Cohesion and Coherence on the 9 Grade Students’ Writing at SMP PGRI 3 Medan

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to identify the types of cohesion and coherence made by the students in their writing texts and how are the cohesion and coherence are used by the students’ writing. This study use descriptive qualitative approach. The object of the study is 30 descriptive texts written by the 9 th grade students’ of SMP PGRI 3 Medan. The data are collected through documentation. Furthermore, the data are analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The technique of analysis involved observation and test. To find the results tabulation is used in counting the data, then the results show that there are 519 instances of cohesion from the total of occurrences. The types of cohesion are reference (58,76%), substitution (2,90%), ellipsis (0%), conjunction (27,74%), reiteration (10,60%), and collocation (0%). And 476 instances of coherence from the total of occurrences, the types of coherence are repeat key noun (11,55%), Using Consistent Pronoun (50,42%), and using the transition of signal (31,72%) in 30 of the students’ descriptive texts. And from the data analysis in type of cohesion shows that in the grammatical cohesion, reference occurs 15 times and the lowest one was ellipsis that was 0 (zero). In lexical cohesion, the most frequent occurences was reiteration that is 7 times and the lowest one was collocation that was 0 (zero). From the data analysis in type of coherence shows that the most frequent occurences using consistent pronoun that is 15 times and the logical order was the least frequent that is 1 times. It can be concluded that the students are competent in producing cohesion and coherence in their writing texts. They utilize all the types of cohesion in their writing texts except ellipsis, and they apply all the types of coherence