EEJ 10 (2) (2020) 208 - 213 English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej The Use of Cohesive Devices in English Education Journal Articles Written by Graduate Students of Universitas Negeri Semarang Faizah, Djoko Sutopo, Abdurrachman Faridi 1, Mts. Nahjatus Sholihin, Rembang, Indonesia 2. Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Article Info ________________ Article History: Recived 08 December 2019 Accepted 26 March 2020 Published 20 June 2020 ________________ Keywords: Cohesive devices, English education journal articles, graduate students of UNNES ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ This study was a discourse analysis aimed to investigate the use of cohesive devices in English education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The objectives of this study are to analyze cohesive devices in the article in order to explain the use of references in journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES, to analyze cohesive devices in the article in order to explain the use of substitutions in journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES, to analyze cohesive devices in the article in order to explain the use of ellipses in journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES, to analyze cohesive devices in the article in order to explain the use of conjunctions in journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES, to analyze cohesive devices in the article in order to explain the use of reiterations in journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES, to analyze cohesive devices in the article in order to explain the use of collocations in journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The objects of this research were English journal articles which are written by graduate students of UNNES. The 15 English education journal articles were analyzed using Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) theory. The results of this study showed that graduate students of UNNES used 6 types of cohesive devices, namely repetition, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, reiteration, and collocation. References were more frequently than the other cohesive devices. On the other hand, the undergraduate students of UNNES rarely used substitution and ellipsis to achieve their writing. © 2020 Universitas Negeri Semarang Correspondence Address: Unnes Bendan Ngisor Campus, Semarang, 50233 E-mail: fazafaizah99@gmail.com p-ISSN 2087-0108 e-ISSN 2502-4566 Faizah, Djoko Sutopo, Abdurrachman Faridi/ English Education Journal 10 (2) (2020) 208 - 213 209 INTRODUCTION Language is a tool of communication. It is divided into spoken and written. People can not only get information but also share or convey ideas through writing (Undayasari & Shaleh, 2018). Sometimes writers (students) get some difficulties when they write. Some studies indicated that students have problems and difficulties in organizing ideas and arguments cohesively and critically, using appropriate styles of writing, and expressing their thoughts clearly in using English (Gunawan & Aziza, 2017). Their writings are expected can be read and understood easily. A good writing not only restates the message or idea using sentences or expressions that are grammatically correct, but also has to organize idea or message in a form which is easy to understand (Pratiwi, Rukmini, & Faridi, 2017). To make the writings can be read and understood easily, we need to use cohesive devices correctly. One of the requirements to graduate from master’s degree in the university is submitting their journal article written in English. Many students got have difficulties when they develop their idea in writing. When they write, they deliver the message to the reader. A reader need to give clear enough information from the journal article. A journal article contains of some part including abstract until references. They are many paragraphs within the text. All paragraphs have a topic sentence and supporting sentences, and some paragraphs also have a concluding sentence (Oshima & Hogue, 2006, p. 2). It means that there is a correlation between a topic sentence and supporting sentence. The important elements of a good paragraph are unity and coherence. The unity of meanings of texts can be realized from cohesion, coherence, and thematic progression (Rahmawati, Rukmini, Sutopo, 2014). According to Oshima and Hogue (2006, p. 18) unity means that a paragraph discusses one and only one main idea from beginning to end. Oshima and Hogue (2006) also explained that the second part of unity is that every supporting sentence must directly explain or prove the main idea. The second element of a good paragraph is coherence. Oshima and Hogue (2006) stated that the Latin verb cohere means “hold together.” They also stated that for coherence in writing, the sentences must hold together, that is, the movement from one sentence to the next must be logical and smooth. There must be no sudden jumps. Each sentence should flow smoothly into the next one. According to Halliday and Hasan (1988, p. 84), “an important contribution to coherence comes from cohesion: set of linguistic resources that every language has (part of the textual metafunction) for linking one part of a text to another. In other words the text is coherent if the text uses cohesive devices correctly. To build the coherence of the text we need to use cohesive devices. To produce a cohesive text we need to use cohesive devices. There are 6 types of cohesive devices, namely reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, reiteration, and collocation. This study was a discourse analysis aimed to investigate the use of cohesive devices in English education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The objects of this research were English journal articles which are written by graduate students of UNNES. The 15 English education journal articles were analyzed using Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) theory. Based on the background of the study above, this study attempts to address the following research problems: 1. How are references used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of Unnes? 2. How are substitutions used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of Unnes? 3. How are ellipses used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of Unnes? 4. How are conjunctions used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of Unnes? Faizah, Djoko Sutopo, Abdurrachman Faridi/ English Education Journal 10 (2) (2020) 208 - 213 210 5. How are reiterations used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of Unnes? 6. How is collocation used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of Unnes? The objectives of the study are to analyze cohesive devices in article in order to explain the use of references in journal articles written by graduate students of Unnes, to analyze cohesive devices in article in order to explain the use of substitutions in journal articles written by graduate students of Unnes, to analyze cohesive devices in article in order to explain the use of ellipses in journal articles written by graduate students of Unnes, are to analyze cohesive devices in article in order to explain the use of conjunctions in journal articles written by graduate students of Unnes, to analyze cohesive devices in article in order to explain the use of reiterations in journal articles written by graduate students of Unnes, to analyze cohesive devices in article in order to explain the use of collocation in journal articles written by graduate students of Unnes. METHODS The design of this research is qualitative research. The objects of this study are 15 journal articles which are written by graduate students of UNNES. The source of the journal articles was http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej. The unit of analysis in this research is the sentence of English education journal article. In collecting the data, the researcher did some steps. Those were downloading the English education journal articles from internet, identifying cohesive devices starting from references, substitutions, ellipses, conjunctions, reiterations, and collocation. The steps in analyzing the data were gathering the data from English education journal article, reading several time those articles,breaking up those article into sentences, categorizing those sentences based on the cohesive devices. In categorizing cohesive devices, the researcher used the table of cohesion check lists which adapted from Halliday and Hasan (1976). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION References The first research question is this research is how are references used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of UNNES. References contribute in making a cohesive text. The graduate student used references appropriately. They used personal references, demonstrative references, and comparative references. Here are some examples of references: Example 1 personal reference The first group was the first experimental group in which it was taught by close reading instruction and the other one was the second experimental group taught by explicit reading instruction.(Article 1) From sentence above, it can be seen that the writer tried to make a cohesive text by using the personal reference. The word it is the personal reference because the word it belongs to the personal pronoun that refers to “the first experimental group”. Example 2 Demonstrative reference This study was a quasi-experimental study aimed to find out the effectiveness of close reading and explicit reading instructions to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation. (Article 1) From the sentence above, it can be seen that the writer tried to make a cohesive text by using a demonstrative reference such as this study, the effectiveness, and the students’ reading comprehension. The word this study is a demonstrative reference because the refers to what the writer does. The word the effectiveness of close reading and explicit reading instruction and the students’ reading comprehension are demonstrative references because the belongs to the demonstrative reference. Example 3 Comparative reference The first group was the first experimental group in which it was taught by close reading instruction and the other one was the second experimental group taught by explicit reading instruction. http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej Faizah, Djoko Sutopo, Abdurrachman Faridi/ English Education Journal 10 (2) (2020) 208 - 213 211 From the sentence above, it can be seen that the other one is comparative reference because the other one compared with the first group. Those compared two things, first the first group as the first experimental group and the second group as the second experimental group. Substitutions The second research question is this research is how are substitutions used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The findings indicated that the undergraduate students of UNNES used nominal substitutions and clausal substitution. Below is an example of nominal substitution: The first group was the first experimental group in which it was taught by close reading instruction and the other one was the second experimental group taught by explicit reading instruction.(article 1) The word one in the sentence above indicated that the word one took the place of the word the experimental group. It is the evidence that the writer used a substitution in order to make a cohesive text. Below is an example of clausal substitution: Efficient reading consists of clearly identifying the purpose in reading something. By doing so, students know what they are reading and looking for and able to leave out the potential distracting information in the text. (Article 2). There was a substitution in the example above. It was so that belongs to clausal substitutions. It was shown in the second sentence as well. The word so is actually functioned to replace the whole clause of the previous sentence. It should be “By doing efficient reading consists of clearly identifying the purpose in reading something, students know what they are reading and looking for and able to leave out the potential distracting information in the text. Ellipses The third research question is this research is how are ellipses used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The findings revealed that the undergraduate students used one type of Ellipsis, namely nominal ellipsis. The examples below illustrate the use of ellipsis as a cohesive device in English journal article: Then, the next consisted of re- reading activity, identifying the author’s affirmation, provide supporting detail to the author’s affirmation, analyzing the connection of the author’s affirmation, and discussion. The use of ellipsis in the example above is realized. The writer of the journal article omitted a noun. The possible interpretation of the complete sentence may be interpreted as Then, the next of reading activities as the second procedures consisted of re-reading activity were identifying the uthor’s affirmation, provide supporting detail to the author’s affirmation, analyzing the connection of th author’s affirmation, and discussion. Conjunctions The fourth one is this research is how are conjunctions used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The findings showed that the undergraduate students used 4 types of reference. They are additive conjunction, adversative conjunction, clausal conjunction, and temporal conjunction. Here are the examples of conjunction: Example of additive conjunction The Effectiveness of Close and Explicit Reading Instructions to Enhance Reading Comprehension to Highy and Lowly Motivated Students. (Article 1) The conjunctive used in example above is an additive conjunction. The conjunctive and connects the phrase “the Effectiveness of Close and the Effectiveness of Explicit Reading Instruction Reading comprehension to Highly motivated student and Lowly motivated students. The conjunctive and connects two linguistic units that are grammatically equal or similar. Example of adversative conjunction In 2013, Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture mandated a 2013 Curriculum as the extension of Unit Level of Education-Based Curriculum. However, in 2013 Curriculum, there Faizah, Djoko Sutopo, Abdurrachman Faridi/ English Education Journal 10 (2) (2020) 208 - 213 212 are some reductions for time allocation for certain subjects; one of them is English subject. (Article 1) To show a sentence that contradicts or contras with the previous start, the writer used however. However was categorized as adversative conjunction. This would make the connections between the sentences sound more cohesive. Example of causal conjunction explicit reading instruction was also not effective to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation. Therefore, there was no interaction among teaching techniques (close and explicit reading instructions), motivation (students with high and low motivation), and reading comprehension. (Article 1) There was a causal conjunction therefore. The student used it in order to create a logical consequence between sentences. The causal conjunction above had a function perfectly well as a conjunction so and separating it with comma instead of a semicolon is acceptable. Example of temporal conjunction Previously, the last change of the curriculum was in 2006.(Article 1) In this case, the student used temporal conjunction previously. The word previously indicated anything that happened before. Reiterations The fifth one is this research is how are reiterations used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The findings indicated that the undergraduate students of UNNES used 3 types of reiteration, namely repetition, synonym, and general word. Here are some examples of reiterations: Example of repetition This study was a quasi-experimental study aimed to find out the effectiveness of close reading and explicit reading instructions to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation. (Article 1) The use of reiteration in example above was realized by repetition. The effectiveness of close reading and explicit reading instructions to enhance the students’ reading comprehension to students with high and low motivation is repetition that related to the title of English journal article 1. Example of synonym (1) The first is that the late preparation of English can be a weakness for the students to deal with the job opportunities in global economic era. (Article 1) (2) The second is related to the career world. When the students are not well-prepared of English, their career opportunities can be slower than the persons who acquire English well. (Article 1) The example (1 & 2) showed that the student used synonym. The word job showed the same meaning with career. Those two synonyms above had in important role in the text because they not only created cohesion but also decorated the text to make it more entertaining. Example of general word For the purpose of this study, there were only two classes selected to be the samples. (Article 1) From example above, it was showed that the student used a general word. The word two classes was a general word because there is no a specific information. Collocations The last one is this research is how are collocations used in English Education journals articles written by graduate students of UNNES. The findings showed that the students used collocation in order to produce a cohesive text. Below is the example of collocation: The samples of this research were the second semester students of Islamic Business and Economics Faculty at Public Islamic Institute of Purwokerto in the academic year of 2016/2017. (Article 1) The example above showed that the student used collocation. The word the samples of this research is a strong collocation with the word research. Furthermore, the result of this present study confirms to the previous studies (Adiantika, 2015; Emelia et al, 2018; Amperawati, 2019). CONCLUSION Based on the findings and discussion, this study has six conclusions related to the research Faizah, Djoko Sutopo, Abdurrachman Faridi/ English Education Journal 10 (2) (2020) 208 - 213 213 question. The first research question deals with how are reference used in English Education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. It is found that 3 types of references are used by undergraduate students of UNNES. The second research question deals with how are substitutions used in English Education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. It is found that 2 types of substitution are used by undergraduate students of UNNES. They are nominal substitution and clausal substitutions. They did not use verbal substitution. The third research question deals with how are ellpises used in English Education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. It is found that 1 type of substitution is used by undergraduate students of UNNES. It is nominal ellipsis. They did not use verbal ellipsis and clausal ellipsis. The fourth research question deals with how are conjunctions used in English Education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. It is found that 4 types of conjunction are used by undergraduate students of UNNES. They are additive conjunction, adversative conjunction, causal conjunction, and temporal conjunction. The fifth research question deals with how are reiteration used in English Education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. It is found that 3 types of substitution are used by undergraduate students of UNNES. They are repetition, synonym, and general word. The sixth research question deals with how are collocations used in English Education journal articles written by graduate students of UNNES. It is found that undergraduate students of UNNES used collocations appropriately. REFERENCES Adiantika, H. N. (2015). Cohesive devices in EFL students’ expository writing. English Review: Journal of English Education, 4(1), 94-102. Retrieved from https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/E RJEE/article/view/316 Amperawaty, A. & Warsono. (2019). The use of cohesive devices to achieve coherence in the background section of the students’ formal writing. English Education Journal, 9(1), 34-40. Emilia, E., Habibi, N., & Bangga, L.A. (2018). An analysis of cohesion of exposition texts: an Indonesian context. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(3), 515- 523. Gunawan, W. & Aziza, F. Theme and thematic progression of undergraduate thesis: investigating meaning making in academic writing. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(2), 413-424. Halliday, M. A. K & Hassan. R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman Oshima, A. & Hogue, A. (2006). Writing Academic English.California: Addison Wesley Publishing Company Pratiwi, Y. E., Rukimi, D, & Faridi, A. The linguistic problems of students’ competence in writing business letters. Language circle: Journal of Language and Literature, 11(2), 117-126 Retrieved from: https://journal.unnes.ac.id Rahmawati, A. Rukmini, D. & Sutopo, D. (2014). The unity of meanings in the vocational high school english textbook. English Education Journal, (4) 2, 106-113 Undayasari, D. & Shaleh, M. (2018). Comparison of thematic structure and progression between English and Indonesian exposition texts written by undergraduate students of UPI (rhetorical study). English Education Journal (EEJ), 8(1), 43-50. https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE/article/view/316 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE/article/view/316 https://journal.unnes.ac.id/