A Study On The Application Of Text Cohesion And Coherence Theory To English Continuation Writing Teaching In Senior High School

Writing is a creative output task that is crucial in English teaching.In recent years,there have been some new propositions in English writing,and continuation writing is one of them.It is a new teaching method combining reading with writing proposed by Wang(2012)based on synergy theory.Then,Liu and Chen(2016)stress that continuation writing is a type of examination that combines reading and writing in order to gauge students’ overall language proficiency.According to its scoring standards,continuation writing puts forward definite requirements for students in terms of cohesion and coherence.However,the current situation of continuation writing teaching in senior high school is not optimistic,and most students only pay attention to grammar and vocabulary while ignoring the cohesion and coherence of the text.Moreover,most teachers and students do not attach enough importance to the study of text cohesion and coherence.To address the above issues,the author applies the theory of text cohesion and coherence to the teaching of continuation writing.By using this type of continuation writing teaching method,the thesis tries to explore the following three research questions:1.What are the effects of text cohesion and coherence theory on students’ use of cohesive devices in English continuation writing in senior high school?2.What are the effects of text cohesion and coherence theory on students’ writing performance in English continuation writing in senior high school?3.What are students’ changes of attitudes toward continuation writing after applying text cohesion and coherence theory in English continuation writing teaching?To answer the questions,82 students in second grade from two parallel classes at a senior high school in Shenyang were taken as the research subjects.Continuation writing teaching was carried in Class 3 as the experimental class,using the theory of text cohesion and coherence,and Class 4 as the control class received traditional writing teaching focusing on explaining grammar and vocabulary.The whole experiment lasted for three months.Tests,questionnaires,and interviews were used to collect data.Finally,SPSS 25.0 was used as a statistical tool to analyze the data.The results of data analysis show that,compared with the traditional teaching method,continuation writing teaching based on text cohesion and coherence theory can better improve students’ level of continuation writing.First,students pay more attention to continuation writing and complete it with a more positive attitude.Second,students can actively and correctly use various cohesive devices in continuation writing to ensure text coherence.Finally,students have higher continuation writing performance,in which the improvement in cohesion and coherence is relatively significant.