A Teacher''s and Students'' Perspectives on Lexical Cohesion in Advanced Writing Instruction

• Main Authors: Pi-wei Shih, 石璧維
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/70738068050973328330

碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系碩士班 === 99 === The purpose of this study is to explore a teacher''s and students'' perspectives on lexical cohesion in advanced writing instruction. Participants were a teacher who instructed the course of Advanced English Writing at a university in Central Taiwan, and five junior undergraduates who took this compulsory course. Two principal instruments for data collection were employed in the inquiry: (a) open-ended and in-depth interviews and (b) the student participants'' written productions. In addition, pertinent written archives, including descriptions and syllabi of the course, complementary materials, and post-interview reflective journals were also taken as reference materials for further explanations. The collected data from the interviews and other pertinent written archives were transcribed and analyzed through content analysis and constant comparative methods. Moreover, the data from the student participants'' writing essays were gathered and analyzed by means of Halliday and Hasan''s coding scheme for lexical cohesion and frequency count. The findings exposed that, firstly, the concept and usage of lexical cohesion with other global concepts are important issues that call for tangible instruction and curricular emphasis. Secondly, the teacher''s instruction and beliefs in lexical cohesion were influenced and formed with his own positive attitude toward the importance of lexical cohesion, students'' previous writing experience, their English proficiency, learning needs, potential interferences in learning, and learning effects. The teacher also endeavored to raise and reinforce the students'' consciousness of the value of lexical cohesion though this field used to be disregarded by the learners and the contents of writing textbooks. Thirdly, as a facilitator, the teacher preferred student-centered and collaborative learning, since the students'' basic potential couldbe promoted when helped by capable peers. Furthermore, process-oriented learning was carried out and a number of class activities were applied; small-group discussions, whole-class shares, and peer review were included. Fourthly, judging from the results of the analysis of the sample texts, the student participants'' problem of redundant repetition and their shortage of using different lexical cohesive devices were observed. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications are proposed to be of help to EFL instructors and language course designers in Taiwan. First, English teachers in Taiwan would be recommended to give lectures on the knowledge and application of lexical cohesion in writing curricula. Second, for authors of writing reference books and language program designers, it would be advisable to enhance the the space or capacity of writing publications, since the teacher participant found out that the importance of lexical cohesion was not highlighted so much in many writing textbooks.