FINAL-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE CONJUNCTIONS IN ESSAY WRITING AT NAM CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Nguyen Hoang Phuong, Luong Trong Linh

Abstract


Academic writing has become an indispensable part for students studying English as a foreign language at universities in Vietnam in general. This descriptive study conducted a survey of 193 final-year English-majored students at Nam Can Tho University to analyze their perceptions of the use of conjunctions in academic essay writing. The results showed that although final-year English-majored students at Nam Can Tho University are highly aware of the importance of conjunctions in academic writing, their actual use is still inconsistent and sometimes inadequate. This concludes that students have a relatively high awareness of the important role of conjunctions in writing essays, but they still encounter many difficulties in applying them in practice, though. Recommendations for future writing instruction should incorporate explicit, contextual, and visually reflective approaches to help students develop both technical accuracy and rhetorical flexibility in the use of conjunctions in their writing. Only through such comprehensive pedagogical support can learners move beyond the difficulties of using conjunctions to sophisticated, reader-aware academic discourse.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


perceptions, final-year students, English Studies, conjunctions, essay writing

Full Text:

PDF

References


Alarcon, J. B., & Morales, K. N. S. (2011). Grammatical cohesion in students’ argumentative essays. Journal of English and Literature, 2(5), 114–127. Retrieved from https://academicjournals.org/journal/IJEL/article-full-text-pdf/64155281112

Altenberg, B., & Tapper, M. (2014). The use of adverbial connectors in advanced Swedish learners' written English. In Learner English on computer (pp. 80–93). Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315841342-6/use-adverbial-connectors-advanced-swedish-learners-written-english-bengt-altenberg-marie-tapper

Anindita, P. (2024). Cohesion and coherence problems among non-native English students’ writing essays. Journal of Lensa: Linguistics, Literature, and Culture, 14(1), 58–79. Retrieved from https://jurnal.unimus.ac.id/index.php/lensa/article/view/14263

Bahaziq, A. (2016). Cohesive devices in written discourse: A discourse analysis of a student's essay writing. English Language Teaching, 9(7), 112–119. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n7p112

Ben-Anath, D. (2005). The role of connectives in text comprehension. Studies in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, 5(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.7916/salt.v5i2.1569

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (2021). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Longman. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Longman_Grammar_of_Spoken_and_Written_En.html?id=vjomAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

Blakemore, D. (2002). Relevance and linguistic meaning: The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486456

Bui, H. P. (2022). Vietnamese EFL students’ use and misconceptions of cohesive devices in writing. SAGE Open, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221126993

Carrell, P. L. (1982). Cohesion is not coherence. TESOL Quarterly, 16(4), 479–488. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586466

Connor, U. (1984). A study of cohesion and coherence in English as a second language students’ writing. Research on Language & Social Interaction, 17(3), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818409389208

Crewe, W. J. (1990). The illogic of logical connectors. ELT Journal, 44(4), 316–325. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ416712

Crossley, S., & McNamara, D. (2010). Cohesion, coherence, and expert evaluations of writing proficiency. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 32, No. 32). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228630581_Cohesion_coherence_and_expert_evaluations_of_writing_proficiency

Degand, L., & Simon-Vandenbergen, A.-M. (2011). Introduction: Grammaticalization, pragmaticalization and discourse markers. Linguistics, 49(2), 287–294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jhp.16.1.03deg

Ferris, D. R. (1994). Lexical and syntactic features of ESL writing by students at different levels of L2 proficiency. TESOL Quarterly 28(3), 414–420. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/3587446

Ferris, D. R., & Hedgcock, J. S. (2014). Teaching L2 composition: Purpose, process, and practice (3rd ed.). Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-L2-Composition-Purpose-Process-and-Practice/Ferris-Hedgcock/p/book/9780367436780

Flowerdew, L. (2013). Discourse in English language education. Routledge. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203080870

Fraser, B. (1999). What are discourse markers? Journal of Pragmatics, 31(7), 931–952. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00101-5

Granger, S., & Tyson, S. (1996). Connector usage in the English essay writing of native and non-native EFL speakers. World Englishes, 15(1), 17–27. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1996.tb00089.x

Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. Longman. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315836010

Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. (2013). Halliday's introduction to functional grammar. Routledge. Retrieved from https://linguisticstudentindonesia.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/m.a.k.-halliday-christian-m.i.m.-matthiessen-hallidays-introduction-to-functional-grammar-2014-routledge-libgen.lc_.pdf

Hamed, M. (2018). Common linguistic errors among non-English major Libyan students writing. Arab World English Journal, 9(2). Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1312782.pdf

Hinkel, E. (2001). Matters of cohesion in L2 academic texts. Applied Language Learning, 12(2), 111–132. Retrieved from https://www.elihinkel.org/downloads/cohesion.pdf

Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in writing. Continuum. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352101558_METADISCOURSE_EXPLORING_INTERACTION_IN_WRITING_Second_Edition_By_Ken_Hyland

Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2004). Metadiscourse in academic writing: A reappraisal. Applied Linguistics, 25(2), 156–177. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/25.2.156

Jalilifar, A. (2008). Discourse markers in composition writings: The case of Iranian learners of English as a foreign language. English Language Teaching, 1(2), 114–122. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v1n2p114

Johnson, P. (1992). Cohesion and coherence in compositions in Malay and English. RELC Journal, 23(2), 1–17. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/003368829202300201

Kashiha, H. (2022). An investigation of the use of cohesive devices in ESL students’ essay writing. Journal of Education and Practice, 1. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.7176/JEP/13-18-02

Le, L. V., & Nguyen, B. T. T. (2025). Cohesion in Vietnamese EFL argumentative writing: An analysis of types and erroneous use of cohesive devices. Hue University Journal of Science: Social Sciences and Humanities, 134(6B), 23–49. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.26459/hueunijssh.v134i6B.7705

Lei, L. (2012). Linking adverbials in academic writing on applied linguistics by Chinese doctoral students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(3), 267–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.05.003

Liu, M., & Braine, G. (2005). Cohesive features in argumentative writing produced by Chinese undergraduates. System, 33(4), 623–636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2005.02.002

McNamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & McCarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic features of writing quality. Written Communication, 27(1), 57–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088309351547

Millis, K. K., & Just, M. A. (1994). The influence of connectives on sentence comprehension. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(1), 128–147. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1994.1007

Milton, J., & Tsang, E. S. C. (1993). A corpus-based study of logical connectors in EFL students’ writing. In R. Pemberton & E. S. C. Tsang (Eds.), Studies in lexis (pp. 215–246). Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Narita, M., Sato, C., & Sugiura, M. (2004). Connector usage in the English essay writing of Japanese EFL learners. In LREC Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 1171–1174. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228813830_Connector_usage_in_the_English_essay_writing_of_Japanese_EFL_learners

Nghi, N. P. A., & Truong, T. N. (2023). Difficulties of Vietnamese students in learning academic writing. International Journal of Asian Education, 4(2), 106–114. Retrieved from https://ijae.journal-asia.education/index.php/data/article/view/340

Redeker, G. (1990). Ideational and pragmatic markers of discourse structure. Journal of Pragmatics, 14(3), 367–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90095-U

Sanders, T. J., & Noordman, L. G. (2000). The role of coherence relations and their linguistic markers in text processing. Discourse Processes, 29(1), 37–60. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326950dp2901_3

Schiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse markers. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611841

Schiffrin, D. (2001). Discourse markers: Language, meaning, and context. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 54–75). Blackwell. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118584194

Sutopo, D., & Faridi, A. (2020). The use of cohesive devices in English education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. English Education Journal, 10(2), 208–213. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/eej.v10i1.34209

Taboada, M. (2006). Discourse markers as signals (or not) of rhetorical relations. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(4), 567–592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.09.010

Tuan, N. Q., Trang, N. T. B., & Nhu, N. V. Q. (2023). Use of cohesive devices in paragraph writing by EFL students at English language centers in Vietnam. VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, 39(3), 152–169. https://doi.org/10.63023/2525-2445/jfs.ulis.5099

Villaverde, D. (2018). Approaching discourse markers in present-day English: A corpus-based study. Bachelor’s thesis, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Retrieved from https://minerva.usc.gal/rest/api/core/bitstreams/0e0dd0a9-51d3-4bd4-a835-c8e54d8e1fd4/content

Weir, C. J., Hawkey, R., Green, A., & Unaldi, A. (2012). The cognitive processes underlying the academic reading construct as measured in the IELTS reading module. IELTS Research Reports, 8, 1–40. Retrieved from https://ielts.org/researchers/our-research/research-reports/the-cognitive-processes-underlying-the-academic-reading-construct-as-measured-by-ielts

Witte, S. P., & Faigley, L. (1981). Coherence, cohesion, and writing quality. College Composition and Communication, 32(2), 189–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/356693

Yang, W., & Sun, Y. (2012). The use of cohesive devices in argumentative writing by Chinese EFL learners at different proficiency levels. Linguistics and Education, 23(1), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2011.09.004




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v10i2.6228

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2015 - 2026. European Journal of English Language Teaching (ISSN 2501-7136) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).