Englisia MAY 2014 VOL. 1 NO.2, 281-296 COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH  EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS  Cut Irna Liyana Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh ABSTRACT This study is entitled Cohesion and Coherence in English Education Students’ Thesis. The aim of this study is to describe the cohesion and coherence as wholeness aspect of discourse in English Education students’ thesis. This study is a qualitative research. The data sources in this study are the thesis of three students that were obtained by purposive sampling. Furthermore, analysis of the data was done by identifying and classifying the data that related to cohesion, based on the theory of Halliday and Hasan (1976), and related to coherence, based on the theory of Oshima and Hogue (1991). From analysis, it was found four things related to cohesion and co- herence. First, the use of grammatical cohesion devices in thesis, which consists of reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction; and the use of lexical cohesion de- vices, which consists of reiteration and collocation, was used in thesis. Second, the violence of cohesion device was found in grammatical devices, such as reference and conjunctions. Third, the use of coherence devices, which consists of key nouns repetition, use of pronouns, transition signal, and logical order of chronology was found in students’ thesis. Fourth, the cause of the error coherence of thesis consists of keyword repetition errors, inconsistent pronouns, inappropriate transition signal, grammatical errors, and inappropriate punctuation. Keywords: Discourse Analysis, Cohesion, Coherence, Thesis. INTRODUCTION ‘Discourse’ is introduced by linguists in Indonesia as a translation of the Eng- lish term discourse. Kridalaksana (2008: 259) defines discourse as 'the most com- plete set of language, the grammatical hierarchy is the highest or greatest grammatical unit'. This discourse is realized in the form of the whole essay (novels, COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 282 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 books, encyclopedia series, and so on), paragraphs, sentences, or words that carry complete message. Based on media delivery, discourse is divided into two types, namely oral dis- course and written discourse. Oral discourse is the kind of discourse that delivered orally or directly with verbal language whereas written discourse is the kind of dis- course that presented in writing. In this study, the writer focused only on written dis- course. One of written discourse which must be generated by all students is the the- sis. Similarly, English Education that produces teachers who are competent in their field requires students to write a thesis as the final project. Thesis consists of several sections or paragraphs that must have coherence and the meaning that linkage for- mation paragraphs in it can be structured. As a complete and whole discourse, the thesis should contain aspects of integrated and fused, which are cohesion and co- herence. To create a discourse, it is required the ability to understand and use the right cohesion and coherence. If not, the information to be conveyed through the thesis would be obvious to the reader. However, not all of thesis produced by students containing a good cohesion. There are also sentences that are not cohesive in a student thesis. This is a serious concern, because the thesis is a scientific paper which requires the application of the rules of language and compliance aspects of the language as a condition of a good scientific writing and can be understood by the reader. Based on that, there are two issues that will be the focus of this study. The two problems are the cohesion and coherence in student thesis, either its use or er- rors in its use. To answer these problems, data collection in the form of three stu- dents’ thesis were taken purposively; with the goal of finding are the use and misuse of cohesion and coherence. Then, the identification and classification of data on cohesion based on the theory of Halliday and Hasan (1976) and data on coherence based on the theory of Oshima and Hogue (1991) and noted some errors that oc- cur on the cohesion and coherence are found in the thesis. Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 283 Cohesion in English Education Students’ Thesis The Types of Cohesive Devices Used in the Students’ Thesis Halliday-Hasan (1976, p. 9) distinguishes two types of cohesion; they are grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion can be classi- fied into several categories, including; reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunc- tions. Meanwhile, lexical cohesion is classified into two categories, namely reiteration and collocation. In this study, it was found that all categories of cohesion markers are used by the author of the thesis. The following is an example of the use of tools such cohesion. Reference Reference that use to do the foregoing, called anaphora, or the next will be called, who called cataphora. Reference is divided into three types, namely personal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference. The following are examples of personal reference, comparative reference and demonstrative refer- ence. Data 1 (1) In SMK N I Kasihan Bantul, there are three English teachers. (2) They teach English according to their skill that was handled because every teacher handled different skill. (S1/C4/07/1-2) These data demonstrate with reference to the third person plural pronoun that serves as the subject of the sentence (2) to the data. On the data above, there is a sentence (1) before pronouns ‘they’ is used. This pronoun ‘they’ refer to the plural. In this case, it can be seen that ‘they’ refer to 'English language teachers' in the pre- vious sentence, then the appointment made is called anaphora references. Data 2 The teacher can use English in teaching and this way can moti- vate the students to learn English (S1/C1/15/02) On the data above, demonstrative pronouns used is ‘this’, which serves as a modifier to the head 'way'. This refers to the data that way at the beginning of a sen- tence to explain the use of English in teaching (use English in teaching). Data 3 Like another language, English is also as a means of communica- tion. COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 284 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 Comparative reference to the data 3 is another. Another said 'the other' in the sentence, showing the difference and this word is an exophora (which refers outside the text). So, the word 'another' then interpreted as anything else other than what is mentioned. In this case, it means the language other than English. Substitution Substitution is replacement tool to build the cohesion with a word or sentence that is used in the text that refers to the same thing. In English, Halliday-Hasan (1976:88) state this replacement involves replacing the word class noun (nominal substitution), the replacement of the word class of verbs (verbal substitution), as well as the replacement of clause (a substitution clause). However, in this study only found the use of other forms of reimbursement on the word class noun or nominal substitution. The following will be presented the data found in a student thesis. Data 4 A teacher should know that teaching English involves several things, for example, the objectives of teaching, the materials, the methods of teaching, and the most important one, the condition of the students. (S3/C1/08/01) On data 4, ‘one’ which is word substitute for a single numbered object serves as a substitute for the things that have been mentioned earlier at the beginning of that sentence is 'the most important one' in the sentence is the most important thing or the most important thing. Ellipsis Ellipsis is the omission of a word or part of a sentence. Ellipsis consists of nominal ellipsis, verbal, and clauses. This study found the three types of ellipsis, which will be described below in sequence. Data 5 A more specialized definition might read as follows : learning is relatively permanent change in a behavior tendency and is the result of reinforced practice. (S1/C2/03/02) Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 285 On data 5, there is a sentence ‘A more specialized definition might read as follows: learning is relatively permanent change in a behavioral tendency’ at the be- ginning of the sentence. Then, the addition of explanations 'learning' which is char- acterized by the presence of ‘and’ and proceed with the next clause 'is the result of reinforced practice'. The word 'learning' that should be the subject of the second clause has omitted. Ellipsis is formed ties of cohesion in the sentence. Although an element of the noun ‘learning’ is omitted, readers know that the purpose of the sub- sequent explanation is an explanation of the word 'learning'. Data 6 In the teaching and learning process, a medium of instructions is needed for students to understand the information or materials given by the teachers. On these data, there is a grammatical cohesion devices are characterized by the occurrence of ellipsis. This can be proven with the data that has occurred the omitted of element in the sentence. After the use of the word 'or', it should be fol- lowed by a verb (to understand) that has been mentioned previously, but the verb is omitted. Actually, the full word of data above is 'in the teaching and learning pro- cess, a medium of instructions is needed for students to understand the information or (to understand) materials given by the teachers'. Because the element that has omitted in the data is the verb form, this type is called an ellipsis verbal. Data 7 In the educational context, English is used as the tools of communication to access the information and on the daily context, as the tools of making the interpersonal relationship, changing the information each other and take the benefit from the esthetics of English language and culture. (S1/C1/02/03) The data that consists of a single sentence at the beginning of sentences ex- plain the use of English in the context of education and further explain the use of English in everyday contexts. In explanation of the use of English in everyday con- texts, there is the omitted clause. This can be seen in sentences ‘on the daily context, as the tools of making the interpersonal relationship ... '. Between 'on the daily con- text' and 'as the tools ...', there are omitted clause that mentioned in the beginning of the sentence ('In the educational context, English is used as the tools of communica- COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 286 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 tion to access the information ...'), the clause is ' English is used '. Although the clause is omitted, the reader still understands the missing piece. Conjunction In this study, there are four types of conjunctions based on Halliday and Ha- san (1976: 241), which are additive, temporal, adversative, and clauses. This fol- lows from the data presented in succession. Data 8 The teacher give information (materials) to students and they receive the information as knowledge. (S1/C1/11/02) Conjunctions and on the data 8 is the simplest additive conjunctions, which serves to add an idea. Conjunctions and the data serves to connect the two clauses are coordinated in a single sentence that is the clause "The teacher give information (materials) to students' with clause 'they receive the information as knowledge'. The second clause is grammatically two coordinate clauses are not tied to each other. Data 9 As usual, the teachers opened the class by greeting the students first then checking the students’ attendance. Then, the teachers were reviewing the last meeting’s materials and correcting the students’ task or homework before conveying the materials to students. (S1/C4/08/03) The use of the word 'then' as a form of temporal conjunctions is the simplest temporal conjunctions. Time relationship is shown by the use of conjunctions in the data 9 is one event occurred after another event. Data 10 If the teachers used English continuosly sometimes the students complained so the teachers combined English and Indonesian, but they always tried to speak English in teaching and learning process. (S1/C4/09/03) The use of the conjunction 'but' in the data 10, showed significance in the form of a simple opposition between the coordinative first clause "If the teachers used English continuosly sometimes the students complained so the combined Eng- lish and Indonesian teachers" and the next clause, "they always tried to speak English in teaching and learning process ". Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 287 Data 11 This study is very important to be discussed because it gives a lot of information about English as a medium of instruction in teaching learning process especially for English teachers. (S1/C1/10/01) The cohesive relationships in the data 11 can be achieved with the use of conjunctions 'because' that connects the first clause 'This study is very important to be Discussed' with the second clause 'it gives a lot of information about English as a medium of instruction in teaching learning process especially for English teachers'. If it is associated with the data, the thesis writer uses the conjunction clause 'Because' is to add annotations to indicate that 'this is the reason why this research is important to be discussed' in the second clause. Lexical Cohesive Devices The next cohesion devices stated by Halliday-Hasan (1976-274) is lexical cohesion that consists of two types, namely reiteration and collocation. Reiteration is the repetition of words in the repetition, synonyms and super ordinate. While collo- cation is the use of a set of words that have meaning within the same affinity. The following will be presented one by one. Data 12 The teachers need a medium of instruction to convey the materials to the students. By using medium of instruction, the students are able to understand the materials conveyed by the teacher easily. (S1/C1/11/4-5) On data 12, there is a marker in the form of lexical cohesion, reiteration. Lexical cohesion markers were found, characterized by the repetition of the word "medium of instruction" in the second sentence, which refers to the "medium of in- struction" that has been previously mentioned in the first sentence. Repetition of this type is a nominal repetition (the repetition that occurs on nouns). By Halliday and Hasan (1976:278), this repetition is one of the authors do attempt to make sentenc- es in cohesive discourse. As the author of the thesis on the data shown above, he tried to link the first sentence and the second sentence by repeating one element in the sentence, which in this case is the word "medium of instruction". Therefore, it ap- pears that the author of the thesis can connect ideas cohesively of topic sentence COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 288 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 (medium of instruction) in the first sentence to the next sentence without exiting the main topic being discussed. Data 13 The teacher should know the condition of the students. If she does not have this ability hence the learning process will not be fluent to pursue the target or goals of learning English language for Indonesian student especially for blind students. This is the reason why a teacher has to master Braille, so that forwarding of material or lesson can be executed easily and fluently. (S3/C1/10/5-7) On these data, collocation occur the form of the word "blind" which has a close relationship with Braille. They are not the same two words but have a close relationship between the two. Braille is a letter that is used by the blind to learn to read. The authors used collocation on the data in thesis above to build cohesive sentence. The Violence of Cohesion in the Students’ Thesis In this study only found an error in the form of grammatical cohesion devices, references and conjunctions. Errors in cohesion instrument substitution and ellipsis is not found, nor with errors on lexical cohesion devices. Here is presented through the data. Data 14 The study will improve teacher’s knowledge about the English us- age as a medium of instruction in the class and to give motiva- tion to them to use English frequently (S1/C1/19/02) On the above data, there is a reference error for the existentialist persona- based third person plural as the object, namely pronoun 'them'. On these data, the use of pronouns them as pronouns are used to refer to 'teacher' is not appropriate. This is because the pronoun ‘them’, as described earlier, should refer to the third person plural which serves as the object, while the teacher refers to a single object. For that, a pronoun them refers to the teacher here is not to build a cohesive rela- tionship. To make these into a cohesive sentence, the pronoun them which is a ref- erence anaphora persona that serves as a reference, to be replaced by his / her. Next is a grammatical error in conjunctions, which will be shown as the follow- ing: Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 289 Data 15 The researcher tries to interact with the subject of the research scientifically in order to complete the data. Besides that, the researcher tries to do the research objectively. (S1/C3/05/2-3) On these data, there is an error that indicated the use of additive conjunction with the use of the word besides that in the second sentence. The use of beside that in the second sentence is suspected as a conjunction to connect between the second sentence and the first sentence with the’ addition’ meaning. The use of the word be- sides that is not appropriate because it is considered to have an excessive sense. Besides, as conjunctions, means 'in addition'. If it is followed by the word that, so it would be "in addition to (that) that". Of course it will make the meaning of the sen- tence to be ambiguous, so it becomes not cohesive. The use of ‘beside that’ on the data above is influenced by Indonesian Interference. Thus, it should be just ‘be- sides’. Coherence in English Education Students’ Thesis Order writing coherent sentences in the text should have cohesiveness and unity, i.e., the transfer between one sentence to the next sentence or one paragraph to the next should be logical and smooth. If it is not achieved, the writing or dis- course has no coherence. The Types of Coherence Devices Used in The Students’ Thesis Repetition of Keywords Data 16 In order that English teaching and learning process can succeed, the teachers need the appropriate teaching method. The method which can be used is immersion; immersion is the language teach- ing method in which people are put in situations where they have to use the new language (Longman, 2003: 811). This method can help the students to develop the communication skills through understanding, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. (S1/C1/08) On the above data, there is a repetition of the word method "method" as a keyword from the paragraph. Repeating "method" four times, allegedly to emphasize COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 290 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 that what is being discussed in the paragraph is the method. Thus, by repeating the word 'method' to the current paragraph, has made it into a coherent paragraph. The Used of Pronoun Data 17 The language teacher, at all events is able to regard as a part of his job to teach people what intentions they should have and wish to express, what message they should formulate. His job is to make it possible for them to express their intentions and their messages. He does not teach them what ought to say but how they are to say it. (S1/C1/03) In the fragment of paragraphs above, there is a consistent used of pronouns from the first sentence to the last, the possessive pronouns ‘his' and existentialist pro- nouns 'he' which refers to the same nouns ‘language teacher'. The use of pronouns is also right, because both pronouns his and he are the third person singular pronouns to proper language teacher who is the third person singular. Thus, the consistency of the use of pronouns makes a coherent paragraph in the thesis. Transition Signal Data 18 English is a foreign language in Indonesia. It is studied in secondary school trough Universities or colleges as a compulsory subject. Considering of the role of English in our country, it is necessary for us to study and practice it intensively and regularly in order to be able to use it correctly. In addition, the role of English in the world, and particularly in Indonesia, has recently become an attractive language. This is especially because foreign companies are increasingly estab- lished in the country. In newspaper advertisement, for example, we can see that those who can speak and write English beyond their special expertise are very much needed by foreign compa- nies. (S2/C1/1-2) On data 18, there is the use of marker with the transition from one para- graph to another paragraph. Transition marker is used by the authors of thesis on these data is an additive conjunctions ‘In addition’ which serves to add another idea. In the first paragraph, the author of the thesis describes the role of English in Indo- nesia in the field of education and the importance of learning English. Furthermore, in the second paragraph, the author of the thesis also describes the role of English in Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 291 Indonesia in other areas, namely employment. This shows the addition of an idea by the author in the second paragraph. Therefore, to make these two paragraphs is coherent, used a marker at the beginning of the transition in addition the second paragraph. Logical Order Thesis as written discourse also has a sequence in its development. Sub- stance of English Education student thesis developed into 5 (five) chapters, which consists of Introduction, Theoretical Framework, Research Methods, Research Find- ing and Discussion, and Conclusion and Suggestion. Based on the logical sequence outlined Oshima and Hogue (1991:51), it appears that student thesis is developed by chronological order. Starting from a background of the problem, then it can be formulated some point problem. This problem is not widespread, the use limitations problem. Then, step specification is also confirmed by the formulation of objectives and benefits of the research. Once the problem is formulated specifically, the main focus of the research is to get an answer or a solution to these problems. Therefore, it is used as a basis, in the form of a review theories outlined in Chapter 2 - and means, in the form of re- search-methods outlined in Chapter 3 -. With the basic theory and by using research methods that have been described, it was found that some of the results of the study in accordance with the formulation of the problem to be discussed in Chapter 4. Thus, a study has been completed so that it can be taken a conclusion and put for- ward suggestions for further research. The Violence of Coherence in the Students’ Thesis The Inappropriate use of Repetition of Key Word and pronoun Data 19 Teacher is an important element in the teaching process in the classroom. Every teacher has different characteristics. Because of that every teachers also has different strategies to teach their students. A teacher must find out the condition of the classroom especially the students before using strategies. Of course it is different when the teacher teaches the students owning normal condition with the students owning limitation in eyesight. It is impossible for the teacher to apply the way of COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 292 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 learning English by reading in blackboard while the students are blind. On the data 19, there is repetition of key words 'teacher' who appears in eve- ry sentence in the paragraph. However, in the second sentence, found inconsisten- cies in the use of pronouns which also became a key word in the paragraph. In other words, in addition to the second sentence, the word 'teacher' is used in the sin- gular. Whereas in the second sentence, the word teacher turned into the plural "teachers" and there is also a plural possessive pronoun 'their'. It is not appropriate and make ambiguous, so that makes it become an incoherent paragraph. As stated by Oshima and Hogue (1991:42), which is the one that makes the writing becomes incoherent, is the inconsistent use of pronouns. Misuse of Transition Signals Data 20 In this chapter, the researcher presents some subchapter, which will be discussed briefly and as clearly as possible. Firstly, the data description discusses of the students who are involved in student organization and the students who are not involved in student organization. Secondly, the hypothesis testing. And the last section is the research finding and discussion.(S2/C4/01) The data shows that there was an error in the use of transitional markers, thus causing a fragment of a paragraph contained in a student thesis became incoher- ent. Marker of the transition in question is firstly, secondly and the last section. To construct a coherent paragraph, the use of transitional words must be consistent. If the word is used firstly, then be followed by subsequent Secondly, thirdly and so on. In addition, the data also used conjunctions 'and' to connect between sentences. Meanwhile, 'and' is not a conjunction to connect between sentences, but between the clauses, and of course, the use of ‘and’ in the beginning of the sentence is not justified in a scientific report like thesis. Therefore, to build coherence on these data, the use of a transition marker became: In this chapter, the researcher presents some sub-chapters, which will be discussed briefly and as clearly as possible. The first is data description discusses of the students who are involved in student organization and the students who are not involved in student organization. The second is Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 293 the hypothesis testing. Then, the third is the research finding and discus- sion. Grammatical Error Data 21 Etzioni says (1964, 69): gives a very general definition of or- ganizations as, “social units (or human grouping) deliberately and reconstructed to seek special goals”. (S2/C2/46) Data 21 is related to grammar errors, which in an English sentence, should not be allowed to put the verb directly after the first verb. As shown by these data, the verb ‘give’ comes after the verb ‘says’. In terms of meaning, it also makes the sentence to be ambiguous and disconnected ideas. Therefore, it is necessary re- moval of first verb. Thus, the data 21 should be: Etzioni (1964:69) gives a very general definition of organizations as, “social units (or human group- ing) deliberately and reconstructed to seek special goals”. Inappropriate use of Punctuation Data 22 In this research, the researcher uses descriptive analysis which functions to arrange the categorization of the students’ scores into five category. Namely very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor. Data 22 shows that the first sentence ends with a period (.). However, the next continued by namely very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor. Although it looks long, namely very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor is not a sentence. A sentence should be containing at least a subject and a predicate, while such data is not contained the predicate. Thus, the data was revised to one good sentence. Therefore, use a period (.) is replaced with a comma punctuation mark (,). The fol- lowing revised figure 21: In this research, the researcher uses descriptive analysis which functions to arrange the categorization of the students’ scores into five categories, namely; very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor. COHESION AND COHERENCE IN ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS’ THESIS 294 | Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 CONCLUSION This study describes the use of markers of cohesion and coherence as well as errors in their usage in English Education students’ thesis. The results of the analysis of cohesion and coherence in this study, we can conclude some of the following. First, the thesis student who made the object of research, there is the use of tools / cohesion devices to construct linkage meaning in discourse. Bond of cohe- sion is realized with the use of grammatical cohesion devices that include a refer- ence, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunctions, as well as a tool in the form of lexical cohesion, collocation and reiteration. Cohesion is an important tool used for thesis to connect or associate the meaning of the sentence with other sentences in the es- say and to establish linkages in the written discourse. Second, in the thesis students also found the use of error / cohesion marker making becomes less cohesive thesis on certain parts. Errors in the use such cohe- sion includes grammatical errors on the form of reference and conjunctions. Thus, we can conclude grammatical understanding related student still needs to be im- proved further. Furthermore, third, an analysis of coherence of discourse, showed that over- all third English Education students’ thesis can be said coherently based on the order of chronology. However, there are some parts that are less coherent. This is evi- denced by the discovery of faults use of pronouns, repetition of key words, the use of transitional markers, and grammatical, punctuation. Cut Irna Liyana Englisia Vol. I No. 2, May 2014 | 295 REFERENCES Ahmed, Abdel Hamid. (2010). “Students’ Problems with Cohesion and Coherence in EFL Essay Writing in Egypt: Different Perspectives.” Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), 1(4), 211-221. Beaugrande, Robert, de. & Wolfgang, D. (1981). Introduction to Text Linguistics. New York: Longman. Brown, G. & Yule G.. (1996). Analisis Wacana (Transl. Soetikno, I.). Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Crystal, D. (2008). 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