Cohesive devices in students' IELTS writing tasks

The purpose of this study is to determine if training courses in writing can cause a change in the learners' use of cohesion in their writing. 68 participants (32 male, 36 female) wrote two compositions on only one topic with a two-month interval (i.e., pre-test and post-test). In the mean time, they received overt instruction on cohesive ties (specifically on the use of reference, reiteration, synonyms, and superordinate words in their writing. Frequencies were counted and changed into percentages. Paired-samples t-tests were conducted. Results after analysis of the data indicated that overt instruction is a predictor of success in the use of cohesive ties in IELTS writing tasks. The greatest improvement was observed in the use of reference and superordinate words.