THE STUDY OF COHERENCE AND COHESION ON STUDENTS’ WRITING: A CASE STUDY AT THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

Putri, Omega Novieca (2025). The Study of Coherence and Cohesion on Students‗ Writing: A Case Study at The First Year Students at English Language Education Study Program. Thesis, English Education Study Program STKIP Persada Khatulistiwa Sintang. Advisor I: Tuti, M.Pd, Advisor II: Sijono, M.Pd.

Keywords : Coherence, Cohesion, Students‗ Writing.

Coherence in writing refers to the clarity and logical flow of ideas, while cohesion involves the use of linguistic devices to link sentences and ideas. This study examined the ability of first-year English Language Education Study Program students to maintain both coherence and cohesion in their writing, focusing on common challenges and the cohesive devices most frequently used. A qualitative method was applied, with data collected through documentation and analyzed using a text-based framework. The analysis focused on ten short essays, written by 10 students from a total of 32, on the topic ―My Dream Country.‖ Findings revealed that conjunctions were the most frequently used cohesive devices (115 occurrences), followed by references (72) and lexical cohesion (23), while substitution and ellipsis were absent. These results suggested that students primarily relied on conjunctions and references to link ideas, with minimal use of other cohesive devices. The study concluded that improving students' awareness and use of a wider range of cohesive devices is crucial for enhancing both coherence and cohesion in their academic writing. It is hoped that these findings will encourage educators to incorporate explicit teaching of cohesive devices into writing instruction to help students develop more sophisticated and cohesive academic texts.