A study of reiteration in the latest IELTS reading passages

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

U ỌC TÚ DUYÊN

A STUDY OF REITERATION IN THE

LATEST IELTS READING PASSAGES

Field Study: English Linguistics

Code: 8.22.02.01

Supervisor: Assoc., Prof., Dr. NGUY N QUANG NGOẠN

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜ ĐẠI HỌC QU HƠ

NGUY N NGỌC TÚ DUYÊN

H C U H

TRO CÁC BÀ ĐỌC H ỂU E TS MỚ HẤT

C

M 8.22.02.01

S TS U N QUANG NGOẠN

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of the MA thesis entitled “A

study of reiteration in the latest IELTS Reading Passages”. The thesis

contains no material published elsewhere or written by other people except

where reference is made in the text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or

diploma in any other tertiary institution.

Binh Dinh, 2021

Nguyễn Ngọc Tú Duyên

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr

N uy n Qu n N o n w o s v n m lp ul v us ul r r n s

and constant encouragement throughout this study.

I am greatly indebted to all the lecturers for their valuable teaching that

has enlightened my research path.

My particular thanks go to my colleagues at Le Quy Don High School

and my family for their whole-hearted help and sympathy during my study.

Binh Dinh, 2021

NGUY N NGỌC TÚ DUYÊN

iii

ABSTRACT

The research focuses on the types of reiteration, and the lexical and

syntactical realization of reiteration in the latest IELTS reading passages.

Based on the theory of cohesion, 30 IELTS reading passages collected from

the latest five IELTS Practice Test books were investigated in the light of

Halliday and Hasan’s (2014) framework of cohesion. The findings show that

in terms of reiteration, repetition is the most frequently used device in all

reading texts to make the reading semantically related. As a result, students

will benefit greatly from such lexical cohesion in terms of grasping the

meaning of the reading texts, and boosting their reading comprehension and

theme-based vocabulary. Hopefully, this thesis is a preliminary study for

further research on applying lexical cohesion in teaching and learning reading

comprehension skills, thereby providing grounds for students to find out

strategies for answering various question types used in IELTS Reading

Passages.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.................................................................. i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... iv

LIST OF CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................ vii

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..................................................................... 1

1.1. Rationale.................................................................................................... 1

1.2. Aim and objectives.................................................................................... 3

1.2.1. Aim of the study................................................................................ 3

1.2.2. Objectives.......................................................................................... 3

1.3. Research Questions ................................................................................... 4

1.4. Scope of the study ..................................................................................... 4

1.5. Significance of the study ........................................................................ 4

1.6. Definition of terms.................................................................................. 5

1.7. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................. 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL

BACKGROUND................................................................................ 8

2.1. Review of previous relevant studies....................................................... 8

2.2. Theoretical background ........................................................................ 13

2.2.1. Reading ........................................................................................... 13

2.2.2. Discourse and cohesion in discourse .............................................. 14

2.2.3. Cohesion and Coherence ................................................................ 18

2.2.4. Cohesive Devices............................................................................ 19

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2.2.5. Grammatical Cohesive Devices...................................................... 20

2.2.6. Lexical Cohesive Devices............................................................... 23

2.2.7. Reiteration....................................................................................... 24

2.3. Summary............................................................................................... 27

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE ............................... 28

3.1. Research Design ................................................................................... 28

3.2. Data Collection ..................................................................................... 30

3.3. Data analysis......................................................................................... 32

3.4. Steps of collecting and analyzing data.................................................. 33

3.5. Validity and Reliability......................................................................... 33

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION............................................ 34

4.1. Types of reiteration used in IELTS Reading Passages......................... 34

4.2. Lexical realizations of reiteration in the latest IELTS reading passages37

4.2.1. Verbs and Verb Phrases.................................................................. 38

4.2.2. Nouns and Noun Phrases................................................................ 42

4.2.3. Adjectives and Adjective Phrases................................................... 47

4.2.4. Lexical realizations of each type of reiteration used in IELTS

reading passages ....................................................................................... 51

4.3. Syntactic Realizations of Reiteration.................................................... 59

4.3.1. Verbs............................................................................................... 60

4.3.2. Nouns.............................................................................................. 60

4.3.3. Adjectives ....................................................................................... 62

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ................................ 64

5.1. Summary of the Development of the study .......................................... 64

5.2. Summary of the Findings...................................................................... 64

5.2.1. Summary of the types of reiteration in the chosen IELTS reading

passages .................................................................................................... 65

vi

5.2.2. Summary of lexical and syntactic realization of reiteration in the

chosen IELTS reading passages ............................................................... 65

5.3. Implications .......................................................................................... 67

5.4. Limitations of the Study ....................................................................... 69

5.5. Suggestion for further Research ........................................................... 69

REFERENCES............................................................................................... 72