Cultivation Of Awareness Of Cohesive Devices In Language Teaching

Coherence and cohesion are two important concepts within the domain of text analysis. They both attract great attention from text linguists, and much agreement has been reached. But the relationship between coherence and cohesion is always a matter of dispute.Inspired by the Input Hypothesis, language learning needs the presence of comprehensible input. For ESL and EFL, input is in the form of text (written or oral). Coherent texts are a necessary ingredient of good textbooks. When learners reach the intermediate level of linguistic competence, they should be able to integrate individual sentences into a coherent text by cohesive devices. However, this aspect of competence has long been taken for granted.The present research investigates various facets of cohesive devices, awareness of cohesive devices and the implications for language learning.First, a close examination of coherence* cohesion and cohesive devices is done. It is observed that coherence is a design feature of text, a prerequisite for text comprehension. There are many conditions contributing to coherence, and cohesion is one. The paper argues that cohesion is a vital contributor to coherence, and a means for the realization of some other coherence factors. The mutual dependence of cohesion and coherence is further justified by the Economy Principle and Efficiency Principle in cognition and linguistic representation, and the Principle of Relevance. Based on the above findings and the Marked Theory, the paper defines unmarked coherence and marked coherence in terms of the presence and absence of cohesion respectively. This study mainly deals with unmarked coherence, leaving the marked out of the present scope.Second, as coherent comprehensible input is essential to language learning, quality texts need coherence with cohesive devices. The pervasiveness of cohesive devices is manifest in the texts in New College English. In this study, 84 college students were chosen as subjects, and their output in writing was analyzed. This analysis also indicates the pervasiveness of cohesive devices. And the correlation of the two kinds of pervasiveness proves the effectiveness of New College English in developing competence and performance in cohesive devices. From the above study, an assumption is made about the possibility of cultivating learners' awareness through exercises in order to promote the learning of cohesive devices.Finally, the findings and insights gained are incorporated into the context of language teaching and learning with the aim to promote learning.The research comments on the treatment of cohesive devices and awareness of cohesive devices in the present teaching materials and suggests alternative teaching techniques and a variety of activities.