An investigation into how to use linking words in the development of speaking and writing skills for the IELTS examination

An investigation into how to use linking words
in the development of speaking and writing
skills for the IELTS examination



Lý Quỳnh Trang



Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ
Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Võ Đại Quang
Năm bảo vệ: 2010


Abstract. A challenge for English learners is to express their ideas more efficiently and
effectively in writing and speaking. For IELTS examinees, this challenge is even harder when
they have to present their ideas coherently and cohesively as well. The purpose of this study is to
explore the use of linking words in IELTS speaking and writing, to provide some basic theory of
discourse analysis, cohesion and coherence, linking words and IELTS speaking and writing
information in order that English teachers and learners would be able to increase their band score
by the correct use of linking words. The study just focuses on seven popular semantic categories
of linking word, that is, listing, transition, summation, apposition, cause / result, inference and
contrasting and their use in five writing task 1 answers, five writing task 2 answers and five
speaking answers. The study reveals that there is a substantial demand for the use of linking
word in IELTS speaking and writing with 54.2% of occurrence. Also, the study finds out the
most common semantic categories for each task. Finally, several pedagogical implications for
improving the coherence and cohesion of IELTS speaking and writing are given as well as some
suggestions for English teachers, English learners and further research.
Keywords. Từ nối; Kỹ năng nói; Tiếng Anh; Kỹ năng viết

Content
1. Rationale
Language is functioned as means to maintain and set up social relations; people in all
circumstances get involved in expressing their feeling, attitudes and opinions. Therefore,
nowadays, when globalization is a worldwide tendency and especially after Vietnam joined
WTO, Vietnamese find English - the international language more important and necessary to
learn than ever before. Over the decades, there have been a growing number of English learners
wishing to study at tertiary level in English speaking countries. As a result, many English as
Second Language (ESL) students are enrolled in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses
which provide the opportunity to acquire essential skills for their prospective studies in English-
medium universities (i.e., courses taught in English at universities in Anglophone or non-
Anglophone countries). Besides acquiring academic skills, EAP courses have other aims, such as
to support non-native English speaker students to go through English language tests such as the
International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS), which is widely recognized as a
language requirement for entering universities mainly in the United Kingdom, Australia, and
New Zealand and many other countries around the world. Academic essay-writing and speaking
are two of the four skills which international students must acquire both for their prospective
studies in English-mediated university courses and for obtaining the requiring score in the
writing and speaking section of the IELTS.
Linking words are crucial in writing and speaking in that they help readers / listeners recognize
the relationships between ideas and follow the thread of messages that the writer wants to
convey. By connecting individual clauses, sentences and paragraphs into a single theme, linking
words make obvious and visible the writers / speakers’ “line of thought”. However, during my
process of teaching IELTS for my students, I come to realize that the students lack the adequate
linguistic knowledge to convey their ideas when writing or speaking and they have difficulties in
choosing a link word that appropriately expressess the logical relations between ideas and thus
the whole message of their text is vague, unlogical and incoherent. As a result, this obstacle
affect their IELTS band score and limit their opportunities of further study.
Apart from things mentioned above, it is the fact that a lot of researches have been conducted on

linguistics and discourse analysis, yet few of them are in reference to IELTS or linking words.
Also, on the way to master English, students even haven’t made enough effort or spent sufficient
time comprehend the use of linking words. Concequently, these two sections should deserve
more attention to be studied and discussed because of the great importance of lingking words and
the increasing popularity of IELTS in Vietnam.
İn conclusion, from all the considered reasons, I find it necessary and useful to carry out a study
on linking words and their application in IELTS writing and speaking. İ do hope that English
learners and I myself would be more clear about the use of link words to express our ieads
correctly and effectively.
2. Aims of the study
This study is targeted at presenting an investigation in the use of linking words in IELTS writing
and speaking. İt attempts:
- to provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of cohesion and linking words as
one type of cohesive device.
- to compare the frequencies of different semantic categories of linking words occurrences
in IELTS writing task 1, IELTS writing Task 2 and IELTS speaking task with a view to
clarifying the typical categories for each task.
- to suggest some implications for teaching and learning linking words in order to express
our ideas precisely and comprehensibly as well as to improve students’ IELTS band
score.
3. Scope of the study
Within the limited time and knowledge, it is not my ambition to mention all issues of discourse
analysis. The study is mainly focused on the use of linking words as one type of cohesive device
at clausal and sentence levels in the two skills tested in IELTS academic module: writing and
speaking within seven main categories in 15 sample answers, that is: Listing, Transition,
Summation, Apposition, Cause / Result, Inference and Contrasting.
Finally, the study will not try to propose all possible solutions to cohesion teaching and learning
but only suggest some implication which is expected to help English users in general and IELTS
examinees employ linking words more precisely and effectively.
4. Significance of the study

In terms of theoretical significance, the study brings with it the task to verify the correctness and
significance if linguistic theory by working on IELTS speaking and writing samples. It is hoped
to improve the existing ideas on linking words to satisfy the individuals’ questions.
İn terms of practical significance, this research gives out some applications such as combining
linguitis theory and practice in analyzing English spoken and written discourse of IELTS. İn
addition, the study suggest some implication for English teachers and learners to gain effective
use of linking words in expressing ideas and then they would be able to raise their IELTS band
score as well as their English competence.
5. Methodology
5.1 Approaches
So as to achieve the objectives of the study, we have to follow both qualitative and quantitative
approaches, which are strategic methods in the study. However, quantitative approach is
exploited most of the time to search for the frequency of linking words occurrence and their
semantic categories distribution in the two skills IELTS speaking and writing. Qualitative study
is also useful for us to work out if there are links among clauses and sentences in IELTS
speaking and writing answers, and how we can apply the discourse analysis of linking words in
15 samples to improve the IELTS writing and speaking cohesive and coherence band score.
The research questions explored in this study are as follows:
1. What are the occurrence frequencies of linking words in IELTS Speaking and
Writing? Is there any difference between speaking and writing T1 and T2?
2. What are the most common semantic categories of linking words used in writing
T1 and T2 and speaking?
3. What are the possible implications of the study?
5.2 Methods
5.2.1 Techniques
To accomplish this thesis, we will, firstly, go through a number of materials on discourse
analysis and grammar to build up the theoretical background for the research. The study takes the
theory of discourse analysis as a base on which the most noticeable cohesive devices of IELTS
writing and speaking samples are examined.
Then, the paper will be based on reviewing IELTS Preparation and Practice materials in order to

collect and classify linking words for description, analysis and induction.
Besides, the tackling methods are statistic (getting the statistics from IELTS speaking and
writing samples); analytical (examining in detail the statistics and also analyzing the data
obtained) and synthetical (drawing striking features from the analysis).
Also, we apply inductive reasoning to move from less general to more general statements. That
is from typical examples of the use of linking words in IELTS samples, we process and analyze
these data and then draw out pedagogical implications for English teachers and learners.
5.2.2 Data collection
Population is all members of any well-defined class of people, events or objects. On the other
hand, it is the large group from which the generalization is made as a number of people who has
at least the same characteristic. The population of this study is all IELTS writing and Speaking
sample answers in effective and popular series for IELTS Preparation and Practice which include
Cambridge Practice Tests for IELTS 1-7, KAPLAN IELTS, 101 Hints for IELTS, 202 Hints for
IELTS, IELTS Practice Tests 1 -2, IELTS Test Builder 1-2, New Insight into IELTS, IELTS
Graduation, Focusing on IELTS speaking and listening; Writing and Reading.
A sample is a portion of population that is observed. The sample of this study is 15 sample
answers (five writing task 1 answers, five task 2 answers and five speaking answers) which are
chosen on linking words employment basis, that is to say, I extract the answers whose
occurrence of linking words is of high frequency and these samples have to be model answers
written by IELTS examiners or candidates who achieved IELTS band score 7 and higher.
Therefore, the technique applied here is purposive random sampling. According to Wiersma
(1991:265) “purposive sampling is the selection conducted based on the characteristics of the
units (sites or individual) relevant to the research problems”.
15 IELTS written and spoken discourses are picked out based on the samples choosing method
mentioned above. Moreover, for IELTS writing, there are two tasks: Task 1 and Task 2 and each
task have different types of questions so the samples chosen should also ensure this diversity. In
Task 1, examinees are given questions containing some visual information such as graphs
(tables, lines, bars, pie charts) and diagrams. Examinees are expected to write a short description
of information presented in the visual data. Therefore I chose three samples of describing graphs
and two samples of describing diagram to investigate the use of linking words. As for Task 2,

there are three main types of questions: argumentative essay, discursive essay and account essay
and so I chose two samples of argumentative type, two samples of discursive type and one
sample of account type.
5.2.3 Data analysis
To do the analysis, we use a coding system which aims to make our analysis clearer and easier to
follow.
Semantic categories of linking words
Coding
1. Listing
a. Enumeration
a1. To enumerate
a2. To indicate order of importance
b. Addition
b1. To introduce an additional idea or reinforcement
b2. To introduce an equative
2. Transition
a. To introduce a new topic
b. To show temporal relation (simultaneous or chronological order)
3. Summation
4. Apposition
a. To introduce an example
b. To introduce a restatement or explanation
5. Cause and result
a. To introduce a result
b. To introduce a cause / reason
6. Inference
a. To introduce an alternative
b. To introduce a condition
7. Contrast
a. To introduce a replacement

b. To introduce opposite ideas
c. To introduce a concession
L1
L1a
L1a1
L1a2
L1b
L1b1
L1b2
L2
L2a
L2b
L3
L4
L4a
L4b
L5
L5a
L5b
L6
L6a
L6b
L7
L7a
L7b
L7c
Table 1: Semantic categories codes of Linking words
The next step is to number the sentences in each sample answer and then read through the
answers to find the link between sentences and work out the employment of linking words in
terms of semantic function used. And thus we have to tabulate the use of linking words for each

text, that is, each text will be analyzed using a table that is divided into four columns: No,
Sentence No, Cohesive item and Semantic category. Attention is focused on the frequencies of
linking words occurred in those samples.
6. Design of the study
The study is designed in the following parts:
INTRODUCTION
This part introduces rationale for choosing the topic, aims, scopes, significance, methodology
and organization of the study.
DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature review is the theoretical foundation of cohesion, ling words, IELTS
writing and IELTS sepeaking on which the study is based and set up.
Chapter 2: Findings and Discussions provides a summary of major findings of the low and
high frequencies of different kinds of linking words and some comparisons between IELTS
writing task 1 and task 2 and IELTS speaking.
Chapter 3: Pedagogical implications of the study gives suggestions for imrpoving cohence
and cohesion in speaking and writing in general English and IELTS examination.
CONCLUSION
This part summarises major findings of the study, gives concluding remarks and suggestions for
further study.



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