Abstract:
The purpose of this research work is to check whether students are familiar with the use of Cohesion and thematic progression in writing essays. It also aims at find out the importance of using cohesive devices to create cohesive discourse. Thus, it hypothesizes that the use of grammatical cohesive devices would strength students’ writing. The hypothesis is evaluated by a descriptive study inferred from the results of the students’ test. They show that the use of grammatical cohesive devices by 3rd- Year Students of English at the Department of English Languages, Sudan University of Science & Technology, However, some inappropriate uses of grammatical cohesive devices and thematic progression are easily noticed concerning the total use of those devices. In addition, some grammatical cohesive devices are widely used but inappropriately; and some of them are less used but appropriately. Students’ use of grammatical cohesive devices mainly appears with the use of conjunctions because they are most probably known by learners; however, most of the conjunction devices are used inappropriately. Also, it is remarked that in each type of grammatical cohesive devices used there is always a predominant device. The data were analyzed by using the statistical program (SPSS), and then there was a textual analysis of subjects written texts. The data analysis showed that, there is weakness in university students, written work due to their ignorance of cohesion and thematic progression. Moreover, the most of the students do not use cohesive devices and thematic progression appropriately. Also the study revealed that there are no significant differences in the achievement of the students. At the end of the study the researcher presented some recommendations concerning the instructors and syllabus designers. These recommendations focused on paying attention to the questions of (cohesion and thematic progression) when teaching or designing syllabuses.
