COHESION AND COHEEENCE OF AEGUMENTATIVE WEITING OF THE STUDENTS WITH NATUEAL AND
SOCIAL SCIENCE MAJOES
A THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
By:
BETHAEIA br. SEMBIEING PANDIA Eegistration Number : 2123121006
ENGLISH AND LITEEATUEE DEPAETMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND AETS
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ABSTRACT
Pandia, Betharia br. Sembirinn.Renistration Number: 2123121006. Cohesion and Coherence of Arnumentative Writinn of the Students with Natural and Social Science Majors.
The objectives of this study were to investigate the way of how Natural and Social Science students used cohesion and coherence in their argumentative writing. The data needed to achieve the objective was the students’ writing that was elicited by assigning them to write two different topics related to their interest namely National Examination and Wearing Uniform. The cohesion was analyzed following Halliday and Hasan (1976); while the coherence was analyzed through the use of three principles of coherence by Carlos and Ceballos in Garing (2014) and text structure by Knapp and Watkins (200l). In addition, it was also aimed at seeking the influence of their majors on their using of cohesion and coherence. This study revealed that both Natural and Social Science students had different ways of using cohesion and coherence for each topics: National Examination and Wearing Uniform. It was concluded that Natural Science students had more cohesive and coherent writing on National Examination topic; while Social Science students presented more cohesive and coherent writing on Wearing Uniform topic. However, their majors did not influence the use of cohesion and coherence, but it was influenced by their interests on the given topics.
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E. The Significance of the Study ... 5
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 6
A. Theoretical Framework ... 6
c. Factors Affeecting Argumentation ... 18
4. Cohesion ... 19
a. The Nature of Cohesion ... 20
b. Factors Underlying Cohesion ... 21
c. Grammatical Cohesion... 21
1) Reference ... 21
2) Substitution ... 23
3) Ellipsis ... 24
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d. Lexical Cohesion ... 26
5. Coherence ... 27
a. The Nature of Coherence ... 28
b. Factors Underlying Coherence ... 28
B. Major of the Students and Their Argumentative Writing Quality ... 30
C. Relevant Studies ... 32
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 36
A. Research Design ... 36
B. Data and Technique of Data Collection ... 36
C. The Subjects of the Study ... 37
D. The Procedure of Research Design ... 37
E. The Technique of Data Analysis ... 38
CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS, AND DISCUSSION ... 39
A. Ways of Using Cohesion by IPA and IPS Students ... 40
1. Ways of Using Reference ... 40
a. Personal Reference ... 40
b. Demonstrative Reference ... 41
2. Ways of Using Conjunction ... 42
a. Additive Conjunction ... 42
b. Adversative Conjunction... 44
c. Causal Conjunction ... 45
3. Ways of Using Reitration ... 46
4. Ways of Using Collocation ... 49
B. Ways of Using Coherence by IPA and IPS Students ... 57
1. Ways of Using Coherence by IPA and IPS Students ... 57
a. The Use of Topic Sentence ... 58
b. The Use of One Idea in One Paragraph ... 60
c. The Avoidance of Digression among Paragraphs ... 61
C. The Influence of Majors on Cohesion ... 64
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2. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Adversative Conjunction ... 70
3. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Repetition ... 72
4. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Demonstrative Reference ... 77
5. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Causal Conjunction ... 79
6. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Chain of Collocation ... 81
7. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Adversative Conjunction ... 82
8. The Influence of Majors on the Use of Repetition ... 84
D. The Influence of Majors on Coherence ... 84
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS... A. Conclusions ... 102
B. Suggestions ... 103
REFERENCES ... 104
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The researcher would like to express her deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ, the Almighty and Most Beneficial, for His Grace, Guidance, Praise, Honour, and Mercy that has been given to the researcher so that she finally accomplished her thesis entitled: “Cohesion and Coherence of Argumentative Writing of the Students with Natural and Social Science Majors”.
This thesis is aimed to fulfill one of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan of the English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan (UNIMED).
In completing this thesis, the researcher realized that she faced some problems and she had received the academic guidance, suggestions, and comments and got a lot of assistance and moral support from many people. Therefore, the researcher would like to express her gratitude and special thanks to: Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of Medan. Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts. Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English and Literature
Department.
Nora Ronita Dewi, S.Pd., S.S., M.Hum., the Head of English Educational Study Program.
Prof. Dr. Berlin Sibarani, M.Pd., and Rita Suswati, S.Pd., M.Hum, Thesis Advisors for their valuable time, knowledge, and guidance with all of their patience and wisdom during the process of accomplishing this thesis.
Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed. and Rafika Dewi Nasution, S.Pd., M.Hum, Examiners for their valuable input to furnish this thesis.
Eis Sri Wahyuningsih, M. Pd. and Pantes, the Administration Staffs of English Department
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Tarmiyo, S.Pd. , the English Teacher of SMA Methodist Binjai for helping the researcher during the research and all of the students, especially the 12th grade of Natural and Social Science students.
Her beloved parents Agus Sembiring Pandia and Betsaida br. Hutagalung, Amd. for their endless love, support, and prayer.
Her beloved grandmother Nalsali br. Tarigan for her abundant love and prayer.
Special thanks for Frikson Siburian for his great love, time, patience, and support in finishing the thesis.
Her beloved friends “The Black Ribbon” Berman, Bertha, Citra, Malawita and Petrus for the great experience during 4 years of togetherness and friendship.
Her beloved step sister Sri Lestari Setyawan, Theresia Manalu, Yeslika Debora br. Bangun, Shely Hutajulu, Putri Sembiring, and Ratna br. Ginting, and also her step brothers Boy Simangunsong and Simon Christofel Silalahi for their support, laugh, advices, and prayer.
The researcher realizes that this thesis still has the paucity; she conveniently welcomes any suggestions, comments and advices that will improve the quality of this thesis. She hopes that this thesis would be useful for those who read and interest in the field of this study.
Medan, January 2017 The researcher,
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Pages
Appendix A. VC’s writing on National Examination topic ...108
Appendix B. KE’s writing on National Examination topic ...109
Appendix C. AK’s writing on National Examination topic ...110
Appendix D. KU’s writing on National Examination topic ...111
Appendix E. JL’s writing on National Examination topic ...112
Appendix F. VC’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...113
Appendix G. KE’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...114
Appendix H. AK’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...115
Appendix I. KU’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...116
Appendix J. JL’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...117
Appendix K. FS’s writing on National Examinatio topic ...118
Appendix L. JU’s writing on National Examinatio topic ...119
Appendix M. JE’s writing on National Examinatio topic ...120
Appendix N. JS’s writing on National Examinatio topic ...121
Appendix O. PF’s writing on National Examinatio topic ...122
Appendix P. FS’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...123
Appendix Q. JU’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...124
Appendix R. JE’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...125
Appendix S. JS’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...126
Appendix T. PF’s writing on Wearing Uniform topic ...127
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LIST OF FIGURES
Page Figure 2.1 Hayes –Flowr’s Model of Cognitive Process in Writing ... 11 Figure 2.2 Knapp’s Model of Genre ... 14
Figure 4.1 Graphic of The Use of Grammatical Cohesion by IPA and IPS
Students Across All Topics ... 43
Figure 4.2 Graphic of Chain of Collocational Cohesion by IPA and IPS
Students ... 53
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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 4.1 Repetition on National Examination and Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 49
Table 4.2 Chain of Collocation by IPA and IPS Students ... 55
Table 4.3 The Source of Incoherence on Argumentative Writing
by IPA and IPS Students ... 63
Table 4.4 Data 24 on Cohesive Devices on National Examination Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 65
Table 4.5 Data 25 on Causal Conjunction on National Examination Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 69 Table 4.6 Data 26 on Adversative Conjunction on National Examination
Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 71
Table 4.7 Data 27 on Repetition on National Exam Topic by IPA and IPS
Students ... 72
Table 4.8 Data 28 on Cohesive Devices on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 74
Table 4.9 Data 29 on Demonstrative Reference on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 78
Table 4.10 Data 30 on Causal Conjunction on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 80
Table 4.11 Data 31 on Chain of Collocation on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 81
Table 4.12 Data 32 on Adversative Conjunction on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 83
Table 4.13 Data 33 on Repetition on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and
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Table 4.14 Data 34 on Coherence Principles on National Examination Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 88
Table 4.15 Data 35 on Topic Sentence Principle on National Examination
Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 90
Table 4.16 Data 36 on One Idea in One Paragraph Principle on National
Examination Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 91
Table 4.17 Data 37 on Avoidance of Digression Principle on National
Examination Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 93
Table 4.18 Data 38 on Coherence Principles on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 94
Table 4.19 Data 39 on Topic Sentence Principle on Wearing Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 95
Table 4.20 Data 40 on One Idea in One Paragraph Principle on Wearing
Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 96
Table 4.21 Data 41 on Avoidance of Digression Principle on Wearing
Uniform Topic by IPA and IPS Students ... 98
Table 4.22 Summary of the Coherence on Argumentative Writing by IPA
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CHAPTER I
INTRODECTION
A. The Background of the Study
In language learning, writing has always been one of the other three skills like
listening, speaking, and reading, that needs to be mastered by students. It is a must
have skill for them to share everything that goes to their mind or everything they
ewperienced.
Byrne (1979:1) states that writing is the encoding of a message that we
translate our thoughts into language. The message can be delivered by either spoken
or written. Spoken and written form of communication have different characteristics.
In speaking, the listener can directly ask for clarification related to the message so
that the speaker can repeat or ewplain it further. Moreover, through speaking, the
speaker can ewpress his or her feeling through loudness, rhythm, speed, pauses and
even gestures. It makes the listener feel the emotion or get the message easily.
Meanwhile, in writing, the message should be clearly written. It should be achieved
through the use of approriate word choices, correct sentences form and clear ideas
organization.
For Indonesia’s educational contewt which is realized in syllabus, writing skill
is ewpected to be able to be masterred by students. To do this, students are demanded
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ewperience. Besides, to produce a written tewt well, students need to learn not only the
spelling and punctuation, but also ways of organizing tewt at sentence level and above
(Sharples 1999:13). However, it is often found that students’ writing skill is still low
in terms of its connection between sentences (cohesion) and meaning as a whole
piece of writing (coherence), as it is shown on this following short paragraph:
JR’s Argumentative Writing: Should Students be Allowed to Bring Cellphone to School?
In our school a lot of students brcng cellhhone. But the school make the rule that forbcd students to brcng hhone. The headmaster ever tell us about the trouble of allowcng students to brcng hhone to school.
He sacd “When school student brcng hhone they wcll lose thecr concentrate. They wcll hlay game, chattcng, even when the test they wcll cheatcng. They thcnk ct’s a ncce and cool thcng to do.
From the paragraph above, the student shows connections between sentences
but it lacks of coherence since the idea is not completely stated and the writer does
not stand from his viewpoint.
Meanwhile, it is required that sentences within a tewt need to be connected to
each other so that the reader will be easier to understand the sequence (Brostoff,
1981). In addition, Harmer (2004:22) asserts that for writing to be truly accessible, it
needs to be both cohesive and coherent. Cohesion ewists where the interpretation of
any item in the tewt requires making reference to some other item in it (Halliday
1976:11). Meanwhile, coherence is the overall tewture of a tewt on how it makes sense
to readers (Harmer, 2004:22). Garing (2014) also states that these two terms are some
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to be able to produce such a meaningful tewt, but also the teachers need to teach and
help the students to recognize the use of cohesion and coherence as the criteria of
either good or accessible writing.
For the twelfth grade students, in this case, natural and social science class,
they are specifically demanded to be able to write an argumentative tewt. Regarding
to this point, teachers need to have an understanding that there are some factors that
contribute to their students’ argumentation (Deane et.al, 2008:47), they are: (1)
linguistic skill, (2) background knowledge, (3) critical thinking skill. If they are good
for the three factors, it can be said that they will produce a cohesive and coherent
writing.
In relation to cognitive process, in this case the cognitive process due to the
students’ major in writing argumentative writing, Safitri (2013) concluded that
Natural Science students tended to plan their writing well in which they generated
new ideas for each topic sentence and to support them in paragraphs. Thus, her
findings is in line with the theory of Stenberg in her study, who states that the Natural
Science students tend to adhere rules and procedures while Social Science students
tend to have liberal thinking like surpassing rules and procedures. Thus, Natural
Science students also wrote their argumentative writing according to steps. Unlike the
Natural Science students, she also added that the Social Science students’ writing
avoided planning and reviewing.
Safitri’s (2013) study focused on the difference between the Natural and
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argumentative writing. She claimed that the difference was resulted from the different
majors of the students. If it was true, then the product of their argumentative writing
in terms of coherence and cohesion would be different too. To ensure this idea, this
study was conducted with the title of “Cohesion and Coherence of Argumentative
Writing of the Students with Natural and Social Science Majors”.
B. The Problems of the Study
The problem of the study is formulated as follow:
1. How do the Senior High School students of Natural and Social Science
majors use cohesion of their argumentative writing?
2. How do the Senior High School students of Natural and Social Science
majors use coherence of their argumentative writing?
3. How do the two students’ majors influence the cohesion and coherence of
their argumentative writing?
C. The Scope of the Study
This study is limited to the study of coherence and cohesion on students’
argumentative writing. The cohesion and coherence was ewamined and categorized
into its types. The application of the two terms was compared between the students’
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D. The Objectives of the Study
In relation to the problems, the objectives of the study are:
1. To describe how the Natural and Social Science students use cohesion on
their argumentative writing.
2. To describe how the Natural and Social Science students use coherence on
their argumentative writing.
3. To describe whether their majors influence the cohesion and coherence on
their argumentative writing.
E. The Significances of the Study
Theoretically, the findings of this research will contribute to either
strengthening or modifying the theory of writing especially the one related to the
relationship between critical thinking with the quality of writing, in this case, the
quality that refers to the cohesion and coherence.
Practically, the findings of this research will be useful for:
1. the teachers in their attempt to make their teaching writing better by taking
the critical thinking ability into account.
2. the students of high school or university level so that they are able to produce
a cohesion and coherence writing.
3. other researchers, as a reference for conducting further research in relation to
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
1. In cohesion, both IPA and IPS students achieved cohesion throush the use
of personal, demonstrative reference, additive conjunction, adversative
conjunction, causal conjunction, reiteration, and chain of collocation
across all topics. However, the extended demonstrative reference and
complex additive conjunction were only found in IPA students’ writins.
1. In coherence, IPA students achieved coherence by usins topic sentence
and one idea in one parasraph principles in National Examination topic.
Meanwhile, IPS students achieved coherence in Wearing Uniform topic by
usins the topic sentence and one idea in one parasraph principle also.
3. The students’ major was not the factor affectins the cohesion and
coherence. But, the factor was the students’ interest to the topic. The topic
of National Examination was more important to IPA students rather than
to IPS students, while the topic of Wearing Uniform was more important
to IPS students rather than to IPA students. This was the reason of why
IPA students wrote more cohesive and coherent parasraph on the National
Examination rather than on Wearing Uniform; while the other way around
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B. Suggestions
Based on the above conclusions, there are some sussestions listed:
1. Teachers should consider the topic which is siven to the students because
their majors which are realized in their thinkins is not enoush to see their
ability in achievins cohesive and coherent writins.
1. Students should firstly understand types of cohesive devices and
principles of coherence to be able to present cohesive and coherent
writins.
3. For other researchers, it is important to use more various topics to the
101
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