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 và từ vựng thông qua một số văn bản trong giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Hóa Học”) MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS ENLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 HANOI - 2009 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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 và từ vựng thông qua một số văn bản trong giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Hóa Học”) MA MINOR THESIS ENLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 Supervisor : Dr. Trần Xuân Điệp HANOI - 2009 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of tables List of abbreviations Part A: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………. Aims of the study…………………………………………………………. Scope of the study………………………………………………………….
Methods of the study………………………………………………………. Design of the study……………………………………………………………. 2 Part B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………… 4 Chapter 1: Literature review and theoretical background ……………………. Discourse and discourse analysis…………………………………….
Concept of discourse…………………………………………………. Discourse and text……………………………………………………. Spoken and written discourse……………………………………………. Context in discourse analysis………………………………………….
Register and Genre in discourse analysis…………………………. Cohesion and Coherence…………………………………………………. Aspects of Coherence……………………………………………………. Types of Cohesion…………………………………………………….
12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. English for Specific Purposes (ESP)………………………………………. Concept of ESP………………………………………………………. Characteristics of ESP discourse…………………………………….
Summary…………………………………………………………………… 14 Chapter 2: Analysis of Grammatical and Lexical Cohesive Devices in some 16 written discourses from the course book “English for Chemistry”………………. An overview of the analysis…………………………………………………… 16 2. Analysis of Grammatical and Lexical Cohesive Devices in some written 16 discourses from the course book “English for Chemistry”………………………. Grammatical cohesive devices……………………………………………….
A comparison of anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric reference………. Lexical cohesive devices……………………………………………….Super-ordinate and general…………………………………………. 43 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Implications for teachers and students of EC…………………………………….
Suggestions for materials design………………………………………………… 44 3. Limitations of the study……………………………………………………………. Suggestions for further research…………………………………………. 45 Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV Appendix V Appendix VI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com viii LIST OF TABLES IN THE STUDY Table 1 : Grammatical and lexical cohesive devices – Absolute count Table 2 : Grammatical cohesive devices – Absolute count Table 3 : Frequency of occurrence of anaphoric reference Table 4 : Frequency of occurrence of cataphoric reference Table 5 : A comparison of anaphoric, cataphoric cataphoric reference Table 6 : Conjunction - Absolute count Table 7 : Frequency of occurrence of ellipsis Table 8 : Lexical cohesive devices – Absolute count Table 9 : 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 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
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. 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. 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. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 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 1 to unit 6.
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: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 - Chapter 1: gives the theoretical background of the study with the theories related to three main sections: discourse and discourse analysis, cohesion and coherence, ESP. - Chapter 2: provides an analysis of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in some written discourses taken from the textbook of EC used for second year students in Faculty of Chemistry at HNUE. Conclusion provides a recapitulation of the study, implications to teachers and students in improving the teaching and learning of EC, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.
LITRERATURE REVIEW For several years, the analysis of cohesion in texts has been a key topic in the study of discourse. Cohesion refers to the relations of meaning that exists within a text. It is part of the system of language which has the potentials for meaning enhancement in texts. In Vietnam, many studies of discourse features of written discourses of different disciplines have been conducted.
For example, in 2004, cohesive devices in application letters was studied by Le Thi Mai Hien. This study found that cohesion proved to be a decisive factor for successful application letters. In the same year, a study of cohesive devices in information and communication technology (ICT) advertisements was carried out by Nguyen Thi Bich Lien. She found that all kinds of cohesive devices were used in the discourse and that discourse analysis of cohesive devices could help a lot in translating ICT ads correctly.
Moreover, a study of cohesive devices in Electronics and Communications conducted by Mai Thi Loan in 2006 shown that lexical cohesion is used much more often than grammatical cohesion.… In sum, all these studies have found that cohesion plays an important role in cohering the ideas in the texts which help readers understand the texts easily. However, no study of cohesive devices in EC texts has been conducted so a study of how cohesive devices are used in EC texts is needed to be carried out to improve the teaching and learning of EC. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This part deals with theoretical topics such as concepts of discourse, discourse context, cohesion and coherence, cohesive devices, register and genre which are relevant to the purpose of the study as well as the background of ESP in general. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Discourse and discourse analysis 1. The concepts of discourse In the history of linguistics, many linguists have so far given definitions of discourse. Each of them has his own idea about discourse, however, I would like to pay attention to the definitions that are appropriate to the purpose of my thesis. Crystal (1992:25) defines discourse as follows: “Discourse is a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit such as sermon, argument, joke or narrative”.
Mc Cathy (1997) states that discourse are the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which it is used. Cook (1989:156) has an other way to define: “Discourse is stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive”. Discourse and Text There seems to be two different ideas around the terms „discourse‟ and „text‟. Some linguists assume „discourse‟ and „text‟ are different concepts.
Cook (1989:158) assumes that discourses are stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive whereas text is a stretch of language interpreted formally without context. For some other linguists, „text‟ is used for writing and „discourse‟ is for speech. However, Halliday and Hasan (1989) state “A text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in these two regards: it is coherent with respect to the context of situation, and therefore consistent in register and it is coherent with respect to itself, and therefore cohesive”. Moreover, Brown and Yule (1983: 6) argue that text is the representation of discourse and the verbal record of a communicative act.
Spoken and Written discourse Spoken and written discourses are different from each other in terms of forms and functions. Meanwhile written discourse complies of complete sentences with subordination, rich lexis and frequent modifications via adjectives and adverbs, spoken contains incomplete sentences. Furthermore, written discourse, compared with spoken discourse, is more complex, elaborate, and explicit. It differs from face-to-face interaction in the manner that coherence is constructed.
Tannen (1982) has noted that “cohesion is LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 established in spoken discourse through paralinguistic and non-verbal channels (such as intonation, gesture, and eye-gaze), while cohesion is established in writing through lexicalization and complex syntactic structures which make connectives explicit” (p.