Identifying Discourse Patterns: A Case Study with Turkish Foreign Language Learners

Year 2012, Volume: 1 Issue: 4, 255 - 277, 23.10.2013

Kadriye Akpınar

Abstract

 

This paper mainly focuses on identifying discourse patterns in an argumentative text by Turkish foreign language learners majoring in English Language Teaching. They were given a cohesion test in which they identified grammatical and lexical cohesive devices after an instruction of Discourse Analysis using Halliday and Hasan's (1976) classification system. The common features and errors of the participants while identifying cohesive devices were analyzed by the frequency percentages using SPSS 20.0. Besides the descriptive analysis methods (frequency, mean and standard deviation), for the comparison of quantitative data; T-tests and One-Way ANOVA were used. Results indicate that there are significant differences between the identification of some sub-categories of grammatical cohesion (ellipsis-substitution and conjunction) and lexical cohesion (superordinate-hyponym and repetition).

Keywords

cohesive devices, discourse analysis, ellipsis, grammatical cohesion, lexical cohesion

References

• Abdi, R. (2002). Interpersonal meta-discourse: An indicator of interaction and identity. Discourse Studies, 4 (2), 139-145. Retrieved in June 2013 from dis.sagepub.com/content/4/2/139.full.pd
• Al-Jarf, R. (2001). Processing of Cohesive ties By EFL Arab College Students. Foreign Language Annals, 32, 2, 141-151 (2001). Retrieved in July 2013 from http://www.yearoflanguages.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageid=4035
• Asher, Ronald E. and Simpson, James M. Y. (eds) (1994). The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Volumes 1–10. Oxford: Pergamon
• Bex, T. (1996). Variety in Written English. Texts in Society. Societies in Text. Routledge. London and NewYork.
• Benson, M., Benson, E., & Ilson, R. (1985). The structure of the collocational dictionary. International Journal of Lexicography, 2, 1-14. Retrieved in July 2013 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijl/2.1.1
• Bloor, T. & Bloor, M. (1995). The Functional Analysis of English. London, New York: Arnold.
• Brown, G., Yule, G. (1989). Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bunton, D. (1999). The use of higher level metatext in PhD theses. English for Specific Purposes. 18 (1), S41–S56. Retrieved in July 2013 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(98)00022-2
• Carrell, P.L. (1984a). The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers. TESOL Quarterly, 18, 441-470. Retrieved in July 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/3586714/pdf
• Carrell, P.L. (1984b). Evidence of a formal schema in second language comprehension. Language Learning, 34, 87-11. Retrieved in July 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb01005.x/pdf
• Carrell, P.L. (1985). Facilitating ESL reading by teaching text structure. TESOL Quarterly, 19(4), 727-752. Retrieved in July 2013 from www.jstor.org/stable/3586673
• Carter, R. and McCarthy, M. (1988). Vocabulary and Language Teaching: Applied Linguistics and Language Study. London: Longman Group Limited
• Carter, Ronald, Goddard, Angela, Reah, Danuta, Sanger, Keith and Bowring, Maggie. (2001). Working with Texts: A Core Introduction to Language Analysis. 2nd ed. London: Routledge
• Crystal, D., (2006). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Fifth Edition. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.
• Cook, Guy (1989). Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Cooper, M. (1984). Linguistic Competence of Practised and Unpractised Non-native Readers of English. In J. C. Alderson & A. H. Urquhart (eds), Reading in a Foreign Language, 122-35. Harlow: Longman Group Ltd.
• Crane, P. A. (2000). Texture in Text: A Discourse Analysis of a News Article Using Halliday and Hasan‟s Model of Cohesion. Online. Available: Retrieved in June 2013 from http://www.library.nakanishi.ac.jp/kiyou/gaidai(30)/08.pdf.
• Dailey-O‟Cain, J. (2000). The sociolinguistic distribution of and attitudes toward focuser like and quotative like. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4, 60–80. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9481.00103/pdf
• Day, R. R. and J. Bamford. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Day, R. R. and J. Bamford. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language 14/2. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October2002/
• De La Paz, S. (2005). Effects of historical reasoning instruction and writing strategy mastery in culturally and academically diverse middle school classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 139-156. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2005-05100-001
• Driver, R., Newton, P., & Osborne, J. (2000). Establishing the norms of scientific argumentation in classrooms. Science Education, 84(3), 287-312. Retrieved in June 2013 from https://cset.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/files/documents/publications/OsborneEstablishing
• Eggins, S. (1994). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. Pinter: London.
• Eskey, D. (2005). Reading in a second language. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 563–580). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Felton, M., & Herko, S. (2004). From dialogue to two-sided argument: Scaffolding adolescents‟ persuasive writing. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 47(8), 672– 683. Retrieved in July 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40016901?uid=3739192&uid=2&uid=4&sid=2 1102546895857
• Field, Y. & Yip, L. M. O. (1992). A comparison of internal conjunctive cohesion in the English essay writing of Cantonese speakers and native speakers of English. RELC Journal, 23(1), 15-28. Retrieved in July 2013 from http://rel.sagepub.com/content/23/1/15.full.pdf+html
• Grabe, W., (2002). “Second language reading”. In R.B., Kaplan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics (pp.170-190). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Grabe, W. (2004). Research on teaching reading. Annual Review of applied Linguistics, 24, 44-69.
• Halliday, M.A.K. and Hassan, P. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as Social Semiotic. London: Edward Arnold Hays, P.R., (1992). Discourse markers and L2 acquisition. Papers in Applied LinguisticsMichigan, 7, 24–34.
• Hinkel, E. (2008). Second language writers’ text. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Hymes, D., (1979). “On communicative competence”. In C.J., Brumfit and K., Johnson (Eds.), The communicative approach to language teaching (pp.5-26). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Innajih, A. (2007). The effect of conjunctive types on the English language reading comprehension of Libyan university students. [Online] Available: Retrieved in June 2013 from www.ecls.ncl.ac.uk/publish/text/TheEffectofConjunctive/
• Intarparawat, P. & Steffensen, M. S. (1995). The use of meta-discourse in good and poor ESL essays. Journal of Second Language Writing, 4, 253-272. Retrieved in June 2013 from ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1060-3743(95)90012-8,
• Ivanov, S. (2009). Discourse analysis in EFL reading. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://dspace.mah.se:8080/bitstream/Sergej%20Ivanov%20degree%2project.pdf
• Jalilifar, A. R., & Alipour, M. (2007). How explicit instruction makes a differences: Metadiscourse markers and EFL learners‟ reading comprehension skill. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 38(1), 35-52.
• Johns, A. M. (1984). Textual cohesion and the Chinese speakers of English. Language Learning and Communication. 3(1), 69-73.
• Johnson, P. (1992). Cohesion and coherence in compositions in Mayland English language. RELC Journal, 23(2), 1-17.
• Kang, J. Y. (2005). Written narratives as an index of L2 competence in Korean EFL learners.
• Journal of Second Language Writing 14(4): 259-279 Khatip, M. (2011) Comprehension of Discourse Markers and Reading Comprehension. English Language Teaching. 4 (3), 243-250. Retrieved in June 2013 from www.ccsenet.org/elt
• Khabiri, M. and Hajimaghsoodi, A. (2012). The Effect of Discourse Analysis-based Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners‟ Reading Comprehension. American Journal of Scientific Research, 66:23-36. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://www.eurojournals.com/ajsr.htm
• Matthews, P.H. (1997) The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Mauranen, A. (1993). Contrastive ESP rhetoric: Meta-text in Finnish-English economic texts. English for Specific Purposes, 12, 89-103. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0889-4906(93)90024-I,
• McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• McCarthy, M. J. (2005). Fluency and confluence: What fluent speakers do. The Language Teacher 29(6): 26-28. Retrieved in June 2013 from www.jaltpublications.org/tlt/articles/2005/06/mccarthy
• McCarthy, M. and Ronald, C. (1994). Language as Discourse. London: Longman. Monson, D. (1982). Effect of Type and Direction on Comprehension Of Anaphoric Relationships. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED278003
• Muller, S., (2004). Well you know that type of person: Functions of well in the speech of American and German students. Journal of Pragmatics, 36, 1157–1182. Retrieved in July 2013 from www.elsevier.com/locate/pragma
• Norment, N. (1994). Contrastive analyzes of cohesive devices in Chinese and Chinese ESL in narrative and expository written texts. Chinese Language Teaching Association Journal, 29, 1, 49-81.
• Nunan, D. (1983). Distance as a Factor in the Resolution of Cohesive Ties in Secondary Texts. Australian Journal of Reading, 6, 1: 30-34.
• Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching Methodology. , Prentice Hall International. Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing discourse analysis . London: Penguin.
• Osisanwo, W. (2005). Introduction to Discourse Analysis and pragmatics. Lagos: Femulus Fetop Publishers.
• Parish, C. and Perkins, K. (1984). Using Tests of Anaphoric Reference in ESL Reading. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED243307.
• Perez, M. A. & Macia, E. A. (2002). Meta-discourse in lecture comprehension: Does it really help foreign language learners. Atlantis, 14 (2), 3-21. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41055042?uid=3739192&uid=2&uid=4&sid=2 1102547663597
• Sellers, V.D., (2000). Anxiety and reading comprehension in Spanish as a foreign language. Foreign Language Annuals, 33(5), pp.512-521. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2000.tb01995.x/pdf
• Shanahan, C. (2004). Teaching Science Through Literacy. In T. Jetton&J. Dole, (Eds.). Adolescent Literacy Research and Practice (pp. 75-93). New York: The Guildford Press.
• Smith, F., 1978. “Reading”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Steffensen, M. S. & Cheng, X. (1996). Meta-discourse and text pragmatics: How students write after learning about meta-discourse. ERIC Document Reproduction Service, No. ED400709.
• Schwarz, B. B., Neuman, Y., Gil, J., & Ilya, M. (2003). Construction of collective and individual knowledge in argumentation activity. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 12(2). 219-256. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1466893?uid=3739192&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21 102547663597
• Trillo, J. R., (2002). The pragmatic fossilization of discourse markers in non-native speakers of English. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 769–784. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00022-X
• Wenquan, W., 2009. “Application of discourse analysis in college reading class”. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/40905618/APPLICATION-OF-DISCOURSEANALYSISIN-COLLEGE-READING-CLASS.
• Wiley, J. & Voss, J. F. (1999). Constructing arguments from multiple sources: Tasks that promote understanding and not just memory for text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 301-311. Retrieved in June 2013 from http://ldt.stanford.edu/~educ39105/paul/articles_2006/Constructing%20arguments
• Zohar, A., & Nemet, F. (2002). Fostering students‟ knowledge and argumentation skills through dilemmas in human genetics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 35 – 62.