Grammatical and Lexical Cohesion Analysis in Thesis Abstracts of Libyan English Department Students at University of Zawia

Abstract

This research aims to describe and analyze the grammatical and lexical cohesion present in the thesis abstracts written by Libyan students enrolled in the English department at the University of Zawia, Libya. The study employs Halliday and Hasan's (1976) grammatical and lexical cohesion theory to dissect the grammatical and lexical cohesion within the students' abstracts. The research sample comprises abstracts from two students' theses. The findings reveal the presence of three grammatical cohesion devices in the abstracts: reference, substitution, and conjunction. Notably, reference, especially demonstrative reference, emerged as the most prevalent form of grammatical cohesion across both abstracts. In terms of lexical cohesion, four cohesive elements are identified: repetition, synonyms, antonyms, and collocations. Among these, repetition emerges as the most frequently employed lexical device in both abstracts.