An analysis on the use of cohesive devices in improving students' ability in writing recount text at the ninth grade of SMP Negeri 1 Siantar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study aims to analyze the use of cohesive devices in improving students’ ability to write recount texts at the ninth grade of SMP Negeri 1 Siantar. A qualitative research design was employed, with data collected from 30 students’ written texts based on their personal experiences. The analysis was guided by Halliday and Hasan’s cohesion framework, which includes grammatical cohesion (reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction) and lexical cohesion. The findings revealed a total of 1,025 cohesive devices, with reference (38.82%) and conjunction (34.14%) as the most dominant types, followed by lexical cohesion (26.04%). In contrast, substitution (0.68%) and ellipsis (0.29%) were rarely used. These results indicate that students possess a basic understanding of cohesion, particularly in organizing ideas and maintaining textual flow. However, their use of cohesive devices remains limited in variation and sophistication. Therefore, more explicit instruction and practice are recommended to enhance students’ mastery of diverse cohesive strategies and improve overall writing quality.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Creswell, J. W. (2021). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Crossley, S. A., Kyle, K., & Dascalu, M. (2019). The tool for the automatic analysis of cohesion 2.0: Integrating semantic similarity and text overlap. Behavior Research Methods, 51(1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-018-1142-4
Feliks, T., Huan, E., Ota, G., & Rahayu, G. (2024). The use of cohesive devices and the quality of student writing: Their relationship. The International Journal of Language and Cultural, 6(2), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14184318
Fernandez, L. (2021). Teaching the concept of typified situation to promote foreign language interaction. System, 98, 102473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102473
Girsang, S. E. E., Tumanggor, E. A. P., Metboki, Y., Herryani, H., Herman, H., Syathroh, I. L., et al. (2025). Empowering students’ ability in writing descriptive texts through point illustration explanation (PIE) strategy. Studies in Media and Communication, 13(1), 366–377. https://doi.org/10.11114/smc.v13i1.7466
Gutwinski, W. (2011). Cohesion in literary texts: A study of grammatical and lexical features. Walter de Gruyter.
Herman, H., Shaumiwaty, S., Sipayung, R. W., Solissa, E. M., Fatmawati, E., Girsang, S. E. E., & Saputra, N. (2024). A systemic functional linguistic approach to improve students’ ability in writing English text. Educational Administration: Theory and Practice, 30(4), 1822–1830. https://doi.org/10.53555/kuey.v30i4.1759
Hyland, K. (2019). Second language writing (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Karatayeva, A. (2025). Improvement of coherence and cohesion in academic essay writing through the process-based approach. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 273–278. https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.90600023
Lee, J. J., Bychkovska, T., & Maxwell, J. D. (2019). Breaking the rules? A corpus-based comparison of informal features in L1 and L2 writing. System, 80, 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.11.010
Lestari, F. T., Astutik, I., & Werdiningsih, I. (2023). An analysis on cohesive devices of students’ recount paragraphs writing. Pubmedia Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, 1(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.47134/jpbi.v1i1.14
Lumbangaol, A. W. D., Silalahi, D. E., & Herman, H. (2024). Implementing group discussion in writing descriptive text. Journal of Education, Linguistics, Literature, and Art, 2(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.62568/ella.v2i1.124
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2022). Second language research: Methodology and design (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Marbun, J. J. M., Herman, H., & Sitanggang, A. (2025). The difficulties of seventh grade students in writing descriptive text. Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan dan Keislaman, 5(3), 521–529. https://doi.org/10.55883/jipkis.v5i3.178
Nurhidayat, E. F., Apriani, E., & Edy, S. (2021). The analysis of cohesive devices used by tertiary English students. International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, 8(4), 70–81. https://doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v8i4.2443
Rahayu, N. S., Sukarsono, S., & Alam, D. J. (2022). Cohesive devices used in English scientific articles. OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 16(2), 314–328. https://doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v16i2.6604
Rahman, G., Zaigham, M. S., & Umer, M. (2023). A study of cohesive devices in students’ academic writing. Qlantic Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 4(4), 372–384. https://doi.org/10.55737/qjssh.897009451
Rose, H., & McKinley, J. (2020). The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics. Routledge.
Rumapea, E. L. B., Kapoh, R. J., Novianti, C., Yuniarsih, Y., Harita, I. P. S., Herman, H., & Saputra, N. (2025). Investigating the use of comic strips media on developing students' narrative writing skills. Al-Ishlah: Jurnal Pendidikan, 17(2), 2526–2536. https://doi.org/10.35445/alishlah.v17i2.7345
Sanosi, A. B. (2024). Revisiting cohesion in academic writing. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(1), 64–78. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v14i1.70418
Sastromiharjo, A., Rintaningrum, R., Herman, H., Mislikhah, S., Solissa, E. M., Lastriyani, I., et al. (2024). Using Google Sites to improve students’ writing ability. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 8(1), 728–736. https://doi.org/10.70082/esiculture.vi.785
Simanjuntak, V. H. M., Sari, I., Kamengko, D. F., Syathroh, I. L., Manurung, E., Herman, H., & Van Thao, N. (2025). Investigating contextual teaching and learning on recount text writing. Indonesian EFL Journal, 11(2), 323–332. https://doi.org/10.25134/ieflj.v11i2.11794
Tabari, M. A., & Johnson, M. D. (2023). Exploring new insights into the role of cohesive devices in written academic genres. Assessing Writing, 57, 100749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2023.100749
Tabari, M. A., & Wind, A. (2026). The role of cohesive devices in L2 writing development: Insights from an intensive EAP program. Journal of Writing Research.
Wang, W., Chen, W., Shi, S., Tong, L., & Duan, M. (2024). A corpus-based study on cohesion development in writing by EFL novices. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 15(3), 772–786. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1503.10
Wilfitri, E., & Fatimah, S. (2020). The use of cohesive devices in academic writing. Journal of English Language Teaching, 9(3), 502–509.
Wu, H., Li, S., Gao, Y., Weng, J., & Ding, G. (2024). Natural language processing in educational research. Education and Information Technologies, 29(17), 23271–23297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12764-2
Wulff, S., Römer, U., & Swales, J. (2012). Attended/unattended “this” in academic writing. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 8(1), 129–157. https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2012-0006