Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 13. Number3. September 2022 Pp.555- 574
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no3.36
Usage of Grammatical Cohesive Devices in Paragraph Writing among Foundation-Year
Medical Students at a University in Saudi Arabia
Abdul Qadeer
Faculty of Languages and Linguistics
Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
&
Faculty of Languages and Translation,
King Khalid University, Al-Fara’a Campus, Abha, Saudi Arabia
Ung T’chiang Chow*
Faculty of Languages and Linguistics
Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: chowut@um.edu.my
Received:06/14/2022 Accepted:09/17/2022 Published:09/28/2022
Abstract:
Before entering a medical college, Saudi pre-medical freshmen study a Foundation-Year English language course for their English language enhancement. Writing is one of the language skills taught in English language courses at the Foundation-Year level. This study investigates Foundation-Year medical students’ difficulties using cohesive grammatical devices for paragraph writing. The study attaches considerable significance to exploring the pre-medical freshmen’s problems using cohesive grammatical devices while writing paragraphs in English. The sample of sixty-seven student-written paragraphs was chosen randomly from the Foundation-Year medical students. The paragraphs were analyzed to determine students’ difficulties using cohesive grammatical devices. A qualitative research approach was carried out, and Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) framework was adopted for analyzing cohesive devices, i.e., reference, conjunction, ellipsis, and substitution. The findings showed that Saudi pre-medical students at the Foundation-Year level could not use cohesive grammatical devices effectively. The study recommended a need to introduce an appropriate writing skill module in the Foundation-Year English courses and improve the teaching strategies to overcome the students’ deficiencies in writing paragraphs.
Keywords: Coherence, Cohesion, Cohesive devices, Conjunction, References, Ellipsis, Substitution, paragraph writing
Cite as: Abdul Qadeer, A., & Chow, U. T. (2022). Usage of Grammatical Cohesive Devices in Paragraph Writing among Foundation-Year Medical Students at a University in Saudi Arabia. Arab World English Journal, 13 (3) .555- 574.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no3.36
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