IMPROVING COHERENCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING AMONG ESL

LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY

MALINI KARUPPIAH

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

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IMPROVING COHERENCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING AMONG ESL

LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY

MALINI KARUPPIAH

D-733, LRG. BKT. SETONGKOL 125,

TAMAN ROS, JLN. KG.JAWA,

25200 KUANTAN, PAHANG D.M.

2007/2008

DR. MASPUTERIAH HAMZAH

2 MEI 2008 2 MEI 2008

“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my

opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the

award of the degree of Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)”

Signature : ________________________________

Name of Supervisor : ________________________________

Date : ________________________________

DR. MASPUTERIAH HAMZAH

2 MAY 2008

i

IMPROVING COHERENCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING AMONG ESL

LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY

MALINI KARUPPIAH

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)

Faculty of Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

APRIL 2008

ii

I declare that this thesis entitled

“Improving Coherence in Paragraph Writing among ESL Learners: A Case Study” is

the result of my own research except as cited in the references.

The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is

not concurrently submitted in application of any other degree.

Signature : _______________________

Name : _______________________

Date : _______________________

MALINI KARUPPIAH

2 MAY 2008

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To my beloved father Mr. Karuppiah S/O Rengasamy;

mother Mrs. Vanitha D/O S. Subramaniam;

and sisters

Miss Shasheela Devi and Miss Maithily

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In preparing this thesis, I was in contact with many people. They have

contributed towards my understanding and thoughts. In particular, I wish to express my

sincere appreciation to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Masputeriah Hamzah for her

encouragement, guidance, critics and friendship. I am also very thankful to my

examiners Dr. Wan Fara Adlina Wan Mansor and Pn. Khairuzillah Khalil for their

guidance, advices and motivation. My gratitude also goes to Assoc. Prof. Khairi Izwan

Abdullah for being the marker of the data scripts as well as my interviewee. Without

their continued support and interest, this thesis would not have been the same as

presented here.

My sincere appreciation also extends to all my friends; Sumitha Malar Vasu,

Shereena Sreetharam, Salveen Kaur Gill and Elango Munusamy as well as to others who

have provided assistance at various occasions and for giving me moral support. Their

views and tips are useful indeed. Unfortunately, it is not possible to list all of them in

this limited space. I am also grateful to all my beloved family members.

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ABSTRACT

This study sets out to examine the problems faced by ESL learners of the Faculty

of Education, UTM in relation to coherence in writing. The objectives of this study are

to assess the coherence of ESL learners’ writing as well as to present ideas and

suggestions to help students to improve coherence in their writing. Ten first year TESL

students of UTM were involved in this study. The instrument used to assess and analyze

coherence in writing was topic-based analysis adapted from Todd (2004). Scores of

coherence and coherence breaks as well as interviews were used for data analysis.

Finally, this study hopes to be a valuable resource for not only the learners to overcome

incoherence in their writing, but also to both content and English language instructors of

these learners. It would provide insights to the language teachers on how to help students

become more aware of elements of coherence in writing and what can be done to

improve coherence in writing.

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ABSTRAK

Kajian ini adalah bertujuan untuk mengkaji masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh

para pelajar yang mengambil kursus Bahasa Inggeris sebagai Bahasa Kedua, Fakulti

Pendidikan, UTM dari segi kesinambungan dalam penulisan karangan. Objektif utama

kajian tersebut adalah untuk menilai tahap kesinambungan penulisan para pelajar. Selain

itu, beberapa idea dan cadangan untuk memperbaiki tahap kesinambungan dalam

penulisan karangan juga turut disertakan dalam kajian yang ini. Sepuluh pelajar tahun

satu TESL dari UTM merupakan responden kajian. Instrumen yang telah digunakan

untuk mengukur tahap kesinambungan dalam penulisan merupakan analisis berasaskan

topik yang diadaptasikan daripada Todd (2004). Analisis data dilakukan dengan

menggunakan markah-markah yang diperolehi daripada tahap kesinambungan serta

temu bual dengan pensyarah. Diharap agar kajian ini akan menjadi sebuah sumber yang

berguna bukan sahaja untuk para pelajar malah kepada para pendidik Bahasa Inggeris

pelajar-pelajar tersebut. Kajian ini akan memberi kesedaran kepada para pendidik

Bahasa Inggeris tentang cara-cara untuk membantu para pelajar memberi fokus terhadap

elemen-elemen kesinambungan dalam penulisan serta bagaimana untuk memperbaiki

kesinambungan dalam penulisan mereka.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii-x

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xii

1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the Study 2

1.2 Statement of Problem 4

1.3 Purpose of the Study 5

1.4 Objectives of the Study 5

1.5 Research Questions 6

1.6 Significance of the Study 6

1.7 Scope of the Study 7

1.8 Key Terms Related to the Study 7

1.8.1 Writing 7

1.8.2 Coherence 8

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1.8.3 Cohesion 8

1.8.4 Paragraph 8

1.8.5 Unity 9

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.0 Introduction 10

2.1 Writing 11

2.2 Characteristics of Good Writing 12

2.2.1 Unity and Coherence 12

2.2.2 Supporting the Main Idea 13

2.2.3 Mechanics 14

2.3 Coherence in Writing 14

2.4 Cohesion in Texts 17

2.5 Previous Study on Coherence in Writing 18

2.5.1 Analyzing Coherence 18

2.5.2 Problems in Coherence 20

2.5.2.1 Text Based Coherence 20

2.5.2.1.1 Unity of Ideas 20

2.5.2.1.2 Organization of 21

Points

2.5.2.2 Reader Based Coherence 22

2.5.3 Strategies to teach Coherence 24

2.5.3.1 Introductory Activities 24

2.5.3.2 Explicit Teaching 25

2.5.3.3 Awareness-Raising Tasks 26

2.5.3.4 Writing Practice 27

2.5.4 Teaching Coherence in Different Genres 28

2.5.5 A Coherence Checklist 30

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CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 32

3.0 Introduction 32

3.1 Research Instrument 33

3.2 Respondents of the Study 34

3.3 Research Procedure 34

3.4 Data Analysis 35

3.4.1 Stage 1: Preparing the text for 36

analysis

3.4.2 Stage 2: Identifying key concepts 37

3.4.3 Stage 3: Identifying relationships 38

between key concepts

3.4.4 Stage 4: Identifying topics and 38

measuring coherence

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 40

4.0 Introduction 40

4.1 Findings for Research Question 1 41

4.1.1 Discussion 47

4.2 Findings for Research Question 2 52

4.3 Summary 55

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CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 56

5.0 Conclusion 56

5.1 Limitations of the Study 57

5.2 Recommendations 58

5.2.1 Recommendations for English 58

Language Teaching Classrooms

5.2.2 Recommendations for Further 59

Research

5.3 Summary 60

REFERENCES 61-64

APPENDICES A-J 65-74

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NUM. TITLE PAGE

4.1 Lecturer’s marks for coherence 41

4.2 Coherence scores 42

4.3 Problems identified by the lecturer (marker) 44

4.4 Audience, context and purpose 45

4.5 The use of propositional content in writing 46

xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL - English as Second Language

L2 - Second Language

TESL - Teaching English as Second Language

UTM - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

ELT - English Language Teaching

PMR - Penilaian Menengah Rendah

SPM - Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

MUET - Malaysian University English Test

SPL - Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter will focus on the background of the study, highlighting on the

statement of problems that leads to the study conducted. The purpose of the study

is also stated in this chapter. Based on the statement of problems, a few research

questions have been identified and will be discussed later in this chapter. This

chapter will also discuss the research scope of the study as well as the significance

of the study conducted. Some key terms which are related with the study are

discussed at the final part of this chapter.

2

1.1 Background of the Study

Language learning is a process where knowledge is gained through

conscious understanding of the rules and patterns of the language. Learning is

defined as a change in performance which occurs under the conditions of practice.

Writing is one of the four skills which a learner has to acquire when learning a

language. According to Lannon (2004), writing is a conscious, planned process

but not the result of interference, magic, miracles or last-minute inspiration.

Nothing ever leaps from the mind to the page in one neat and simple motion. The

conscious condition is designed to meet the students’ needs in acquiring the skills

and elements in the language.

In order to write effectively, a writer has to acquire certain skills and learn

to apply them effectively. Each ESL learner has his or her own level of

proficiency in applying the writing skills while producing a piece of writing.

Writing is also a mental activity the students have to go through in order to

construct proper written texts and language development. It is also part of the

students’ ongoing learning experience. Besides that, writing could be a learning

style for students who take a longer time to think things through and to produce

language in a slower way. Writing is not a skill to be learned in isolation whereby

in the classroom, language acquisition is facilitated by teachers integrating all the

four skills in the teaching and learning process. It normally comes after learners

have acquired the receptive skills of listening and reading.

Wilkinson (1986) states that a person’s language abilities are complex

especially in producing writing. This may cause a lot of possibilities which might

occur in the writing of ESL students. One of the possibilities is the application of

the language input into a well written and organized text. Actually, when a

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student writes, he or she has something in mind to write about. This means that

writing involves purposes and topics.

Lannon (2004) once again states that sometimes students know right away

what they want to say but sometimes they discover the purpose and meaning only

as they write. Each of them has their own style of producing writing by using the

language and how they elaborate the ideas through the language. There will be

difficulties among the students to apply the knowledge they have gained through

the learning process and the way they use the language in their writing.

Therefore, it may cause errors or problems in the students’ writing.

In the ESL writing classroom, learners often write essays that consist of

sentences which do not seem to connect together into a cohesive text. They may

have difficulty in making their writing coherent. This may be because very little

attention is paid to the progression and flow of information in texts. Students do

not have a mental representation of their writing, the hierarchy of their ideas and

how their ideas are related to one another. As Scardamalia & Bereiter (1986)

said, “If students get stuck in their writing, they will just start all over again using

another word in the topic that they can relate to and tell about.” Students also

spend little time planning and starting off writing although they are still confused

about the task given. Most of them do not have the tendency to plan paragraphs

or essays as a whole.

As a reader, we identify paragraphs at a glance, just by its appearance.

Most written materials are made up of paragraphs. Paragraphs vary considerably

in length because they differ in content and purpose. Usually, as we read from

paragraph to paragraph in a piece of writing, we move from one main idea to

another. Together, a series of paragraphs develop a larger and more complicated

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idea. Each paragraph explores part of that idea and helps readers understand it

(Pemberton, 1996). Besides that, a good paragraph has coherence, meaning that

all the sentences flow smoothly from one to another and the relationships between

ideas are clear. Pemberton (1996) once again said that in a coherent writing,

relevant supporting ideas explain previous statements. Connecting words join

related ideas or make smooth transitions into contrasting ideas. Main ideas are

easy to follow because of repetition and variation of key words and concepts. As

a reader, we will recognize incoherence when we see it. This is because we will

be lurching from one idea to another, trying to follow long-winded, disorganized

statements.

Apart from the various studies conducted on the errors in students’

writing, there is a growing need to determine whether students can write

comprehensibly and coherently. This study focuses on the analysis of

incoherence in students’ composition writing. This study is also conducted to

help students improve coherence in their writing.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Although coherence is crucial to effective writing, it is often considered an

abstract, indefinable, and controversial concept that is difficult to teach and

difficult to learn. ESL students focus almost entirely on the word and sentence

levels rather than the level of the whole discourse, that is, textual coherence.

According to Enkvist (1990), the majority of ESL students feel that the only tool

they can use in writing English essays is grammar and this causes them to have

difficulty in making their writing coherent.

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Given the situation, it is important that the students be taught alternative

strategies to improve coherence in their writing. Focus on coherence can shift

students’ attention from sentence-level grammar to discourse features such as

textual structuring and unity, which are crucial to creating meaning in texts.

Indeed, helping students improve the coherence of their writing is a significant

aspect of L2 writing instruction.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study described in this research report is to focus

mainly on incoherence made by ESL learners in their writing, as well as to help

them to improve coherence in their writing by giving suggestions.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are:

1.4.1 to assess the coherence of ESL learners’ writing

1.4.2 to present ideas and suggestions to help students to improve

coherence in their writing

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1.5 Research Questions

Based on the objectives of the study mentioned above, this study seeks to

answer the following research questions:

1.5.1 What are the problems that students have in relation to coherence

in writing?

1.5.2 What are some suggestions on systematic approaches that can be

adopted to make students more aware of coherence in writing?