The Effect of the Explicit Instruction of Connectives in Reading Expository Texts

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the effects of the explicit instruction of connectives in reading expository texts in terms of cohesiveness, which is assumed to be an influence on reading comprehension by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. Instructive interventions were carried out on the subjects who were second year students at a College of Technology. Fifty-nine students were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. At the point of instruction, four kinds of connectives - additive, adversative, causal and temporal - were introduced to the experimental group after an explanation of the functions of connectives. A pre-reading and post-reading comprehension test was conducted for both groups. The results showed no remarkable changes in either group as a whole. But the reading comprehension improved in both texts with connectives and texts without connectives, with the outcome of a significant difference being found between the weaker students in the experimental and control group.