The Impact of Vocabulary Exposure on Students' Ability to Write Cohesively Using Appropriate Lexical Devices: A Discourse Analysis Study

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated that lexical cohesion devices are crucial in achieving cohesion within written texts. However, many EFL students often struggle to use these devices effectively, resulting in a lack of cohesion in their writing. A quasi-experimental design was implemented in a classroom to tackle this challenge. The study focused on vocabulary exercises to assess their impact on students' ability to produce cohesive essays that incorporate relevant lexical devices. It involved 30 EFL participants who participated in a structured intervention featuring targeted vocabulary activities designed to enhance their awareness and application of lexical cohesion. Pre-tests were conducted to evaluate the students' initial writing skills before the exercises, followed by post-tests to measure any improvements in their performance after the intervention period. Subsequently, a quantitative method was used to analyze the data, aligning perfectly with the study's primary objective of determining the intervention’s effectiveness. The essays created by participants underwent careful analysis, focusing on the frequency and percentage of lexical cohesive devices utilized. The results indicated a significant enhancement in using these devices in the post-test essays compared to the pre-intervention assessments. These findings prove that the vocabulary-focused intervention had a statistically significant positive effect on students' writing performance. This highlights the vital role of lexical cohesive devices in fostering cohesion in writing and confirms the efficacy of targeted vocabulary instruction in improving EFL students' writing skills. Such insights are invaluable for educators aiming to enhance academic writing among EFL learners, reinforcing the ongoing need to prioritize the teaching of cohesive writing strategies within language curricula.