Speaker
Description
A well-written work is not only grammatically correct but also cohesive and coherent. Conjunctions are fundamental to the cohesion of a text and should be taught in writing classes. This study presents findings from an investigation into students’ attitudes towards learning and employing conjunctions in writing and the effects of conjunctions teaching on EFL students' capacity for written production. The study used a mixed-methods approach that combined qualitative and quantitative design. The first phase included a questionnaire with 62 students responding to find out how they felt about learning and using conjunctions at their schools. The students demonstrated an understanding of the significance of conjunctions in writing and a willingness to be taught conjunctions. Then, to reach the primary goal of the study, the second phase with the help of pre-post tests was conducted to determine whether introducing conjunctions to students would improve their ability to produce cohesive texts. 50 participants were students who were taking an extra English course at a center in HCM City. Finally, descriptive statistics and paired and independent sample t-tests were used to analyze and report the data. It is evident from the results that the mean scores increased between the pre- and post-test. More critically, it is clear that the individuals' post-test conjunction density significantly improved. Based on the findings, the study made several recommendations for teachers and students regarding learning and teaching conjunctions. The work laid the path for later research on incorporating other cohesion-related elements into the training of other language skills.
Keywords: L2 writing; cohesion; conjunctions; EFL students
