VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT PHẠM THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE
DEVICES IN SOME WRITTEN DISCOURSES FROM THE COURSE
BOOK “ENGLISH FOR CHEMISTRY”

(Nghiên cứu phương tiện liên kết ngữ pháp và từ vựng thông qua một số
văn bản trong giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Hóa Học”) MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
ENLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 602215
HANOI - 2009

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT


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…………………………………………………….…

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. Implications……………………………………………………………
43 vi
2.1. Implications for teachers and students of EC…………………………………….
43
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


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LIST OF GRAPHS IN THE STUDY

Figure 1: Grammatical and lexical cohesive devices - Frequency of occurrence
Figure 2: Grammatical cohesive devices - Frequency of occurrence
Figure 3: Anaphoric, cataphoric cataphoric reference- Frequency of occurrence
Figure 4: Frequency of occurrence of conjunction
Figure 5: Lexical cohesive devices – Frequency of occurrence

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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

- 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

devices in information and communication technology (ICT) advertisements was carried
out by Nguyen Thi Bich Lien. She found that all kinds of cohesive devices were used in
the discourse and that discourse analysis of cohesive devices could help a lot in translating
ICT ads correctly. Moreover, a study of cohesive devices in Electronics and
Communications conducted by Mai Thi Loan in 2006 shown that lexical cohesion is used
much more often than grammatical cohesion.…
In sum, all these studies have found that cohesion plays an important role in
cohering the ideas in the texts which help readers understand the texts easily. However, no
study of cohesive devices in EC texts has been conducted so a study of how cohesive
devices are used in EC texts is needed to be carried out to improve the teaching and
learning of EC.
1.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This part deals with theoretical topics such as concepts of discourse, discourse
context, cohesion and coherence, cohesive devices, register and genre which are relevant to
the purpose of the study as well as the background of ESP in general. 5
1.2.1. Discourse and discourse analysis
1.2.1.1. The concepts of discourse
In the history of linguistics, many linguists have so far given definitions of
discourse. Each of them has his own idea about discourse, however, I would like to pay
attention to the definitions that are appropriate to the purpose of my thesis.
Crystal (1992:25) defines discourse as follows: “Discourse is a continuous stretch of
language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit such as sermon,
argument, joke or narrative”. Mc Cathy (1997) states that discourse are the study of the
relationship between language and the contexts in which it is used. Cook (1989:156) has an
other way to define: “Discourse is stretches of language perceived to be meaningful,
unified and purposive”.
1.2.1.2. Discourse and Text

This study focuses on the written discourse only, specifically, written discourse of
EC. In order to analyze a discourse, it is necessary to look into the disciplines of Discourse
Analysis.
1.2.1.4. Discourse Analysis
Discourse analysis is the study of the relationship between language and the context
in which it is used. Yule(1996) states that “…we, as language users, make sense of what
we read in texts, understand what speakers mean despite what they say, recognize
connected as opposed to jumbled or incoherent discourse, and successfully take part in that
complex activity called conversation, we are undertaking what is known as discourse
analysis”. Therefore, in order to understand or interpret the message of a spoken or written
discourse we need to analyze it basing on the disciplines of Discourse Analysis. One of the
key factors that contributes to the making of a discourse is Context, the next are Register
and Genre.
1.2.1.4.1. Context in discourse analysis
Discourse analysis is fundamentally concerned with the general principles of
interpretation by which people normally make sense of what they hear and read. In trying
to derive a text‟s meaning, language users actually relate the text to the situation,
environment or context in which it is found. Consequently, context is an important aspect
in discourse analysis. According to Celce-Murcia (2000:11), context is all the factors and

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elements that are non-linguistic and textual but which affect spoken or written
communicative interaction. Linguists have mentioned various types of context, but here, I
just pay attention to two main types, that is context of situation and context of culture.
Context of situation
Context of situation is an integral factor in discourse analysis. Many linguists agree
that a text can be understood or interpreted thoroughly only when the context of situation is
referred to. In Malinowski‟s viewpoint, context of situation refers to the environment of
the text. According to Eggins (1994:30), context of situation is usually discussed in three
variables: what is talked about; what the relationship between the communicators is; what

In a text, a sequence of sentences tend to convey information about a certain topic, and by
doing so, they use related words, providing the text with quality of unity. This property of
sentences to „stick together‟ to function as a whole is known as cohesion and it has been
defined by Halliday and Hasan (1976: 04) “Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of
some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another. In cohesion, features like
repetition of items as well as complex relations of collocation and structural semantic sense
connections across sentence boundaries are examined”. Guy Cook (1989) states that
cohesion refers to formal links between sentences and between clauses. In other words,
cohesion refers to the formal relationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together.
Coherence, as Nunan (1993), is the feeling that sequences of sentences or
utterances hang together and make sense.
Although cohesion and coherence are different from each other, they have a close
relationship in making a perfectly communicative text. Cohesion contributes to the
successful coherence of a text and coherence is something created by the reader in the act
of reading the text.
1.2.2.2. Aspect of coherence
1.2.2.2.1. Topical coherence
Topical coherence is one kind of content cohesion of discourse in which all the
sentences are about the same topic. That means only one specific topic is discussed
throughout a written discourse to achieve the coherence of the discourse. Moreover, the
topic is maintained through devices that help to repeat it.

9
Topical coherence concerns the terms Theme and Rheme. Theme is expressed by
the left-most constituent of the sentence. It refers to what the speaker nominates as the
subject of what he will talk about in the Rheme. The functions of a Theme are to connect
back or link to previous discourse and to serve as a starting of departure for further
development of discourse. Moreover, Halliday and Hasan (1976: 38) states that “the
Theme is the starting point for the message; it is the ground for which the clause is taking
off” and “if the message is organized as a Theme-Rheme structure… the Theme should be

they make reference to something else for their interpretation”.
Reference can be divided into: anaphoric, cataphoric, exophoric, personal,
demonstrative, and comparative reference. Each of them is presented by either pronouns
(eg. he, she, it, him, her…) or the article „the‟.
Anaphoric reference is a cohesive device which points the reader or listener backwards to
a previously mentioned entity, process or state of affairs.
- Hydrogen, the first element in the periodic table, is a very widely distributed
element. Its most important compound is water, H
2
O.
The possessive adjective its refers back to Hydrogen. This is an anaphoric reference.
Cataphoric reference is a cohesive device which points the reader or listener forwards.
- It is the lightest of all gases, density being about 1/14 that of air. It does not
support respiration, but is not poisonous. Hydrogen is a good conductor of heat as
compared with other gases.
The pronoun it refers forwards to Hydrogen.
Exophoric reference is a kind of reference which refers to the situation.
Personal reference is reference by means of function in speech situation and through the
category of person. It can be expressed by pronouns: he, his, she and determiner the.
Demonstrative reference is a form of verbal pointing by the speaker who identifies the
referent by locating it on the scale of proximity in terms of space and time. It is expressed
through determiners: this, that, these, those and adverbs: here, there.
Comparative reference serves to compare items within a text in terms of identity and
similarity. It is expressed through words such as same, identical, equal, identically,
addition, other, different, else, differently, otherwise, better, more, so, less, equally.

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b. Substitution
Substitution is the use of substitute word or phrase to avoid repetition. According to
Halliaday and Hasan “substitution is the relation between linguistic items, such as words or

account for this, as a result, etc.
- The presence of carbon dioxide in the blood stimulates breathing. For this
reason, carbon dioxide is added to oxygen or ordinary air in artificial respiration and to
the gases used in anesthesia
Temporal: then, after that, finally, at last, until then, next, just then, etc.
- Firstly, organic compounds are more sensitive than inorganic compounds to
physical and chemical influences
1.2.2.3.2. Lexical Cohesion
In order to understand completely cohesive relations in discourse analysis, it is
necessary not only to take into account grammatical cohesion but also lexical cohesion.
This is the cohesive effect achieved by the selection of vocabulary. Lexical cohesion arises
from the semantic connections between words. Halliday and Hasan (1976: 288) divided
lexical cohesion into two main categories: Reiteration and Collocation.
Reiteration: In Cohesion in English (1976:278), Halliday and Hasan define reiteration as
follows: Reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which involves the repetition of a lexical
item, the use of a general word to refer back to a lexical item, and a number of things in
between – the use of a synonym, near-synonym, or super-ordinate.
From the definition above, we can see clearly that reiteration involves repetition, synonym,
near synonym, antonym, super-ordinate, and general words. Those can be explained
through examples as follows:
- Repetition:
- When groups of atoms combine as a subunit, the subunit is usually treated
as a single symbol.
- Synonym:

13
- When heated in air, organic compounds burn away completely: the carbon
disappears in the form of carbon dioxide, the hydrogen and oxygen vanish
as water vapour, and the nitrogen escape in the form of the free element.
- Super-ordinate:

1.2.3.2. Characteristics of ESP discourse
Anthony (1997) notes that there has been considerable recent debate about what
ESP means despite the fact that it is an approach which has been widely used over the last
three decades. At a 1997 Japan Conference on ESP, Dudley-Evans offered a definition.
The definition he and St. John postulate is as follows:
Absolute Characteristics
 ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner.
 ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it
serves.
 ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and
genres appropriate to these activities.
Variable Characteristics
 ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines.
 ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of
general English.
 ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or
in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary
school level.
 ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students.
 Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but it can
be used with beginners.
1.2.4. SUMMARY
In this chapter, the theoretical foundation for my study has been discussed, i.e.
concept of discourse, distinction between spoken discourse and written discourse, cohesion
and coherence, context, register and genre in discourse analysis, cohesive devices such as

15
topical, logical, grammatical and lexical cohesive devices. I also attempted to look at the
definition of ESP, characteristics of ESP discourse.


The study aims at exploring the frequency of grammatical and lexical cohesive
devices through the data collected from the course book analysis. The course book being
analyzed in this research is “English for Chemistry” published in 2008 and it is used for
second year students at Faculty of Chemistry at HNUE.
The study is performed basing on statistical tool, then table and chart
demonstrations are used to analyze the statistical data. From which we can find out the
frequency of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices used in the course book.
2.2. ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES IN
SOME WRITTEN DISCOURSES FROM THE COURSE BOOK “ENGISH FOR
CHEMISTRY”
The overall picture of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in six written
discourses of EC is shown in the following table:
Types of cohesive devices
Number of items
Total
Grammatical cohesive devices
224

485

Lexical cohesive devices
261
Table 1: Grammatical and lexical cohesive devices – Absolute count

17
46.20%
53.80%
Grammatical cohesive devices
Lexical cohesive devices