Investigating Cohesive Devices in Students’ Written Texts A case Study of Omdurman Islamic University Students

Abstract

This study is an attempt to investigatethe use of cohesive devices in students’ written products. The subjects were the second year students majoring in English Language at the Faculty of Education, Omdurman Islamic University. It is an analytical, descriptive study. About 30 essays were randomlychosen and analyzed according to Halliday and Hassan (1976) taxonomy of cohesive devices, with the purpose of finding out the use and variety of cohesive devices employed by the subjects. And the subjects’ problems when they use cohesive devices in their written texts. The findings reveal that the subjects used lexical cohesion, especially repetition more frequently than the other types. The findings also showed that the subjects were not able to use different types of cohesive devices. In addition, the study shows that the subjects have problems of not using, overusing and misusing of cohesive devices. The study proved that the subjects do not have a reasonable knowledge of cohesive devices required for writing English texts. The study is concluded with some implications for teaching cohesive devices, recommendations and suggestion for further studies.