| The publication of Halliday and Hasan’s Cohesion in English in 1976 has engendered a large number of studies on cohesion. Their cohesion theory that cohesion plays an important part in writing is supported by most researchers though it is doubted by some other researchers. Because connector is one kind of cohesion, studies on connectors stem from research on cohesion. Relative studies are concerned with two aspects:(1) characteristics of connector use in English writing of native and non-native speakers; (2) relationship between connector use and writing quality. Many researchers unanimously agree that English writing of non-native speakers is featured by inappropriate use of connectors (overuse, underuse or misuse). However, there is no consensus among the researchers on relationship between connector use and writing quality. Thus there is a need to further probe into the relation between them. The present study is aimed to explore correlation between connector use in English majors’ writing and writing quality. The research questions addressed in the present study are as follows.(1)Does overall use of connectors correlate highly with writing quality in terms of type and frequency? Is there a negative correlation between connector errors (including inappropriate use of connectors) and writing quality?(2)What are differences in connector use between high-quality and low-quality writings? Do they reach a significant level?(3)What problems of connector use do English learners encounter? What are reasons?The present study uses Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesion theory as analytical framework. Their classification of connectors is accepted in the service of identifying and calculating connectors. Samples used in this study came from an examination of advanced English writing class. In total,58 English essays of third-year English majors were collected as samples and the software SPSS 16.0 was employed as an auxiliary tool to help complete analysis. Additionally, in terms of the third research question, typical examples of overuse and misuse of connectors were extracted for detailed analyses.Results of the study indicate that (1) there is no significant relationship between overall use of connectors and writing quality concerning type and frequency while connector errors are closely related to writing quality; (2) there are differences in type, frequency and connector errors between high-quality and low-quality writings. However, differences in type and frequency are not significant, but differences in connector errors reach a significant level:(3) problems of connector use in this study include overuse and misuse of connectors. Origins of the problems are L1 transfer, poor writing ability in mother tongue, teaching materials for English writing and so on.The findings from the study demonstrate that connectors play an important role in writing when they are used properly. Results obtained from the study also hold some implications for teachers to teach English writing and provide English learners with suggestions on connector learning. An integration of teaching English writing and reading, an alteration of the design of English writing teaching materials, paying more attention to both form and meaning of connectors and taking advantage of corpus for learning English connectors are effective ways to facilitate writing quality. |
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