Author(s)

Hong Zeng ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Foreign Languages College, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China

Corresponding Author

Hong Zeng

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed 54 expository writings of 27 English majors through 20 cohesive indices provided by Coh-Metrix, aiming to explore the development of cohesion in their expository writings after one academic year. Results showed that: 1) English majors are able to flexibly use various cohesive devices to achieve textual cohesion in expository writing. The frequency of using connectives is the highest while the use of referential cohesion is relatively low. And the global coherence of their writing is at a low level as well. 2) With the increase of learning time, 10 cohesive indices show significant changes. Among them, 6 indices such as adjacent argument overlap, adjacent stem overlap, argument overlap, stem overlap, LSA similarity between adjacent paragraphs, and LSA Given/New have increased, while the other 4 indices such as LSA similarity between adjacent sentences, causal connectives, extended temporal connectives and causal cohesion have decreased. Through enriching longitudinal research on cohesion, it is hoped to promote English writing teaching and learning.

KEYWORDS

Cohesion, expository writing, English majors, Coh-Metrix

CITE THIS PAPER

Hong Zeng, A Study on the Development of Cohesion in English Majors' Expository Writing. Curriculum and Teaching Methodology (2024) Vol. 7: 1-6. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/curtm.2024.070701.

REFERENCES

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