A study on the perception and use of cohesive devices in english essays of twelfth graders at hermann gmeiner high school dalat

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - NGO QUANG TUNG A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION AND USE OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN ENGLISH ESSAYS OF TWELFTH GRADERS AT HERMANN GMEINER HIGH SCHOOL DALAT Major: English Language Course code: 60220201 HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER,2020 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION AND USE OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN ENGLISH ESSAYS OF TWELFTH GRADERS AT HERMANN GMEINER HIGH SCHOOL DALAT Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 60220201 By NGO QUANG TUNG Supervised by NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER,2020 ii The thesis entitled A study on the perception and use of cohesive devices in English essays of twelfth graders at Hermann Gmeiner high school- Dalat was successfully defended and approved on 12/01/2021 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) Academic supervisor: NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D (full name, title, signature) Examination Committee LE VAN TUYEN, Ph.D Chair TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph.D Reader CAO THI PHUONG DUNG, Ph.D Reader LE THI THUY NHUNG, Ph.D Member TRAN THI MINH PHUONG, Ph.D Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair (full name, title, signature) iii HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE HCMC,1/12/2020 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: NGO QUANG TUNG Sex: Male Date of birth: 09/12/1994 Place of birth: DakLak Major: English Language Student code: 1841900006 I- Thesis title: A study on the perception and use of cohesive devices in English essays of twelfth graders at Hermann Gmeiner high school- Dalat II- Objectives and contents: This research aims to investigate the perception of English cohesive devices of twelfth graders at Hermann Gmeiner High School and to analyze how they use English cohesive devices in writing essays More specifically, the data was collected through questionnaire and writing essay At first, 85 students were required to complete the questionnaire in relation to the students’ perception of cohesive devices Then, the chosen participants were asked to write two 250-word essays in which cohesive devices were identified and analyzed in terms of types, frequency of each type and iv correctness of usage This research applied questionnaire and documentation study as the two main instruments to gather information III- Starting date: 30/10/2019 IV- Completing date: 1/11/2020 V- Academic supervisor: NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN (full name, signature) (full name, signature) v CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION AND USE OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN ENGLISH ESSAYS OF TWELFTH GRADERS AT HERMANN GMEINER HIGH SCHOOL - DALAT In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Ho Chi Minh City, November 2020 NGO QUANG TUNG vi RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGO QUANG TUNG, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City, November, 2020 Signature …………………………… NGO QUANG TUNG vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completion of this study is being attributed to the efforts and encouragement of many individuals I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to them all This research would not have been possible during the entire process of undertaking and completing this study without their valuable assistance I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, my supervisor, for her patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement through the whole research process Without her support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed I am very grateful to all my teachers of the Post-Graduate Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) for their valuable lectures, from which a great deal of knowledge of the language and particularly of the methodology of language teaching was drawn Without their insightful lessons and a great deal of valuable experience, I would not have enough knowledge and skills to get my thesis completed on time and excellently Many special thanks also go to Hermann Gmeiner high school students and teachers for their support and motivation Without them, I could not have focused on my studies viii ABSTRACT For many EFL students, writing skills are difficult and challenging to learn and develop Cohesion is also considered as one of the most problematic in writing that the majority of English learners have dealt with Based on the taxonomy of cohesive devices developed by Halliday and Hasan (1976), this paper aims to investigate the perception of English cohesive devices of twelfth graders at Hermann Gmeiner High School and to analyze how they use English cohesive devices in writing essays More specifically, the data was collected through questionnaire and writing essay In this research, 85 students were required to complete the questionnaire in relation to the students’ perception of cohesive devices Then, the chosen participants were asked to write two 250-word essays in which cohesive devices were identified and analyzed in terms of types, frequency of each type and correctness of usage The results of the present study indicate that the students’ perception of cohesive devices was neutral, and students were able to apply a variety of cohesive devices in their writing While grammatical devices were used the most, lexical cohesive devices were relatively neglected by the students In addition, personal reference was used correctly the most in total number of correctness of usages in each type of cohesive devices, whereas, it can be noted that personal reference and collocation had the highest frequency of errors The researcher has drawn some pedagogical implications from the study findings for both learners and teachers, as well as guidelines for further studies on this field Keywords: cohesive devices; writing essays; students’ perception ix TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY vi RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii ABSTRACT ix TABLE OF CONTENTS x LIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF FIGURES xv CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definition of key terms 1.7.1 Perception 1.7.2 Cohesion 1.7.3 Cohesive devices 1.8 Organization of the study CHAPTER 11 LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Introduction 11 2.2 Definition of Essay writing 11 2.3 Importance of Essay writing 13 2.4 Perception 14 2.4.1 Students’ Perception 14 2.4.2 The Importance of Students’ Perception 15 2.4.3 Types of Perceptions 16 2.5 Cohesion in English 16 x Liu, M., & Braine, G (2005) Cohesive features in argumentative writing produced by Chinese undergraduates System, 33, 623-636 London: Routledge Falmer Mackey, A., & Gass, M S (2005) Second Language Research: Methodology and Design Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Martin, J & Rose, D (2008) Genre relations London: Equinox McArthur, T (1992) The oxford companion to the English language Oxford: Oxford University press McCarthy, M (1991) Discourse analysis for language teacher Cambridge: CUP Mcdevitt, D (1989) How to cope with spaghetti writing ELT Journal, Vol 43(1), 19-23 McLeod, S A 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_ PART B: STUDENT’S PERCEPTION OF COHESIVE DEVICES Please CIRCLE 1, 2, 3, 4, or according to your agreement (1)=Strongly disagree; (2)=Disagree; (4)=Agree; (5)=Strongly agree Statements Cohesive devices connect sentence to sentence Cohesive devices make a text become smoother Cohesive devices signal relationship between ideas Cohesive devices help readers understand the text thoroughly There are two kinds of cohesive devices: grammatical devices, and lexical devices 87 (3)=Neutral; (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Cohesive devices are a vital aspect which hugely contribute to successful writing I use adjective “same” to compare the similarity I use “this” when referring to the something that appears earlier in an essay I use “he” to mention a male person who appears earlier in an essay Ex Tuan is handsome He always goes to school on time 10 I use the words “first, then, after that” to create the sequence of time 11 I use the words “therefore, so, because” to express cause-effect relationship 12 I use “but” to express the contrast 13 I use “and” to express addition 14 I use the word “thing” to mention the item that appears earlier in an essay Ex The computer should be replaced; that old thing works ineffectively 15 I use “the capital of Vietnam” to mention “Hanoi city” which appears earlier in an essay 16 I use a synonym to express a similar meaning of an item Ex His job is enjoyable, He has never been bored with his work (the words “job” and “work” are synonymous) 17 I repeat the same word in a later part of the essay Ex There’s a flower in the vase The flower was bought from a market 18 I use the combination of words that are regularly used together Ex “Tell the time” ( not “say the time”) Thank you very much for your cooperation! 88 QUESTIONAIRE (Vietnamese version) Như phần luận văn nghiên cứu thạc sĩ đại học HUTECH, Tôi tiến hành khảo sát nhằm nghiên cứu nhận thức học sinh lớp 12 trường Hermann Gmeiner Đà Lạt từ nối Tôi mong bạn hợp tác để giúp tơi hồn thành nghiên cứu Tất thông tin bảo mật cách chặt chẽ bạn hoàn toàn ẩn danh Những thông tin bạn cung cấp cho sử dụng cho nghiên cứu PHẦN A: THƠNG TIN CÁ NHÂN Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ Tuổi: _ Lớp: _ Bạn dạy từ nối tiếng Anh chưa? _ PHẦN B: NHẬN THỨC CỦA HỌC SINH VỀ NHỮNG TỪ NỐI Vui lòng KHOANH 1,2,3,4, theo quan điểm bạn (1)=Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý; (4)=Đồng ý; (2)=Khơng đồng ý; (3)=Bình thường; (5)= hoàn toàn đồng ý Câu khảo sát Những từ nối dùng để nối câu với câu Những từ nối khiến cho đoạn văn trở nên trôi chảy Những từ nối tạo nên mối liên hệ thông tin với Những từ nối giúp người đọc hiểu tường tận văn Có hai loại từ nối: Từ nối ngữ pháp từ nối nghĩa 89 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Những từ nối đóng vai trị quan trọng việc tạo nên viết tốt Tôi sử dụng tính từ “same” để so sánh giống Tôi sử dụng “this” muốn đề cập đến yếu tố xuất trước văn Tơi sử dụng “he” để đề cập đến người trai xuất trước văn Ví dụ Tuan is handsome He always goes to school on time 10 Tôi sử dụng từ “first, then, after that” để tạo trình tự thời gian 11 Tơi sử dụng từ “therefore, so, because” để bày tỏ mối quan hệ nguyên nhân kết 12 Tôi sử dụng “but” để bày tỏ tương phản 13 Tôi sử dụng “and” để bày tỏ bổ sung thông tin 14 Tôi sử dụng từ “thing” để đề cập đến vật xuất trước văn Ví dụ The computer should be replaced; that old thing works ineffectively 15 Tôi sử dụng “the capital of Vietnam” để đề cập “Hanoi city” xuất trước văn 16 Tôi sử dụng từ đồng nghĩa để diễn đạt ý nghĩa tương đương vật Ví dụ His job is enjoyable, He has never been bored with his work (the words “job” and “work” are synonymous) 17 Tôi sử dụng lại từ đề cập trước vào phần sau văn Ví dụ There’s a flower in the vase The flower was bought from a market 18 Tôi kết hợp từ mà thường xuyên sử dụng Ví dụ “Tell the time” ( not “say the time”) Cảm ơn Bạn hợp tác! 90 APPENDIX B Questionnaire Reliability Item-Total Statistics Scale Mean if Scale Variance if Corrected Item- Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted Item Deleted Total Correlation Item Deleted VAR00001 53.5000 237.024 676 941 VAR00002 53.3095 235.517 784 938 VAR00003 53.3571 241.196 665 941 VAR00004 53.0833 239.210 709 940 VAR00005 53.3214 240.028 628 942 VAR00006 53.3214 240.895 690 940 VAR00007 53.2024 244.838 646 941 VAR00008 53.2976 242.019 705 940 VAR00009 53.3214 245.932 568 943 VAR00010 53.1429 239.859 680 941 VAR00011 53.2857 235.845 737 939 VAR00012 53.2857 239.435 699 940 VAR00013 53.3810 237.805 715 940 VAR00014 53.2381 243.750 638 941 VAR00015 53.2381 242.376 677 941 VAR00016 53.2500 239.274 676 941 VAR00017 53.4405 243.141 576 943 VAR00018 53.3095 241.903 678 941 91 APPENDIX C One sample essay paper mark 92 APPENDIX D Categories of cohesive devices in essays written by 12 th graders at Hermann Gmeiner high school Essay no.: Name: Cohesive devices Reference Comparative (R1) (R) Demonstrative (R2) Personal reference (R3) Conjunctio Temporal (C1) n Casual (C2) (C) Adversative (C3) Additive (C4) Reiteration General noun (L1) (L) Superordinate/hypony m (L2) Synonym(L3) Repetition (L4) Collocation (L5) Total number 93 Type Frequenc Correctnes s y s of usage APPENDIX E: Endorsement form 94 APPENDIX F: Plagiarism check result 95 96 97