A study of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in some written discourses from the course book “english for chemistry” Phạm Thị Vân Annh Trường Đại học KHXH&NV Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: Enlish Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Dr. Trần Xuân Điệp Năm bảo vệ: 2009 Abstract: The aim of this study is to give an overview of theoretical background of discourse and discourse analysis; cohesion, coherence and cohesive devices; concept of ESP and ESP discourse. Moreover, the author would like to describe and analyze grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in the course book of English for Chemistry for second year students in Faculty of Chemistry at Hanoi University of Education. The author wishes that the findings of the study will be applied to the teaching and learning of English for Chemistry.The study consists of three main parts of which the first part presents the rationales, scope, methodology. The following part with two main chapters. Chapter one gives the theoretical background of the studies with theories related to discourse and discourse analysis, cohesion and coherence, ESP. Chapter two 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 In the final part, recapitulation, implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are presented. Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Ngữ pháp; Từ vựng; Hóa học. Content: iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of tables List of abbreviations Part A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… 1 1. Rationale……………………………………………………………………… 1 2. Aims of the study………………………………………………………… … 2 3. Scope of the study………………………………………………………… … 2 4. Methods of the study……………………………………………………… … 2 5. Design of the study…………………………………………………………… 2 Part B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………… 4 Chapter 1: Literature review and theoretical background …………………… 4 1.1 Literature review………………………………………………………… … 4 1.2. Theoretical background………………………………………………….… 4 1.2. 1. Discourse and discourse analysis…………………………………… … 5 1.2.1.1. Concept of discourse………………………………………………….… 5 1.2.1.2. Discourse and text…………………………………………………….… 5 1.2.1.3. Spoken and written discourse…………………………………………… 5 1.2. 1. 4. Discourse analysis…………………………………………………….… 6 1.2.1.4.1. Context in discourse analysis………………………………………… 6 1.2.1.4.2. Register and Genre in discourse analysis………………………….… 7 1.2. 2. Cohesion and Coherence………………………………………………… 8 1.2. 2.1. Cohesion vs. Coherence………………………………………………… 8 1.2. 2.2. Aspects of Coherence…………………………………………………… 8 1.2. 2. 2.1. Topical Coherence………………………………………………… … 8 1.2. 2. 2. 2. Logical Coherence………………………………………………….… 9 1.2. 2. 3. Types of Cohesion…………………………………………………….… 9 1.2. 2. 3. 1. Grammatical Cohesion…………………………………………… … 9 1.2. 2. 3. 2. Lexical Cohesion………………………………………………… … 12 1.2. 3. English for Specific Purposes (ESP)………………………………………. 13 v 1.2. 3. 1. Concept of ESP……………………………………………………….… 13 1.2. 3. 2. Characteristics of ESP discourse…………………………………… … 14 1.2.4. Summary…………………………………………………………………… 14 Chapter 2: Analysis of Grammatical and Lexical Cohesive Devices in some written discourses from the course book “English for Chemistry”………………. 16 2.1. An overview of the analysis…………………………………………………… 16 2.2. Analysis of Grammatical and Lexical Cohesive Devices in some written discourses from the course book “English for Chemistry”……………………… 16 2.2.1. Grammatical cohesive devices……………………………………………… 17 2.2.1.1. References……………………………………………………………….… 18 2.2.1.1.1. Anaphoric reference………………………………………………….… 18 2.2.1.1.2. Cataphoric reference………………………………………………….… 21 2.2.1.1.3. Exophoric reference…………………………………………………… 23 2.2.1.1.4. A comparison of anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric reference……… 23 2.2.1.2. Conjunction……………………………………………………………… 24 2.2.1.3. Substitution…………………………………………………………… ……. 27 2.2.1.4. Ellipsis………………………………………………………………….… 28 2.2.1.4.1. Nominal Ellipsis…………………………………………………… … 28 2.2.1.4.2. Verbal Ellipsis……………………………………………………… … 29 2.2.1.4.3. Clausal Ellipsis……………………………………………………….… 30 2.2.2. Lexical cohesive devices……………………………………………… 31 2.2.2.1. Reiteration…………………………………………………………… … 31 2.2.2.1.1.Repetition…………………………………………………………… … 32 2.2.2.1.2.Synonym…………………………………………………………… … 35 2.2.2.1.3.Super-ordinate and general………………………………………….… 35 2.2.2.2. Collocation…………………………………………………………………… 37 2.2.2.2.1. Lexical collocation 2.2.2.2.2. Grammatical collocation 2.2.3. Summary…………………………………………………………… 41 PART C: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………… 42 1. Recapitulation…………………………………………………………… 42 2. Implications…………………………………………………………… 43 2.1. Implications for teachers and students of EC……………………………………. 43 vi 2.2. Suggestions for materials design………………………………………………… 44 3. Limitations of the study……………………………………………………………. 44 4. Suggestions for further research………………………………………… 44 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………. 45 Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV Appendix V Appendix VI 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.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. 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. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. 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. 5. 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: 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. 45 REFERENCES 1. Allwright, R. L. (1990). What do we want teaching materials for? In R. Rossner and R. Bolitho, (Eds.), Currents in language teaching. Oxford University Press 2. Anthony, L. (1997). 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London: Arnold 13. Halliday, M.A.K. and Hasan, R. (1989). Language, Context and Text: Aspect of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Victoria: Deakin University Press. London: Longman Group Limited 14. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. Longman 15. Hutchinson,T. and Water, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A Learning Centred Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 16. McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University. 17. Mc Carthy, M. (1997). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University 18. Nunan, D (1993). Introducing to Discourse Analysis. Penguin 46 19. O'Neill, R. (1990). Why use textbooks? In R. Rossner and R. Bolitho, (Eds.), Currents in language teaching. Oxford University Press 20. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. (2000), Oxford University Press. 21. Tannen, D. (1982). Oral and literate strategies in spoken and written narratives. Language, 58(1), 1-21 22. Yule, G. (1996). The study of language, UK: Cambridge University Press. 23. Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 24. Hoang VanVan. (2006). Introducing analysis. Education Publishing House. . units as written discourses of EC from which we analyze grammatical and lexical cohesive devices. 2. AIMS OF THE STUDY The aims of the study are: - giving an overview of theoretical background. 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. 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 In the final part, recapitulation,