A Study On Missing Cohesive Devices In Chinese Discourse By Korean Learners Of The Chinese Language

In the practice of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, Korean learners at the intermediate level have been found to generally demonstrate high proficiency in correct vocabulary and grammar usage. Their primary area of difficulty usually involves the application of cohesive devices in text. Written discourse tends to lack coherence and logical completion. Past research primarily focuses on the proper completion of single sentences, paying less attention to the acquisition of a complete work of Chinese discourse, which is largely decided by the correct application of Chinese cohesive devices.Based on previous research, this paper first summarizes and evaluates the comprehensive Chinese discourse cohesive devices and divides them into three parts: grammatical, logical, and lexical device. It investigates the lack of these three cohesive devices in composition, and provides statistics and tables for purposes of analysis and explanation. According to the results, Korean learners’ improper omission of the three cohesive devices is unbalanced. The number of missing grammatical and logical cohesive devices is far greater than the lexical device. As for reference, the omission of personal reference and demonstrative reference are most common, while zero reference omissions are relatively small. Conjunction word results show that the omission of cause and effect expressions are most common, followed by transitional expressions and paralleled expressions. Omission of terms expressing order occurs least often. Regarding expression of time and location, the omission of time indication occurs more often than location. The omission of independent components expressing conclusion and opinion is fairly prominent. Regarding the lexical cohesive device, the omission of repetition far surpasses that of collocation.This paper provides possible explanations for the omission of cohesive devices for reasons specific to the Chinese language, the native language, individual students, and teaching materials. The reasons specific to the Chinese language for the omissions of conjunction words is found to be the result of its complicated nature, logic of expression, and unique meaning-focus characteristics. Reasons specific to the mother language relate to negative transfer, including cultural influences, which plays a major role in the omission of the cohesive device of reference. As for individual student reasons, inadequate vocabulary is found to be the main cause of the omission of correct lexical words and independent component. Overall, the lack of discussion of discourse cohesive devices in Chinese as a foreign language textbooks and corresponding practice excises accounts for the primary reason for the omission of correct Chinese cohesive devices as a whole.