An investigation into how to use linking words in the development of speaking and writing skills for the IELTS examination

An investigation into how to use linking words in the development of speaking and writing skills for the IELTS examination Lý Quỳnh Trang Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngà

An investigation into how to use linking words

in the development of speaking and writing

skills for the IELTS examination

Lý Quỳnh Trang

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Assoc.Prof.Dr Võ Đại Quang

Năm bảo vệ: 2010

Abstract A challenge for English learners is to express their ideas more efficiently and

effectively in writing and speaking For IELTS examinees, this challenge is even harder when they have to present their ideas coherently and cohesively as well The purpose of this study is to explore the use of linking words in IELTS speaking and writing, to provide some basic theory of discourse analysis, cohesion and coherence, linking words and IELTS speaking and writing information in order that English teachers and learners would be able to increase their band score

by the correct use of linking words The study just focuses on seven popular semantic categories

of linking word, that is, listing, transition, summation, apposition, cause / result, inference and

contrasting and their use in five writing task 1 answers, five writing task 2 answers and five

speaking answers The study reveals that there is a substantial demand for the use of linking word in IELTS speaking and writing with 54.2% of occurrence Also, the study finds out the most common semantic categories for each task Finally, several pedagogical implications for improving the coherence and cohesion of IELTS speaking and writing are given as well as some suggestions for English teachers, English learners and further research

Keywords Từ nối; Kỹ năng nói; Tiếng Anh; Kỹ năng viết

Content

1 Rationale

Language is functioned as means to maintain and set up social relations; people in all circumstances get involved in expressing their feeling, attitudes and opinions Therefore, nowadays, when globalization is a worldwide tendency and especially after Vietnam joined WTO, Vietnamese find English - the international language more important and necessary to learn than ever before Over the decades, there have been a growing number of English learners wishing to study at tertiary level in English speaking countries As a result, many English as Second Language (ESL) students are enrolled in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses which provide the opportunity to acquire essential skills for their prospective studies in English-medium universities (i.e., courses taught in English at universities in Anglophone or non-Anglophone countries) Besides acquiring academic skills, EAP courses have other aims, such as

to support non-native English speaker students to go through English language tests such as the

International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS), which is widely recognized as a language requirement for entering universities mainly in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand and many other countries around the world Academic essay-writing and speaking are two of the four skills which international students must acquire both for their prospective studies in English-mediated university courses and for obtaining the requiring score in the writing and speaking section of the IELTS

Linking words are crucial in writing and speaking in that they help readers / listeners recognize the relationships between ideas and follow the thread of messages that the writer wants to convey By connecting individual clauses, sentences and paragraphs into a single theme, linking words make obvious and visible the writers / speakers’ “line of thought” However, during my process of teaching IELTS for my students, I come to realize that the students lack the adequate linguistic knowledge to convey their ideas when writing or speaking and they have difficulties in choosing a link word that appropriately expressess the logical relations between ideas and thus the whole message of their text is vague, unlogical and incoherent As a result, this obstacle affect their IELTS band score and limit their opportunities of further study

Apart from things mentioned above, it is the fact that a lot of researches have been conducted on linguistics and discourse analysis, yet few of them are in reference to IELTS or linking words Also, on the way to master English, students even haven’t made enough effort or spent sufficient time comprehend the use of linking words Concequently, these two sections should deserve more attention to be studied and discussed because of the great importance of lingking words and the increasing popularity of IELTS in Vietnam

İn conclusion, from all the considered reasons, I find it necessary and useful to carry out a study

on linking words and their application in IELTS writing and speaking İ do hope that English learners and I myself would be more clear about the use of link words to express our ieads correctly and effectively

2 Aims of the study

This study is targeted at presenting an investigation in the use of linking words in IELTS writing and speaking İt attempts:

- to provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of cohesion and linking words as one type of cohesive device

- to compare the frequencies of different semantic categories of linking words occurrences

in IELTS writing task 1, IELTS writing Task 2 and IELTS speaking task with a view to clarifying the typical categories for each task

- to suggest some implications for teaching and learning linking words in order to express our ideas precisely and comprehensibly as well as to improve students’ IELTS band score

3 Scope of the study

Within the limited time and knowledge, it is not my ambition to mention all issues of discourse analysis The study is mainly focused on the use of linking words as one type of cohesive device

at clausal and sentence levels in the two skills tested in IELTS academic module: writing and

speaking within seven main categories in 15 sample answers, that is: Listing, Transition,

Summation, Apposition, Cause / Result, Inference and Contrasting

Finally, the study will not try to propose all possible solutions to cohesion teaching and learning but only suggest some implication which is expected to help English users in general and IELTS examinees employ linking words more precisely and effectively

4 Significance of the study

In terms of theoretical significance, the study brings with it the task to verify the correctness and significance if linguistic theory by working on IELTS speaking and writing samples It is hoped

to improve the existing ideas on linking words to satisfy the individuals’ questions

İn terms of practical significance, this research gives out some applications such as combining linguitis theory and practice in analyzing English spoken and written discourse of IELTS İn addition, the study suggest some implication for English teachers and learners to gain effective use of linking words in expressing ideas and then they would be able to raise their IELTS band score as well as their English competence

5 Methodology

5.1 Approaches

So as to achieve the objectives of the study, we have to follow both qualitative and quantitative approaches, which are strategic methods in the study However, quantitative approach is exploited most of the time to search for the frequency of linking words occurrence and their semantic categories distribution in the two skills IELTS speaking and writing Qualitative study

is also useful for us to work out if there are links among clauses and sentences in IELTS speaking and writing answers, and how we can apply the discourse analysis of linking words in

15 samples to improve the IELTS writing and speaking cohesive and coherence band score The research questions explored in this study are as follows:

1 What are the occurrence frequencies of linking words in IELTS Speaking and Writing? Is there any difference between speaking and writing T1 and T2?

2 What are the most common semantic categories of linking words used in writing T1 and T2 and speaking?

3 What are the possible implications of the study?

5.2 Methods

5.2.1 Techniques

To accomplish this thesis, we will, firstly, go through a number of materials on discourse analysis and grammar to build up the theoretical background for the research The study takes the theory of discourse analysis as a base on which the most noticeable cohesive devices of IELTS writing and speaking samples are examined

Then, the paper will be based on reviewing IELTS Preparation and Practice materials in order to collect and classify linking words for description, analysis and induction

Besides, the tackling methods are statistic (getting the statistics from IELTS speaking and writing samples); analytical (examining in detail the statistics and also analyzing the data obtained) and synthetical (drawing striking features from the analysis)

Also, we apply inductive reasoning to move from less general to more general statements That

is from typical examples of the use of linking words in IELTS samples, we process and analyze these data and then draw out pedagogical implications for English teachers and learners

5.2.2 Data collection

Population is all members of any well-defined class of people, events or objects On the other hand, it is the large group from which the generalization is made as a number of people who has

at least the same characteristic The population of this study is all IELTS writing and Speaking sample answers in effective and popular series for IELTS Preparation and Practice which include Cambridge Practice Tests for IELTS 1-7, KAPLAN IELTS, 101 Hints for IELTS, 202 Hints for IELTS, IELTS Practice Tests 1 -2, IELTS Test Builder 1-2, New Insight into IELTS, IELTS Graduation, Focusing on IELTS speaking and listening; Writing and Reading

A sample is a portion of population that is observed The sample of this study is 15 sample answers (five writing task 1 answers, five task 2 answers and five speaking answers) which are chosen on linking words employment basis, that is to say, I extract the answers whose occurrence of linking words is of high frequency and these samples have to be model answers written by IELTS examiners or candidates who achieved IELTS band score 7 and higher Therefore, the technique applied here is purposive random sampling According to Wiersma

(1991:265) “purposive sampling is the selection conducted based on the characteristics of the units (sites or individual) relevant to the research problems”

15 IELTS written and spoken discourses are picked out based on the samples choosing method mentioned above Moreover, for IELTS writing, there are two tasks: Task 1 and Task 2 and each task have different types of questions so the samples chosen should also ensure this diversity In Task 1, examinees are given questions containing some visual information such as graphs (tables, lines, bars, pie charts) and diagrams Examinees are expected to write a short description

of information presented in the visual data Therefore I chose three samples of describing graphs and two samples of describing diagram to investigate the use of linking words As for Task 2, there are three main types of questions: argumentative essay, discursive essay and account essay and so I chose two samples of argumentative type, two samples of discursive type and one sample of account type

5.2.3 Data analysis

To do the analysis, we use a coding system which aims to make our analysis clearer and easier to follow

Semantic categories of linking words Coding

1 Listing

a Enumeration

a1 To enumerate

a2 To indicate order of importance

b Addition

b1 To introduce an additional idea or reinforcement

b2 To introduce an equative

2 Transition

a To introduce a new topic

b To show temporal relation (simultaneous or chronological order)

3 Summation

4 Apposition

a To introduce an example

b To introduce a restatement or explanation

5 Cause and result

a To introduce a result

b To introduce a cause / reason

6 Inference

a To introduce an alternative

b To introduce a condition

7 Contrast

a To introduce a replacement

b To introduce opposite ideas

c To introduce a concession

L1 L1a L1a1 L1a2 L1b L1b1 L1b2 L2 L2a L2b L3 L4 L4a L4b L5 L5a L5b L6 L6a L6b L7 L7a L7b L7c

Table 1: Semantic categories codes of Linking words

The next step is to number the sentences in each sample answer and then read through the answers to find the link between sentences and work out the employment of linking words in terms of semantic function used And thus we have to tabulate the use of linking words for each

text, that is, each text will be analyzed using a table that is divided into four columns: No,

Sentence No, Cohesive item and Semantic category Attention is focused on the frequencies of

linking words occurred in those samples

6 Design of the study

The study is designed in the following parts:

INTRODUCTION

This part introduces rationale for choosing the topic, aims, scopes, significance, methodology and organization of the study

DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature review is the theoretical foundation of cohesion, ling words, IELTS

writing and IELTS sepeaking on which the study is based and set up

Chapter 2: Findings and Discussions provides a summary of major findings of the low and

high frequencies of different kinds of linking words and some comparisons between IELTS writing task 1 and task 2 and IELTS speaking

Chapter 3: Pedagogical implications of the study gives suggestions for imrpoving cohence

and cohesion in speaking and writing in general English and IELTS examination

CONCLUSION

This part summarises major findings of the study, gives concluding remarks and suggestions for further study

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