ta describe some places, someone or something in | Posteards, lelfers, iheme wriling

Theating, taste, touch and smell Dramas ~ Use acting to comvey ideas and experiences, Films, senipis, stage plays,

= Often be acted by actors on the stage with visual | dramatic monologues

elements to help communicate meaning as facial expressions, body language, costumnes, sels, ete

Essays ~To discuss a topic from an author's personal viewpoint, | Epistle, thome writing

Reviews review a tileraey text, ~ To suminarize’ analyze or to respond personally of to | Book đeserphon

Table 1: 1 Literacy text types 1.2.3 Roles of texts In language teaching

Text is very importanl in language Waching, if we only toach students grammar and

individual words, students camot use them in practice, but we show them how words are

in use in real context, they will know how to modify and extend in their utterance What

is nore? Text enlarges vovabulary rapidly and is the best way Lo show how language is in

use

Apart from being a source of reading, stmotures and vocabulary, the text is a starting

point for grammar practice, listoninys work, pronunciation and intonation practice and

discussion, It exploits the visual dimension and it is our prime source of cultural

information A good fext can be the basis of a multi-skill lesson conducted entirely in the

target language

Besides, text also helps students improve their writing skill by imitating the expressing

ways used in the tex!

in discourse analysis So, what is echesion? In Indo-European languages, ths tem “text"

derived from the Latin word "texium" meaning "cohesion", therefore cohesion somewhat

very meaningful to a text

According to M.A.K Halliday's point of view (1976) "The concept of cohesion is

semarttic one, it refers to relation of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it

as a text", Hz also points out that “cohesion ofion occurs where the intorpretation af som

elements in the discousse is dependent on that of another, The one presupposes the other,

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inthe sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it”

Cohesion is therefore of great significance to the interpretation of discourse It expresses the continuity existing between ane part of the text and another which enable the reader’

listener to supply all the missing picccs, all the comporints of the picture which arz nol

presented in the text but are necessary to its interpretation

1.3.2 Cohesion versus coherence

Cohesion and coherence are two tenns closely comecting to discourse They both share the same Latin prefix “co” which means ‘together’, ‘with’ or ‘cohere’ However, they greatly diff from cach other

Cohesive items are clues or signals as to how the text should be interpreted and understood whereas, coherence is something created by the people in the act of reading or hearing Cohesion is expressed in grammatical and lexical links between different elements of a text meanwhile coherence is the feeling that a text hangs together that it makes sense, and is not just a jumble of sentences, In another words, cohesion is a guide

lo coherence, The key concept of cohesion is something which cxisls in thơ language, Light in the text but coherence is something which exists in reader’s or listener's mind 1.3.3 Main types of cohesion

According to Halliday $ Hasan (1976) as well as many other linguists, cohesion is expressed patly through grammar and partly through the vocabulary So, there are two broad divisions of cohesion: grammatical and lexical

1.3.3.1.Grammutical cohesion

Grammatical cohesion may be defined as the surface making of semantic links between clauses and sentences in written discourse, and between utterances and tunes speech †'he various types of grammatical cohesion arc references, substitution, ellipsis, and

in another words, reference is used to avoid being Tepeltitive Also from his paint of view, reference is divided into two types: endophoris and exephoric

* Exophoric is the situational reference refeiting to a thing as identified in the

context of sifation

% undophoric is textual reference referring to a thing as indentified in the

surrounding text, Endophorie may be divided into two kinds: anaphoric and

cataphone,

Anaphoric and cataphoric reference indicate two different, ways in which

reference items can functional within a text Anaphoric reference points the readel

or listener ‘backward to a previously mentioned entity, process or state of affairs

1: Tam studying al Tran Phu High school The school is very big

We can realize that the article ‘the’ refers back to Tran Phu high school This is

the case of anaphoric reference, we mean the use of a word or phrase to refer

forward to another word or phrase which will he used latter in the text

Halliday and Hasan (1976) classify three sub-types of referential cohesion: personal,

demonstrative and comparative, ‘These various devices enable the writer or speaker to

make multiple referenecs ta poople and things within a tex!

Personal references are teferences by means of function in the speech situation, through

category of person ‘These items are expressed through pronouns and determiners ‘They

srve te identify individuals and objects narned al some other points in the text

Grammatical function class Head Modilier

Table 1: 2 Personal reference

(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 38)

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Demonstrative references arz referances by means of location, on a scale of proximity,

expressed through determiners and adverbs ‘hese items can represent a single word or

phrase, or much longer chunks of a text

Semantic category Selective Non selective

Grammatical function class Modifier head Adjunct Modifier

This fase Here [now] The That those There then

‘Table 1: 3 Demonstrative reference

(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 38) Comparative references me indirect references by means of identity or similarity,

expressed through adjactives and adverbs and serve to compare items within a text

Senuntic category - Grammatical function class

Modifier: ‘Sub-modiiler ‘adjunct

Deictic/Epithet

Same identical equal Tdersically Similar additional Similarly, ikewise, so, such Other different else Differently otherwise Better more ete So more less equaliy fcomparative adjectives and

quantifiers]

Table 1: 4 Comparative references (Source: Llalliday and Ilasan 1976: 38) Substitution:

Halliday and Hasan pointed out that “substitution is the relation between linguistic items,

such az words or phrase and in terms of iinguistic level it is a relation on

lexicogrammatical level, the Tavel of grammar and vocebulary” Three types of

substitution are: nominal, verbal and clausal

ag 2:

Nominal: I don’t want thal kind of shirt Give me the black one

(One substituted for ‘shirt’)

Verbal: My friend made a very good presentation yesterday, So did I

Wid is substituted for ‘made a very good presentation’) Clausal: A: | think we will get her letter next Tnesday

B; think so (So is substituted for ‘we will get her letter next Tuesday’)

Ellipsis is the omission of elements nonmally required by the grammar, which the speaker, writer are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised, Ellipsis is distinguishod by ths structure having some missing coments, which sro retriovabfe Rơm the swrounding text, Halliday and Hasan (1976) state that “similar to ellipsis, substitution operates at three levels: nominal, verbal and clausal” In other words, ellipsis can be interpreted as the form of substitution in which the item is teptaced by nothing The purpose of using this device is not to burden the text with needless substitution or repetition Generally, readers do not pay nich attention to ellipsis device because in most

four main types of conjunetion: additive, adversative, casual-conditional and temporal

& Additive: and, besides, fiarthermore, likewise, in addition, by the way, in other

wards, for instance, thus, ete

e.g 4: He tumed off the light and went out

& Adversative: at the same time, though, only, at least, instead of, nevertheless, vet, hut, however, on the contrary in fact, ete

e.g 5: We tried our best to complete the work in time, however, we failed

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Casual-conditional: for thal reason, as the resull, hence, in thal case, se, therefore, because, otherwise, if, unless, as, etc

eg 6: ifyou take these bills, you will get better

+ Tanporal: meanwhile, next time, soon, at once, until then, first, then, and then,

after that, from now on, when, before, finally, ete

eg 7: Rejore going lo school, Thad phoned you

examples for clarifying

& Repetition:

Repetition is the way we repeat exactly a lexical itam mentioned previously in the text

‘Thns, repetition aims at logical emphasis, which is necessary to fix the attention of the readers on Ile key words or phrases of ulterances

ag 8 We also have the Express Mail Service and your EMS mail will be

delivered in the shortest possible time

Antonym is a word which is of the same part af speech and apposite in meaning to

another word But this definition is not adequate as words may be opposite in meaning in

different ways, and some words do not have exact opposites

2g 10: The winner will get 2 points, and the /ooser have no point

> Super-ordinate

Supor-ordinate in the Lex(ancans thal the later noun is synonytnous with the previous ons

in the sense of higher level of generality

2g 11: She won the erophy The prise was not her surprise

‘As a matter of thet that, words are rarely used alone They go with each other and depend

on each other Word meaning is also governed by the meaning of other wards which tend

fo ocenr in ils cnvirormacnl, Though there ars many possibla word combinations, we tend

to use common and regular ones to gain naturalness in speech and writmg Linguists name these regudar combinations of words collocation

Collocation can be divided into three groups: callocations in len of lexical relations, eollecations in term of semantic relations and collocations in term of grammatical relations, Most of collocations are examined in this thesis are basing on semantic

Telations

‘Grammatical cohesion Lexical cohesion

Exphotie reference Repetition

Nomninal substitution Super-ordinate Verbal substination General words Clausal substitution Collocation:

Nonninal ellipsis Adjective+ aoun

Clausal ellipsis ‘Noun preposition

Fumar Naw Year, or Tet is Vietnam's main holiday It is the grandest and most

important occasion in the year which falls sometime between 19° Jurasary and 20°

February on the Western calendar Ter mark the beginning of spring and, for agrarian people, the start of anew year

‘As we can see, the above paragraph consists of three sentences all reter to the same topic that is ‘Tet holiday ‘fo make the topic clear, the extract begins with a topic sentence which states thal Tet is the main holiday in Vietnam, The two supporting semlences prove why it becomes the main one In addition, the words and phrases in the extract are repeated or closely related with one another ‘The above analysis of the extract shows that the echerence of the text can be achicve in the Lopical cohssion thal is different from jumble of sentences

In conclusion, cohesion and coherence are inseparable parts of discourse analysis, They have contributed to the major shift of foous in language teaching from lingnistic form to language use at all level

Chapier 2: ANALYSIS OF MAIN DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE REATHNG

TEXTS IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW TEXTBOOK FOR NON-ENGLISH-

MAJOR STUDENTS

As saying before, discourse fcalurcs are broad category and cohesive devices play an indispensable in forming written discourse, in general, and in comprehensible text, in particular This chapter focuses on the description and analysis of cohesive devices manipulated in the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non- English - major students so 2s to find out the most outstanding features in the

and posses

new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students, Let’s look at these following, examples:

(2) She is seven years old today, and her family and her friends are at her birthday

= pronouns, All these can be found in the Reading loxis in the Victnamess

part

(Unit 3: A party)

(2) Safe birth-control methods for family planning are not available to them

(Unit 7; World population)

(3) Sometimes, the students just visit them, play games with thent or listen to their

problems,

(Unit 4: Volunteer work) (4) Anather hobby of mine is keeping fish Fhave a modest litte glass fish tank where Tkeep a variety of litile fish

(Unit 13: Hobbies)

As we can see in the above sentences, she in (1) and zhem in (2) are personal pronouns

all refers back to the items that were stated beforchand Lisa and the wornen in Third,

World, Their in (3) is possessive adjective which refers back to sick or old people and