An Evaluation of English for Ethiopian Grade 12 Students’ Textbook in Cultivating Students’ Paragraph Writing with Particular Emphasis on Cohesion and Coherence

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of English for Ethiopian Grade 12 Students’ Textbook in cultivating students’ paragraph writing with particular emphasis on cohesion and coherence at Bantu Preparatory. Descriptive research design was employed, to conduct the study. Three EFL teachers and 20 students were selected in a systematic random sampling technique. The study employed three data gathering tools: document analysis, semistructured interview and paragraph writing test. Document analysis was employed to identify whether the textbook has adequate cohesive devices that help students to write coherent and cohesive paragraph. Paragraph writing test was conducted to investigate the factors that affect the cohesion and coherence of paragraph written by students. Moreover, semi- structured interview was conducted with three English language teachers to identify what the English language teachers used to do to help students in writing a coherent paragraph. All data collected using different tools were analyzed qualitatively. The study indicated that the occurrences of cohesive devices with their functions in Grade 12 Students’ English Textbook were not sufficient and the paragraphs that the students wrote had problems of cohesion and coherence. The paragraphs have problems of organization, unity of ideas and the students tend to use more conjunctions and references due to insufficient provision of cohesive devices in the textbook that helps students to write cohesive and coherence paragraph writing. In addition, the teachers’ activities designed to help students write coherent paragraphs were inadequate. Therefore, the textbook should provide sufficient and appropriate cohesive ties that help learners to join sentences together that keep the flow of ideas between sentences with varieties of activities.