A Comparison of Internal Conjunctive Cohesion in the English Essay Writing of Cantonese Speakers and Native Speakers of English

Abstract

A comparative analysis is made of organizational cohesive devices in the English essays of Form 6 writers from a native speaker group and three groups of Cantonese speakers. The analysis is based on the work of Halliday and Hasan (1976) on cohesive conjunction and determines differences in the use of internal conjunctive cohe sion between native and ESL writers. Results show that Cantonese writers use a significantly higher frequency of devices in their English writing than their native speaker counterparts. There are also differ ing patterns in the positioning of devices and the choice of particular devices to express the same conjunctive relation. Some difference is found between ESL groups in these patterns. The findings are dis cussed in terms of the developmental level of the writers, the acquired behaviour of second language learning from teachers and textbooks and the transfer of writing habits and linguistic patterns from the first language.