Coherent Ideas and Coherence Devices Usedin Writing Descriptive Essays at English Department of Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci

This research were to find out the skill of the third year English Department students in constructing coherent ideas and using coherence devices in writing descriptive essays at Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci. The research was descriptive research. The population was the third year English department students of Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Kerinci. In taking the sample, total sample was used. The researcher used writing test and interview to get the data. The findings of this research were that the third year English department students of Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci had weak skill in constructing coherent ideas and had low average skill in using the coherence devices. In relation to constructing coherent ideas, the relevance and the order of ideas of the students’ descriptive essays were weak category. Then, in relation to the use of coherence devices, the students’ skill in repeating the key words/ nouns was weak, and in using pronouns and transitional signals were high average category. The last, it was found that the students’ problems in writing descriptive essays were low frequency of practicing writing, interference of first language, lack of vocabulary, and lack of knowledge about coherence.