The Pedagogical Implications of Coherence in English Argumentative Discourse by Indonesian Professionals

Abstract

In this global era, all educated people, such as professionals and college students, need to have English writing skills. Writing competence will facilitate professionals’ success in their careers and students’ success in their studies. However, coherent writing is a complex task that requires complex skills and is therefore not easy. For manyIndonesian scientists, English scientific writing for international seminars or journals is likely still the hardest work (Suharno 2012). Based on the background above, this study investigated the coherence of English articles, such as argumentative discourses by Indonesian professionals. The study is descriptive and qualitative in nature. It applies both topical and paradigmatic analyses. The data of the study include 14 English articles found in the “Opinion Forum” of The Jakarta Post. The research results reveal that, for the most part, English argumentative discourses by Indonesian writers are developed only partly coherently.