MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TAY BAC UNIVERSITY TRAN THI TAM
GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON COHERENCE IN ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS
WRITTEN BY THE TENTH FORM STUDENTS AT
THANH LIEM A UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
Field: English Methodology
Supervisor: Mrs. Tran Thi Hong Le, MA

SON LA, 2013
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor, Mrs. Tran Thi Hong Le, MA for her valuable guidance, correction,
helpful suggestions and encouragements from the preparation to the completion
of this study.
I also would like to express my thankfulness to the teachers and the tenth
form students at Thanh Liem A upper secondary school for their help in
completing my survey questionnaires as well as sharing their ideas about some
aspects of my research.
My gratitude also sends to the teacher in the Department of Foreign
Language for their help and care for me during the time I do this study.
I am also indebted to all my friends who gave me assistance, and
encouragement, without whom, the study would have no such great motivation.
Last but not least, the support of members in my family extended to me
has been immeasurable. I would like to send my gratefulness to them for their
support and encourage throughout my study.

Son La, 10

students’ habits when writing paragraphs and the i
nf
l
u
e
n
ce
of
the mother tongue
are also factors affecting coherence in students’ English paragraphs although
students’ perceptions of the importance of coherence in English paragraph writing are
rather good.
From a detail discussion of the major findings, the study gives some
suggestions for teacher and students to improve coherence in students’
English paragraphs.
TABLES OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLES OF CONTENT

3.3. Data collection 19
3.3.1. Students’ writing assignments 19
3.3.1.1. Repetition of key nouns 19
3.3.1.2. Consistent pronouns 20
3.3.1.3. Transition signals 21
3.3.1.4. Logical order 24
3.3.2. The survey questionnaires……… ……………………… … ……….24
3.3.2.1. Students’ background information 25
3.3.2.2. Students’ perception towards coherence in English paragraphs writing 26
3.3.2.3. Some common factors affecting coherence on students’ English paragraphs
29
3.4. Summary 31
CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 32
4.1. Major findings 32
4.1.1. Findings from analyzing students’ writing assignments 32
4.1.2. Findings from analyzing the survey questionnaire 34
4.1.2.1. Students’ difficulties in the process of writing English paragraphs 34
4.1.2.2. Students' perceptions towards coherence in English paragraphs writing
34
4.1.2.3. Some factors affecting coherence in students’ English paragraphs 35
4.2. Suggestions to improve coherence in students’ English paragraphs 36
4.2.1. Some suggestions for teachers 36
4.2.2. Suggestions for students 38
4.3. Summary 41
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 42
5.1. Summary and emphasis 42
5.2. Limitations and suggestions for further study 42
REFERENCES
APPENDICES


1.1. Rationale
In the world today, there are 5,000 to 6,000 living languages among
which English is by far the most widely used. As a mother tongue, it ranks
second only to Chinese, which is little used outside China. English is spoken by
more people than any other language, and is the native language of more than
350 million people. And it is also the international language of diplomacy,
business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, UN &
NATO armed forces, engineering, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the
best pop and rock music in the world… Because of its importance in our daily
life in Vietnam, English is now taught as a compulsory subject in most school
from primary schools to colleges. A great number of students have chosen
English together with Maths and Literature or Maths and Physics as their major
subjects for their entrance examinations into colleges and universities. Teaching
and learning English; therefore, have become so necessary.
It is undeniable that the most vital purpose of learning foreign language is
to communicate successfully with foreigners. Therefore, to communicate well,
people need to enrich lots of skill including listening, reading, speaking and writing
skill. Writing is an important productive skill in language learning. It can
objectively reflect students’competence of thinking, organizing and expressing
ideas. In English teaching, writing is considered as a difficult skill for both teachers
and students. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the importance
of the English writing skill at high schools in Vietnam. The writing skill is part of
the English syllabus at high schools. According to the curriculum in the new
English 10 textbook, students have to learn a lot of writing skills, such as filling
in a form, writing letter, writing announcement, etc, among which, writing an
English paragraph is one of the main focus.
However, there is a fact that a number of the tenth form students in upper
secondary schools in general and at Thanh Liem A upper secondary school in

2


3
1.4. Research questions of the study
The study is carried out in order to find out the answers to these research
questions:
 What is the real situation of coherence achievement in English paragraphs
of the tenth form students?
 What are students’ perceptions of coherence in English paragraphs?
 What are factors affecting the use of coherence in students’ English
paragraphs?
 What are suggestions to improve coherence in students’ English
paragraphs?
1.5. Methodology
In order to collect sufficient data for the anlysis the following methods
were employed. Theoretically, the researcher spent time reading books and
materials available on coherence to get knowledge of the subject.
Moreover, in order to find out the real situation of coherence
achievement in students’ paragraphs, analyzing students’ written assignments
was conducted.
In addition, using questionnaires is also used to help the researcher
collect the data. The researcher can analyze and report all the collected data to
help the study more realistically.
1.6. Design of the study
The study is divided into 5 chapters presented below:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The literature review
Chapter 3: The data collection and analysis
Chapter 4: Major findings and suggestions
Chapter 5: Conclusion


pen or pencil”. Writing, in Davies’s point of view, involved two kinds of skills.
The first ones low- level skill such as handwriting or typing, spelling,
constructing grammatical sentences, organizing and sequencing, structuring,
drafting, and editing.

5
Besides, Byrne (1988) gave a long and complex definition which can be
summarized as follow: Writing is the act of forming graphic symbols which
were arranged according to certain convention to form words and words which
were arranged to form sentences and we produced a sequence of sentence
arranged in particular order and linked together in certain way, on a flat surface
of some kind.
All in all, Byrne’s definition can be considered one of the most complete
definitions of writing because it covers all of the features of writing given by
above mentioned authors.
2.1.2. The importance of writing
Written words and the time spent practicing the art of writing are both
therapeutic and an ideal manner and opportunity for the constructive self-
expression that is sorely needed in modern society. Writing allows an individual
to express and develop thoughts and ideas like no other pursuit. Writing
creatively opens new realms of ideas, particularly in students during their
formative years. Even during their earliest handwriting exercises, children must
combine complex physical and cognitive processes to render letters precisely
and fluidly. From first grade on, they write nearly every day and they are asked
to do more with this skill than with any other except reading. And as children
progress through school, writing requirements — from homework assignments
and class work to note taking and tests — increase across the curriculum. As
writing tasks become more difficult, students must call on an increasingly wide
range of skills to not only write legibly, logically, and in an organized way but
also to invoke rules of grammar and syntax. This combination of requirements

can offer tangible results to parents, students and teachers. Here writing satisfies
a psychological need. Thirdly, “writing provides variety in classroom activities
serving as a break from oral work”. It is the quieter and more relaxed time for
both students and teachers. At that time, writing increases the amount of
language contact through work that can be set out of class.
To sum up, writing takes an important role in language acquisition and
becomes a valuable part of any language course. In addition, the teachers should
be very clear about our purpose in teaching writing.

7
2.1.3. Kinds of writing
According to Syed Hunbbel Meer on the Website http://hunbbel-
meer.hubpages.com, there are four types of writing that are generally used. The
first type is Expository Writing. Expository writing is a subject-oriented writing
style, in which the main focus of the author is to tell about a given topic or
subject, and leave out his personal opinions. The second one is Descriptive
Writing. Descriptive writing often focuses on describing a character, an event or
a place in great details. It is sometimes poetic in nature in which the author is
specifying the details of the event rather than just the information of that event
happened. Persuasive Writing is considered as the next kind of writing. It is a
type of writing which contains justifications and reasons to make someone
believe on the point the writer is talking about. Persuasive writing is for
persuading and convincing on your point of view. It is often used in complaint
letters, when you provide reasons and justifications for your complaint; other
copywriting texts, T.V commercials, affiliate marketing pitches etc. are all
different types of persuasive writing, where author is persuading and convincing
you on something he wants you to do and/or believe. Besides, Narrative
Writing is also one of the four types of writing. Narrative writing is a type of
writing in which the author places himself as the character and narrates you to
the story. Novels, short stories, novellas, poetry, biographies can all fall in the

at the end”. Meanwhile, Oshima and Hogue (2006) state “a paragraph is a
basic unit of organization in writing in which a group of related sentences
develops one main idea”.
From the above definitions, a paragraph can be understood: A paragraph is a
self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or a
single idea. It consists of one or series of sentences closely related to one another
and devoted to the development of one topic. It is marked off by indentation at
the beginning, pauses of various lengths and a break in the dot at the end.
2.2.2. Structure of an English paragraph
Professor Karin S. Alderfer said that just as a sentence has essential parts,
a subject and a verb, a paragraph has essential parts. The first is a topic. Every
paragraph is about something. The topic, or subject, is what the paragraph tells

9
about. Every paragraph also needs a main idea. This is the general and most
important idea that the paragraph discusses about the topic. Supporting details
are sentences that prove, support, or give more information about the main idea.
According to Jennifer Duncan (1992) structure of an English paragraph
includes three main parts. A paragraph has a beginning that introduces the
reader to the subject at hand, a middle that develops the point by further
explication and supporting details, and an end that emphasizes the significance
of the insight you have arrived at or provides a transition to the next paragraph.
Ann Hogue (2008) and also indicates that an English paragraph has three
major parts. A good paragraph should have a topic sentence, several
supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. The topic sentence is the first
sentence in a paragraph. It not only names the topic of the paragraph, but it also
limits the topic to one or two areas that can be discussed completely in the space
of a single paragraph. The middle sentences in a paragraph are called the
supporting sentences. That is, they explain the topic sentence by giving reasons,
examples, facts, statistics, and quotations. The concluding sentence signals the

ideas are connected by the use of appropriate transition signals.
A paragraph is adequately developed when it describes, explains and
supports the topic sentence. A paragraph which consists of only two or three
sentences is under-developed. A good rule of thumb to follow is to make sure
that a paragraph contains at least four sentences which explain and elaborate on
the topic sentence.
A good paragraph will conclude the standard sentences with different
lengths. It means that simple sentences, compound, complex; compound -complex
sentences are used flexibly in the paragraph. In addition, the paragraph must not
have some mistakes like choppy sentence, stringy sentences, etc.
Grammar, punctuation and spelling are also necessary elements to make a
good paragraph.
All in all, to produce a good paragraph, it is necessary for the writer to pay
attention to such elements as assignment format, unity, structure, development,
expression, etc. And coherence is also one of them which needs students to keep
an eye on when they wrote a paragraph respectively.

11
2.3. Theoretical background of coherence
2.3.1. Definition of coherence
“Co” is a Latin prefix that means “together” or “with”. The verb “cohere”
means hold together”. Traditional definitions of coherence focus on the idea
that the product of the process of writing, namely, a text, should hang together in
a way that makes its content have some arrangement of order or sequence. Such
an order or sequence is thought to be largely related to the connectedness
between sentences or through using cohesive devices at the paragraph level. As
Bamberg (1983:417) stated, the first analysis on coherence was carried out in
the nineteenth century by Alexander Bain, who work on paragraph structure,
stating in his first rule that “the bearing of each sentence upon what precedes
shall be explicit and unmistakable”. Halliday and Hasan (1976: 13) defined the

brings a clear, full sight about coherence and makes sense to every reader.
2.3.2. Cohesion versus coherence
According to McCarthy (1991) cohesion is only a guide to coherence and
coherence is something created by the reader in the act of the text. He insists that
coherence is the feeling that a text hangs together to make sense. Obviously,
cohesion involves formal linguistic links between sections of a text. These are
things that can be listed pointed at and classified. Coherence is more difficult to
define or analyze since it refers to the way we know a text holds together by
continuity of theme, cause and effect relations and others. Cohesion is a surface
structure, so we recognize it immediately. Coherence especially when cohesive
features are rare in a text, may only emerge slowly.
Thompson (1996) states: “Coherence is in the mind of the writer and
reader: it is a mental phenomenon and can not be identified or quantified in the
same way as cohesion”. Cohesion and coherence are in most cases linked in the
way that a text which exploits the cohesive resources of the language effectively
is normally perceived as coherent. That is why cohesion is crucial linguistic
resource in the expression of coherent meanings.
2.3.3. The roles of coherence
In language teaching, coherence is a component of the writing skill
which plays a crucial part in writing quality. Hatch (1992) said, “Without
coherence, a text is not properly a text”.

13
The notion of coherence in discourse is so important that if any two
utterances or sentences are produced in a sequence , a semantic relation
or logical connection between them will be assumed. A coherent text,
therefore, is one where interpreter can readily reconstruct the speaker’s plan
with reasonable certainty, by inferring the relations among the sentences
and their individual relations to the various sub-goals in the inferred plan for
the entire to be understood at hand. Coherence contributes to the unity of a

is the repetition of key words. This technique focuses the reader’s attention on
the threads- the important ideas, as they move through the paragraph to make up
the fabric of the discussion.
Hall (1985) also proposes a number of ways to maintain coherence in the
paragraph. They are:
Using transition signals
According to Hall “transitions are essential to the coherence of paragraph
and paper”
Creating parallel structures
Parallel constructions, as stated by Hall can fulfill a need for transition
that is not only structural and logical, but also emotional. Parallel structure
requires that sentences elements- words, phrases, and clauses- that are alike in
functions be alike in structures as well.
Avoiding changes in verb tense
In order to maintain coherence in a paragraph, Hall strongly advises the
writer to stick to one verb tense in describing one action. For him, “It is not
choosing past or present that matters most; it matters most that we stick to the
tense we start with”
Placing modifiers properly
Placing modifiers properly is essential to coherence in a paragraph.
Misplaced modifiers often lead to the lack of coherence in a paragraph because
they result in misreferences.
To achieve coherence, Oshima and Hogue (2006) suggest four basic
ways as follows: Repetition of Key nouns, Consistent Pronouns, Transition
Signals, Logical Order.

15
* Repetition of Key Nouns
Key noun means the important nouns in a paragraph. Repetition of key
nouns means repeating key nouns or key words frequently in your paragraph.

adverbs, clause connectors including coordinating conjunctions and
subordinating conjunction and the transition signals in this group include
adjectives, prepositions, and nouns.
* Logical Order
Logical order means all sentences in paragraph are logically arranged.
Some common kinds of logical order in English are:
 Chronological order
Chronos is a Greek word meaning time. Chronological order; therefore, is a
way of organizing the ideas in a paragraph in the order of their occurrence in time.
 Logical division of ideas/ Order of importance
When we use logical division means that we group related ideas together and
discuss each group, one after another. If the groups are all more or less equally
important in the mind of the writer, they can be discussed in order of importance.
 Comparision/ contrast
Comparision/ contrast involves analyzing the similarities and differences
between two or more items.
In this study, the researcher uses Oshima and Hogue’s ways because they
are so clear, detailed, and these ways are also Bates’s suggestions (1998).
2.5. Summary
This chapter has presented the relevant literature, which has helped to
form the theoretical framework for the study. The background information about
writing, paragraph and coherence has been discussed.
Through what have been mentioned in this chapter, it is very important to
reconfirm that understanding about coherence and mastering ways to achieve
coherence will help to increase the quality of students’ English paragraphs. In the
next chapters, the researcher will find out the real situation of coherence
achievement in English paragraphs written by students, students’ perceptions of
coherence in paragraphs, factors affecting coherence in students’ paragraphs as
well as give suggestions for the teaching and learning English paragraphs to
improve coherence.

The Writing program at Thanh Liem A upper secondary school follows
the syllabus with the aim of improving students’ ability in writing skills. In the

18
English 10 textbook, there are ranges of types to practice writing, such as filling
in a form, writing about people background, writing a letter, describing
information from a table, writing a profile, etc and writing an English paragraph
is one of the main focuses. In the curriculum, students learn to write a narrative
in Unit 1, write about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media in Unit 7,
describe a film in Unit 12, describe a city in Unit 15, etc.
3.2. Data collection
3.2.1. Students’ writing assignments
Collecting the students’ writing assignments is an effective and more
realistical way to find out the real situation of coherence achievement in English
paragraphs written by the tenth form students. 120 tenth form students from
three different classes (class 10A1, 10A6 and 10A9) took part in the study.
Students of each class were asked to write about different topics on their own
(without discussing with their friends). The length of each paragraph is
approximately 100 to 150 words. The time allocating for writing a paragraph for
each topic was about 40 minutes.
Paragraphs written by the tenth form students are compared and
contrasted in detail with the standard English paragraph. However, in this study
the researcher just focuses on criteria of coherence in students’ English
paragraphs according to Oshima and Hogue (1998) including Repetition of Key
Nouns, Consistent Pronouns, Transition Signals, Logical Order. Students’
paragraphs are analyzed in order to examine whether the use of criteria of
coherence in their assignments are appropriate or inappropriate. Each aspect
will be divided into sub-types. The use of key nouns is determined basing on
using the same key nouns and using synonyms. The use of consistent pronouns
is subcategorized to include pronoun reference and pronoun agreement. With