Transition signals are an essential part of good academic writing. This video gives a definition of transition signals, looks at their grammar, gives an overview of different types, lists some common problems students have and connects these to the IELTS and TOEFL exam, and finally shows how to use authentic texts to study transitions.
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00:00 Intro
01:13 Definition
04:04 Grammar of transition signals
07:58 Types of transition signals
10:03 Common problems (link to IELTS/TOEFL)
16:09 Transitions in authentic academic texts
23:07 Conclusion
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Transition signals - also called linkers, linking devices, discourse connectors or cohesive devices –-are words or phrases used in writing or speaking to help the reader understand the links between ideas. Examples are ‘However’, ‘Moreover’, and ‘For example’. They are an important aspect of cohesion, and are especially common in academic writing.
They can be categorised into three grammatical types: (1) sentence connectors, also called adverbials, which join two sentences together, e.g. ‘Similarly, ‘In contrast’; (2) clause connectors, also called conjunctions, which join two clauses, e.g. ‘while’, ‘so’; (3) other words/phrases which function as transitions, often followed by noun phrases, e.g. ‘despite’.
There are many different functional types. Examples are Addition transitions (to give an additional idea), Comparison signals (to show how things are the same or similar), and Contrast transitions (to show how things are different). More detailed information on types of transition is given in the second video.
Common problems students have with transitions are overuse (especially Addition type), underuse, use of informal signals, grammatical errors, and using the wrong types. The IELTS and TOEFL exams consider these common problems, and the video explains how transitions are assessed in these exams.
Studying words in context is important, and there are two useful tools to do this: a concordancer (like a search engine for words/phrases in academic corpuses) and a transition signal highlighter.
For more information on this topic, see:
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