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) : M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 5 04 09

Logical coherence 16 Chapter 2: Analysis of main discourse features in the reading text in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students 17 2.1.. Therefore, I

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND FOREIGN STUDIES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

POST-GRADUATE FACULTY

NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG

A STUDY ON SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE READING TEXTS

IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW ENLISH TEXTBOOK FOR

NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS (WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND

CODE: 50409

Ha Noi, August - 2010

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND FOREIGN STUDIES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

POST-GRADUATE FACULTY

NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG

A STUDY ON SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE READING TEXTS

IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW ENLISH TEXTBOOK FOR

NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS (WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND

CODE: 50409

SUPERVISOR: Dr NGUYỄN HOÀ

Ha Noi, August - 2010

Table of content

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

TABLE OF CONTENT ii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iii

Part I: INTRODUCTION vi

1 Rationale vi

2 Aim of the study vii

3 Scope of the study vii

4 Method of the study vii

5 Organization of the study viii

Part II: DEVELOPMENT 1

Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1

1.1 Theory of discourse 1

1.1.1 Definition of discourse 1

1.1.2 Discourse versus text 2

1.1.3 Spoken and written discourse 2

1.1.4 Discourse features 3

1.1.5 Discourse analysis 3

1.1.5.1 Context in discourse analysis 4

1.1.5.2 Discourse analysis and language teaching 5

1.2 Text types 5

1.2.1 Definition of text 6

1.2.2 Text types 6

1.2.3 Roles of text in language teaching 8

1.3 Cohesion 8

1.3.1 The concept of cohesion 8

1.3.2 Cohesion versus coherence 9

1.3.3 Main types of cohesion 9

1.3.1.1 Grammatical devices 9

1.3.1.2 Lexical devices 13

1.3.4 Aspects of coherence 15

1.3.4.1 Topical coherences 15

1.3.4.2 Logical coherence 16

Chapter 2: Analysis of main discourse features in the reading text in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students 17

2.1 Reference 17

2.1.1 Personal reference 17

2.1.2 Demonstrative reference 20

2.1.3 Comparative reference 23

2.1.4 Concluding remarks on reference 24

2.2 Substitution: 25

2.2.1 Nominal substitution 25

2.2.2 Verbal substitution 25

2.2.3 Clausal substitution 26

2.2.4 Concluding remarks on substitution 26

2.3 Ellipsis: 26

2.3.1 Nominal ellipsis 26

2.3.2 Verbal ellipsis 27

2.3.3 Clausal ellipsis 27

2.3.4 Concluding remarks on ellipsis 27

2.4 Conjunction: 27

2.4.1 Additive 28

2.4.2 Adversative 29

2.4.3 Causal 29

2.4.4 Temporal 30

2.4.5 Concluding remarks on conjunction 31

2.5 Lexical cohesive devices: 32

2.5.1 Repetition 32

2.5.2 Synonyms 35

2.5.3 Super-ordinate and general word 36

2.5.4 Collocation 37

2.5.5 Concluding remarks on lexical cohesive devices: 38

Part III: Conclusion 40

1 Major findings and conclusion remarks 40

2 Implications for teaching and learning English for non - English- major students at Tran Phu High School 41

3 Suggestions for further study 42

REFERENCE ix

APPENDIXES x

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 Figure 2: 2 Analysis of four types of conjunction in the chosen reading texts Figure 2:3 Analysis of lexical cohesive devives in the chosen reading texts

Part I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale:

Nowadays, teachers of languages in Vietnam with the pressure 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 general 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 learners 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 criteria, including both intra-linguistics factors and extra-linguistics elements, such as cohesive, theme-rhyme structure, text structure, speech acts, writer‟s/ speaker‟s intensions, background

knowledge, etc Halliday and Hasan (1976:3) claim that: if a passage of English

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

importance and interests are those of generic structure and cohesion due to the belief that these two factors make influential contribution to defining a genre of discourse

High school English teachers in general and English teachers at Tran Phu high school, Vinh Phuc province in particular focus so intensively on their English subject And they warmly welcome the new set of English textbooks for non-English-major students which based on quite a new approach - communicative approach - is highly appreciated by both 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 I also realize some obstacles that needs in solving the teaching and learning process of this subject Most of my students face up with the difficulties in reading and deeply understanding 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 much attention and doing researches on cohesive devices used in the textbooks not for high school students but for those who learn English with special

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, the researcher only focus on cohesion devices used in the reading texts These cohesive devices are related to properties that make the text a unified whole They refer

to both text characteristics and readers‟ interaction with the text Awareness of coherence

as a quality that make a text conform to a consistent world picture, to experiences, culture, and convention and cohesive devices used the linguistics means by which elements of a text are arranged and concern is vital for students of English in improving reading comprehension Based on my analysis from the point of view of cohesive devices, some suggestions are given for improving the effectiveness of teaching reading skill and learning reading skill for English teachers and students

2 Aim of the study:

Examining the cohesive devices in the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students including grammatical cohesive devices, lexical cohesive devices and conjunctions, with the aim of working out the typical features of cohesive in reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students which to satisfy the research questions:

 What are cohesive devices mainly used in the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students?

 How are those cohesive devices performed in the reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students?

3 Scope of the study:

Focuses of consideration for the investigation of one of the greatest category of the discourse features that is cohesion, used in collected reading texts in a certain textbook:

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

4 Method of the study:

To reach the final goal of revealing the discourse features of the reading texts in the

Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students, the methods of description, analysis and statistic in linguistics are used in this thesis and are carried out

in the 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), etc, as unavailable in printed books in Vietnam, will be collected from the Internet sources, the address of which will be provided in the list 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 Vietnamese new English 11 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 research is composed of three main parts

Part I, the Introduction, present briefly the rationale, the aims, the scope, and the

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

Part II is 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 features, text types and its important roles as all the reading texts

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

Chapter 2 is devoted to the analysis of Cohesive Devices used in the 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 questions

Part III is the Conclusion In this part, a review of the study is presented, together with

some implication for teaching and learning, and suggestions for further studies

The study is ended with Appendixes showing list of Reading texts taken into

consideration

Part II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1.1 Definition of discourse

The concept of discourse has been paid considerable attention to by many linguists Different authors have different definitions of discourse Let‟s look at some of them to achieve the similar as well as the different among them

According to Crystal (1992:25) discourse is “a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, an argument, a joke or a narrative”

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

of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposeful” 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 overall structure and meaning of the discourse Discourse treats the rules of grammar as a resource, conforming to them when it needs to, but departing from them when it does not Discourse can be anything from a conversation

to a great novel or a length legal case Cook also argues that “What‟ matters is not its conformity to rules, but the fact that it communicates and is recognized by its receivers as coherent” discourse is supposed to be meaningful and thus used to communicate with one person in a way that another person does not have the necessary knowledge to make sense of

Halliday & Hasan define discourse as follow: “We can define text (discourse) 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 I might put on the blackboard (These might also be functional of course, if I was using them as linguistic examples) So any instance of living language that is playing some part in a context of situation, we shall call a text It may be either spoken or 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 discourse may be realized by a word, a phrase, a clause or

a sentence, 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 concept of discourse Their definitions, though expressed in different 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 of a 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, Halliday and Hasan (as I 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) defines text as “a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written or signed discourse identified for purposes of analysis It is often a language unit with a definable communicative function such as a conversation, a notice, and a poster”

Moreover, some people argue that discourse is the language in action while a text is the written record of that interaction According to this view of point, discourse brings together language the individuals producing the language and the context within which the language is used Thus, it 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 use Brown and Yule (1983: 6) point out that “text is the representation of discourse 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 between the two term “text” and “discourse”? My answer is we really do not, as I shall present in this thesis, because text or discourse is an instance of language in use and no text occurs without a context

1.1.3 Spoken and written discourse

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

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

To sum up, speaking and writing are alternative outputs that realize the meaning potential

of language The major differences between them derive from 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

1.1.4 Discourse features

What are the features for distinguishing a discourse from a non-discourse? According to Bell (1991), in order to identify a language unit as a discourse, it must meet at least seven standards but here to make it brief we can organize them into five: (i) cohesion and coherence, (ii) intentionality and acceptability, (iii) informative,(iv) relevance, and (v) intertextuality

As I said before, in this thesis, the two terms “text” and “discourse” both refer to written discourse So, what are the features of a written discourse? A written discourse, especially a well-written discourse exhibits two important features: cohesion and coherence These inherent features of a written discourse facilitate the interpretation of the discourse during the process While creating the discourse, the writer invests time and effort to make the discourse cohesive and coherent, the effective reader can take advantage of these features

1.1.5 Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis (DA) is concerned with the study of the relationship between language and the context in which it is used This has been developed from the work of different disciplines in the 1960s and early 1970s, including linguistics, semiotics, psychology, anthropology and sociology Discourse analysis studies language in use, written text and spoken data of all kinds under the approach different from that of old grammarians

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

“In the study of language, some of the most interesting questions arise in

connection with the way language is used, rather than what its components are (…) We were, in effect, asking how it is that language–users 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 texts, understand what speakers mean despite what they say, recognize connected as opposed to jumbled 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 Halliday and Hasan (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 language above the sentence and interest in the context and cultural influences which affect language in use

1.1.5.1.Context in discourse analysis

Celce and Murcia (2000) use the term “context” in DA to refer to “all the factors and elements that are non- linguistic and textual but which affect spoken or written communicative interaction” There are different classifications of context but there are two main types as follow:

Context of situation: it is an integral concept of DA According to Nunan (1983: 7)

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

is embedded” And Hymes states that “the role of context in interpretation as, on the one hand, limiting the range of possible interaction, and on the other 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 situation Thus, in order to understand a discourse we need not only focus on its description of discourse but also the context in which it is embedded

Context 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 “If you are not a member of culture, you cannot 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 not possible, to fully understand a linguistic message if one is foreign to a discourse community In other words, text interpretation must take into account, together with the context of situation, the larger context of culture

1.1.5.2.Discourse analysis and language teaching

The most prominent characteristic of linguistics from its process of historical development in the past towards the first half of this century was that it did not escape 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, we are incapable of helping students to write coherent compositions, and analyzing errors 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 written discourse As the result of these drawbacks, a new subject DA grew out of the work in different disciplines in the 1960s and early 1970s, including linguistics, semiotics (the study of signs and symbols in language), psychology, anthropology and sociology It can draw attention to the skills needed to put 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 common interest

in language in use, in created sentences Discourse analysis is therefore of immediate interest to language teachers because we have had too long the question of how people use uppermost in our mind when we design teaching materials or when we engage learners in exercise and activities aimed at making them proficient user of their published materials before deciding to use it”

1.2 Text types

1.2.1 Definition of text

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

communicate a meaning, a piece of text is created”

(www AboutEnglish-texts.html.p1)

So, a text is any communication, spoken, written or visual involving language In teaching and learning process, teachers and students always work with texts such as: conversations, speeches, postcards or letters, extracts from novels, plays, songs, poems, articles and so on It is obvious that texts are around us, in books, documentaries or in everyday life such as everyday conversations, phone conversations, or letters However, there are lists 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 careful choices about the words we use, and how these words are put 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-types”

(www.education.tas.gov.au/English, p1)

In learning foreign language in general and specially in learning English, students should experience and actively create a wide variety of text types, proceeding from simple to 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 learn how to help their students to interpret and create all different aspects of these text types because:

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

Different types of texts 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 Education Board define:

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

imagination to shape, explore, reproduce understandings about, reflect on, represent and speculate about human experience through the construction of real and imagine (including virtual) worlds” Example: 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 TV programs, journalism, TV news, advertising, radio talk back, web pages, etc”

“Everyday texts are those associated with education, leisure, work, family and daily life as: information reports, face-to-face and online discussions, speeches, personal email, letters, interviews, daily conversations and so on”

(www.education.tas.gov.au?English, p1) All the texts given in the Reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook 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

Picture book, stories, novels, fairy/ folk tales, myths, fables, legends

Narratives - Using spoken or written language to tell what happened

by orderly, logical sequence based on life experiences and person-oriented, especially it is the construction of real world

Travel, adventure, diaries accident, reports, poems, real life fictions, new reports

Poetries - To express aesthetic feeling, sensory experiences,

imaginative perceptions and impressions of life

- To tell a story with the poets‟ viewers on people and events All poetry is presented through different kinds of techniques such as simile, metaphor, rhythm, sound patterns and personifications

Song lyrics, poems, ballads, sonnets

Descriptions - To describe some places, someone or something in

hearing, taste, touch and smell

- Often be acted by actors on the stage with visual elements to help communicate meaning as facial expressions, body language, costumes, sets, etc

Films, scripts, stage plays, dramatic monologues

Essays - To discuss a topic from an author‟s personal viewpoint Epistle, theme writing

Reviews - To summarize/ analyze or to respond personally or to

review a literacy text

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

is more? Text enlarges vocabulary rapidly and is the best way to show how language is in use

Apart from being a source of reading, structures and vocabulary, the text is a starting point for grammar practice, listening work, pronunciation and intonation practice and discussion It exploits the visual dimension and it is our prime source of cultural information A good text 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 text

1.3 Cohesion

1.3.1 Concept of cohesion

As mentioning in the previous part, cohesion is one of the very important technical terms

in discourse analysis So, what is cohesion? In Indo-European languages, the term "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 semantic one, it refers to relation of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it

as a text" He also points out that “cohesion often occurs where the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another The one presupposes the other,

in the 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 one part of the text and another which enable the reader/ listener to supply all the missing pieces, all the components of the picture which are not presented in the text but are necessary to its interpretation

1.3.2 Cohesion versus coherence

Cohesion and coherence are two terms closely connecting to discourse They both share the same Latin prefix “co” which means „together‟, „with‟ or „cohere‟ However, they greatly differ from each 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

to coherence The key concept of cohesion is something which exists in the language, right 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 partly through grammar and partly through the vocabulary So, there are two broad divisions of cohesion: grammatical and lexical

1.3.3.1.Grammatical 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 The various types of grammatical cohesion are references, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction

Reference:

According to Halliday in his book An introduction to Functional Grammar – second

edition published in 1994, he said “A participant or circumstantial element introduced at one place in the text can be taken as a reference point for something that follows.” Saying

in another words, reference is used to avoid being repetitive Also from his point of view,

reference is divided into two types: endophoric and exophoric

 Exophoric is the situational reference referring to a thing as identified in the

context of situation

 Endophoric is textual reference referring to a thing as indentified in the

surrounding text Endophoric may be divided into two kinds: anaphoric and

cataphoric

Anaphoric and cataphoric reference indicate two different ways in which

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

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

e.g 1: I am studying at 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 be 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 references to people and things within a text

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

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

serve to identify individuals and objects named at some other points in the text

Table 1: 2 Personal reference

(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 38)

I me You

We us

He him She her They them

It one

Mine Yours Ours His Hers Theirs Its

My Your Our His Her Their Its One‟s

Demonstrative references are references by means of location, on a scale of proximity,

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

phrase, or much longer chunks of a text

Semantic category

Grammatical function class

Table 1: 3 Demonstrative reference

(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 38)

Comparative references are indirect references by means of identity or similarity,

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

Semantic category - Grammatical function class

Table 1: 4 Comparative references

(Source: Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 38)

Substitution:

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

such as words or phrase and in terms of linguistic level it is a relation on

lexicogrammatical level, the level of grammar and vocabulary” Three types of

substitution are: nominal, verbal and clausal

e.g 2:

Nominal: I don‟t want that kind of shirt Give me the black one

(One substituted for „shirt‟)

This these That those

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

(Did is substituted for „made a very good presentation‟)

Clausal: A: I think we will get her letter next Tuesday

B: I think so (So is substituted for „we will get her letter next Tuesday‟)

Ellipsis:

Ellipsis is the omission of elements normally required by the grammar, which the speaker, writer are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised Ellipsis is distinguished by the structure having some missing elements, which are retrievable from the surrounding 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 replaced by nothing The purpose of using this device is not to burden the text with needless substitution or repetition Generally, readers do not pay much attention to ellipsis device because in most

of the cases, it does not directly affect misunderstanding of the text

e.g 3:

Nominal: A: I‟d like a cup of lemon juice with sugar

B: Me? No sugar, please

Verbal: He likes cooking but I don‟t (like cooking) Clausal: I didn‟t break that vase, you know? (I didn‟t broke that vase)

Conjunction:

Conjunction signals systematic connection between what is to follow and what has gone Saying in different way, conjunction is used to link words, phrases, clauses, sentences, or even paragraph to create logical semantic relationship between them We can list here four main types of conjunction: additive, adversative, casual-conditional and temporal

 Additive: and, besides, furthermore, likewise, in addition, by the way, in other

words, for instance, thus, etc

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

 Adversative: at the same time, though, only, at least, instead of, nevertheless, yet,

but, however, on the contrary, in fact, etc

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

 Casual-conditional: for that reason, as the result, hence, in that case, so,

therefore, because, otherwise, if, unless, as, etc

e.g 6: If you take these bills, you will get better

 Temporal: meanwhile, next time, soon, at once, until then, first, then, and then,

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

e.g 7: Before going to school, I had phoned you

1.3.1.2 Lexical cohesion

As mentioning in the previous part, cohesion is expressed in grammatical and lexical links So, as well as grammatical cohesion, lexical cohesion plays an important role in creating a discourse Lexical cohesion embraces two distinct though related aspects: reiteration and collocation

Reiteration:

Halliday and Hasan (1976) consider: “Reiteration is the repetition of a lexical item or the occurrence of a synonym of some kind, in the context of reference; that is, where the two occurrences have the same reference” Reiteration involves repetition, synonym and /or near synonym, antonym, super-ordinate and general words Let‟s look at these following examples for clarifying

 Repetition:

Repetition is the way we repeat exactly a lexical item mentioned previously in the text Thus, repetition aims at logical emphasis, which is necessary to fix the attention of the readers on the key words or phrases of utterances

e.g 8: We also have the Express Mail Service and your EMS mail will be

delivered in the shortest possible time

different ways, and some words do not have exact opposites

e.g 10: The winner will get 2 points, and the looser have no point

 Super-ordinate:

Super-ordinate in the text means that the later noun is synonymous with the previous one

in the sense of higher level of generality

e.g 11: She won the trophy The prize was not her surprise

 General word:

General words or general super-ordinate is common in English discourse The class of general nouns is a small set of noun having generalized reference within the major noun classes

e.g 12: People, person, man, woman, child, boy, girl

Collocation

As a matter of fact 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 words which tend

to occur in its environment Though there are many possible word combinations, we tend

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

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

Super-ordinate General words

Collocation:

Noun + noun Adjective + noun Verb + noun

Table 1: 5 Grammatical and lexical cohesion

1.3.4 Aspect of coherence

Topical and logical coherence are the two vital factors making coherent discourse

1.3.4.1.Topical coherence

To achieve coherence of a text mostly only one specific topic should be discussed

through the text

Lunar New Year, or Tet, is Vietnam‟s main holiday It is the grandest and most

important occasion in the year which falls sometime between 19 th January and 20 th

February on the Western calendar Tet mark the beginning of spring and, for agrarian

people, the start of a new year

As we can see, the above paragraph consists of three sentences all refer to the same topic

that is Tet holiday To make the topic clear, the extract begins with a topic sentence

which states that Tet is the main holiday in Vietnam The two supporting sentences 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 coherence of the text can be achieve in the topical cohesion that is different from

jumble of sentences

1.3.4.2.Logical coherence

Logical coherence is another important aspect of coherence because functionally it

creates coherent comprehension for readers Looking back at the above paragraph, it is

also apparent that all sentences are logically linked together Logical cohesive devices are

enumeration, addition, transition, apposition, result, inference, reformulation,

replacement, contrast, concession and comparison

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

Chapter 2: ANALYSIS OF MAIN DISCOURSE FEATURES IN THE READING TEXTS IN THE VIETNAMESE NEW TEXTBOOK FOR NON-ENGLISH- MAJOR STUDENTS

As saying before, discourse features 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 as to find out the most outstanding features in the

manifestations of these devices in the textbook

2.1.1 Personal reference

Personal reference items are expressed through pronouns and determiners They serve to identify individuals and objects that are named at some other points in the text The category of personals includes three classes of personal pronouns, possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns All these can be found in the Reading texts in the Vietnamese new English 11 textbook for non-English - major students Let‟s look at these following examples:

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

party

(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 them or listen to their

problems

(Unit 4: Volunteer work)

(4) Another hobby of mine is keeping fish I have a modest little glass fish tank where

I keep a variety of little fish

(Unit 13: Hobbies)

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

all refers back to the items that were stated beforehand Lisa and the women in Third

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