Vietnamese Teachers’ Perceptions and Assessment of Coherence in Argumentative Paragraphs by English-Majored Students: A Study at a University in Vietnam

Academic writing is a crucial genre that English-majored undergraduates must acquire before graduating. The quality of academic writing depends largely on coherence, posing challenges not only for students to learn but also for teachers to assess in English classes. This paper aims to explore how Vietnamese teachers assess coherence in argumentative paragraphs by second-year English-majored students at a university in Vietnam. This qualitative research uses semi-structured interviews to examine teachers’ perceptions of coherence in English writing, and employs think-aloud verbal protocol to investigate how teachers assess coherence in two paragraphs by English-majored students. The findings show that the teachers recognize the importance of coherence in English writing, and there is an inconsistency in teachers assigning scores to coherence in students’ written work.