Exploring EFL Students’ Deficiency in Using Cohesive Devices in Writing Essays (Published)
This study is an approach to investigate how far EFL students at University Level use cohesive devices skilfully in writing their essays . The important issue addressed in the study is closely related to what extent do students perceive the basic aspects of writing coherent essays as one of the requirements of graduation. The most critical question addressed was: To what extent do students use cohesive devices in the clarity and organization of their essays.? The study adopted an analytical-descriptive method. The students answered questionnaires to check their skills in mastering writing skill. In addition, samples of essays were examined and analyzed to evaluate the students’ writing abilities in using these semantic markers. A number of findings were found out. The most critical finding was that the students did not fully master the basic necessary skills required of applying these cohesive markers appropriately.
Keywords: Coherent, Style, cohesive devices
Report On a Study of Reference Cohesion in Texts of Nigerian ESL Students: Implications for the Classroom (Published)
The paper reports a study that investigated the use of reference cohesion in two essay types written by Nigerian ESL students. The sample consisted of 174 first year students of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programme. A set of pictures was used to elicit the first essay, and a topic prompt was used to elicit the second. Each study sample wrote two essays. The data was analysed using a model of analysis adopted from Hallliday and Hasan (1976). The study revealed a deployment of reference cohesion consistent with Standard English in one essay type and an inconsistency in the other. It was argued that limited knowledge of the passive form and the reading audience contributed to improper deployment of reference cohesion. Implications for teaching were discussed.
Keywords: English as a second language (ESL), cohesive devices, exophoric ties, reference cohesion, text elicitation tasks (TET)