VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
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NGUYỄN THỊ MIỀN

An analysis of lexical cohesion in documents of the
textbook of English for geology

PHÂN TÍCH LIÊN KẾT TỪ VỰNG SỬ DỤNG TRONG NHỮNG TÀI
LIỆU CỦA GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH ĐỊA CHẤT Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
MA course: 18 Hanoi – 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
****************

NGUYỄN THỊ MIỀN AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL COHESION IN DOCUMENTS
OF THE TEXTBOOK OF ENGLISH FOR GEOLOGY

2. Scope of the study 2
3. Aims of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 2
5. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
1.1. Background knowledge of English for specific purposes (ESP) 4
1.1.1. Concept of ESP and its characteristics 4
1.1.2. English for geology (EG) 6
1.2. Cohesion and Coherence 6
1.2.1. Concept of cohesion 6
1.2.2. Cohesion vs Coherence 6
1.2.3. Main types of Cohesion 7
1.2.3.1. Grammatical cohesion 7
1.2.3.2. Lexical cohesion 9
Chapter 2: LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES ANALYZED IN “ESP TEXTBOOK
IN DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES”. 11 v 2.1. General description of EG text 11
2.1.1. Definition of EG 11
2.1.2. Some features of EG 11
2.2. Cohesion and structure of each unit in EG textbook 11
2.2.1. Text 12
2.2.2. Diagram and figure 12
2.2.3. Vocabulary 12
2.3. Lexical cohesion 12

Suggestions for further study 39
REFERENCES 41
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 III
APPENDIX 3 V
APPENDIX 4 X

1
Abstract
This dissertation provides some typical issues around English. In taking this
approach, two small aspects of language concerned in this study are English for Specific
Purposes(ESP) and Functional Grammar(FG). It is said that this study is a combination of
the Geology in English and analysis based on theory of FG. On the one hand, ESP supports
readers to get reading comprehension skill; on the other hand, FG is one branch of
Grammar in which Lexical Cohesive Devices(LCD) play a significant role in making the


PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
This dissertation emphasizes the LCD as one prominent feature of FG which are
really worthfocusing when they are put in ESP texts. It is reasonable that this study will
cover a number of concepts (ESP, EG, Cohesion, Coherence, Cohesive Devices, LCD)
within the single constrained knowledge. This work established clearly-defined links
between linguistics and science. Moreover, since the geological advances which make it
possible to do this owe a great deal to this work, the transition from generative grammar to
functional grammar can be comparatively straightforward one. Although the author has not
attempted to deal exhaustedly with all the problems of teaching and studying EG, the
current work covers those issues which partly contribute to enhance the present situation.
Being aware of the necessity of studying EG in Department of Mineral Resources,
Faculty of Geology, University of Mining & Geology(DMR, FG of UMG) , EG is
arranged to be a compulsory subject, however, it seems to be nightmare to most of students
due to many reasons which are from the different aspects like materials, textbook designs,
syllabi, facilities, ect. Encountering the same situation, University of Mining & Geology
also expects the suitable method to help students study effectively and apply on the future
jobs flexibly.
2. Scope of the study
Due to the limited time and scope of a minor M.A thesis, this study only analyzes
Lexical Cohesive Devices in some texts from the ESP textbook in DMR, FG of UMG.
Therefore, it is reasonable to cover only enough number of typical texts to make the study
reliable. In order to be reliable, two survey questionnaires were handed out to five English
teachers and fifty forth year students studying in DMR, FG of UMG.
3. Aims of the study
The aims of this study are to work out the following features:
1. Overview of the ESP and EG.
2. Clarification of Cohesion and Coherence.
3. Main types of Cohesion.

(1) Overview of ESP and EG
(2) Cohesion and Coherence
Chapter 2 puts across lexical cohesive devices in the chosen texts of EG from the
ESP textbook at Department of Mineral Resources, Faculty of Geology, University of
Mining & Geology. 4
Chapter 3 indicates some major findings of studying EG and suggests some
meaningful implications to reform teaching and studying ESP, especially EG more
effectively.
Part C: Conclusion.
The last part shows the summary and touches on the further study
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: theoretical background
This chapter sets out in detail all the knowledge which is foundational to the whole
work related to the title consisting of concepts of ESP, EG, cohesion, coherence, lexical
cohesive devices.
Chapter 2: Lexical cohesive devices analyzed in “Esp
textbook in department of mineral resources”.
The first part of this chapter reports the description of EG in general before coming
into the specification of cohesion used in texts. The second parts showed the frame of each
unit. To the detail, in the main part, the writer pays attention to analyze two major
categories of lexical cohesive devices: reiteration and collocation in the lights of occurence
and analysis.
Chapter 3: Major findings and implications for teaching
eg effectively

- Show some typical difficulties that teachers and students have to encounter and
suggest some useful ways in both teaching and studying with the hope that they will
overcome and choose the better ways to follow. As a result, teachers, certainly, teach better
and better, while students study more and more interestedly even more and more
effectively. In the end, the author raises some suggestions for further study.