VIETNAMESE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND ASSESSMENT OF COHERENCE IN ARGUMENTATIVE PARAGRAPHS BY ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS: A STUDY AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM
Main Article Content
Abstract
Academic writing is a crucial genre that English-majored undergraduates must acquire before graduating. The quality of academic writing depends largely on coherence, posing challenges not only for students to learn but also for teachers to assess in English classes. This paper aims to explore how Vietnamese teachers assess coherence in argumentative paragraphs by second-year English-majored students at a university in Vietnam. This qualitative research uses semi-structured interviews to examine teachers’ perceptions of coherence in English writing, and employs think-aloud verbal protocol to investigate how teachers assess coherence in two paragraphs by English-majored students. The findings show that the teachers recognize the importance of coherence in English writing, and there is an inconsistency in teachers assigning scores to coherence in students’ written work.
Keywords
Teachers’ assessment, coherence, English-majored students, argumentative writing, Vietnam
Article Details
References
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Attali, Y. (2016). A comparison of newly-trained and experienced raters on a standardized writing assessment. Language Testing, 33(1), 99-115. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1177/0265532215582283
Bamberg, B. (1984). Assessing coherence: A reanalysis of essays written for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1969-1979. Research in the Teaching of English, 18(3), 305-319. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40171021
Basturkmen, H., & Von Randow, J. (2014). Guiding the reader (or not) to re-create coherence: Observations on postgraduate student writing in an academic argumentative writing task. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 16, 14-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2014.07.005
Bean, J. C., & Melzer, D. (2021). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. https://byvn.net/jhR1
Bitchener, J., & Basturkmen, H. (2006). Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L2 thesis students writing the discussion section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5(1), 4-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2005.10.002
Bublitz, W. (2011). Cohesion and coherence. In. J.Zienkowski, J.-O.Östman, & J.Verschueren (Eds.), Discursive pragmatics (Vol. 8, pp. 37-49). John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1075/hoph.8.03bub
Bublitz, W., Lenk, U., & Ventola, E. (1999). Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse: How to create it and how to describe it. Selected papers from the International Workshop on Coherence, Augsburg, 24-27 April 1997 (Vol. 63). John Benjamins Publishing. https://byvn.net/GmrG
Bustamante, A. P., & Yilmaz, S. (2020). Exploring the Essay Rating Judgements of English Instructors in the Middle East. In L. Makalela & R. Storch (Eds.), The Assessment of L2 Written English across the MENA Region: A Synthesis of Practice (pp. 113-141). Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53254-3_6
Chen, M., & Cui, Y. (2022). The effects of AWE and peer feedback on cohesion and coherence in continuation writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 57, 100915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2022.100915
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2002). Research methods in education (5th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203029053
Cotton, F., & Wilson, K. (2011). An investigation of examiner rating of coherence and cohesion in the IELTS Academic Writing Task 2. IELTS research reports, (Vol.12, pp. 1-76). IELTS Australia and British Council. https://byvn.net/CzOj
Creswell, J. W. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.). SAGE. https://byvn.net/AMLK
Crossley, S. A., Kyle, K., & McNamara, D. S. (2016). The development and use of cohesive devices in L2 writing and their relations to judgments of essay quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 32, 1-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2016.01.003
Cumming, A. (1990). Expertise in evaluating second language compositions. Language Testing, 7(1), 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229000700104
Cumming, A., Kantor, R., & Powers, D. E. (2002). Decision making while rating ESL/EFL writing tasks: A descriptive framework. The Modern Language Journal, 86(1), 67-96. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00137
Erdosy, M. U. (2003). Exploring variability in judging writing ability in a second language: A study of four experienced raters of ESL compositions. ETS Research Report Series, 2003(1), i-62. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2333-8504.2003.tb01909.x
Ericsson, K. A. (2017). Protocol analysis. In W. Bechtel & G. Graham (Eds.), A companion to cognitive science (pp. 425-432). Wiley-Blackwell. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781405164535.ch33
Grabe, W., & Kaplan, R. B. (2014). Theory and practice of writing: An applied linguistic perspective. Routledge. https://byvn.net/7kDK
Green, C. F., Christopher, E. R., & Mei, J. L. K. (2000). The incidence and effects on coherence of marked themes in interlanguage texts: A corpus-based enquiry. English for Specific Purposes, 19(2), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(98)00014-3
Halliday, M., & Hasan, R. (2014). Cohesion in English. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315836010/cohesion-english-ruqaiya-hasan-halliday
Halliday, M. A., & Hasan, R. (1989). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford University Press. https://byvn.net/MvnU
Harris, M., & McCann, P. (1994). Handbooks for the English classroom assessment. Heinemann. https://byvn.net/INym
Hinkel, E. (2001). Matters of cohesion in L2 academic texts. Applied language learning, 12(2), 111-132. https://byvn.net/R3qa
Hoey, M. (2013). Textual interaction: An introduction to written discourse analysis. Routledge. https://byvn.net/7V1M
Hyland, K. (2009). Academic discourse:English in a global context. Continuum. https://byvn.net/qycq
Jacobs, H. L. (1981). Testing ESL composition: A practical approach. English composition program. Newbury House. https://archive.org/details/testingeslcompos0000unse/page/n1/mode/2up
Kang, J. Y. (2005). Written narratives as an index of L2 competence in Korean EFL learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14(4), 259-279. https://byvn.net/vdTv
Kern, R. (2000). Literacy and language teaching. Oxford University Press. https://byvn.net/Jf6s
Knoch, U. (2007). ‘Little coherence, considerable strain for reader’: A comparison between two rating scales for the assessment of coherence. Assessing writing, 12(2), 108-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2007.07.002
Lee, I. (2002). Teaching coherence to ESL students: A classroom inquiry. Journal of Second Language Writing, 11(2), 135-159. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1060374302000656
Lorenz, G. (1999). Learning to Cohere: Causal Links in Native vs. Non-Native Argumentative Writing. In W. Bublitz, U. Lenk & E. Ventola (Eds.), Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse: How to create it and how to describe it. Selected papers from the International Workshop on Coherence, Augsburg, 24-27 April 1997 (pp. 55-76). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/pbns.63.07lor/html
Lumley, T. (2002). Assessment criteria in a large-scale writing test: What do they really mean to the raters? Language Testing, 19(3), 246-276. https://doi.org/10.1191/0265532202lt230oa
Marefat, F., & Heydari, M. (2016). Native and Iranian teachers’ perceptions and evaluation of Iranian students’ English essays. Assessing writing, 27, 24-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2015.10.001
McCulley, G. A. (1985). Writing quality, coherence, and cohesion. Research in the Teaching of English, 19(3), 269-282. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40171050
McNamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & McCarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic features of writing quality. Written communication, 27(1), 57-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088309351547
McNamara, T. (2000). Language testing (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. https://byvn.net/FBt6
Neubert, A. (1992). Translation as text (1st ed.). The Kent State UP. https://byvn.net/L5LV
Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing Discourse Analysis (1st ed.). Penguin Books Ltd. https://archive.org/details/introducingdisco0000nuna
Oliveira, L. C. d., Aranha, S., & Zolin-Vesz, F. (2018). Foreign language writing assessment and Brazilian educational policies. In T. Ruecker & D. Crusan (eds), The Politics of English Second Language Writing Assessment in Global Contexts (pp. 34-46). Routledge. https://byvn.net/uYJv
Oshima, A. (2006). Writing academic English (4th ed.). Pearson Education. https://archive.org/details/writingacademice0000oshi_j9y4
Ruecker, T., & Crusan, D. (2018). The intersections of politics and second language writing assessment: What we know. In T. Ruecker & D. Crusan (eds), The politics of English second language writing assessment in global contexts (pp. 1-12). Routledge. https://byvn.net/y9Kp
Sanders, T. J., & Noordman, L. G. (2000). The role of coherence relations and their linguistic markers in text processing. Discourse processes, 29(1), 37-60. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326950dp2901_3
Shaw, P. (2009). Linking adverbials in student and professional writing in literary studies: What makes writing mature. In M. Charles, D. Pecorari, & S. Hunston (Eds.), Academic writing: At the interface of corpus and discourse (pp. 215-235). http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/8359/1/189%20pdf.pdf#page=228
Skoufaki, S. (2020). Rhetorical Structure Theory and coherence break identification. Text & Talk, 40(1), 99-124. https://repository.essex.ac.uk/25963/1/T%26T1589-Skoufaki-F%20%5BSS%5D.pdf
Sokolov, C. (2022). The Challenge of Assessing Content and Coherence. Vestnik za tuje jezike, 14(1), 275-292. https://doi.org/10.4312/vestnik.14.275-292
Struthers, L., Lapadat, J. C., & MacMillan, P. D. (2013). Assessing cohesion in children’s writing: Development of a checklist. Assessing writing, 18(3), 187-201. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1075293513000202
Ur, P. (2012). A course in English language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://fr.scribd.com/document/383711105/318346998-A-course-in-english-language-teaching-Penny-Ur-pdf-pdf
Youn-Hee, K. (2019). Developing and validating empirically-derived diagnostic descriptors in ESL academic writing. Journal of Asia TEFL, 16(3), 906-926. http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2019.16.3.9.906
Attali, Y. (2016). A comparison of newly-trained and experienced raters on a standardized writing assessment. Language Testing, 33(1), 99-115. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1177/0265532215582283
Bamberg, B. (1984). Assessing coherence: A reanalysis of essays written for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1969-1979. Research in the Teaching of English, 18(3), 305-319. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40171021
Basturkmen, H., & Von Randow, J. (2014). Guiding the reader (or not) to re-create coherence: Observations on postgraduate student writing in an academic argumentative writing task. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 16, 14-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2014.07.005
Bean, J. C., & Melzer, D. (2021). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. https://byvn.net/jhR1
Bitchener, J., & Basturkmen, H. (2006). Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L2 thesis students writing the discussion section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5(1), 4-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2005.10.002
Bublitz, W. (2011). Cohesion and coherence. In. J.Zienkowski, J.-O.Östman, & J.Verschueren (Eds.), Discursive pragmatics (Vol. 8, pp. 37-49). John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1075/hoph.8.03bub
Bublitz, W., Lenk, U., & Ventola, E. (1999). Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse: How to create it and how to describe it. Selected papers from the International Workshop on Coherence, Augsburg, 24-27 April 1997 (Vol. 63). John Benjamins Publishing. https://byvn.net/GmrG
Bustamante, A. P., & Yilmaz, S. (2020). Exploring the Essay Rating Judgements of English Instructors in the Middle East. In L. Makalela & R. Storch (Eds.), The Assessment of L2 Written English across the MENA Region: A Synthesis of Practice (pp. 113-141). Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53254-3_6
Chen, M., & Cui, Y. (2022). The effects of AWE and peer feedback on cohesion and coherence in continuation writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 57, 100915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2022.100915
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2002). Research methods in education (5th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203029053
Cotton, F., & Wilson, K. (2011). An investigation of examiner rating of coherence and cohesion in the IELTS Academic Writing Task 2. IELTS research reports, (Vol.12, pp. 1-76). IELTS Australia and British Council. https://byvn.net/CzOj
Creswell, J. W. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.). SAGE. https://byvn.net/AMLK
Crossley, S. A., Kyle, K., & McNamara, D. S. (2016). The development and use of cohesive devices in L2 writing and their relations to judgments of essay quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 32, 1-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2016.01.003
Cumming, A. (1990). Expertise in evaluating second language compositions. Language Testing, 7(1), 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229000700104
Cumming, A., Kantor, R., & Powers, D. E. (2002). Decision making while rating ESL/EFL writing tasks: A descriptive framework. The Modern Language Journal, 86(1), 67-96. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00137
Erdosy, M. U. (2003). Exploring variability in judging writing ability in a second language: A study of four experienced raters of ESL compositions. ETS Research Report Series, 2003(1), i-62. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2333-8504.2003.tb01909.x
Ericsson, K. A. (2017). Protocol analysis. In W. Bechtel & G. Graham (Eds.), A companion to cognitive science (pp. 425-432). Wiley-Blackwell. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781405164535.ch33
Grabe, W., & Kaplan, R. B. (2014). Theory and practice of writing: An applied linguistic perspective. Routledge. https://byvn.net/7kDK
Green, C. F., Christopher, E. R., & Mei, J. L. K. (2000). The incidence and effects on coherence of marked themes in interlanguage texts: A corpus-based enquiry. English for Specific Purposes, 19(2), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(98)00014-3
Halliday, M., & Hasan, R. (2014). Cohesion in English. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315836010/cohesion-english-ruqaiya-hasan-halliday
Halliday, M. A., & Hasan, R. (1989). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford University Press. https://byvn.net/MvnU
Harris, M., & McCann, P. (1994). Handbooks for the English classroom assessment. Heinemann. https://byvn.net/INym
Hinkel, E. (2001). Matters of cohesion in L2 academic texts. Applied language learning, 12(2), 111-132. https://byvn.net/R3qa
Hoey, M. (2013). Textual interaction: An introduction to written discourse analysis. Routledge. https://byvn.net/7V1M
Hyland, K. (2009). Academic discourse:English in a global context. Continuum. https://byvn.net/qycq
Jacobs, H. L. (1981). Testing ESL composition: A practical approach. English composition program. Newbury House. https://archive.org/details/testingeslcompos0000unse/page/n1/mode/2up
Kang, J. Y. (2005). Written narratives as an index of L2 competence in Korean EFL learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14(4), 259-279. https://byvn.net/vdTv
Kern, R. (2000). Literacy and language teaching. Oxford University Press. https://byvn.net/Jf6s
Knoch, U. (2007). ‘Little coherence, considerable strain for reader’: A comparison between two rating scales for the assessment of coherence. Assessing writing, 12(2), 108-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2007.07.002
Lee, I. (2002). Teaching coherence to ESL students: A classroom inquiry. Journal of Second Language Writing, 11(2), 135-159. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1060374302000656
Lorenz, G. (1999). Learning to Cohere: Causal Links in Native vs. Non-Native Argumentative Writing. In W. Bublitz, U. Lenk & E. Ventola (Eds.), Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse: How to create it and how to describe it. Selected papers from the International Workshop on Coherence, Augsburg, 24-27 April 1997 (pp. 55-76). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/pbns.63.07lor/html
Lumley, T. (2002). Assessment criteria in a large-scale writing test: What do they really mean to the raters? Language Testing, 19(3), 246-276. https://doi.org/10.1191/0265532202lt230oa
Marefat, F., & Heydari, M. (2016). Native and Iranian teachers’ perceptions and evaluation of Iranian students’ English essays. Assessing writing, 27, 24-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2015.10.001
McCulley, G. A. (1985). Writing quality, coherence, and cohesion. Research in the Teaching of English, 19(3), 269-282. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40171050
McNamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & McCarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic features of writing quality. Written communication, 27(1), 57-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088309351547
McNamara, T. (2000). Language testing (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. https://byvn.net/FBt6
Neubert, A. (1992). Translation as text (1st ed.). The Kent State UP. https://byvn.net/L5LV
Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing Discourse Analysis (1st ed.). Penguin Books Ltd. https://archive.org/details/introducingdisco0000nuna
Oliveira, L. C. d., Aranha, S., & Zolin-Vesz, F. (2018). Foreign language writing assessment and Brazilian educational policies. In T. Ruecker & D. Crusan (eds), The Politics of English Second Language Writing Assessment in Global Contexts (pp. 34-46). Routledge. https://byvn.net/uYJv
Oshima, A. (2006). Writing academic English (4th ed.). Pearson Education. https://archive.org/details/writingacademice0000oshi_j9y4
Ruecker, T., & Crusan, D. (2018). The intersections of politics and second language writing assessment: What we know. In T. Ruecker & D. Crusan (eds), The politics of English second language writing assessment in global contexts (pp. 1-12). Routledge. https://byvn.net/y9Kp
Sanders, T. J., & Noordman, L. G. (2000). The role of coherence relations and their linguistic markers in text processing. Discourse processes, 29(1), 37-60. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326950dp2901_3
Shaw, P. (2009). Linking adverbials in student and professional writing in literary studies: What makes writing mature. In M. Charles, D. Pecorari, & S. Hunston (Eds.), Academic writing: At the interface of corpus and discourse (pp. 215-235). http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/8359/1/189%20pdf.pdf#page=228
Skoufaki, S. (2020). Rhetorical Structure Theory and coherence break identification. Text & Talk, 40(1), 99-124. https://repository.essex.ac.uk/25963/1/T%26T1589-Skoufaki-F%20%5BSS%5D.pdf
Sokolov, C. (2022). The Challenge of Assessing Content and Coherence. Vestnik za tuje jezike, 14(1), 275-292. https://doi.org/10.4312/vestnik.14.275-292
Struthers, L., Lapadat, J. C., & MacMillan, P. D. (2013). Assessing cohesion in children’s writing: Development of a checklist. Assessing writing, 18(3), 187-201. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1075293513000202
Ur, P. (2012). A course in English language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://fr.scribd.com/document/383711105/318346998-A-course-in-english-language-teaching-Penny-Ur-pdf-pdf
Youn-Hee, K. (2019). Developing and validating empirically-derived diagnostic descriptors in ESL academic writing. Journal of Asia TEFL, 16(3), 906-926. http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2019.16.3.9.906