Coherent Writing: Pattern Construction Through Words

This dissertation looks at the issue of coherence in writing by Chinese learners of English. Helped by the framework of "patterning" posed by Michael Hoey (1983), the paper is committed to defining what is a coherent pattern and analyzing how this pattern is constructed through cohesive devices. Through the analysis of data both in a learners' corpus and collected by myself, it is found that whether instructed or not, Chinese students can produce English writing with an overall structure that is common to the native speakers' patterning, while their ability to use cohesive devices needs to be worked on. The present study, hopefully, may provide some new ideas of how to teach English writing skills for language teachers and how to acquire them for advanced learners in the Chinese context.