A Study of Lexical Cohesion in English Book II Published by PTB

Abstract

This study investigates the lexical cohesion in the textbook of English at the Intermediate level titled English Book II published by the Punjab Textbook Board Lahore (PTB). A mixed-method approach was used to carry out the study of lexical cohesion in the book. Elements of lexical cohesion were identified through textual analysis method apart from this syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, lexical density, type-token ratio, number of sentences, and frequencies of lexical cohesion were assessed by using a corpus too- UAM. Halliday and Hassan’s (2014) model of lexical cohesion was used as a framework for analysis. The findings of the study suggested that both syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations display different proportions of arrangements in different chapters of the English Book II. The study concluded that textuality is built up through cohesion, and the cohesive knowledge of the text helps greatly in comprehending the text for readers.  Furthermore, it was also concluded that the use of syntagmatic relations is more frequent as compared to the paradigmatic relations in the text of English Book II.  The current study is significant as it can be useful for the material developers and course designers in the particular ELT context in Pakistan as it provides useful information about lexical density or difficulty level of the text. This can also be supportive for the writers and learners in using lexical cohesion appropriately in their writings.