This action research examines the effectiveness of an explicit cohesive device training procedure on improving foreign language learners’ reading comprehension. The research was carried out in a six-week experimental teaching procces for a class of 24 non-English majored students with the aid of two main data collection instruments, including two reading comprehension tests (a pre-test and a post-test) and a survey questionnaire. | THE IMPACTS OF EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS ON COHESIVE DEVICES ON IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION Bo Thi Ly* Department of Language Training and Professional Development, VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Pham Van Dong, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 08 February 2018 Revised 27 July 2018; Accepted 31 July 2018 Abstract: This action research examines the effectiveness of an explicit cohesive device training procedure on improving foreign language learners’ reading comprehension. The research was carried out in a six-week experimental teaching procces for a class of 24 non-English majored students with the aid of two main data collection instruments, including two reading comprehension tests (a pre-test and a post-test) and a survey questionnaire. The data was mainly analyzed quantitatively using the Paired Sample T-tests. The overall result revealed that there was a significant improvement on students’ reading comprehension, which indicated that the technique worked well and was found effective in the study. Keywords: reading comprehension, cohesive devices, International Standard Program (ISP) 1. Introduction 1 With regard to the great importance of reading competence in academic and occupational contexts, teaching reading comprehension has been always the focus of much concern. However, it is observed after years of practice in reading, second language learners still find it difficult to make sense of the texts they read. As pointed out by many scholars such as Cook (1989) and Nuttal (1982), one of the reasons the failure to interpret the writer’s cohesive signals as intended which leads to readers’ inability to understand correctly the functional value of individual sentences in regard to their relationship with one another and within the whole reading passage. In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976) the continuity that cohesive relations bring * Tel.: 84-932262228 Email: about is a semantic continuity. This makes it .
