An investigation into how to use linking words
in the development of speaking and writing
skills for the IELTS examination
Lý Quỳnh Trang
Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ
Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Võ Đại Quang
Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract. A challenge for English learners is to express their ideas more efficiently and
effectively in writing and speaking. For IELTS examinees, this challenge is even harder when
they have to present their ideas coherently and cohesively as well. The purpose of this study is to
explore the use of linking words in IELTS speaking and writing, to provide some basic theory of
discourse analysis, cohesion and coherence, linking words and IELTS speaking and writing
information in order that English teachers and learners would be able to increase their band score
by the correct use of linking words. The study just focuses on seven popular semantic categories
of linking word, that is, listing, transition, summation, apposition, cause / result, inference and
contrasting and their use in five writing task 1 answers, five writing task 2 answers and five
speaking answers. The study reveals that there is a substantial demand for the use of linking
word in IELTS speaking and writing with 54.2% of occurrence. Also, the study finds out the
most common semantic categories for each task. Finally, several pedagogical implications for
improving the coherence and cohesion of IELTS speaking and writing are given as well as some
suggestions for English teachers, English learners and further research.
Keywords. Từ nối; Kỹ năng nói; Tiếng Anh; Kỹ năng viết

linguistics and discourse analysis, yet few of them are in reference to IELTS or linking words.
Also, on the way to master English, students even haven’t made enough effort or spent sufficient
time comprehend the use of linking words. Concequently, these two sections should deserve
more attention to be studied and discussed because of the great importance of lingking words and
the increasing popularity of IELTS in Vietnam.
İn conclusion, from all the considered reasons, I find it necessary and useful to carry out a study
on linking words and their application in IELTS writing and speaking. İ do hope that English
learners and I myself would be more clear about the use of link words to express our ieads
correctly and effectively.
2. Aims of the study
This study is targeted at presenting an investigation in the use of linking words in IELTS writing
and speaking. İt attempts:
- to provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of cohesion and linking words as
one type of cohesive device.
- to compare the frequencies of different semantic categories of linking words occurrences
in IELTS writing task 1, IELTS writing Task 2 and IELTS speaking task with a view to
clarifying the typical categories for each task.
- to suggest some implications for teaching and learning linking words in order to express
our ideas precisely and comprehensibly as well as to improve students’ IELTS band
score.
3. Scope of the study
Within the limited time and knowledge, it is not my ambition to mention all issues of discourse
analysis. The study is mainly focused on the use of linking words as one type of cohesive device
at clausal and sentence levels in the two skills tested in IELTS academic module: writing and
speaking within seven main categories in 15 sample answers, that is: Listing, Transition,
Summation, Apposition, Cause / Result, Inference and Contrasting.
Finally, the study will not try to propose all possible solutions to cohesion teaching and learning
but only suggest some implication which is expected to help English users in general and IELTS
examinees employ linking words more precisely and effectively.
4. Significance of the study

collect and classify linking words for description, analysis and induction.
Besides, the tackling methods are statistic (getting the statistics from IELTS speaking and
writing samples); analytical (examining in detail the statistics and also analyzing the data
obtained) and synthetical (drawing striking features from the analysis).
Also, we apply inductive reasoning to move from less general to more general statements. That
is from typical examples of the use of linking words in IELTS samples, we process and analyze
these data and then draw out pedagogical implications for English teachers and learners.
5.2.2 Data collection
Population is all members of any well-defined class of people, events or objects. On the other
hand, it is the large group from which the generalization is made as a number of people who has
at least the same characteristic. The population of this study is all IELTS writing and Speaking
sample answers in effective and popular series for IELTS Preparation and Practice which include
Cambridge Practice Tests for IELTS 1-7, KAPLAN IELTS, 101 Hints for IELTS, 202 Hints for
IELTS, IELTS Practice Tests 1 -2, IELTS Test Builder 1-2, New Insight into IELTS, IELTS
Graduation, Focusing on IELTS speaking and listening; Writing and Reading.
A sample is a portion of population that is observed. The sample of this study is 15 sample
answers (five writing task 1 answers, five task 2 answers and five speaking answers) which are
chosen on linking words employment basis, that is to say, I extract the answers whose
occurrence of linking words is of high frequency and these samples have to be model answers
written by IELTS examiners or candidates who achieved IELTS band score 7 and higher.
Therefore, the technique applied here is purposive random sampling. According to Wiersma
(1991:265) “purposive sampling is the selection conducted based on the characteristics of the
units (sites or individual) relevant to the research problems”.
15 IELTS written and spoken discourses are picked out based on the samples choosing method
mentioned above. Moreover, for IELTS writing, there are two tasks: Task 1 and Task 2 and each
task have different types of questions so the samples chosen should also ensure this diversity. In
Task 1, examinees are given questions containing some visual information such as graphs
(tables, lines, bars, pie charts) and diagrams. Examinees are expected to write a short description
of information presented in the visual data. Therefore I chose three samples of describing graphs
and two samples of describing diagram to investigate the use of linking words. As for Task 2,

b. To introduce opposite ideas
c. To introduce a concession
L1
L1a
L1a1
L1a2
L1b
L1b1
L1b2
L2
L2a
L2b
L3
L4
L4a
L4b
L5
L5a
L5b
L6
L6a
L6b
L7
L7a
L7b
L7c
Table 1: Semantic categories codes of Linking words
The next step is to number the sentences in each sample answer and then read through the
answers to find the link between sentences and work out the employment of linking words in
terms of semantic function used. And thus we have to tabulate the use of linking words for each

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