The Use of Reiteration as a Cohesive Device in Third Year EFL Students’ Essays at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou: A Corpus-based Study
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Date
2022
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University OF Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
The current study explores the use of the lexical cohesive device ‘reiteration’ in
students writing essays. It seeks to reach two main objectives. The first is to check
whether third year EFL students make use of reiteration. Second, it seeks to identify
the predominant reiteration subtypes used, then explore the reasons behind their
use. The third objective is to investigate the EFL writing teachers’ opinions about the
importance of using this device in students’ writings. To fulfil the set objectives,
Halliday and Hasan’s theory (1976) has been selected as the theoretical framework
of the study. To gain a better understanding about the phenomenon under
investigation, a mixed-methods approach is adopted for both the collection and the
analysis of the data. The corpus of this study consists of eighty-four (84) essays
written by third year EFL students at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou.
Moreover, a questionnaire has been distributed to the teachers of writing module in
order to collect data about teachers’ perception about the use of reiteration. As far as
the data analysis is concerned, the descriptive statistical method and quantitative
content analysis are adopted for the interpretation of quantitative data; whereas
qualitative content analysis is used in the interpretation of the qualitative data. The
findings of the study reveal that third year EFL students at Mouloud Mammeri
University do make use of reiteration in their writings. The predominant type identified
is ‘repetition’. A plausible explanation of these results is that this type is considered
as the simplest and easiest way to build cohesive relationships between different
parts of texts. The main results also show that writing teachers perceive reiteration as
being one significant element in students’ pieces of writing; because first, it plays an
important role in ensuring text’s continuity and achieving its overall cohesiveness.
Then, the use of the different reiteration types allows students to build semantic
chains between different words and sentences in one single text. Finally the use of
reiteration subtypes manifests variation in terms of vocabulary and saves texts from
sounding redundant and monotonous.
Description
55p. ; 30cm.+(cd)
Keywords
Cohesion, Lexical Cohesive device, Reiteration, Writing Essays.
Citation
Didactics of Foreign Languages