A Contrastive Study of Lexical Cohesion in Introduction in Research Articles: Native English and Iranian Applied Linguistics

Abstract

This study intended to contrast the frequency and density of the use of different types of lexical cohesion in introduction part of native English and Iranian applied linguistic research articles. The framework utilized for the analysis of lexical cohesion was the one employed by Halliday and Hasan (1976) in cohesion in English. Forty introduction parts of native English and Iranian applied linguistic articles; twenty from each group were selected. For contrastive analysis, the SPSS software was used. The results revealed some similarities and differences in the use of lexical cohesion sub-types in introduction part of native English and Iranian applied linguistic research articles in terms of frequency and density of utilization of sub-types of lexical cohesion. The statistical tool of the t-test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference among the lexical cohesion devices in both groups of native English and Iranian texts. Based on these findings, the frequency of sub-types of lexical cohesion was (Rept, Gen. N, Coll, Syn, Hypo, Ant. And Mero) in native English texts, while the frequency Iranian texts was (Rept, Gen, N. Coll, Syn, Ant, Mer and Hyp). Both native English and Iranian texts exhibited a general tendency in using repetition, general noun and collection but metonymy and antonym were the least used sub-categories in Iranian texts. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the use of lexical ties in introduction part of native English and Iranian applied linguistic research articles. Regarding the density of the texts, the analysis indicated that introduction part of native English applied linguistic articles was denser than their corresponding Iranian ones. This study might have implications for teachers and researchers in the field of teaching English as a foreign language because of the fact that teaching sub-types of lexical cohesion to foreign language learners will improve the quality of their reading and writing.