| This study investigated the use of lexical cohesive devices by Indonesian business undergraduate students in their L2 academic writing to develop cohesive texts. The data consisted of take-home argumentative essays on a pre-determined topic. The writing samples were analyzed based on the framework of Wu’s (2010) lexical cohesion: repetition, synonymy, antonymy, superordinate and general noun. The study also aimed to examine students’ reasons for preference of certain cohesive ties and identify the problems they face when using lexical connectors. A total number of 613 lexical cohesive devices were found in the data. The results indicated that repetition was strongly favored, i.e. 85%, followed by superordinate (6.6%) and synonym (6.6%). Antonymy and general noun were the least used sub-types, i.e. 0.8% respectively. Apart from that, the interviews revealed that the students were told that repeating key nouns was a possible means to create cohesion in their writing. This could be the reason as to why students’ employed repetition heavily. Based on the error analysis which was classified and described through the linguistic category and surface strategy taxonomy, the results showed that the students committed more syntactical errors, i.e. 84% out of the total number of lexical cohesive devices, than morphological errors. Omission of plural inflection (60%) was the most predominant error in students’ lexical cohesive devices. In light of the findings, students should review grammar rules and be trained on how to use cohesion and vocabulary to positively affect their writing skills. |