A Comparative Study of Cohesion in English and Myanmar Language

          The objectives of this study were 1) to examine the types of cohesive devices used in the texts of English and Myanmar language; 2) to compare the similarities and differences of cohesion in English and Myanmar language. In order to investigate this, the researcher analyzed two pairs of translationally related texts and four pairs of thematically related texts in terms of cohesive devices that they used. In analyzing texts, the number of cohesive ties and types of cohesion, namely reference, substitution, conjunction, ellipsis and lexical cohesion were considered. The texts used in this study were of different text types: short stories, articles, news stories and editorials. The result of the analysis showed similarities and differences between
the two languages in their use of cohesive devices. It indicated a marked difference between the two languages in the frequency of instances of reference and ellipsis.

          The English texts had a greater number of reference items than the Myanmar texts while the Myanmar texts had a strong preference for ellipsis. Moreover,
it revealed that different rhetorical patterns between English and Myanmar cause differences in the use of cohesive devices. The study also showed that text type determines the choice of cohesive devices. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching vocabulary and developing reading and writing skills in ESL/ EFL classrooms.