李芸昆明学院公共外语教学部
【Abstract】ThispaperpresentssomemeditationsaboutCohesionandCoherenceinCET-6Writing.ItaimsathelpingcandidatestopasstheCET-6successfullyandachievegoodgrades.
【Keywords】cohesioncoherenceCET-6essaywriting
【中图分类号】G642【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1674－4810（2010）02－0049－02
COHESIONANDCOHERENCE
Nomatterwhetheratextispresentedthroughwritingorexpressedbyspeaking,bothofthemshouldbelogicalcohesionandsemanticcoherenceandthereisnoexceptioninessaywritingforCET-6.CohesionandcoherencearethemetafunctionofHalliday’sfunctionalgrammar,whichareapplicableandpracticable.（Halliday,2002）Whenwetalkaboutthetextcohesion,wecannothelpthinkingofcoherence.Indeed,coherenceandcohesionaretwodifferentconcepts.Generallyspeaking,accordingtoThompson,cohesionreferstothelinguisticdevicesbywhichthespeakerandwritercansignaltheexperientialandinterpersonalcoherenceofthetext,andthusatextphenomenon.Ontheotherhand,coherenceisinthemindofwriterandreader:itisamentalphenomenon.（1996/2000:7）.Bymyacknowledgement,Ibelievethatcohesionisanetworkofatextwhichcanbeseenbutcoherenceisanentiremeaningofatextwhichcannotbeseen.Fromthispoint,atextrealizesitscoherencethroughcohesivedevices.
COHESIONANDCOHERENCEANDTEXT
‘Atexthastextureandthisisdistinguishesitfromsomethingthatisnotatext.’（Brown&Yule,1984:191）‘AtextureisprovidedbythecohesiveRELATION.’（Halliday&Hasan,1976:2）‘Cohesiverelationshipswithinatextaresetup‘wheretheINTERPRETATIONofsomeelementinthediscourseisdependentonthatofanother.’（Brown&Yule,1984:191）Inanotherwords,thetextureisprimarilyprovidedbycohesion,whichisasemanticconcept,whichreferstotherelationsofmeaningthatexistinthetext.Atext-cohesionoccurswheretheinterpretationofsomeelementinthediscourseisdependentonthatofother.‘TheonePRESUPPOSEStheother,inthesensethatitcannotbeeffectivelydecodedexceptbyrecoursetoit.’（Halliday&Hasan,1976:4）‘Sincethespeakerorwriterusescohesiontosignaltexture,thelistenerorreaderhastoreacttoitinordertointerpretit.’（Halliday&Hasan,1976:295）Ontheotherhand,coherenceholdssegmentsofatexttogether,makingitasalargesemanticbuilding,justasaworkmanusesbricksorstonestobuildabuilding.Theimportanceofcoherenceliesinthecontinuityitexpressesbetweenonepartofthetextandanother.（BrownandYule,1984:224）
COHESIVEDEVICES
Grammaticaldevice（cohesion）,lexicalcohesion,logicalconnector,pragmaticandsemanticimplicationarefiveimportantcohesivedevices.GrammaticaldevicemayplayakeyroleincoheringsentencesandparagraphsinessaywritinginCET-6intoatext.AccordingtoHallidayandHasan’sCohesioninEnglish,andHalliday’sAnIntroductiontoFunctionalGrammar,thefollowingcanplayaroleascohesivetieinthetext-formingarereference,ellipsis,conjunction,timerelater,placerelater,substitution,timeandaspect.Inordertoexplicitthetwoconceptsofcoherenceandcohesion,IamgoingtotrytoanalyzethefollowingtwoparagraphsinessaywritinginCET-6byusingsomelinguisticknowledgewhichisrelevanttothetext-coherenceandtext-cohesion.
Sample1①
ModelTestFiveofwriting.
Writing:HowDoCollegeStudentsSpendTheirHoliday?
Paragraph2
①Thereareseveralreasonsleadingtothechanges.②Firstly,withthedevelopmentofeconomy,studentscangetfinancialsupportfortravelingfromtheirparentsaswellasbydoingpart-timejobs.
③Secondly,totourismhasdevelopedrapidlyoverthepasttenyears.④Thirdly,theconvenienceoftransportationmakesthetripeasierandquicker.⑤Finally,studentshaverealizedtheimportanceofparticipatinginsocialactivities.⑥Inthisway,⑦mostimportantofall,theycanobtainrichexperiencewhichcannotbelearnedfromtextbooks.
【Analyze】Inthisparagraph,①havesemanticrelationsofrepetitionwhichispresentedbyrepeatingthephrase,“severalreasonsleadingtothechanges”.②,③,④,⑤havesemanticrelationsoftimewhicharerealizedbycohesivewords,“firstly”,“secondly”“thirdly”and“finally”.①havesemanticrelationsofcomparativenessandemphasiswhichareexpressedbythecohesiveword,“Inthisway”andcohesivephrase,“mostimportantofall”.
Sample2②Writing:HowtoConductPatrioticEducationamongtheYouthofToday.Paragraph2
①Thepatrioticeducationcanmakeyouthmoreawareofthesignificanceofpatrioticeducationtooursociety,②however,canbeseenfromtheperspectivesasfollows.③Inthefirstplace,thepatrioticeducationcanmakeyouthmoreawareoftheglorioushistoryandcultureofournation,thusbuildinguptheirsenseofprideasChinese.④Inthesecond,thepatrioticeducationhelpsyouthvaluetoday’shard-earnedlife⑤soastoholdtheirgoldenchancesofenrichingthemselveswithknowledgeinpeace.⑥Tosumup,patrioticeducationisakeyingredientintheall-rounddevelopment.
【Analyze】Inthisparagraph,①,②havesemanticrelationsofrepetitionwhichispresentedbyrepeatingthephrase,“fromtheperspectivesasfollows”.③,④havesemanticrelationsoftimewhicharerealizedbycohesivewords,“infirstplace”,“insecondplace”⑤,⑥havesemanticrelationspurposeandresultwhichareexpressedbythecohesiveword,“soasto”andcohesivephrase,“Tosumup”.
Fromthetwoexamplesabove,wecanseethatthesemanticrelationwithinsentencesiscoherenceandtheformbywhichpresentsthesemanticcoherenceiscohesion.Therelationshipbetweencoherenceandcohesionisarelationofcontentandformseeingwhatkindofsemanticcontentswillhavewhatkindoftext-structure.Thereforeitisimportantforustostudytext-coherenceandtext-cohesionforustodevelopreadingtechniquesandreadingability.
COHESIONANDCOHERENCE
Writingisaformoflanguagecommunicationanditisathinkingactivity.Thereaders’understandingoftheword-meaninginthetextisthelowestlevelunderstandingofthetext.Ifthewriterhasnologicalabilitytostructurethesemanticrelationthatexistsinthewriting,he/shewillnotbeabletolettheteacherswhoarejudgingorreadingtheessayfollowthewriter’sthoughtandunderstandtdeeperstructureofthetext.SoifcandidateswanttowritesuccessfullyinthewritingofCETBand6,theywillhavenotonlyagoodcommandoflanguageknowledge（grammar,lexis）butalsotheknowledgeofcoherenceandcohesion.
Itiswellknownthateachwriterhashisintendedmeaninginproducingalinguisticmessageandeachessayorparagraphhasitscentralidea.Soacertaininternalrelationmustexistwithinparagraphsoftheessayandthisrelationmustbeembodiedinacertainform.Similarly,eachparagraphmusthaveamainidea（topicsentence）andeachsentencemustserveforthemainideaofeachparagraph.Theinternalrelationexistswithinsentences,whichmustbepresentedinacertainform.Thissemanticrelationbetweensentenceandsentence,paragraphandparagraphiscalledtext-coherenceandparagraph-coherence（thatImentionedinparagraphsabove）andthewaythisispresentedcalledcohesion.Sowhenweread,wecanreasonthelogicalrelationthatexistswithinsentences,andparagraphsbycohesivedevicesthatenableustounderstandnotonlytheword-meaningbutalsotheimplementationofthetext.
CONCLUSION
Inaword,itiswhencandidatesforCET-6haveagoodcommandoflanguageknowledge（grammar,lexis）andtheknowledgeofcoherenceandcohesionthattheywillbeabletowritewonderfulessaysandgetsatisfactorymarks.
注释
①大学英语六级考试星火模拟试卷（ModelTestFive），5～11
②大学英语四、六级写作全功略，135
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