an analysis of lexical cohesion in document of the textbook of english for geology = phân tích liên kết từ vựng sử dụng trong những tài liệu của giáo trình tiếng anh chuyên ngành địa chất

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES viii
ABBREVIATIONS viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION Error! Bookmark not defined.
1. Rationale Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. Scope of the study 2
3. Aims of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 2
5. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
1.1. Background knowledge of English for specific purposes (ESP) 4
1.1.1. Concept of ESP and its characteristics 4
1.1.2. English for geology (EG) 6
1.2. Cohesion and Coherence 6
1.2.1. Concept of cohesion 6
1.2.2. Cohesion vs Coherence 6
1.2.3. Main types of Cohesion 7
1.2.3.1. Grammatical cohesion 7
1.2.3.2. Lexical cohesion 9
Chapter 2: LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES ANALYZED IN “ESP TEXTBOOK
IN DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES”. 11

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2.1. General description of EG text 11
2.1.1. Definition of EG 11
2.1.2. Some features of EG 11
2.2. Cohesion and structure of each unit in EG textbook 11
2.2.1. Text 12
2.2.2. Diagram and figure 12
2.2.3. Vocabulary 12
2.3. Lexical cohesion 12
2.3.1. Reiteration 12
2.3.1.1. Repetition 13
a. Repetition of Nouns/ Noun Phrases. 14
b. Repetition of different parts of speech 16
2.3.1.2. Synonym 17
2.3.1.3. Antonym 20
2.3.1.4. Super-ordinate 22
2.3.2. Collocation 23
Chapter 3: MAJOR FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING EG
EFFECTIVELY 25
3.1. Findings 25
3.1.1. The features of EG texts 25
3.1.2. Lexical cohesion used in EG texts 25
3.1.3. Survey questionnaires 26
3.1.3.1. Teachers and students’ knowledge of ESP especially EG 27
3.1.3.2. Teachers and students’ awareness to LCD in texts of EG 30
3.1.3.3.Teachers and students’ targets and present situation 32

3.1.3.4. Problems in teaching and learning EG 33


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a. Difficulties of teachers in teaching EG 33
b. Difficulties of students in learning EG 34
3.2. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING EG EFFECTIVELY 35
3.2.1. Teachers 35
3.2.2. Learners 37
3.2.3. Materials 37
PART C: CONCLUSION 39
Suggestions for further study 39
REFERENCES 41
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 III
APPENDIX 3 V
APPENDIX 4 X

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LIST OF TABLES IN THE STUDY
List
Page
Table 2.1: frequency of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices(LCD)
13
Table 2.2: Occurrence of types of repetition
14
Table 2.3: Summary of the repeated words as topics or mainpoints.
15
Table 2.4: Examples of repeated Nouns/Noun phrases as terminologies
16
Table 2.5: Frequency of presence of Synonyms in 9 texts
18
Table 2.6: Examples of Synonyms used in texts
19
Table 2.7: Frequency of presence of Antonyms in 9 texts
21
Table 2.8: Examples of super-ordinate found in texts
23
Table 2.9: Frequency of presence of collocation in 9 texts
24

Table 3.1. Indispensable features of EG
28
Table 3.2. Ts and Ss’ focuses on teaching and learning EG
28
Table 3.3. The time teachers clarify terminologies
29
Table 3.4. The time Students study terminologies
29
Table 3.5. Ss’choosing means to know terminologies’ meaning
30
Table 3.6. Role of LCD in EG materials
30
Table 3.7. Awareness to LCD
31
Table 3.8. Ss’ awareness to Appearance of LCD
31
Table 3.9. Ss’ target of studying EG
32
Table 3.10. Ts’ wishing Ss to do after EG course
32
Table 3.11. Ts and Ss’ awareness to Appearance of LCD
33
Table 3.12. Teachers’ difficulties in teaaching EG
34
Table 3.13. Ts’ Reasons to be a teacher of EG
34
Table 3.14. Difficulties of students in learning EG
35

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Abbreviations in the study
FG
Functional Grammar
ESP
English for Specific Purposes
LCD
Lexical Cohesive Devices
DMR, FG
of UMG
Department of Mineral Resources, Faculty of Geology, University of
Mining & Geology .

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Part A: Introduction
1. Rationale of the study
This dissertation emphasizes the LCD as one prominent feature of FG which are
really worthfocusing when they are put in ESP texts. It is reasonable that this study will
cover a number of concepts (ESP, EG, Cohesion, Coherence, Cohesive Devices, LCD)
within the single constrained knowledge. This work established clearly-defined links
between linguistics and science. Moreover, since the geological advances which make it
possible to do this owe a great deal to this work, the transition from generative grammar to
functional grammar can be comparatively straightforward one. Although the author has not
attempted to deal exhaustedly with all the problems of teaching and studying EG, the
current work covers those issues which partly contribute to enhance the present situation.
In particular, a lot of Vietnamese who speak English as the second language have
paid heed to both General English and English for Specific Purposes; And ESP, nowadays,
is really taken notice more and more. One of ESP subjects is English for Geology (EG)
which is a significant component of science and a necessary means to learn the knowledge
of human beings about science including Geology.
As with other branches of human knowledge, in education, educationists usually
experience the problem of students after graduation. According to the result of a survey
done by students K44, K45, K46, K47 and K48 of Psychology, Information-library and
Linguistics departments of Ha Noi National University, College of Social Science and
Humanity in Feb, 2009, only 41.9% graduate students work in accordance with what they
were trained after one year, 18.8% do not, 1.8% are unemployed, and 1.8% study post
graduate. It is said that most of the students study impractically, they try to pass the exams

and graduate, even they have to be retrained the major before applying on the real work.
Therefore, to non-major English students, most of the geological students cannot certainly
apply English especially EG on work well after graduating. Generally speaking, it takes
time to be retrained in order that they are able to transfer the theory into practice. This sets
out a question: How to make the knowledge of ESP become practical?
Being aware of the necessity of studying EG in Department of Mineral Resources,
Faculty of Geology, University of Mining & Geology(DMR, FG of UMG) , EG is
arranged to be a compulsory subject, however, it seems to be nightmare to most of students
due to many reasons which are from the different aspects like materials, textbook designs,
syllabi, facilities, ect. Encountering the same situation, University of Mining & Geology


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also expects the suitable method to help students study effectively and apply on the future
jobs flexibly.
Within the limitation of time and knowledge, it is too ambitious to touch on all
features of the whole ESP text book in Department of Mineral resources, but only
Lexical Cohesion in some remarkable documents after giving away the overview of ESP,
EG, Cohesion and Coherence.
2. Scope of the study
Due to the limited time and scope of a minor M.A thesis, this study only analyzes
Lexical Cohesive Devices in some texts from the ESP textbook in DMR, FG of UMG.
Therefore, it is reasonable to cover only enough number of typical texts to make the study
reliable. In order to be reliable, two survey questionnaires were handed out to five English
teachers and fifty forth year students studying in DMR, FG of UMG.
3. Aims of the study
The aims of this study are to work out the following features:
1. Overview of the ESP and EG.
2. Clarification of Cohesion and Coherence.

3. Main types of Cohesion.
4. Analysis in “ESP textbook in department of mineral resources”.
5. Statistics of questionnaires to work out the findings.
6. Problems in teaching and studying EG based on the findings.
7. Implications for teaching EG effectively and some suggestions for further
study.
4. Methods of the study
In order to catch up with the targets of this study, it is indispensable to apply the
appropriate methods which are both qualitative and quantitative approaches. To the detail,
the methods of description, statistics and analysis are applied flexibly by handing out the
survey questionnaires, analyzing them and collecting the data from both nine typical texts
and two survey questionnaires.
In this study, with a view to examine the material currently used at DMR, FG of
UMG in relation to the course requirements, much attention is paid to the analysis of the
syllabus and the material itself. These analyses were based on Hutchinson and Waters‟


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criteria on material evaluation (1987) and Halliday and Hasan‟s features on lexical
cohesive devices used in material.
5. Design of the study
This study is divided into three main parts:
Part A: Introduction
The first part mentions the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study.
Part B: Development
This part also consists of three smaller parts which are labeled by each chapter.
Chapter 1 goes over the theoretical background of the research containing two
significant terms:
(1) Overview of ESP and EG

(2) Cohesion and Coherence
Chapter 2 puts across lexical cohesive devices in the chosen texts of EG from the
ESP textbook at Department of Mineral Resources, Faculty of Geology, University of
Mining & Geology.
Chapter 3 indicates some major findings of studying EG and suggests some
meaningful implications to reform teaching and studying ESP, especially EG more
effectively.
Part C: Conclusion.
The last part shows the summary and touches on the further study.
Part B: Development
Chapter 1: theoretical background
This chapter sets out in detail all the knowledge which is foundational to the whole
work related to the title consisting of concepts of ESP, EG, cohesion, coherence, lexical
cohesive devices.
1.1. Background knowledge of English for specific purposes (ESP)
1.1.1. Concept of ESP and its characteristics
There are many ways to give the definition of ESP according to many differnet
linguists, however, this study mentions only some typical definitions to clarify the term.


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“English for specific purposes is a term that refers to teaching or studying English for
a particular career (like law, medicine) or for business in general.“ (International Teacher
Training Organization, 2005). There is a specific reason for which English is learned.
Pauline C. Robinson (1989) describes ESP as a type of ELT (English Language
Teaching) and defines it as: “Goal-oriented language learning.“ (Robinson, Pauline C., ed.
Hywel Coleman, 1989, p 398) that means student has a specific goal that is going to be
attained.
The origin of ESP and its development is closely linked with learners´ interest in

various specific disciplines e.g. ´Law English´, ´English for Hotel Industry´ or ´English for
Tourist Management´. Students learn English for a specific purpose, represented by
studying subject matter, to gain and develop appropriate knowledge and skills through
English. That is why English language is not seen as the main goal in the process of
learning, but rather a vehicle for its acquirement. “Students study ESP not because they are
interested in the English language as such but because they have to perform a task in
English. Their command of the English language must be such that they can reach a
satisfactory level in their specialist subject studies. (Robinson, Pauline C., ed. Hywel
Coleman, 1989, p 396).
The fact that “learners know specifically why they are learning a language”
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1992, p 6) is a great advantage on both sides of the process. The
group of ESP learners is going to achieve the same goal in the field of studying branch, so
learners´ motivation, in a form of the same aim, enables teacher to meet learners´ needs
and expectations easier. Learners and their ways of learning (´acquiring language´) are
considered to be the main factors in the whole process. Hutchinson and Waters (1992)
emphasize ESP to be an approach not product that means language learning not language
use is highlighted. They draw the attention to a ´learning-centered approach´ “in which all
decisions as to content and method are based on the learner‟s reason for learning”.
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1992, p 19).
Tony Dudley-Evans and Maggie Jo St John (1998) divided characteristic features
of ESP in two groups according to their ´absolute´ and ´variable´ attributes. Concerning the
absolute characteristics (according to Dudley-Evans and St John):
 ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner
 ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it
serves.


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 ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and

genres appropriate to these activities.
The variable characteristics are seen in five points:
 ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines
 ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that
of general English.
 ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level
institution or in a professional work situation.
 ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students.
 Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but it
can be used with beginners (Dudley-Evans, 1998).
Hutchinson and Waters (1992) do not emphasize any concrete limits of students´
level or age, they emphasize learners´ individual needs and specialist knowledge of using
English for specific purposes. Although there exist several aims and different purposes
why learning English, the way of learning may be same. “Though the content of learning
may vary there is no reason to suppose that the processes of learning should be any
different for the ESP learner than for the General English learner”. (Hutchinson and
Waters, 1992, p 18). They add that ESP methodology “could just as well have been used in
the learning of any kind of English”. (Hutchinson and Waters, 1992, p 18).
1.1.2. English for geology (EG)
Geology is the study of the planet Earth-the materials of which it is made, the
processes that act on these materials, the products formed and the history of the Planet and
its life forms since its origin. Geology considers the physical forcer that act on the Earth,
chemistry of its constituent materials, and the biology of its past inhabitance as revealed by
fossils. (as cited in the ESP textbook at Department of Mineral Resources, Faculty of
Geology, University of Mining & Geology).
1.2. Cohesion and Coherence
It is advisable to distinguish cohesion and coherence because they are still confused
by many people. Therefore, this part will provide the concept of cohesion with its types
and the distintion between cohesion and coherence.
1.2.1. Concept of cohesion

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As Kilborn & Kriei, 1999, Cohesion is the glue that holds a piece of writing
together. In other words, if a paper is cohesive, it sticks together from sentence to sentence
and from paragraph to paragraph.
Otherwhile, in Connor, 1996, Cohesion is considered as “The use of explicit
linguistic devices to signal relations between sentences and parts of texts.“
In other case, Nguyen Hoa (2000) claimed that “Cohesion refers to the formal
relationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together. It is indicated by grammatical,
logical and lexical relationships found among or between the sentences of a text”
1.2.2. Cohesion vs Coherence
In the Nunan (1993:116), “Coherence is the extent to which discourse is perceived
to hang together rather than being a set of unrelated sentences or utterances.”
Palmer (1983) indicated that “Coherence refers to the rhetorical devices, to ways of
writing and speaking that bring about order and unity and emphasis”
Like cohesion, coherence is a network of relations which organize and create a text.
Mona Baker defined that cohesion is the network of surface relations which link words and
expressions to other words and expressions in a text, and coherence is the network of
conceptual relations which underlie the surface text.
In the case of cohesion, stretches of language are connected to each other by virtue
of lexical and grammatical dependencies. In the case of coherence, they are connected by
virtual of conceptual or meaning dependencies as perceived by language users. Hoey
(1991:12) gave the summary of the difference between cohesion and coherence as follows:
We will assume that cohesion is a property of the text and that coherence is a facet
of the reader’s evaluation of a text. In other words, cohesion is objective, capable in
principle of automatic recognition, while coherence is subjective and judgments
concerning it may vary from reader to reader.
1.2.3. Main types of Cohesion

1.2.3.1. Grammatical cohesion
Grammatical cohesion comes about through the selection of items that are related
in some way to those that have gone before.
Classification of grammatical cohesion
a) Substitution
 Substitution is a process of replacing one item with another within a text.


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E.g.: Bananas are good for health. I have one every morning.
Substitution is based on the relation in the wording rather than in the meaning. There
are three types of Substitution:
 Nominal
 Verbal
 Clausal
b) Ellipsis
Ellipsis is an omission of certain elements from a sentence or clause and can only be
recovered by referring to an element in the preceding text. In other words, Ellipsis is the
deletion of words, expressions or phrases, Simply „substitution by zero‟.
E.g.: A: I don‟t think he is a liar.
B: But for me he is (a liar).
There are 3 conditions of ellipsis: repetition, expansion and replacement. Moreover,
three main types of Ellipsis include:
 Nominal
 Verbal
 Clausal
c) Conjunction
Conjunction is defined as a word or group of words used to connect words, phrases,
or clauses. It marks certain relationships between clauses and sentences

There are four categories:
 Additive
 Adversative
 Causal
 Temporal.
E.g. For the whole day he climbed up the steep mountainside, almost without stopping.
And in all this time he met no one. ►Additive
Yet he was hardly aware of being tired. ►Adversative
So by the night time the valley was far below him.► Causal
Then, as dusk fell, he sat down to rest. ►Temporal


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d) Reference
Reference is the Replacement of words and expressions with pro-forms.
e.g. pronouns, pro-modifiers.
There are three types of reference:
 Personal
 Demonstrative
 Comparative
1.2.3.2. Lexical cohesion
Following Paltridge, “Lexical cohesion refers to relationships in meaning between
lexical items in a text and, in particular, content words and the relationship between them”.
Otherwise, Yitzhaki pointed out that Lexical cohesion is a cohesive device which
creates unity in a text through the selection of vocabulary. Lexical items are connected to
one another to create cohesive “ties” which hold the sentences together and make them
appear as being about “the same thing”.
According to Halliday and Hasan, there are five major types of Cohesive Devices,
and the fifth type of cohesive tie is lexical. This one is divided into two main subtypes

including Reiteration and Collocation.
a) Reiteration
It is said that this type is achieved by the selection of vocabulary. In the term of
Reiteration, it is also subdivided into four subcomponents consisting of Repetition,
Synonym, Superordinate, and General Word. It is the fact that the same word or a synonym
is sometimes used and repeated throughout the text. In some other cases, related words
such as superordinate or general words are used.
- Repetition:
- Synonym
- Superordinate
- General Word
b) Collocation
According to Mona Baker, collocation is thought to be in terms of the tendency of
certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language


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Lexical items are also tied together simply by collocation. For example, when we
think of a bedroom, we also think of the bed, the pillow, the blanket, the reading lamb, and
the mosquitoes net.
Collocation, as a sub-class of lexical cohesion in Halliday and Hasan‟s model,
covers any instance which involves a pair of lexical items that are associated with each
other in the language in some ways. Halliday and Hassan offer the following types of
association:
- Various kinds of oppositeness of meaning: E.g. Son/Daughter, Sad/Happy,
Teach/Learn.
- Associations between pairs of words from the same ordered series: e.g.
Monday/Friday, May/December, Summer/Spring.
- Associations between pairs of words from the unordered lexical sets: e.g. Part-

whole relations: Car/Break, Face/Eye, table/Feet.
Part-part relations: Eye/Ear, Mouse/Screen.
Co-hyponymy: Red/Black, Chair/Table.
- Associations based on a history of co-occurrence: e.g. Rain, pouring, torrential,
wet.
As reported the theory of cohesive devices above which seems to be very
complicated, this study‟s author would like to make it more simple and familiar with
readers, especially EG teachers and students. It is the reason why the research only focuses
on two main types of LCD including reiteration and collocation; to the detail, reiteration is
divided into four subtypes consisting of repetition, symnonym, antonym, and super-
ordinate.
In summary, the above information brought all meaningful background knowledge
which is the basic material for the following parts with descriptions, statistics and analysis
in the focus of the lexical cohesive devices used when going to the detail of texts.


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Chapter 2: Lexical cohesive devices analyzed in “Esp
textbook in department of mineral resources”.
2.1. General description of EG text
The first part of this chapter reports the description of EG in general before coming
into the specification of cohesion used in texts.
2.1.1. Definition of EG
EG is the study-in-English of the planet Earth- the materials of which it is made-
the processes that act on these materials, the products formed and the history of the planet
and its life forms since its origin.
2.1.2. Some features of EG
The matter of fact that the author must master and follow the linguistic rules for
working out long geological texts which are used so many kinds of cohesive devices such

as grammatical and lexical ones, moreover, the most common voice is passive.
It is the truth that all the texts are full of vocabulary and terminology of EG.
However, the knowledge of Geology seems to be understood well by students and they can
easily guess the equivalent meaning of terminology of EG.
The difficulty in teaching EG lies on the leading students from knowing the Geology
to studying Geology in English. Based on that, students can be confident to discover the
knowledge of Geology more and more. Therefore, both geological teachers and students
have to face the problem that teachers have to find the most effective way to convey the
knowledge of Geology in English, especially the language of specialized vocabularies and
terminologies; students are in charge of enhancing their not only Geological but also English
knowledge. Of course, one thing cannot ignore is pointing out the coherence through the
cohesive devices including lexical one in the texts.
2.2. Cohesion and structure of each unit in EG textbook
It is apparent that each unit in EG textbook is divided into 3 main components,
normally consisting of a text, one or more than one figure sometimes diagram, and a list of
vocabulary with their relevant meaning. All of them serve the content of the unit and there
is the combination among them.
2.2.1. Text
Text which is the most important part in each unit is normally long and difficult to
understand. Students are sometimes confused by the complicated meaning inside. It is


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unavoidable to encounter much vocabulary of Geology which students usually consider as
nightmare. Even when they know the meaning of all vocabulary, but the intensive content of
the text is also hidden. To a major English learner, this type of text is not easy to manage.
Therefore, to the non-major English students, Geological students seem to find more and
more difficulty in comprehending the whole knowledge of Geology.
2.2.2. Diagram and figure

The content in major English text of Geology is really difficult to master. Thank to
the diagrams and figures which illustrate the text comprehensively. Although the pictures are
black and white, they help readers figure out all they wonder. Perhaps, the black and white
pictures or figures with simple symbols are not attractive or interesting, but the learners base
on them a lot to study EG effectively.
2.2.3. Vocabulary
This part which is at the end of each unit is in charge of providing the Vietnamese
meaning of all vocabulary. It is the truth that all vocabulary belongs to ESP, of course, few
students have ESP dictionaries and the rest will find easier to get the unit with this tool.
2.3. Lexical cohesion
The previous parts showed the frame of each unit. To the detail, in this part, the
writer pays attention to analyze two major categories of lexical cohesive devices:
reiteration and collocation in the lights of occurence and analysis.
2.3.1. Reiteration
Based on the background knowledge of reiteration in the beginning part, reiteration
is obviously related to the repetition of a lexical item. To make analyzing text simplier, the
author just devides reiteration into repetition, synonym, antonym, and super-ordinate. To
figure out how much important role they play, this section touches on their frequencies of
occurrence in the texts of EG, from that, lexical cohesive functions and structures will be
worked out.
To find out the most general overview of the using lexical cohesive devices in the
textbook of EG, the below table indicates the frequency of occurrence of lexical cohesive
devices(LCD) in nine chosen typical texts in that book to figure out the role of these
devices used in those texts.


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Types of LCD
Text

1
Text
2
Text
3
Text
4
Text
5
Text
6
Text
7
Text
8
Text
9
Average
Repetition
16%
35%
25%
21%
22%
47%
23%
33%
29%
27%
Synonym

19%
19%
12%
7%
8%
2%
19%
15%
3%
12%
Antonym
6%
3%
2%
4%
2%
5%
4%
3%
3%
4%
Super-ordinate
3%
2%
3%
3%
6%
2%
5%
2%

3%
3%
Collocation
56%
41%
58%
65%
62%
44%
49%
47%
62%
54%
Table 2.1: frequency of occurrence of lexical cohesive devices(LCD)
As seen in the above table, two major lexical cohesive devices which are used most
are repetition and collocation, especially collocation with the average of more than 50
percent. Obviously, antonym and super-ordinate rarely appeared in the texts. Therefore, it
means that repetition and collocation play more important role in the EG texts than
antonym and super-ordinate.
2.3.1.1. Repetition
In the term of lexical cohesion, repetition means repeating exactly a lexical item
that appeared previously in the text. In other words, repetition meets the demand of
coherence and cohesion, besides, in some cases, the repetition users would like to attract
the readers‟ attention even emphasize the important words. In the area of this section, only
two components of repetition which are mentioned and compared are repetition of Nouns/
Noun Phrases, and repetition of other parts of speech (except “to be” and “the”).
Types of
repetition
Text
1

Text
2
Text
3
Text
4
Text
5
Text
6
Text
7
Text
8
Text
9
Average
Nouns/NP
68 %
75 %
81 %
71 %
72 %
77 %
85 %
74 %
65 %
74%
Other parts
of speech

32 %
25
%
19 %
29 %
28 %
23 %
15 %
26 %
35 %
26%
Table 2.2: Occurrence of types of repetition
a. Repetition of Nouns/ Noun Phrases.


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As usual, the texts use key or topic words repeated for many times to emphasize the
topic or main points. Of course, repeated words are used as linking words to make the text
coherence. For example,
In text 1, ENERGY AND MINERAL RESERVE “CRISES”, the word “Mineral”
which appears 7 times is also the topic; or the word “petroleum ” which is repeated 11
times is one of the main points.
In text 2, the topic or title is “Mineral Exploration”, the author used the
word “Mineral” for 9 times and the word “Exploration” for 13 times.
In text 3, “ZONING” is the title of the text and repeated 21 times.
In text 4, like other texts, the word “ALTERATION” in the name “WALL ROCK
ALTERATION” is used for 9 times.
In text 5, the word “deposits” in this text “PLACER DEPOSITS” occurs 5 times,
whereas the word “gold” as a main point of the text is repeated 11 times.

In text 6, readers can see the word “Exploration” in the title “EXPLORATION
FOR PLACER DEPOSITS” for 6 times.
In text 7, “WEATHERING AS AN ORE FORMING PROCESS”, the word
“Weathering” seems to be emphasized a lot with 23 times of repetition.
In text 8, the same to text 7, the word “Weathering” in the title “DEPOSITS
RELATED TO WEATHERING” also appears 10 times.
Last, in text 9, DEPOSITS RELATED TO REGIONAL METAMORPHISM, the
word “metamorphism” occurs 15 times.
The following table indicates the summary.
Text
Title
Eg of Nouns/
Noun Phrases
Times of
repetition
1
ENERGY AND MINERAL RESERVE
“CRISES”
Mineral
7
Petroleum
11
2
Mineral Exploration
Mineral
9
Exploration
13
3
ZONING

Zoning
21


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4
WALL ROCK ALTERATION
Alteration
9
5
PLACER DEPOSITS
Deposits
5
Gold
11
6
EXPLORATION FOR PLACER DEPOSITS
Exploration
6
7
WEATHERING AS AN ORE FORMING
PROCESS
Weathering
23
8
DEPOSITS RELATED TO WEATHERING
Weathering
10
9

DEPOSITS RELATED TO REGIONAL
METAMORPHISM
Metamorphism
15
Table 2.3: Summary of the repeated words as topics or mainpoints.
It is said that most of specialized vocabularies and terminologies normally are Nouns
or Noun Phrases, which provide students with a lot of content of the texts. This leads
students to find out which specialized vocabularies and terminologies are important and
necessary to focus on and study. Of course, learners based on them can catch up with the
coherence of the texts and understand them deeply.
Besides, Noun Phrases are also used again owning to the unique characteristics of
ESP in general and EG in particular. In other words, there is no choice to replace one Noun
Phrase in ESP with an other one. So, it seems to be compulsory to repeat them to make
coherence in texts. In short, repetition is available in not only EG but other ESP as well.
These are some examples to illustrate Nouns/ Noun Phrases as terminologies.
Text
1
2
3
4
5
Eg of Nouns or
NPs as
Terminologies
petroleum
(11s)
barrels
(10s)
exploration
(13s),

mineral deposits
(4s)
zoning
(21s),
deposits
(7s)
minerals
(8s)
gold (11s)
diamond(6s)

Text
6
7
8
9
Eg of Nouns or
NPs as
Terminologies
Exploration(6s),
placer(4s)
Weathering(23s),
mineral(10s)
weathering
(10s)
metamorphism(15s)


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11s =11 times
Table 2.4: Examples of repeated Nouns/Noun phrases as terminologies
b. Repetition of different parts of speech.
The previous part is about using exact words again for some reasonable purposes,
however, in this part, the author just wants to mention the repetition of some words which
are different parts of speech with the similar meaning. This type of repetition plays a bit
fundamental role in making the texts coherence, but it is hopeful that students can be aware
of it and use effectively in reading comprehension and writing correctly.
For example,
The energy has brought home not only to Americans, but also to the people of all
industrial countries, and some not so industrialized, that oil and gas reserves are
finite.(Text 1)
Where intrusive rocks or other sources of mineral concentration appear in windows
in this thrust, mineralization is not uncommon. The Carlin gold mine is such an example.
Determining the depth to the trust is major problem, but small mineralized veinlets that
have penetrated the unfavorable silicic and volcanic allochthonous rocks are suggestive of
more concentrated mineralization in the autochthonous carbonate rocks below the thrust
fault.(Text 2)
Syngenetic deposits may be zonal parallel to a shore line or along a stream channel.
Any detection of a zonal pattern-epigenetic or syngenetic- is important to economic
geology because it helps predict changes in the style and grade of mineralization as a
deposit is developed and mined. Zones of abstraction and leaching that are parts of lateral
secretion, or solution-remobilization, should be reflected in cryptic or phase zoning.(Text
3)
Surface accumulation of heavy minerals can be detected by airborne pray or ground
scintillometer surveys and, more directly, by heavy mineral exploration (panning) surveys;

stream sediment geochemistry generally constitutes a less appropriate tool. In many cases
the mineralized gravel is situated directly on top of bed rock and covered by finer grained
sediments (sand, peat, clay). Testing of the mineralized gravel requires Banka drilling or, if
possible, pitting.(Text 6)


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Alter the mineralogy to greater either greater or less value by creating new valuable
or deleterious products.(Text 8)
It may convert a worthless material into a useful or valuable one, normally with a
change in composition and mineralogy; or It may simply “free” a resistant accessory
mineral by disintegrating the rock-forming minerals around it. (Text 8)
They may react with carbonate rocks or feldspars and other silicate minerals to
become neutral or slightly alkaline, typically with hydrolysis reactions which consume H
-

ions and therefore raise pH in the fluid phase. The rocks thus act as a buffer. (Text 8)
Most metamorphic petrologists would perceive of regional metamorphism as
involving a series of isograds, the so-called Bar-rovian zones. (Text 9)
2.3.1.2. Synonym
In some cases, the writer wants to remind the same information but they do not
overuse the exact words like repetition. Insteadingly, they tend to find synonyms to create
the sentences multiform. Finding a synonym of a word means that selecting another word
with the same or similar meaning. It is said that synonym is one of devices which makes
the texts coherence and avoids ambiguity and tautology. It is the fact that finding
synonyms of words especially terminologies of ESP including EG is really difficult. It is
the reason why there are fewer synonyms than repetition.
To analyze the detail of synonym in the texts, the author only divides it into four
main parts of speech consisting of Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and others mainly including

Adverbs.
The following table illustrates frequency of presence of Synonyms in 9 texts.
Parts of
speech
Text 1
Text 2
Text
3
Text
4
Text
5
Text
6
Text
7
Text
8
Text
9
Ave-
rage
Nouns
50%
53%
46%
25%
27%
25%
36%

58%
25%
38%
Verbs
5%
7%
9%
12%
0%
0%
14%
0%
0%
5%
Adjs
30%
30%
27%
25%
46%
50%
27%
5%
50%
32%
Others
15%
10%
18%
38%

27%
25%
23%
37%
25%
25%
Table 2.5: Frequency of presence of Synonyms in 9 texts

Although being used not much as repetition and collocation since readers look
through these nine texts, synonyms still play a vital role in making the texts in unification


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and coherence. The real situation is that there is not equal scale of using both different
sorts of lexical cohesive devices and different parts of speech in each sort not except
synonym. However, it is a certain result because of the unique characteristics of ESP in
general and EG in particular. As statistics in the above table, we can see that the highest
percentage of presence of synonyms belongs to Nouns containing much information that
the author would like to convey to readers. In contrast, Verbs seem to be rarely used as
synonyms. Besides, Adjective is also an important element for many writers to make use in
not only in EG but also other fields; maybe due to the descriptive ability of adjectives.
Using synonyms is considered to be the wise way to avoid using repetition too
much and this helps the texts coherent and not tautological.
The following table will give examples in detail.
Texts
Examples of Synonyms
1
Countries & Nations; Requires & Needs & Demands; Increase & Reach & Rise;
Finite & Little; Relatively & Rather & Severely

2
Studies& Search & Discoveries; Zonation & Area & Areas & Range & District &
Location; Brought into & Found; Blind & Hidden; Perspicacious & Dispensable;
Comparatively & Adequately.
3
Species & Classes; Single orebody & Single ore shoot; Limited & Restricting;
Normal & Reversed;
4
Conditions & States; Fissure & Conduit; Various & Different; Fundamental &
Significant; Routinely & Repetitively.
5
Magnetite & Blach sand; Travel downstream & Downstream transport; Disolved
& Disintergrated; Rich & Abundant; Seldom & Rarely; Commonly & Generally.
6
Carperdolith & An alternative ; Basic & Simple & Individual; Generally &
Ultimately;
7
Forms & Structures & Produces & Constituents; Acidic country rock & Parent
rock; Related & Involved; Contains & Includes; Troublesome & Untrustworthy;
Largest & Greatest & Top; Usually & Often; Considerably & Relatively.
8
Components & Compounds & Variations & Constituennts & Composition &
Elements; Enrichment & Enhancement; Carbonate rocks & Feldspars; Forms &


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Produces; Vital & Premise; Typically & Markedly & Principally; Widely &
Generally.
9

Industrial minerals & Rocks; Regional & Dynamothermal; Involving & Related
to; Widely & Broadly.
Table 2.6: Examples of Synonyms used in texts
When exploring the texts, there are many pairs of words with the similar meaning
as the above table. The one special characteristic is that all pairs of these words are the
same part of speech. However, the real situation readers can recognize easily and wonder if
many pairs of words with the similar meaning but different parts of speech are synonyms.
As example below:
The mining Congress Journal has indicated the demand, consumption, and deficit
of energy, metals, and nonmetallics, for the United States from 1950 o predictions for the
year 2000. In 1950, the deficits were zero to $1 billion, respectively. The predicted
deficiencies in the year 2000 are $22, $36, and $6 billion in the year 2000. (Text 1)
Where intrusive rocks or other sources of mineral concentration appear in windows
in this thrust, mineralization is not uncommon. The Carlin gold mine is such an example.
Determining the depth to the thrust is major problem, but small mineralized veinlets that
have penetrated the unfavorable silicic and volcanic allochthonous rocks are suggestive of
more concentrated mineralization in the autochthonous carbonate rocks below the thrust
fault.(Text 2)
In the first example, predictions and predicted have the similar meaning,
nevertheless, predictions is noun meanwhile predicted is adjective.
Moreover, in the second example, a pair of words “concentration” and
“concentrated” has the similar meaning, but the word “concentration” is noun and the
word “concentrated” is adjective. Besides, another pair of words “mineralization” and
“mineralized” are the same. In fact, this feature is so popular in not only EG texts but also
many texts of other fields. And many people are aware that they are types of synonyms.
To be sure of the answer, everybody should remind the theory of the synonym
which has the same or similar meaning to the previous word and they are the same part of
speech. Therefore, some typical examples have been mentioned are considered as a kind of
cohesive or linking device.
2.3.1.3. Antonym

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Antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of the previous word and they are
the words of the same part of speech.
Unlike synonyms, writers tend to find more than one synonym for a word, while
they have no choice to choose antonyms because there is normally only one antonym for
each word. It is the reason why antonym is used less than synonym. To clarify the
antonym, in the field of this study, antonym is divided into four major types according to
parts of speech including Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs.
Parts of
speech
Text
1
Text 2
Text 3
Text
4
Text
5
Text
6
Text
7
Text
8
Text
9
Ave-

rage
Nouns
33%
25%
0%
20%
0%
0%
17%
20%
0%
13%
Verbs
11%
0%
0%
20%
33%
0%
17%
40%
0%
13%
Adjs
44%
75%
100%
60%
67%
67%

33%
40%
33%
58%
Advs
11%
0%
0%
0%
0%
33%
33%
0%
67%
16%
Table 2.7: Frequency of presence of Antonyms in 9 texts

Due to the particular features of antonym, texts often used synonyms than
antonyms. Especially, adjectives-one part of speech- are the most popular in the texts up to
58 percent. Meanwhile, Nouns, Verbs and Adverbs get less percentage of occurrence in the
texts about more than 10 percent.
These are some more examples to illustrate the comments:
The horizons from the unstructured saprolite upwards slide over the structured
saprolite as substratum.
Geologists usually work from the hard earth‟s core towards the surface and stop at
the first signs of weathering, geographers study the surface forms and there origin but too
often forthe to look at the underlying rocks, pedologists and agronomists seldom reach
deeper than the first few metres. (Text 7)
The word metamorphism can be defined both narrowly and broadly. (Text 9)
Based on the analysis, we can find out two main groups to recognize antonyms.

The first one that readers are only sure due to the meaning of those words such as narrowly
and broadly, Initial and Last. In fact, it means that we have to know exact meaning to
confirm if they are antonyms. In some cases, we must focus on the context to guess its
meaning. For instance,


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“The nature of wall-rock alteration by hydrothermal processes offers strong
evedence in support of the view that many hydrothermal solutions are neutral or slightly
acidic at higher temperatures. Helgeson (1964) states that hydrothermal alteration of
aluminosilicate rocks is essentially aprocess of trading H
+
ions for other cations in the
rock”.
More luckily, some devices lead readers to figure out antonyms more easily as this
example:
Color changes include bleaching, darkening, and the development of aureoles of
various colors. Pastel colors of micas and clays are especially prominent around some ore
deposits and may form conspicuous leads to ore.
Otherwhile, the second group belongs to pairs of suffixation which are easy to
realize; in other words, when we master the suffixation of antonyms, we completely work
out which are antonyms. For example, unstructured and structure, uncommon and
common, dispensable and indispensable, ect.
2.3.1.4. Super-ordinate
According to linguistics, Super-ordinate is a word the meaning of which includes
the meaning of another word or words.
In the field of the EG texts, super-ordinates do not occur much; however, it is
popular in some ESP texts including EG texts, especially the scientists in this field would
like to describe the components, elements, or compounds related to Geology.

Normally, readers find out some pairs of words that are super-ordinates.
Nevertheless, in EG, it is advisable to mention groups of super-ordinates. It means that
there are lists of words which are included in the meaning of a word.
The most immediately obvious example of super-ordinate is general noun with a
list of elements, compounds or components normally as parts belong to a whole. This point
has been assumed up to, however, in these texts, one of typical types of super-ordinate is a
list of proper nouns such as countries, cities or places to make the texts not only reliable
but also coherence.
Some illustrated examples as follows.

Texts
Super-ordinates