ERIC Number: EJ1075938
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1916-4742
EISSN: N/A
Cohesive Errors in Writing among ESL Pre-Service Teachers
Kwan, Lisa S. L.; Yunus, Melor Md
English Language Teaching, v7 n11 p130-159 2014
Writing is a complex skill and one of the most difficult to master. A teacher's weak writing skills may negatively influence their students. Therefore, reinforcing teacher education by first determining pre-service teachers' writing weaknesses is imperative. This mixed-methods error analysis study aims to examine the cohesive errors in the writing of English as a Second Language (ESL) pre-service teachers of differing language proficiency levels--Medium and High-level, as indicated by the band levels achieved in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET). 200-word narrative essays were collected from 30 final-year ESL pre-service teachers from UKM via email. The study found that the Medium-level pre-service teachers made the most errors in lexical cohesion, reference and conjunction cohesion categories. However, High-level pre-service teachers made more errors in lexical cohesion, ellipsis and reference. Collocation proved the most difficult form of cohesion for both groups of pre-service teachers, while High-level pre-service teachers made more errors in ellipsis than the Medium-level pre-service teachers. Nevertheless, this still indicates that the pre-service teachers' overall mastery of cohesive writing is insufficient. Therefore, the teaching of these cohesive devices should be further fortified in the linguistic courses undertaken by ESL pre-service teachers to ensure that they are well-equipped in all aspects of cohesive writing.
Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Writing Skills, Error Patterns, Preservice Teachers, Essays, Teacher Education, Connected Discourse, Mixed Methods Research, Error Analysis (Language), Language Proficiency, Language Tests, Language Teachers, Phrase Structure, Writing Instruction, Form Classes (Languages), Taxonomy, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Malaysia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A