Cohesion and coherence are two very important aspects of teaching writing. Halliday & Hasan, (1976) stated "Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another." (cited in xi, 2010:139)
Cohesive ties are categorized by Halliday and Hassan (1976) into: reference, substitution, ellipsis, lexical cohesion, and conjunctions. Those are defined as functional relations that "serve to elaborate, extend, or enhance a previous segment of text" (Halliday, 2004).
Research has shown that Arabic texts rely heavily on conjunctions to maintain cohesion (Baker, 2001). Research has also shown that AFL learners face difficulties in using conjunctions (Al Batal, 1990). This has made it necessary to develop innovative means of making conjunctions accessible to learners during text production, and provide them with some guidance regarding their usage.
In an attempt to address the above mentioned factors, this panel presents a software developed to include connectors categorized according to text plans, functions, and students' proficiency levels. It also includes usage tips, activities, and text excerpts to serve as examples of usage.
The panel includes four papers whose goal is addressing issues pertaining to teaching writing in AFL classes, and to the suggested writing software.
The first paper entitled: "From Punctuations to Conjunctions" addresses the duality of functions played by Arabic conjunctions and the resulting overlap with English punctuations. The paper highlights the need to make AFL learners aware of the overlap and the accompanying over-reliance on punctuation. A fact that minimizes the positive effect of making cojunctions accessible through a software.
The second paper entitled " Conjunctions: Usage and Frequency " uses a body of opinion articles to study the frequency of various types of conjunctions in text plans. Results help in providing conjunctions to be incorporated in the writing software. They also help teachers and curriculum developers categorize conjunctions in terms of semantic value, functions, and text plans.
The third paper entitled " Learners' Attitudes towards a Writing Software" will study learners' attitudes towards using a writing software that makes conjunctions available during text production. The study, also looks into software's effect on learners' motivation and anxiety accompanying text production.
The fourth paper "Using Appropriate Conjunctions Appropriately" aims at analyzing learners' errors when using conjunctions and categorizing them. Results of this paper help in highlighting difficulties faced by learners when using conjunctions. In addition to adding tips for appropriate usage of conjunctions and practice activities.
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Dr. Raghda El-Essawi
One of the main features that distinguish Arabic from English texts is the heavy reliance of the former on a complex system of conjunctions in maintaining textual cohesion (Baker, 2001). In fact Arabic conjunctions like wa, thuma, and fa, play types of functions that are carried out by English punctuation (Dendenne, 2010). However, as Gass and Selinker (2001) point out "a prototypical speaker of English brings to a language-learning situation the belief that all languages use commas, periods, … and so forth, in the same way as they use it in English" (p.128). According to Kellerman (1979), regarding punctuation as language-neutral (i.e. used similarly across languages) makes their function transferable to L2; this would lead to learners' continued reliance on "punctuation in signaling relations between chunks of information" as suggested by their L1 (Baker, 2001:193). It is assumed that failing to highlight overlap between Arabic conjunctions and English punctuation would lead to the persistence of mentioned problem. This in turn would lead to reducing expected positive effect of software making conjunctions accessible, since learners are not aware of their need to use conjunctions.
In an attempt to look into the validity of the mentioned assumptions a study was constructed to answer the following:
- Do learners show signs of continued reliance on punctuation in maintaining textual cohesion despite direct instruction in usage of conjunctions?
- How is this reliance affected by learners' level of proficiency?
- Will activities geared towards highlighting the duality of functions played by Arabic conjunctions increase learners' sensitivity towards where conjunctions should be used in Arabic texts?
In order to answer the above questions twenty learners categorized as intermediate and advanced, are asked to evaluate short excerpts of texts as Arabic-like or non-Arabic like regarding their usage of conjunctions and punctuation. Learners are also encouraged to introduce changes if necessary to make texts more Arabic-like. Texts presented are structured to display almost total dependence on punctuation (like English) in relating information. By repeatedly carrying out such activities and receiving feedback, learners will show a higher level of sensitivity towards points in text where conjunctions should be used to maintain cohesion.
Results of this study are important to all AFL writing teachers since they explain learners' continued reliance on punctuation despite time spent teaching conjunctions. It also increases expected positive effect of making conjunctions accessible to learners who are ready to put them to use.
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Dr. Raghda El-Essawi
One of the main features that distinguish Arabic from English texts is the heavy reliance of the former on a complex system of conjunctions in maintaining textual cohesion (Baker, 2001). In fact Arabic conjunctions like wa, thuma, and fa, play types of functions that are carried out by English punctuation (Dendenne, 2010). However, as Gass and Selinker (2001) point out "a prototypical speaker of English brings to a language-learning situation the belief that all languages use commas, periods, … and so forth, in the same way as they use it in English" (p.128). According to Kellerman (1979), regarding punctuation as language-neutral (i.e. used similarly across languages) makes their function transferable to L2; this would lead to learners' continued reliance on "punctuation in signaling relations between chunks of information" as suggested by their L1 (Baker, 2001:193). It is assumed that failing to highlight overlap between Arabic conjunctions and English punctuation would lead to the persistence of mentioned problem. This in turn would lead to reducing expected positive effect of software making conjunctions accessible, since learners are not aware of their need to use conjunctions.
In an attempt to look into the validity of the mentioned assumptions a study was constructed to answer the following:
- Do learners show signs of continued reliance on punctuation in maintaining textual cohesion despite direct instruction in usage of conjunctions?
- How is this reliance affected by learners' level of proficiency?
- Will activities geared towards highlighting the duality of functions played by Arabic conjunctions increase learners' sensitivity towards where conjunctions should be used in Arabic texts?
In order to answer the above questions twenty learners categorized as intermediate and advanced, are asked to evaluate short excerpts of texts as Arabic-like or non-Arabic like regarding their usage of conjunctions and punctuation. Learners are also encouraged to introduce changes if necessary to make texts more Arabic-like. Texts presented are structured to display almost total dependence on punctuation (like English) in relating information. By repeatedly carrying out such activities and receiving feedback, learners will show a higher level of sensitivity towards points in text where conjunctions should be used to maintain cohesion.
Results of this study are important to all AFL writing teachers since they explain learners' continued reliance on punctuation despite time spent teaching conjunctions. It also increases expected positive effect of making conjunctions accessible to learners who are ready to put them to use.
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Dr. Raghda El-Essawi
One of the main features that distinguish Arabic from English texts is the heavy reliance of the former on a complex system of conjunctions in maintaining textual cohesion (Baker, 2001). In fact Arabic conjunctions like wa, thuma, and fa, play types of functions that are carried out by English punctuation (Dendenne, 2010). However, as Gass and Selinker (2001) point out "a prototypical speaker of English brings to a language-learning situation the belief that all languages use commas, periods, … and so forth, in the same way as they use it in English" (p.128). According to Kellerman (1979), regarding punctuation as language-neutral (i.e. used similarly across languages) makes their function transferable to L2; this would lead to learners' continued reliance on "punctuation in signaling relations between chunks of information" as suggested by their L1 (Baker, 2001:193). It is assumed that failing to highlight overlap between Arabic conjunctions and English punctuation would lead to the persistence of mentioned problem. This in turn would lead to reducing expected positive effect of software making conjunctions accessible, since learners are not aware of their need to use conjunctions.
In an attempt to look into the validity of the mentioned assumptions a study was constructed to answer the following:
- Do learners show signs of continued reliance on punctuation in maintaining textual cohesion despite direct instruction in usage of conjunctions?
- How is this reliance affected by learners' level of proficiency?
- Will activities geared towards highlighting the duality of functions played by Arabic conjunctions increase learners' sensitivity towards where conjunctions should be used in Arabic texts?
In order to answer the above questions twenty learners categorized as intermediate and advanced, are asked to evaluate short excerpts of texts as Arabic-like or non-Arabic like regarding their usage of conjunctions and punctuation. Learners are also encouraged to introduce changes if necessary to make texts more Arabic-like. Texts presented are structured to display almost total dependence on punctuation (like English) in relating information. By repeatedly carrying out such activities and receiving feedback, learners will show a higher level of sensitivity towards points in text where conjunctions should be used to maintain cohesion.
Results of this study are important to all AFL writing teachers since they explain learners' continued reliance on punctuation despite time spent teaching conjunctions. It also increases expected positive effect of making conjunctions accessible to learners who are ready to put them to use.
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Ms. Azza Hassanien
ABSTRACT
Using Appropriate Connectors Appropriately
When compared to many other languages, written Arabic is characterized by the frequent use of connecting devices that indicate linking or transitional relationships between different units of discourse. These devices are words or phrases that come from different grammatical classes. They are referred to as connectors, conjunctions, pragmatic particles, or discourse markers. The main function of these elements is to serve the cohesion of written texts; hence guide the readers’ interpretation of this text (Al-Battal, 1994; Ryding , 2005; Al-Kohlani, 2010). Moreover, written Arabic depend on a number of connecting devises that function as punctuation marks do in other languages, like English. They don’t add to the semantic content; rather, they sometimes have grammatical functions. (Holes, 1984; Versteegh, 2008; and Baker, 2001).
In the field of teaching foreign languages, written productions of non-natives indicated remarkable discrepancies compared to that of natives. Cohesive devices were found to be one of the main sources of these discrepancies. It is claimed that error analysis can provide valuable rationale for pedagogical design (Lorenz, 1999; Yu, 2004).
From the researcher’s experience in teaching Arabic as a foreign language (AFL), the usage of connectors poses great difficulties for an AFL learner to deal with. Learners inappropriately use connectors and/or inadequately distribute them in the context; hence, their written production came to be unintelligible by their text readers.
The aim of the current work was to find out the types of errors that AFL learners make in the use of connectors. It also aimed to find out the reasons that cause these errors to appear. A total of fifty Intermediate level students’ compositions were randomly chosen. A corpus of students’ writings was collected, analyzed and an inventory of errors in the target structures was made. The analysis of this inventory revealed that all students tend to use connectors inaccurately, use inappropriate connectors, and/or they don’t use connectors at all when it is inevitable by natives, particularly when connectors function as punctuation marks.
The findings suggest some techniques for teachers and for curriculum designers to help AFL learners using connectors in a native like model; hence, render their writings acceptable by native readers. They will also serve to overcome difficulties that learners face when using connectives, thus make possible the addition of tips in the in-house software being developed by members of the panel, as well as developing activities that address such issue.
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Miss. Shaaema Essa
The most beautiful ideas which are expressed in the most convincing ways will have no effect on the readers unless those ideas are properly connected. Therefore, conjunctions which plays an essential rule in the connectedness of a written text are of a considerable importance in enhancing the cohesion and coherence of those texts.
This paper is the first step in a project that aims at designing a software which would help Arabic language learners (ALL) effectively use conjunctions to enhance their writings.
The paper reports results reached regarding:
1- conjunctions most frequently used in the five types of text plans identified by Myer and Rice (1982); namely collection (sequencing), causation (cause / effect), response (problem/ solution), comparison (compare and contrast) and description,
2- the semantic value and functions of detected conjunctions in an attempt to get a deeper understanding of the role they play in various text plans, and
3- the most frequently used text plans in opinion articles.
The conjunctions under investigations were detected in 30 opinion articles in a famous public Egyptian newspaper, namely Al- Ahram. Opinion articles were specifically chosen since they display a variety of text plans. The detected conjunctions are categorized according to their usage-frequency under each of the above mentioned text plans. Text excerpts are also presented in the paper to demonstrate usage and semantic value of the detected conjunctions.
The paper looks into the detected conjunctions as discourse connectives (e.g but, moreover, therefore, so, etc) and not as grammatical devises. Results reached by this paper will be used as data forming the content of the software. Results will also contribute to a deeper understanding of the usage and frequency of the presented conjunctions under each of the above mentioned organizational text plans. Information such as this will be beneficial to teachers who want to introduce conjunctions as useful discourse connectives to be used by their students within specific writing organizational plan. It will also help curriculum developers categorize conjunctions in terms of semantic value, functions, and text plans rather than as grammatical devices.
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Miss. Rasha Essam
Learners' Attitudes towards a Writing Software
Cohesive ties between sentences are considered an indicator of how we understand messages in texts (Abushihab, 2008, 2010; Halliday & Hasan, 1976, p. 4, as cited in Xi, 2010). Hence, the awareness of lexical cohesion is expected to support L2 learners in relating ideas in a meaningful way while writing. Thinking of an innovative way to bring such awareness to AFL students became an urge. Computer Aided Language Learning proved to be of great importance to foreign language learners when based on pedagogical backgrounds (Essam, 2010; Khan, 2001). Many researchers indicated that writing can be enhanced through CALL (Chapelle, Spencer, and Louw 2008), while others found that some students might have negative attitude towards using it in writing (Yoon and Hirvela, 2004). Accordingly, it has become necessary to look into AFL students’ attitude towards using software as a tool in language writing. A study was therefore constructed to look into learners’ attitudes towards using in-house software for supporting successful usage of connectors.
In light of the above, the three main questions tackled in this paper are:
1- What is AFL students’ attitude toward the in-house Writing software?
2- Did the software increase students’ motivation towards writing production?
3- Did the software reduce students’ anxiety during text production?
In order to answer the aforementioned questions, a random sample of 30 AFL students learning Arabic in the AUC used the software in their writing tasks. Students’ attitude, motivation, and anxiety regarding the software were elicited using both questionnaire and open ended questions.
