The role of explicit teaching in developing grammatical and lexical cohesion in second year students’ essays

Abstract

The present study was conducted at the Department of English at the University of Constantine 1 to enhance cohesive devices use in second year students’ writings. It aims at answering questions about the efficiency of the explicit teaching method using: 1. Explanations and presentations of cohesion and the way it is achieved, 2. Cohesion guided practice using different tasks, 3. Independent practice accompanied with feedback, 4. The application of those devices in essays for boosting students’ comprehension of different cohesive ties. To probe into the subject, two hypotheses were set: 1) If the teaching of cohesive ties were based on an explicit teaching method, their use would be enhanced in second year students writing, 2) If students used cohesive ties appropriately, their writing would improve. To check these hypotheses, a teachers’ questionnaire, a students’ pre- questionnaire and a post- questionnaire, as well as a pre-test and a post-test were used to gather data. The data offered a picture on students’ prerequisite knowledge and use of cohesive devices in their writing. The findings of the study have allowed seeing the influence of the students’ use of cohesion on the overall quality of writing. Accordingly, the first hypothesis is confirmed; while the second one is infirmed. Despite such results, it remains that the explicit teaching method proposed in this study in enhancing the students’ use of cohesive ties at the Department of English at the University of Constantine 01 is a prerequisite, although a lot more ought to be done with students.