Creating cohesion in the process of second language writing

Cohesive ties in Japanese texts written by five intermediate Japanese language learners were explored in order to observe how they create cohesion. The analysis of written data, their process of creating cohesion, and the interview results indicated that the way the Japanese learners create cohesion was different from their first language and that of Japanese native speakers. The cohesive ties which have equivalent ties in English were used more frequently and with less variety in the students' Japanese texts compared to their texts written in their first language and Japanese texts written by Japanese native speakers; whereas, the use of the cohesive ties which do not have their equivalent linguistic form in English were restricted. The qualitative analysis revealed that the incohesion in students' Japanese texts were affected by cognitive overload and lack of awareness of cohesive ties. Learning Experience Approach was proposed to remedy these problems.