Characteristics Of Local Coherence In University Students’ Essays-A Study Based On Centering Theory

English writing has long been a complicated and arduous task for Chinese university students and coherence is an important factor that influences its quality. The present study tries to apply the Four Principle Model based on Centering Theory to explore the characteristics of local coherence in university students’ English compositions and to find out how the characteristics are correlated with the quality of the compositions. The characteristics are to be explored from two aspects, one is the distribution of the four principles and the other is the choice of referring expressions for backward-looking center (Cb). To be specific, the following three research questions are to be addressed:1.How are the four principles distributed in university students’ English compositions?2.What referring expressions are used for backward-looking center (Cb) in their English compositions?3. How are the distribution of the four principles and the choice of referring expressions for Cb correlated with the quality of the compositions? As for the distribution of the four principles in the compositions, the principle of Continuity is the most frequently used principle, followed by the principles of Salience and Cheapness which are relatively less used. And the principle of Cohesion is the least frequently used. The distribution demonstrates that the local focus of attention is frequently changed in the compositions. Among the four principles, the principles of Continuity and Cohesion are significantly positively correlated with the composition quality. As for the choice of referring expressions for Cb, the definite noun phrase, the indefinite noun phrase, the third person pronoun and the first person pronoun are the four main referring expressions that university students choose to realize Cbs. The frequent use of the third person pronoun and the definite noun phrase for Cb reflects university students’ ability to maintain the local focus of attention in English writing. However, there are some problems in their choice of referring expressions for Cb. The indefinite noun phrase is misused to realize Cb and the first person pronoun and the definite noun phrase are sometimes improperly used to realize Cbs. The definite noun phrase for Cb is significantly positively correlated with the quality of the compositions. The indefinite noun phrase, the third person pronoun and the first person pronoun for Cb are negatively correlated with the quality of the compositions.After analysis, the conclusion can be drawn that the principles of continuity and cohesion, the definite noun phrase for Cb and the third person pronoun for Cb are factors that influence the quality of the compositions by influencing the local coherence of the compositions.The findings of the present study shed some light on English writing teaching and evaluation. First, university students should avoid changing the local focus of attention frequently and improve the length of continuation of the local focus of attention in their English writing. In light of this, teachers should teach them some knowledge of the Four Principle Model based on Centering Theory so that the students know how to improve the local coherence of their English writing. Besides, teachers should help the students use the definite noun phrase, the indefinite noun phrase and the pronoun to realize Cbs correctly in their English writing. Moreover, as the principles of Continuity and Cohesion, the definite noun phrase for Cb and the third person pronoun for Cb are factors that influence the quality of the compositions by influencing the local coherence of the compositions, they can be the criteria of coherence for human rating of compositions, even be included into the automatic scoring system of compositions, which may help improve the accuracy of the automatic scoring system.