The Effect of Type of Paragraph on Native and Non-native English Speakers' Use of Grammatical Cohesive Devices in Writing and Raters' Evaluation

Mahboobeh Saadat, Sahar Zahed Alavi

Abstract


The present study examined the use of grammatical cohesive features in two types of paragraphs (chronologyvs. cause-effect) written by EFL learners and native speakers. In addition, the study investigated if the use of grammatical cohesive devices affected raters' evaluation of the paragraphs written by the EFL learners. To investigate the non-native speakers’ performances, 60 paragraphs) 30 cause-effect and 30 chronology paragraphs) written by 30 intermediate Iranian EFL learners were examined. Furthermore, to investigate those of native speakers, 20 paragraphs (10 cause-effect and 10 chronology paragraphs) were randomly selected from among the sample paragraphs presented in books teaching paragraph writing written by English native speakers. To analyze the data, Halliday and Hasan's (1976) taxonomy of cohesive devices was used, and MANOVA was conducted. To investigate raters’ judgments, four raters were asked to rate the paragraphs written by six randomly selected learners. The results showed that EFL learners more frequently used reference, conjunction, ellipsis and substitution, respectively in their chronology and cause-effect paragraphs. However, in their paragraphs of chronology, native speakers more frequently used reference, conjunction, ellipsis and substitution, respectively whereas in their paragraphs of cause-effect, they frequently used reference, conjunction, substitution, and ellipsis, respectively. A comparison of the performance of native speakers and non-native speakers revealed that native speakers used more reference in their paragraphs than non-natives did. As for raters’ judgments, the findings indicated that cohesion in the paragraphs was generally ignored by some raters.

 

Keywords: Paragraphs of chronology and cause-effect; Grammatical cohesive devices; Native and non-native speakers; Raters


Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdul Rahman, Z., A. (2013). The use of cohesive devices in descriptive writing by omani students. SAGE Open. 3(3), 1-10.

Alyousef, H. & Alnasser, M. (2015). A study of Cohesion in International Postgraduate Students’ Multimodal Management Accounting Texts. Arab World English Journal. 6(3), 30 – 46.

Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.

Ghasemi, M. (2013). An investigation into the use of cohesive devices in second language writings. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. 3(9), 1615-1623.

Halliday, M. A. K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.

Harris, D. P. (1990). The use of “organising sentences” in the structure of paragraphs in science textbooks. In U. Connor and A.M. Johns (Eds.), Coherence in writing: Research and pedagogical perspectives (pp. 196-205). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

Hasannejad, M., Assadi, N. & Kazemi, A. (2012).Substitution as a device of grammatical cohesion in English contexts. The Journal of Applied Linguistics. 5(1), 114-136.

Helder, B. (2011). Textual analysis: An approach to analyzing professional texts. Denmark: Samfunds Litteratur.

Hosseini, M., Taghizadeh, M., Abedin, M. Z. & Naseri, E. (2013). In the importance of EFL learners' writing skill: Is there any relation between writing skill and content score of English essay test? International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences. 6, 1-12.

Kudo, Y. (2009). A fundamental study of the characteristics of grammatical cohesion in writing with regard to difference in English writing proficiency levels and discourse modes. ARCLES Review. 4, 38-54.

Mahmoud, A. (2014). The use of logical connectors by Arab EFL university students: A performance analysis.International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities. 7(1), 176-188.

Meisuo, Z. (2000). Cohesive features in the expository writing of undergraduates in two Chinese universities. RELC Journal. 31(1), 61-95.

Moreno, A. I. (2003). The role of cohesive devices as textual constraints on relevance: A discourse-as-process view. IJES. 3(1), 111-165.

Rahayu, T. & Cahyono, B., Y. (2015). Discourse markers in expository essays written by Indonesian students of EFL. International Journal of Language and Linguistics. 2(2), 21-29.

Ramasawmy & Narainsamy, (2004). Conjunctive cohesion and relational coherence in students’ compositions. Unpublished thesis, South Africa University.

Richards, J. C. & Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sayah, L. & Fatemi, A. (2013). The role of conjunctions in EFL learners' narrative development. International Journal of Education and Research. 1(11), 133-146.

Swales, J. M. (2004). Research genres: Exploration and applications. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Todd, R. W., Khongput, S. & Darasawang, P. (2007). Coherence, cohesion and comments on students’ academic essays. Assessing Writing, 12, 10–25.

Vahid Dastjerdi, H. & Hayati Samian, S. (2011). Quality of Iranian EFL Learners’ Argumentative Essays: Cohesive Devices in Focus. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 2(2), 65-76.

Yang, W. & Sun, Y. (2012). The use of cohesive devices in argumentative writing by Chinese EFL learners at different proficiency levels. Linguistics and Education. 23, 31-48.

Zarepour, F. (2016). Cohesion Analysis of Iranian Advanced EFL Learners’ Writing. Journal of Language and Teaching Research. 7(2), 408-414.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/3L-2018-2401-08

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


 

 

 

eISSN : 2550-2247

ISSN : 0128-5157