Abstract

Appropriate use of cohesive devices is an important writing skill. Recently, there has been growing research on cohesiveness in ESL students’ texts at university level. However, research into secondary school students’ writing and learners’ perceptions of cohesive devices has remained underexplored. This case study investigated the use of connectives, a particular type of cohesive device, by nine ESL secondary school learners. In this study, qualitative data were collected from classroom observations, students’ compositions, and semi-structured group interviews. Techniques of corpus-assisted discourse analysis were applied using UAM CorpusTool. The findings show that the main problem faced by high-proficiency learners was the overuse of connectives, while average- and low-proficiency learners tended to overuse and misuse them. The findings also reveal that inadequate knowledge of connectives, low awareness of genre, and poor understanding of writing requirements were possible reasons for these problems. Based on the findings, practical implications for language teachers and suggestions for further research are discussed.

摘要

恰当地使用连贯的工具是一项重要的写作技巧。近来，大学层面对 ESL 学生课文衔接的研究越来越多。然而，对中学生写作和学习者对连贯装置的看法的研究仍未得到充分探索。本案例研究调查了九名 ESL 中学学习者对连接词（一种特殊类型的衔接工具）的使用情况。在这项研究中，定性数据来自课堂观察、学生作文和半结构化小组访谈。使用UAM CorpusTool应用语料库辅助语篇分析技术. 研究结果表明，高水平学习者面临的主要问题是过度使用连接词，而普通和低水平学习者往往过度使用和误用它们。研究结果还表明，对连接词的了解不足、对文体的认识不足以及对写作要求的理解不足是导致这些问题的可能原因。根据研究结果，讨论了对语言教师的实际意义和进一步研究的建议。