Premium
Cohesive devices and discourse competence
Author(s) -
EHRLICH SUSAN
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1988.tb00224.x
Subject(s) - cohesion (chemistry) , linguistics , competence (human resources) , psychology , sociology , computer science , social psychology , philosophy , chemistry , organic chemistry
This paper examines the development of cohesive discourse among second‐language learners in light of native speaker discourse norms. Previous studies of cohesion in second‐language acquisition have counted cohesive devices as a means of assessing the overall cohesion of texts. I argue that such studies have failed to measure cohesion accurately because they have neglected to consider restrictions on the distribution of cohesive devices in English. I formulate two such restrictions and demonstrate how they are relevant to the measurement of cohesion in second language learner discourse.