an analysis of cohesive devices in reading texts in textbook “tiếng anh 10” at an upper secondary school in binh thuan province

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCESGRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Lê Đức Hòa AN ANALYSIS OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN READING TEXTS IN TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” AT AN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Lê Đức Hòa

AN ANALYSIS OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN READING TEXTS IN TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” AT AN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN BINH THUAN PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Lê Đức Hòa

AN ANALYSIS OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN READING TEXTS IN TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” AT AN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN BINH THUAN PROVINCE

Field: English Language

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Lê Hương Hoa, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the thesis entitled “an Analysis

of cohesive Devices in Reading Texts in Textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” at An Upper Secondary School In Binh Thuan” is the result of my own research for

the Degree of Master of Arts in English Language The thesis has not besubmitted for any other degree or professional qualification to any otheruniversities or institutions

Except for reference made, this thesis contains no material previouslywritten or published by another person

Author’s Signature

Lê Đức Hòa

Approved bySUPERVISOR

Lê Hương Hoa, Ph.D.

Date:………

This thesis is accomplished with great effort and is contributed by a great deal of enthusiasm and assistance from many people I would like to express my special thanks to the people who made it possible.

First and the foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and high appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Lê Hương Hoa for her helpful support If it had not been for her advice, and comments from her, I would have not completed this thesis.

Second, I would like to send my special thanks to all of the teachers at Nguyen Van Troi upper secondary school for all their help and suggestions during the progress of completing this thesis.

In addition, I am so grateful for all of the assistance from my colleagues and friends whose support and encouragement help me to get this thesis accomplished.

The last sincere gratitude goes to my dear family It is their endless love, support and enthusiasm that have motivated me to complete this thesis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF CHARTS viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim(s) and objectives of the Study 2

1.3 Research Questions 3

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 3

1.6 Research Methods 4

1.7 Structure of the Study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Theoretical background 6

2.1.1 Discourse 6

2.1.2 Discourse analysis 7

2.1.3 Cohesion 7

2.1.3.1 Grammatical cohesion 8

2.1.3.2 Lexical cohesion 14

2.2 Previous studies on cohesive devices 17

2.3 An overview of the English Textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” 19

2.3.1 The concept of the textbook 19

2.3.2 Description of the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” 19

2.3.3 The role of the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” in teaching and learning English 20

2.4 Chapter Summary 20

CHAPTER 3: GRAMMATICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN READING TEXTS IN TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” 22

3.1 Reference 22

3.1.1 Anaphoric reference 22

3.1.2 Cataphoric reference 25

3.1.3 Exophoric reference 27

3.2 Conjunctions 30

3.2.1 Additive conjunction 32

3.2.2 Temporal conjunction 33

3.2.3 Adversative conjunction 33

3.2.4 Causal conjunction 35

3.3 Substitution 36

3.4 Ellipsis 37

3.5 Grammatical cohesive devices in textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” 40

3.6 Chapter summary 42

CHAPTER 4: LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN READING TEXTS IN TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” 43

4.1 Reiteration 43

4.2 Collocation 46

4.2.1 Lexical collocation 47

4.2.2 Grammatical collocation 49

4.3 Lexical cohesive devices in textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” 51

4.4 A Comparison of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” 52

4.5 Chapter summary 52

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 54

5.1 Recapitulation 54

5.2 Concluding remarks 55

5.3 Implications 57

5.4 Limitations of the study 60

5.5 Suggestions for further study 61

REFERENCES 62

APPENDIX 1: List of References in reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 10” I APPENDIX 2: List of Conjunction in reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 10” VI APPENDIX 3: List of substitution in reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 10” IX APPENDIX 4: List of ellipsis in reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 10” X APPENDIX 5: List of reiteration in reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 10” XI APPENDIX 6: List of collocation in the reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 10”.XIX APPENDIX 7: Exercises for teaching cohesive devices XXX APPENDIX 8: Answer keys for suggested exercises XXXIX

This research focuses on the types and the functions of cohesivedevices which are used in the reading tests in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”written by Hoàng Văn Vân, et al (2016) Cohesive devices are made up ofreference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, reiteration and collocation Thereason for taking the textbook is because during the teaching process, theresearcher comes to realize that Students have a tendency to misinterpret ideasconveyed in the texts due to lack of grammatical and lexical knowledge ofEnglish language Furthermore, the textbook ‘Tiếng Anh 10’ is first used toteach at the researcher’s school this year Therefore, the researcher wants tohave an overall viewpoint on cohesive devices used in the book and thenmakes some suggestions for teaching and learning English with the bookeffectively

The data sources are taken from ten reading tests in the textbook “TiếngAnh 10” In the study, the descriptive, statistical and analytical methods areused to dealt with the data, based on Halliday & Hasan’s (1976) theory ofcohesion

After analyzing the data, the author found out that the occurrencefrequency of both lexical and grammatical cohesive devices almost have theequal percentage of 51.9% and 48.1% respectively Moreover, among sixtypes of cohesive devices, reference, conjunction, reiteration and collocationhave a relatively high frequency of occurrence On the other hand,substitution and ellipsis are found in a small number in these ten reading texts

Based on the findings, some suggestions are made for the teaching andlearning of reading skill in the textbook for grade 10 students

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The percentage of different types of anaphoric reference 23

Table 2: The percentage of different types of cataphoric reference 26

Table 3: The percentage of different types of exophoric reference 28

Table 4: The percentage of different types of reference 29

Table 5: The percentage of different types of conjunction 31

Table 6: The percentage of different types of substitution 36

Table 7: The percentage of different types of Ellipsis 37

Table 8: The percentage of different types of Grammatical cohesive devices 41

Table 9: The percentage of different types of reiteration 43

Table 10 The percentage of different types of collocation 47

Table 11: The percentage of different patterns of lexical collocation 48

Table 12: The percentage of different patterns of grammatical collocation 49

Table 13: The percentage of different types of lexical cohesive devices 51

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: The percentage of different types of reference 30

Chart 2: The percentage of different types of conjunction 31

Chart 3: The percentage of different types of substitution 36

Chart 4: The percentage of different types of ellipsis 38

Chart 5: The percentage of different types of Grammatical cohesive devices41 Chart 6: The percentage of different types of reiteration 43

Chart 7: The percentage of different types of collocation 47

Chart 8: The percentage of different types of lexical cohesive devices 51

Chart 9: The percentage of different types of cohesive devices 52

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Functions of reference 9

Figure 2: Types and examples of substitutions 11

Figure 3: Types and examples of ellipsis 12

Figure 4: Types and examples of conjunction 14

Figure 5: Types of cohesion 16

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Undoubtedly, in the interconnected and globalized world nowadays,English plays an important role in our lives It is considered as the languagethat is widely used in science, aviation, computers, diplomacy, tourism,international communication, the media and the internet The fluent use ofEnglish helps learners increase the chances of getting a good job and alsohelps them go into the world with confidence Being aware of the importance

of English, the Vietnamese government has paid special attention toeducation, especially the teaching of English in the national education system

in which the Ministry of Education has developed the ten-year Englishtextbook series for Vietnamese Schools under the National Foreign Language

2020 Project Obviously, the content of the textbooks focuses on developinglearners’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills equally Among theseskills, reading is considered a receptive skill that aids the learning of otherskills It is claimed (Tomlinson, 1990) that a good reading competence isessential for English language learners for professional and academicpurposes, and many curricula spend a lot of time on reading lessons forlearners so as to achieve such competence

However, during the teaching process, the researcher comes to realizethat many students seem to have failed to grasp the content of reading textscomprehensively despite having studied English for many years Students alsohave a tendency to misinterpret ideas conveyed in the texts They try totranslate reading texts into Vietnamese word by word Students find itdifficult to comprehend the text even when they know most of the words Oneexplanation for this is the inability to perceive the cohesive signals of thewriter (Nutta,1982; Cook, 1989)

According to Connor (1984), “cohesive devices are indispensableelements in documents that aim to align sentences and parts of text in anappropriate manner” (p.79) These devices make a contribution to connectingideas in the text closely and logically The accurate use of cohesive deviceshelps readers and listeners to capture the relations between what comes firstand what comes next in a text (Zuhair, 2013).

Nguyễn Hòa (2000, p.11) states that basically, cohesion represented bythe relationship of grammar, logic and lexicon refers to the formalrelationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together

Obviously, content in texts can only be conveyed logically andcoherently with the help of the means of linking sentences and paragraphs

It is, therefore, important to help students grasp and distinguish the types ofcohesive devices viewed as the backbone of various types of text

Apart from a variety of mentioned things, it is a fact that the textbook

“Tiếng Anh 10” (the ten-year English textbook for grade 10 students) is firstused to teach at the researcher’s school this year Therefore, the researcherwants to have an overall viewpoint on cohesive devices used in the book andthen makes some suggestions for teaching and learning English with thecourse book effectively

Those reasons mentioned above are the most important ones that havestimulated the researcher to conduct “An analysis of cohesive devices inreading texts in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” and recommended implicationsfor teaching and learning English at an upper secondary school in BinhThuan” as the topic of this study

1.2 Aim(s) and objectives of the Study

The study attempts:

- To give a description of how the cohesive devices employed in the 2

textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

- To make a detailed analysis of the cohesive devices in the textbook

“Tiếng Anh 10”

- To give some implications for teaching and learning cohesion in

reading texts in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

1.4 Scope of the Study

This study will focus on the cohesive devices found in the textbook

“Tiếng Anh 10” by Hoàng Văn Vân (2016) The theory of Halliday andHasan (1976) is used to analyze the use of cohesive devices in ten readingtests in the textbook in terms of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices

1.5 Significance of the Study

Theoretically, the study helps verify the correctness and significance oflinguistic theories of discourse analysis when they are used to analyze aspecific textbook

Practically, this research gives grade 10 students and teachers a hand withteaching and learning cohesion in reading texts in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

1.6 Research Methods

 Research Procedure

The research procedure includes three major steps Firstly, ten readingtexts in “Tiếng Anh 10” are selected and scanned to find cohesive devices interms of both grammatical and lexical ones Secondly, the selected samplesare described and categorized into tables Lastly, the study analyzed andcompared findings of both grammatical and lexical cohesive devices to drawconclusions

 Research methods

To achieve the aims mentioned above, the descriptive, statistical and

analytical methods are used in the study Firstly, the descriptive method makes a

contribution to build up the framework related to cohesion for the

study Secondly, the statistical method is used to identify the types of

cohesive devices in the reading texts and calculate the frequency

of occurrence of each type Finally, analytical methods are applied to analyze

the collected data in terms of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices

1.7 Structure of the Study

The thesis contains five chapters and is organized as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction consists of rational, aims and objectives, research

questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, research methods, andstructure of the study

Chapter 2: The literature review deals with the theories of discourse and

discourse analysis, cohesion and the textbook

Chapter 3: Cohesive devices in the reading texts in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” is the chapter that focuses on analysis of cohesive devices in the reading

texts in the textbook, based on the theory of Halliday and Hasan (1976)

Chapter 4: Implications for the teaching and learning cohesive devices in reading texts gives several suggestions for teaching and learning cohesion in

the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

Chapter 5: Conclusion aims at summarizing the thesis by showing the study

results, giving concluding remarks and making some suggestions for furtherstudies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1 Discourse

There are different definitions of discourse among linguists According

to Crystal (1992, p.25) “Discourse is a continuous stretch of (especiallyspoken) language larger than a sentence” Similarly, Nunan (1993, p.5)defines “discourse as a stretch of language consisting of several sentenceswhich is perceived as being related in some ways” A discourse is an instance

of spoken or written language that has described internal relationship of formand meaning (e.g word, structures, and cohesion) that relate coherently to anexternal communicative function or purpose and a given audience/interlocutor Furthermore, the external function or purpose can only beproperly determined if one takes into account the context and participants inwhich the piece of discourse (Murcia, 2000, p.4) Similarly, Yule (2010)added that the word discourse means language beyond a sentence Thus, thereare some grammatical and lexical cohesive devices to hang a text together.Cook (1995) states discourse is a stretch of language in use, taking onmeaning in context for its users, and perceived by them as purposeful,meaningful, and connected Here the quality of perceived purpose, meaning,and connection is known as “coherence” So, a discourse is a coherent stretch

of language

Halliday and Hasan (1985, p.5) whose theory was used for the study statesthat discourse is a functional language that does some jobs in some context,rather than isolated words to sentences Discourse is a language unit that is inuse It is not like a grammar device, like a clause or a sentence Discourse is aunit of the semantic unit, not of form but of meaning A discourse is not made up

of sentences In general, the discourse is interpreted as a language in use

2.1.2 Discourse analysis

Discourse analysts evaluate language in use, written texts, and all kinds

of spoken data under the method that is distinct from that of grammarians

It is claimed (Brown & Yule, 1983, p.viii) that discourse analysis dealswith a wide variety of meanings covering different activities at theintersection of many fields, from sociolinguistics, philosophic linguistics tocomputational linguistics

In 1993, Michael McCarthy states that the term “Discourse Analysis isconcerned with the study of the relationship between language and thecontexts in which it is used” (p.5)

Schiffrin (1994) considered discourse analysis as a branch of linguisticswhich deals with linguistic units at levels above the sentence that is text andconversation

Discourse analysis is, therefore, very important for the comprehension

or understanding of the text It is only by learning the language in use that wecan understand the meaning that the writers want to communicate

is neither necessary nor sufficient to create coherence, yet in practice adiscourse of any length will employ it That most coherent texts are alsocohesive, however, does not imply that coherence is created by cohesion andcohesion is a manifestation of certain aspects of coherence (Cook 1995, p.33)

Baker (1992, p.180) supports that cohesion is the network of lexical, grammatical, and other relation which provide links between various parts of

a text This relationship functions to convey meaning from the speakers’ mind, idea or thought, in order to make a sentence convey meaning and to get readers easier to understand the whole meaning

According to Halliday and Hasan (1976, pp 4-5), cohesion isconsidered as a “part of the language system,” more precisely as a “semanticone” referring to “relations of meaning that exist with the text and that defined

it as a text.” Cohesion is expressed in their view through the stratalorganization of language, and expressed in part through grammar and in partthrough vocabulary Cohesion is classified into two types, namelygrammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion The grammatical is related togrammar, and lexical is related to the vocabulary because “cohesion isexpressed partly through the grammar and partly through vocabulary”Halliday and Hasan (1976, p.5) With the purpose of analysing cohesivedevices in reading texts in Textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”, this framework ischosen to shed light on the study

2.1.3.1 Grammatical cohesion

Grammatical cohesion is classified into four subtypes, namelyReference, Substitution, Ellipsis and Conjunction Below, the researcherattempts to go into details with each type by reviewing some commonexamples with a view to providing an overall background of grammaticalcohesion

 Reference

According to Halliday and Hasan (1976, p.31), “the meaning of a word

is not necessarily based solely on its own right, but may make reference tosomething else, given that the reference is either to some other parts of the

text or to the world encountered by the sender and the recipient of the text.That is, the information to be obtained is the meaning of reference and thecohesion lies in the continuity of reference.”

Reference, in the viewpoint of Halliday and Hasan, can be considered

as functions "exophoric" or "endophoric."

Figure 1: Functions of reference

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976, p 33)

“The exophoric reference guides the receiver out of the text and into anassumed shared world” (McCarthy, 1991, p 41) On the other hand, theycomment, “the endophoric function applies to the text itself in itsinterpretation” (Brown & Yule, 1983, p 92) Endophoric reference is splitinto two classes: anaphoric relations that involve looking back into texts tofind the reference and cataphoric connection that looks forward to interpretingthem

Halliday and Hasan (1976, pp 31- 84) divide reference into threecategories: Personal Reference, Demonstrative Reference and ComparativeReference, without regard to these functions

 Personal Reference is a reference by means of a speech situation

through the person's category in the form of personal pronouns such as: I, me,him, you, etc., or personal determiner such as my, your, her, etc

 Demonstrative Reference is position reference on a proximity scale

such as this, these, here, now (near proximity), that, those, there, then (Far Proximity), or (neutral proximity)

 Comparative Reference is indirect reference through identity or

similarity: same, identical, equal (identity-general comparison), similar,additional (general similarity-general comparison), other, different, otherwise(different), better, more, so, less, equal (special comparison)

 Substitution

As Cook (1990, p 158) defines that substitution is a cohesive devices inwhich one of closed set of words (for example: one, do, so) stand for a word,phrase, clause or element of the context

Another statement, Jackson (1988, p.103) states that substitution isdefined as grammatical relation, where one linguistic item is substituted forlonger one McCarthy (1991, p 45) states substitution is similar to ellipsis, inthat, in English it operates as nominal, verbal or clausal

Halliday and Hasan (1976, p.89) differentiate substitution fromreference in terms of the linguistic system, in which “Reference is a relation atthe semantic level, while substitution is a relation at the lexico-grammaticallevel, the level of grammar and vocabulary or linguistic structure.” Theyclassify substitution into three types: nominal, verbal and clausal In 1968,Halliday and Hasan (p.91) claimed that nominal substitution involves “same,”

“one,” verbal substitution consists of “do,' and clausal substitution is “not,”

“so”

From some statements above, the writer can draw conclusion thatsubstitution is used to substitute or replace one linguistic item by another one.This linguistic item could be a word, a phrase, or a clause The function ofsubstitution is to avoid the use of words repeatedly Types and examples

of substitutions can be summarized as follows:

2 A: We went to the concert in the park this year.

B: Yes, we did too.

3 A: Is it going to rain?

B: I think so

Figure 2: Types and examples of substitutions

 Nominal substitution: where the noun or a nominal group can be

replaced by one(s) or the same

In the first example, “one” is used in place of the noun phrase “a new novel” Therefore, in this case, “one” is termed nominal substitution

 Verbal substitution: the verb or verbal group can be replaced by

other verb: verbal substitute “do” This functions as a head of verbal group,and it is usually placed at the end of the group

As for the second example, the verb “did” called verbal substitution inB’s respond is used to replace the verbal phrase “went to the concert in thepark this year”

 Clausal substitution: where a clause can be usually substituted by

required by the grammar which the speaker or writer assumes are obviousfrom the context and therefore need not be raised Ellipsis is distinguished bystructure having some missing elements Cook (1989, p 20) states that ellipsis

is omitting part of sentence on the assumption that an earlier sentence or thecontext will make the meaning clear

Halliday and Hasan (1976, p.142) argue that although substitution and ellipsis are part of the same fundamental relationship between parts of the text (a relationship between words or groups or clauses), they are two different types of mechanism and therefore show rather different patterns It is also noted that ellipsis

is the absence of a certain component in the preceding text Thus, ellipsis is typically an anaphoric relationship Ellipsis is split into three subtypes: nominal ellipsis, verbal ellipsis and clausal ellipsis (Halliday and Hasan, 1976, p 146).

Ellipsis

Nominal

Verbal

Clausal

1 We have two boys Both [ ] are incredibly energetic.

2 A: Have you been working?

 Verbal ellipsis:

Likewise, in the second case , there is no need to repeat the verb

“working” since it presupposes a word from the previous verbal group Thefull answer to A’s question is “Yes, I have been working.” Therefore, B'sresponse here is referred to as verbal ellipsis

 Clausal ellipsis:

In the third example, The full sentence for this one is “I asked him who

borrowed my dictionary on the table, but he didn’t tell me who borrowed my

dictionary on the table” The clause “who borrowed my dictionary on the table” omitted is considered as an example of clausal ellipsis.

 Conjunction

According to Halliday and Hasan, It is the conjunctive components thatare coherent not in themselves but indirectly by virtue of their specific meaning.This indicates that they are not solely intended to reach out to the preceding text,but that they convey a certain meaning that presupposes the presence of othercomponents in the discourse In other words, the relationship does not depend onthe referent either on referential meaning or identity or association of wording.Four kinds of conjunction are explained in details below

 Additive: According to Halliday and Hasan (1976, p 244) “the

additive relationship is additional information to the text The conjunctiverelation, are: and, similarly, in other word, likewise, or, furthermore, beside,that is, for example, such as, etc

 Adversative: It is claimed that the adversative relationship is the

opposite of that which occurs in the context of what has been said (Halliday &Hasan, 1976) The adverse relationships are: yet, but, however, nevertheless,

at the same time, in fact, at least…

 Causal: According to Halliday and Hasan (1976, p.260), “the causal

relationship involves the relation of combination of clauses or sentenceshaving a clausal effect.” The causal relations are; so, because, as a result,here, then, for this reason, due to, etc.

 Temporal: Temporal relationship is represented in its simplest form by

sequential relationship conclusion and sequential relations; then, finally, before,then, first, in the end, in short, to sum up (Halliday and Hasan, 1976, p 261)

The following are examples of conjunction used to cohere words, phrase, or sentences

Conjunct

ion

additive adversative causal

1 The test involves simple calculations, such as

addition and subtraction.

2 This is one possible solution to the problem However,

there are others.

3 The bus was delayed due to heavy snow

Temporal 4 Finally, I'd like to thank everyone for coming this evening

Figure 4: Types and examples of conjunction 2.1.3.2 Lexical cohesion

Lexical cohesion was developed by two authors, Firth (1957) and later

by Halliday (1961, 1966) Lexical cohesion occurs when two words are, insome way, semantically linked in a discourse Halliday and Hasan (1976)categorize lexical cohesion into two main classes: reiteration and collocation

 Reiteration

Reiteration, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976, p.318), is “Therepetition of a lexical object, or the occurrence of a synonym of some kind, inthe sense of a reference; that is, where both occurrences have the samemeaning.” Reiteration comprises repetition, synonyms and near synonyms,superordinates, and general words

 Repetition is the way in which we repeat exactly the lexical item

mentioned in the text However, overuse of repetition might make the textmonotonous

 Synonyms and near synonyms, words with the same or similar

meaning, are therefore used to prevent unnecessary repetition

 Superordinate, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976, p 280), is

any element whose definition includes that if it is the earlier one

 General words is also added to this group They state that general

words are cohesive only when they have the same reference as what theypresuppose, and when they are accompanied by, “this,” “that,” “these,”

“those” and “the.”

 Grammatical collocation also involves a lexical content of words and a

grammar element, i.e a noun, an adjective, a verb plus a preposition Some of the main grammatical collocation types are V+ prep, Adj + Prep, N+ Prep, Prep + N.

 Lexical collocation relating to word pair is a lexically restricted, where

only a subset of the collocators’ synonyms can be used in the same lexicalcontent Lexical collocation does not contain prepositions but consists of avariety of combinations of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs with thefollowing common patterns: Adj + N, N+ N, Quant+ N, V + N, N+ V, Adv +Adj, V + Adv, V + V

15

As earlier mantioned , types of cohesion can be summarized in the diagram.

Reference

Conjunction

Grammatical Cohesion

Substitution

Ellipsis Cohesion

Reiteration

lexical Cohesion

Nominal Verbal Clausal

Repetition Synonym/ near synonym

sunperordinate General word Lexical Grammatical

2.2 Previous studies on cohesive devices

2.1.1.Foreign authors’ studies

Palmer's (1999) research “Coherence and cohesion in the language

classroom: the use of lexical reiteration and pronominalisation” involves

coherence and cohesion in the English classroom It aims to analyze the waynon-native English students create coherent texts The results have shown thatlexical reiteration is commonly used by ESL students to create coherent texts

The study entitled “Students' Problems with Cohesion and Coherence

in EFL Essay Writing in Egypt: Different Perspectives” by Abdel Hamid

Ahmed (2010) focused on problems in terms of essay organization thatEgyptian students encountered when they write an English essay A mixedmethod research design was used including a questionnaire and a semi-structured in-depth interview This study helps students avoid cohesion andcoherence problems in writing English essays

Alarcon and Morales (2011) investigated cohesion devices entitled

“Grammatical Cohesion in Students’ Argumentative Essay” The aim of the

study is to find out what kind of grammatical cohesive devices thatundergraduate students use in their argumentative essay Theory ofgrammatical cohesion by Halliday and Hasan (1976) is used as the theoreticalframework for the analysis of the essays In the analysis, grammaticalcohesion devices namely reference, conjunction and substitution was found inwhich reference had the highest frequency used in the student argumentativeessay

The study “Cohesive Devices and Academic Writing Quality of Thai

Undergraduate Students” by Natthapong Chanyoo (2018) aims to investigate

common cohesive devices used in the writing development of Thaiundergraduate students majoring in English, the frequency of cohesive

devices used in the writing of Thai undergraduate students majoring inEnglish, and the relationship between the number and types of cohesivedevices and the quality of students’ writing Thirty junior students majoring inEnglish contributed thirty academic essays as sample texts in the study, with atotal number of 16,856 words Halliday & Hasan’s (1976) taxonomy ofcohesion was used as an analytical framework of cohesive devices Findingsrevealed four types of cohesive devices frequently used by Thaiundergraduate students including reiteration, reference, conjunction, andellipsis In addition, students’ writing scores positively correlated with thetotal number of words used in the writing task, the total number of cohesivedevices used, and the number of references.

2.2.2 Vietnamese authors’ studies

Bùi Thị Nga conducted the study entitled “Cohesive Devices in

Reading Texts in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 12” in 2011 The study aims to

describe and analyze lexical and grammatical cohesive devices in the Englishtextbook 12 The results revealed that of all six subtypes of two categoriesgrammatical and lexical cohesion, reference and collocation are the mostoutstanding ones They are, respectively, followed by conjunction, reiteration,ellipsis and substitution In preparing for the examinations, teachers shouldequip students with knowledge about these devices, and provide students withpractice relating to these cohesive items, especially reference, collocation,conjunctions and reiteration

Hoàng Trà My (2011) conducted a study titled “An Analysis of

Cohesive Devices in Reading Texts in English 11.” The thesis deals with

grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in the English textbook 11 Inattempt to investigate the frequency of use of cohesive devices in thistextbook The combination of descriptive, statistical and analytical methods

has been adopted The result revealed that the use of lexical devices is muchmore than grammatical cohesive devices in sixteen reading texts Someexercises related to cohesive devices are designed as models in order to helpstudents to capture the proper and correct meaning of the text.

Mai Thanh Hạnh (2014) investigates the lexical cohesive devices in thereading texts of textbook – Infotech The thesis then focuses on analyzing thelexical cohesive devices employed in some reading texts

All those studies revealed the characteristics of cohesive devices insome certain types of texts such as: English enquiry letter, economic texts,writing and narrative texts They also suggest some solutions to improvingstudents’ skill in using cohesive devices

After reviewing the previous studies, the researcher realizes that therehas not been any study on cohesive devices in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”before In this study, the theory of Halliday and Hasan (1976) is used as themain theory

2.3 An overview of the English Textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

2.3.1 The concept of the textbook

Textbooks, a type of teaching and learning materials, are seen as aguide-map which helps teachers and learners know exactly what they willteach and learn, and what they need to achieve after that

Textbooks are at the heart of a language program or language courseand offer a variety of different benefits to both students and teachers(Hutchinson & Torres, 1994; Sheldon, 1988)

2.3.2 Description of the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

“Tiếng Anh 10” is the book first published by Education PublicationHouse under the National Foreign Language 2020 Project for grade 10

students The book aims at developing students’ English competence underfour skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

“Tiếng Anh 10” focuses on learning as a center, in which students arethe subjects of the teaching-learning process, teachers are instructors whoorganize class activities, help students communicate effectively

“Tiếng Anh 10” is compiled around five themes close to students: OurLives, Our Society, Our Society, Our Environment and Our Future EachTheme is divided into two or three units And after each topic, a Review part

is presented

This textbook contains 10 units and 4 Reviews Each unit has fivesections: getting started, language (vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar),skills (reading, speaking, listening and writing), communication and culture,looking back and project Each Review consists of two sections: language(vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar); skills (reading, speaking, listeningand writing) In this minor study, only reading texts in the reading skillsection are analyzed in terms of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices

2.3.3 The role of the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” in teaching and

learning English

"Tiếng Anh 10" is a vital material in the hand of English teachers Itprovides primary supplements for teachers to plan their lessons in anappropriate and perfect way Thanks to this, English teachers can understandthe focus of their lessons and examinations Students can understand the basicknowledge and skills that they have acquired

2.4 Chapter Summary

This chapter supplies an overview of some terms related to discourseanalysis Especially, the theory of cohesion by Halliday and Hasan (1976)chosen as the framework of the study is discussed in details Accordingly,

there are four types of grammatical cohesive devices, namely reference,substitution, ellipsis and conjunction Reiteration and collocation are twotypes of lexical cohesive devices In addition, the features of the selectedreading texts in the textbook are also described In brief, this chapter offers ageneral overview of the theoretical background that is the basic foundation forthe next chapters.

CHAPTER 3: GRAMMATICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN READING TEXTS IN TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10”

Under the light of the theory of cohesion by Halliday and Hasan (1976)cohesive devices in ten reading texts in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” areanalyzed in terms of grammatical cohesion

Based on the statistical data (see Appendix), the study uses statisticaltool, then table and chart to analyze and demonstrate From which theresearcher can figure out the frequency of grammatical cohesive devices used

in the reading texts

3.1 Reference

As it can be seen in Appendix I, reference is one of the most prominentcohesive devices in the reading text of the observed textbook with 289 items.Based on the cohesion theory, the reference is divided into three main types:anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric Further information on each kind isprovided below

3.1.1 Anaphoric reference

Anaphoric reference means the reference to backwards In this study,reference takes up 161 items The table below summarizes the differentpatterns of anaphoric reference in the textbook An anaphoric connection ispart of what we call cohesion It has the effect of linking the two passages into

a coherent unity and becoming part of a single text

Anaphoric reference includes different types of markers depending onthe behavior of the components The following markers are made up ofdefinite article, personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, personaldeterminer, demonstrative adverb, comparative adverb and comparativeadjective The following table shows the data of anaphoric reference in the tenreading texts in the textbook

Anaphoric Reference Number Percentage Total

Table 1: The percentage of different types of anaphoric reference

Looking at the table 1, it is obvious that Personal pronoun takes upthe largest part, 66 items (41 %) It is true that the personal pronoun is mostlyused to refer to an object or person that has been introduced earlier so thatthere is a common belief that the usual function of a personal pronoun isanaphoric and that the main function of a personal pronoun is to refer tosomething or someone

When men share the housework, they tend to have better relationships

with their wives.

(unit 1, page 9, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

As a young girl, Brenda Berkman always dreamt of becoming a firefighter, although she was aware of gender preference in favour of boys.

(unit 6, page 9, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

Acupuncture is one of the oldest medical treatments in the world It

originated in China more than 2,500 years ago.

(unit 2, page 19, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

A volunteer often says that the experience has made him or her a better

person.

(unit 4, page 41, “Tiếng Anh 10”)Definite article ranks the second in frequency with the percentages of23.6 % with 38 items Personal determiner ranks the third with 26 items(16.1%) as in the following examples:

They think that their ancestors have gone to live in another world So, the altar is believed to be the place where the ancestors’ souls live in.

(unit 7, page 19, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

Idol is one of the most successful entertainment formats ever launched.

Hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide have watched The Idol

programme since it was first launched in the UK.

(unit 3, page 29, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

It’s also not recommended for people who have electronic medical

devices inside their bodies.

(unit 2, page 19, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

The aeroplane, with its wings and shape imitating those of a bird, is one

of the greatest inventions in our history.

(unit 5, page 51, “Tiếng Anh 10”)Demonstrative pronoun ranks the fourth with 19 items (11.8%) Thepercentage of demonstrative pronoun is quite small but it cannot be deniedthat demonstrative pronoun also contributes to the coherence of a text

This is because the demonstrative pronoun regularly refersanaphorically to something that has been used before It refers to the location

of something, typically an entity-person or object that is involved in theprocess The following examples are presented as an illustration below:

The technique of acupuncture involves placing hair-thin needles in various pressure points (called acupoints) throughout the body.

Stimulating these points is believed to promote the body’s natural

healing capabilities and enhance its functions.

(unit 2, page 19, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

According to a U.S 2002 survey (the most reliable survey to date), an

estimated 8.2 million American adults had tried acupuncture This

number has been reported to be increasing steadily.

(unit 2, page 19, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

Many devices offer apps which use voice recognition technology This

technology allows the use of speaking electronic dictionaries.

(unit 8, page 29, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

It is surprising that demonstrative adverb, comparative adjective,comparative adverb account for very small percentage of anaphoric reference

in the reading texts, ranging from 1.9% to 3.7%

In short, from the above analysis, we can see that the personal pronoun

is the anaphoric reference most commonly used in reading texts, followed bydefinite article and personal determiner Demonstrative adverb andcomparative adjective are rarely used in the reading texts with 1.9% for each

3.1.2 Cataphoric reference

Cataphoric reference is also a cohesive device that makes a contribution

to the coherence of the text This draws us further into the text in order tolocate the elements referred to in the Reference Items The cataphoricreference is represented by the following markers: definite article, personalpronoun, demonstrative pronoun, personal determiner, comparative adjective,demonstrative adverb and comparative adverb

The frequency of occurrence of the cataphoric reference can be seen inthe table below

Cataphoric reference Number Percentage Total

Table 2: The percentage of different types of cataphoric reference

It seems that in the reading texts the definite article “the” not only plays

an important role in making the readers notice backward to the previous itemsbut also encourages them to draw attention forward to the later part of a text

As shown in Table 2, a definite article occupies the highest percentage of64.4% and unexpectedly, no personal pronoun, personal determiner,demonstrative adverb or demonstrative pronoun is used Here are someexamples of definite article:

According to psychologists, most people do not realise the enormous benefits

that come to a family when husbands and children share the housework.

(unit 1, page 9, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

The practice of acupuncture is rooted in the idea of promoting harmony

between humans and the world around them and a balance between yin and yang.

(unit 2, page 19, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

Definite articles “the” in the above examples refer readers forward tothe later part, so they are cataphoric reference Comparative adjective ranksthe second with 20 items (33.9%) as in the following examples:

Women whose husbands do not contribute to the household chores are

more vulnerable to illness and tend to think more about divorce.

(unit 1, page 9, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

Plants around us are also great sources of ideas for other wonderful

inventions The self-cleaning glass window and the fabric used to make umbrellas are both inspired by the smooth leaves of a lotus plant, with their ability to wash away dirt in the rain.

(unit 5, page 51, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

The women firefighters had to do exactly the same jobs as their male workers.

(unit 6, page 9, “Tiếng Anh 10”)Finally, comparative adverb occurs only twice (1.7% ) in the reading texts

Children who share the housework with their mums and dads do better

to the integration of one passage with another in such a way that the two partstogether form the same text It is not text-internal, it is not a contribution tothe text's cohesion, but it helps to make sense in the context

Exophoric Reference Number Percentage Total

Table 3: The percentage of different types of exophoric reference

Of the 10 texts covered, the exophoric reference occupies at a relativelyhigh rate It shares words outside the text However, it is not hard for students

to understand the reading as all students have some knowledge of thereference items The most common exophoric items are definite article with79.7 % of occurrence, personal pronoun with 13 %, and personal determinerwith 4.3 % Demonstrative pronoun and Comparative adjectives have thesame times of occurrence with only 1 each as exophoric reference items,while none of comparative adverb, demonstrative adverb The most popularpersonal pronouns used as exophora are “I,” “we,” “you” and “it.” Examples

of exophoric reference items with these pronouns are given below

Costa Rica is one of the world’s best ecotourism destinations We have

beautiful beaches, thick rain forests, exciting volcanoes, and exotic wildlife.

(unit 10, page 51, “Tiếng Anh 10”)

In the age of technology, you can take advantage of new applications

which are very useful for learning English.

(unit 8, page 29, Tiếng Anh 10)