Investigating Cohesive Devices in The Lucy Poems Using the Hallidayan Model

Abstract

Using the Hallidayan model, this research investigates the usage of cohesive devices in Wordsworth’s The Lucy Poems, analyzing how these linguistic aspects contribute to the overall coherence and meaning of the text. This study also aims to seek whether the students enrolled in a Discourse Analysis course can identify the cohesive devices in The Lucy Poems. A total of 26 students identifying cohesive devices from literary texts served as the study's data, with a specific focus on the top six students whose identification of cohesive devices in the selected poem, The Lucy Poems, was analyzed and compared to the overall cohesive devices present in that poem to highlight the potential of poetry as a viable resource for teaching cohesive devices. Furthermore, the findings from the top five students (the primary data) were juxtaposed with the identifications made by 20 other students (the secondary data) who analyzed short stories and fiction. This descriptive qualitative study revealed conjunctions, references, and substitutes are all recognized more thoroughly than ellipses in the selected poems. The study found about 55% of references, 32.35% of conjunctions, and 11.34% of ellipsis in The Lucy Poems. 50% of the students identified 100% of substitutions, more than 80% of conjunctions, and 67% identified more than 65% of references, whereas only 33% could identify 15% of ellipsis in Lucy’s poems. Moreover, understanding cohesive devices helps students analyze and evaluate information more efficiently. This study implies specific literary pieces might be provided to facilitate a thorough review of grammatical cohesive devices. The comparison between the primary and secondary data claims that ESL students are yet to learn the mechanics of text linkage through ellipsis, and more efforts should be made to teach the ellipsis to raise students' competency levels.