A study of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in some written discourses from the course book english for chemistry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT PHẠM THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN SOME WRITTEN DISCOURSES FROM THE COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH FOR CHEMISTRY” (Nghiên cứu phương tiện liên kết ngữ pháp từ vựng thông qua số văn giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chun ngành Hóa Học”) MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS ENLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 HANOI - 2009 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT PHẠM THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN SOME WRITTEN DISCOURSES FROM THE COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH FOR CHEMISTRY” (Nghiên cứu phương tiện liên kết ngữ pháp từ vựng thông qua số văn giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chun ngành Hóa Học”) MA MINOR THESIS ENLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 Supervisor : Dr Trần Xuân Điệp HANOI - 2009 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of tables List of abbreviations Part A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… Rationale……………………………………………………………………… Aims of the study………………………………………………………… … Scope of the study………………………………………………………… … Methods of the study……………………………………………………… … Design of the study…………………………………………………………… Part B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………… Chapter 1: Literature review and theoretical background …………………… 1.1 Literature review………………………………………………………… … 1.2 Theoretical background………………………………………………… 1.2 Discourse and discourse analysis…………………… 1.2.1.1 Concept of discourse………………………………………………….… 1.2.1.2 Discourse and text…………………………………………………….… 1.2.1.3 Spoken and written discourse…………………………………………… 1.2 Discourse analysis………………………………… 1.2.1.4.1 Context in discourse analysis………………………………………… 1.2.1.4.2 Register and Genre in discourse analysis………………………….… 1.2 Cohesion and Coherence…………………………… 1.2 2.1 Cohesion vs Coherence……………………………………………… 1.2 2.2 Aspects of Coherence………………………………………………… 1.2 2.1 Topical Coherence………………………………… 1.2 2 Logical Coherence……………………………… 1.2 Types of Cohesion………………………………… 1.2 Grammatical Cohesion…………………………… 1.2 Lexical Cohesion………………………………… v 1.2 English for Specific Purposes (ESP)……………………………………… 1.2 Concept of ESP……………………………………………………….… 1.2 Characteristics of ESP discourse…………………………………… … 1.2.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………… Chapter 2: Analysis of Grammatical and Lexical Cohesive Devices in some written discourses from the course book “English for Chemistry”……………… 2.1 An overview of the analysis…………………………………………………… 2.2 Analysis of Grammatical and Lexical Cohesive Devices in some written discourses from the course book “English for Chemistry”……………………… 2.2.1 Grammatical cohesive devices……………………………………………… 2.2.1.1 References……………………………………………………………….… 2.2.1.1.1 Anaphoric reference………………………………………………….… 2.2.1.1.2 Cataphoric reference………………………………………………….… 2.2.1.1.3 Exophoric reference…………………………………………………… 2.2.1.1.4 A comparison of anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric reference……… 2.2.1.2 Conjunction……………………………………………………………… 2.2.1.3 Substitution…………………………………………………………… …… 2.2.1.4 Ellipsis………………………………………………………………….… 2.2.1.4.1 Nominal Ellipsis…………………………………………………… … 2.2.1.4.2 Verbal Ellipsis……………………………………………………… … 2.2.1.4.3 Clausal Ellipsis……………………………………………………….… 2.2.2 Lexical cohesive devices……………………………………………… 2.2.2.1 Reiteration…………………………………………………………… … 2.2.2.1.1.Repetition…………………………………………………………… … 2.2.2.1.2.Synonym…………………………………………………………… … 2.2.2.1.3.Super-ordinate and general………………………………………….… 2.2.2.2 Collocation…………………………………………………………………… 2.2.2.2.1 Lexical collocation 2.2.2.2.2 Grammatical collocation 2.2.3 Summary…………………………………………………………… PART C: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………… .42 Recapitulation…………………………………………………………… .43 Implications…………………………………………………………… vi 2.1 Implications for teachers and students of EC…………………………………… 2.2 Suggestions for materials design………………………………………………… Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………….44 Suggestions for further research………………………………………… .44 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………… 45 Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV Appendix V Appendix VI vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English EC: English for Chemistry HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education N: Noun Adj: Adjective V: Verb Prep: Preposition viii LIST OF TABLES IN THE STUDY Table : Grammatical and lexical cohesive devices – Absolute count Table : Grammatical cohesive devices – Absolute count Table : Frequency of occurrence of anaphoric reference Table : Frequency of occurrence of cataphoric reference Table : A comparison of anaphoric, cataphoric cataphoric reference Table : Conjunction - Absolute count Table : Frequency of occurrence of ellipsis Table : Lexical cohesive devices – Absolute count Table : Frequency of occurrence of repetition Table 10: Number of occurrence of topic words Table 11: Frequency of occurrence of lexical collocations Table 12: Frequency of occurrence of grammatical collocations ix LIST OF GRAPHS IN THE STUDY Figure 1: Grammatical and lexical cohesive devices - Frequency of occurrence Figure 2: Grammatical cohesive devices - Frequency of occurrence Figure 3: Anaphoric, cataphoric cataphoric reference- Frequency of occurrence Figure 4: Frequency of occurrence of conjunction Figure 5: Lexical cohesive devices – Frequency of occurrence PART A: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE Cohesion plays an important role in the comprehension of a written discourse This is due to the fact that comprehension is a process that occurs within the reader and is at least partially dependent on cohesion and coherence Cohesion is used to show how sentences which are structurally independent of one another may be linked together Cohesion exists within a text and is not the same as coherence, which is something the reader establishes in the process of reading The importance of cohesion in text is major since it provides semantic continuity and permits coherence and comprehensibility The more explicit cohesive relationships are, the easier a text is to understand The coherence of a text can be created through lexical and grammatical cohesive links and other cohesive factors When a reader is able to see how these cohesive factors contribute to the linking of sentences and ideas in a text, he not only can understand the text but can produce the text more easily as well However, recognizing the relations within the text to obtain coherence is not easy for learners of English, especially non-English major students Most of them find it difficult to understand and produce a text This is because of the insufficient awareness of both teachers and learners in teaching and learning English, i.e learning English is learning vocabulary and grammar Moreover, students often learn words in isolation, not in combinations Meanwhile, in order to understand a reading text, the readers need to pay attention to not only vocabulary and grammar but also other factors that create links between the ideas in the text, i.e cohesive devices Since a better understanding of cohesion undoubtedly helps teachers and students improve their teaching and learning As a teacher of English in general and of EC in particular, I decided to study some discourse features of EC texts to help improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning of EC at HNUE Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, my study just focuses on grammatical and lexical cohesive devices which are used in written discourses of EC The texts used for this study are taken from the EC course book used for second year students in Faculty of Chemistry at HNUE The course book was designed by our ESP teachers and was confirmed in 2008 It contains six units, from unit to unit We take six reading texts from these six units as written discourses of EC from which we analyze grammatical and lexical cohesive devices AIMS OF THE STUDY The aims of the study are: - giving an overview of theoretical background of discourse and discourse analysis; cohesion, coherence and cohesive devices; concept of ESP and ESP discourse - describing and analyzing grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in the course book of EC for second year students in Faculty of Chemistry at HNUE The findings are expected to be applied to the teaching and learning of EC SCOPE OF THE STUDY Within the framework of a minor M.A thesis, the study just mainly focuses on grammatical and lexical cohesive devices, their frequency of occurrence, in the six reading texts of EC taken from the textbook used for second year students in Faculty of Chemistry at HNUE METHODS OF THE STUDY Description, analysis, statistics are the principal methods used in this study to identify grammatical and lexical cohesive devices, their frequency of occurrence in some written discourses of EC DESIGN OF THE STUDY The study includes three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion Introduction presents the rationale, the scope, the methodology and the design of the study Development consists of two chapters: VIII Number 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 IX APPENDIX II: List of conjunctions in the course book Number 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 X Number 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 XI Number 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 XII APPENDIX III: List of ellipsis in the course book Number XIII APPENDIX IV: List of substitution in the course book Number XIV APPENDIX V: SAMPLES OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICE EXERCISES Sample 1: Look at the words below Cross out the ones which can not be used with the word in bold Formula: structural, molecular, chemical, empirical, atomic Chemistry: organic, physical, number, analytical, product, inorganic Produce: chemistry, a solution, a concentration of hydrogen ions, an excess of hydroxyl ions Reaction: combination, decomposition, element, displacement, molecule, exchange Electron: carry, have, release, make up, attract, repel (Designed by the researcher basing on the course book “English for Chemistry”) Sample 2: Complete the sentences using each of the following word Displacement, solvent, in, process , of, detect ,reaction, on, neutral, property, Water is the commonest ………… They have developed a new ……….for production of steel Analytical chemists work to determine the unknown chemical …………… of substances and the relative amounts of these constituents Atoms of different elements can combine to form more ………………… substances Elements are caused to displace each other from a compound by reactions Chemical occur when atoms or molecules combine to form products with new properties XV Around the nucleus are electrons, which rotate very and carry a negative electric charge In the near future scientists may give estimates ……… the total inorganic compounds The original elements or compounds involved ……… a chemical reaction are called reactants 10 Modern particle physics research is focused ……… subatomic particles, which have less structure than atoms (Designed by the researcher basing on the course book “English for Chemistry”) Sample 3:Fill in the blank with one suitable word Carbon was found to be the constituent element of natural …1… compounds in the 19th century So far, a lot of carbon compounds have been synthesized artificially Both natural and artificial … 2… compounds have clear different properties ……… 3… inorganic ones The first difference is that organic compounds are more sensitive than … 4… compounds to physical and …5…… influences Secondly, organic compounds consist ………6 carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen mainly and their number is unlimited with a great ….7… whereas there are below 50,000 inorganic ……8….Moreover, a very simple molecular formula may present the inorganic molecule containing an usual total ………9….under atoms, but most ….10… formulate have a greater number of hundreds, and even thousands of atoms Lastly, substance is presented by an inorganic molecule formula but there are usually more than one substance in an … 11… formula except some simple cases such as methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), and oxalic acid (C2H2O4) (Designed by the researcher basing on the course book “English for Chemistry”) Sample 4: Translate the following sentences into English The underlined combinations should be translated as a single unit XVI Những tiến ngành hóa học hữu tạo nên đóng góp quan trọng cho sống đại Hóa học nghiên cứu cấu trúc, tính chất phản ứng nguyên tố hóa học hợp chất chúng Oxy thành phần nhiều hợp chất hữu vô Công thức phân tử cách miêu tả vắn tắt phân tử hợp chất Qua thí nghiệm khác nhau, nhà khoa học phát nguyên tử bao gồm ba loại hạt nhỏ hơn: electron, proton, nơtron Các chất hữu bao gồm cácbon, hydro, oxy nitơ Nhơm kết hợp nhanh chóng với oxy tạo thành nhơm ôxit Chất lượng sống đại phụ thuộc vào việc tạo chuyển hóa chất thơng qua phản ứng hóa học Phản ứng axit bazơ xảy axit mạnh phản ưng với axit yếu 10 Kim loại chất dẫn điện tốt nhựa, gỗ cao su khơng (Designed by the researcher basing on the course book “English for Chemistry”) Sample 5: Choose the most appropriate word to fill in the blank Inorganic molecule may usually be presented by a very simple …… formula a molecular b atomic c chemical d organic Some ……… particles are very short-lived and decay before they could be detected even if they were charged a negative b positive c neutral d opposite 3.North magnetic poles ……….each other a attract b repelc hold d equal With some instruments, chemists can ……….the amounts of radioactivity a find out b look for c detect d discover XVII Scientific methods are used to study the chemical and physical ……… of matter under certain conditions a properties a of b composition c position d components Biochemistry is the scientific study ……… chemistry of living things b on c in d at 7.Water is composed ……… the elements hydrogen and oxygen a on b by c with d of Ionization is the physical process ……… converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions a in b on c.of d at In organic chemistry the great number and diversity ………….compounds is obtained by the combinations …………some ninety elements a on/of b in/with c of/of d with/on 10 Scientists estimate that in the United States, 10 of the 11 most commonly produced chemicals are derived ……… inorganic elements a from b by c in d of (Designed by the researcher basing on the course book “English for Chemistry”) Sample 6: Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning of the sentences using conjunctive word in bracket Most atoms are stable and exist for a long period of time Some atoms are unstable and spontaneously break apart and change, or decay, into other atoms (but) Protons are electrically charged and neutrons are not so the reaction must involve other charged particles (Because) Water molecules are joined by covalent bonds, water will not participate in the exchange reaction (Because) XVIII Each element has a unique number of protons in its atoms This number is called the atomic number (and) 5.Atoms of different elements are different from each other but they all have a similar structure (Although) 6.The nucleus is small but most of the weight of an atom is concentrated in the nucleus (Although) Chlorine will not burn in air, it will support the combustion of many substances (but) (Designed by the researcher basing on the course book “English for Chemistry”) XIX APPENDIX VI: ANSWER KEY TO SAMPLES OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICE EXERCISES Sample 1: Look at the words below Cross out the ones which can not be used with the word in bold empirical, atomic number, product chemistry element, molecule attract, repel Sample 2: Complete the sentences using each of the following word solvent process constituents reaction rapidly of in complex displacement 10 on Sample 3: Fill in the blank with one suitable word organic organic from inorganic Sample 4: Translate the following sentences into English The underlined combinations should be translated as a single unit Advances in organic chemistry has made significant contributions to modern living XX Chemistry studies stuctures, properties, and reactions of the chemical elements and their compounds Oxygen is a component of many organic and inorganic compounds Molecular fomula is the abbreviation of molecules and compounds Through various experiments, scientists discovered that atoms consist of three types of subatomic particles- electrons, protons, neutron Organic substances consist of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen only aluminum (Al) combines rapidly with molecular oxygen (O2) to form aluminum oxide (Al2O3) Our modern quality of life depend on producing and transforming substances through chemical reactions An acid-base reaction occurs when a strong acid react with a weak base 10 Metals are good conductors of electric charge, while plastics, wood, and rubber are not Sample 5: Choose the most appropriate word to fill in the blank 1.a c b 4.c a 6.a 7.d c c 10 c Sample 6: Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning of the sentences using conjunctive word in bracket Most atoms are stable and exist for a long period of time but some atoms are unstable and spontaneously break apart and change, or decay, into other atoms Because protons are electrically charged and neutrons are not the reaction must involve other charged particles Because water molecules are joined by covalent bonds, water will not participate in the exchange reaction Each element has a unique number of protons in its atoms and this number is called the atomic number XXI Although atoms of different elements are different from each other they all have a similar structure Although the nucleus is small, most of the weight of an atom is concentrated in the nucleus Chlorine will not burn in air but it will support the combustion of many substances ... from which we analyze grammatical and lexical cohesive devices AIMS OF THE STUDY The aims of the study are: - giving an overview of theoretical background of discourse and discourse analysis; cohesion,... coherence and cohesive devices; concept of ESP and ESP discourse - describing and analyzing grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in the course book of EC for second year students in Faculty of Chemistry. ..VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT PHẠM THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN SOME WRITTEN DISCOURSES FROM THE COURSE