Investigating Difficulties Facing Sudanese EFL University Students in Using Grammatical Cohesion Devices in Sudanese Universities

Abstract

This study investigates an important area of English language teaching and learning. It examines the present situation of teaching and learning grammatical cohesion devices, the problems students encounter during writing English texts and the learners' proficiency level of writing skills when they are in the final year at university level in Sudan (Khartoum State). It also, examines the writing syllabus and writing materials used at university level. Thus, this study focuses on the problems facing the students in writing English texts properly using grammatical cohesion devices appropriately at university level. It is firstly hypothesized that Sudanese EFL university students have many problems in writing, most notably in using grammatical cohesive devices. Secondly, Sudanese EFL university students do not use grammatical cohesion devices appropriately. Thirdly, there is an apparent weakness in Sudanese University students' written work due to their inability to apply grammatical cohesive devices adequately. Finally, Sudanese EFL University students differ to a large degree in achieving grammatical cohesive devices in their texts. To confirm or reject the hypotheses of the study the researcher used two tools; a test for final year students and a questionnaire for teachers. The sample of the study was consisted of 100 students. The data collected from these participants were statistically analyzed and the results were critically discussed. The results of the study prove that some of the students lack the ability to write appropriately and accurately and some of them don’t know the correct use of grammatical cohesion devices so as to write cohesive texts. It also proves that some teachers don’t raise the awareness of students towards the importance of using cohesive devices to have a unified text when it comes to writing. Moreover, the findings of the study confirm that, after using the ways of writing, having background knowledge about cohesive devices, attention, guiding the students towards using grammatical cohesion devices appropriately while practicing writing, the students receive higher test scores than before.