Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles

The literature on cohesive devices is marked with evident dearth in studies that consider the context-text ties. The current paper attempts to fill this gap, and, therefore, combat an idealised ‘villain’ in research, which is confining textual analysis to in-text relations. The study propounds the i...

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Main Author: Abu-Ayyash, Emad A. S. (author)
Published: 2020
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Online Access:https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2883
https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2001-07
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author Abu-Ayyash, Emad A. S.
author_facet Abu-Ayyash, Emad A. S.
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Abu-Ayyash, Emad A. S.
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-02
2025-04-14T13:37:01Z
2025-04-14T13:37:01Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv Abu-Ayyash, E.A.S. (no date) “Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles,” Gema Online Journal of Language Studies, 20(1), p. n/a.
1675-8021
https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2883
https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2001-07
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en_US
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv GEMA Online®
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies Volume 20(1)
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv exophoric reference; homophoric reference; cohesive devices; opinion articles; context and culture
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
description The literature on cohesive devices is marked with evident dearth in studies that consider the context-text ties. The current paper attempts to fill this gap, and, therefore, combat an idealised ‘villain’ in research, which is confining textual analysis to in-text relations. The study propounds the idea of expanding the analysis to include ties between the written text and the surrounding context and culture. The specific purpose is to explore the use and function of the cohesive devices which link the text to the context (exophora) and the ones that relate the text to the culture (homophora). The methodology involved explaining the cohesive devices to a postgraduate TESOL class of eight students (non-native speakers of English) in one of the universities in the UAE. After that, the students were asked to work in pairs and produce four opinion articles about a recent newspaper topic of their choice. They selected the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) leader’s call to ban the burqa in the UK. In addition, two articles from the Independent and the Guardian on the same topic were also discussed. Comparative analysis was conducted on the six articles vis-à-vis the use and functions of cohesive devices. The analysis involved four categories: person deixis, spatial deixis, temporal deixis, and the definite article. The findings showed that exophoric and homopohric cohesive devices were employed abundantly, with exophora occurring in more instances. The study also revealed the relevant functions that have evident implications about assumptive and supportive roles of cohesive devices.
id budr_74e1f3c12ed1c7cc3dba7c8d56687517
identifier_str_mv Abu-Ayyash, E.A.S. (no date) “Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles,” Gema Online Journal of Language Studies, 20(1), p. n/a.
1675-8021
language_invalid_str_mv en_US
network_acronym_str budr
network_name_str The British University in Dubai repository
oai_identifier_str oai:bspace.buid.ac.ae:1234/2883
publishDate 2020
publisher.none.fl_str_mv GEMA Online®
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository_id_str
spelling Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion ArticlesAbu-Ayyash, Emad A. S.exophoric reference; homophoric reference; cohesive devices; opinion articles; context and cultureThe literature on cohesive devices is marked with evident dearth in studies that consider the context-text ties. The current paper attempts to fill this gap, and, therefore, combat an idealised ‘villain’ in research, which is confining textual analysis to in-text relations. The study propounds the idea of expanding the analysis to include ties between the written text and the surrounding context and culture. The specific purpose is to explore the use and function of the cohesive devices which link the text to the context (exophora) and the ones that relate the text to the culture (homophora). The methodology involved explaining the cohesive devices to a postgraduate TESOL class of eight students (non-native speakers of English) in one of the universities in the UAE. After that, the students were asked to work in pairs and produce four opinion articles about a recent newspaper topic of their choice. They selected the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) leader’s call to ban the burqa in the UK. In addition, two articles from the Independent and the Guardian on the same topic were also discussed. Comparative analysis was conducted on the six articles vis-à-vis the use and functions of cohesive devices. The analysis involved four categories: person deixis, spatial deixis, temporal deixis, and the definite article. The findings showed that exophoric and homopohric cohesive devices were employed abundantly, with exophora occurring in more instances. The study also revealed the relevant functions that have evident implications about assumptive and supportive roles of cohesive devices.GEMA Online®2025-04-14T13:37:01Z2025-04-14T13:37:01Z2020-02ArticleAbu-Ayyash, E.A.S. (no date) “Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles,” Gema Online Journal of Language Studies, 20(1), p. n/a.1675-8021https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2883https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2001-07en_USGEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies Volume 20(1)oai:bspace.buid.ac.ae:1234/28832026-01-29T15:55:34Z
spellingShingle Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
Abu-Ayyash, Emad A. S.
exophoric reference; homophoric reference; cohesive devices; opinion articles; context and culture
title Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
title_full Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
title_fullStr Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
title_full_unstemmed Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
title_short Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
title_sort Context and Culture via Cohesive Devices in Higher Education Students’ and Professional Writers’ Opinion Articles
topic exophoric reference; homophoric reference; cohesive devices; opinion articles; context and culture
url https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2883
https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2001-07