The Implications of Cohesive Devices in English Reading Teaching

Kexiang Wang

School of Foreign Languages,Tonghua Normal University,Tonghua,China

Email:664935495@qq.com

[Abstract] Cohesive devices are an indispensable part of cohesion theory,which was proposed by Halliday and Hasan.The paper first briefly introduces the grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion,and then expounds the forms and functions of cohesive devices in discourse organization.It seeks to apply the theory to English reading teaching based on a model text analysis and tries to explore the implications of cohesive devices in English reading teaching.

[Keywords] cohesive devices;English reading teaching;implications

Introduction

The construction of discourse is made up of pairs of linguistic units constituting a cohesive relationship or bond between sentences and clauses.The cohesion between sentences organizes the information in the text,and cohesion constitutes the surface structure of a text,while the surface structure forms such as vocabulary and grammar are the concrete means to achieve cohesion.Halliday first proposed the concept of cohesion in 1964.In 1976,Halliday and Hasan jointly publishedCohesion in English.Cohesion was systematically and scientifically divided into grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion.This theory plays an important guiding role in English teaching.On the one hand,it is helpful to the analysis of the discourse composition.On the other hand,it can help students understand the development of the article according to the cohesive devices used by the author,grasp the main information and speculate the author's writing intention and the main idea of the article.It is of great help to students to improve their reading level.This paper intends to use the cohesive theory and method proposed by Halliday and Hasan to analyze the structure of the first four paragraphs of the text "The Shadowland of Dreams".This paper mainly analyzes the functions of cohesive devices,such as grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion in the text to explore the implications of this theory for English reading teaching.

Grammatical cohesion

In grammatical cohesion,Halliday and Hasan divide it into the following four aspects:reference,substitution,ellipsis and conjunction.

Substitution

Substitution is to replace the words that appear in the context with substitution words,which can avoid repetition and connect the context to make the meaning of the text coherent.Halliday and Hasan(1976)divided English substitution into nominal group,verbal group and the clause.Nominal substitution refers to the substitution of the corresponding grammatical item(e.g.,one,ones)when the same thing appears in the text.Verbal substitution refers to the phenomenon that an action or state of the same kind is replaced by the corresponding grammatical item (e.g.,do);clause substitution means that a clause of the same kind appears to be replaced by the corresponding grammatical item(e.g.,so).For example:

(2) The reality is that writing is a lonely,private and poor-paying affair.For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never requited.Even those who succeed often know long periods of neglect and poverty.I did.

"I did." in this paragraph is a typical clause substitution.It not only avoids repetition,but also emphasizes the author's point.That is,every writer who is favored by fate,there are thousands who will never realize their dreams.Even though the author himself is favored by fate,he has been suffering from poverty and neglect,which shows how difficult it is to dream of becoming a writer,and leaves the reader with a mystery:how can the author succeed in such a difficult situation?Substitution plays a transitional role here.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis is the omission of a certain element in a text.Its function is similar to substitution.It is also a grammatical means to avoid repetition and keep the text compact.The third sentence in the example(1)omitted"dreaming of",the function of omission is to make the language of the text appear concise and clear.At the same time,this cohesive device relies on the form of language and builds a form of contextual communication with meaning as a bridge,making readers feel that the text has compact meaning and natural cohesion.

Conjunction

Conjunction is a means which various logical relations in a text are reflected by connecting elements,which are often represented by some transitional words.These words are often called logical connectives.Halliday and Hasan(1976)classify logical connectives into four categories:additive,adversative,causal and temporal.Quirk et al.(1972)believe that most logical words can be grouped into the conjunctions of "and","or","but" and "for".They represent the following semantic relationships respectively."and" represents list,transfer,summary,apposition,result,inference;"or"is for retelling or replacement;"but"is for transition,contrast or concession."for"is for reason.This classification is more suitable for teaching.The logical connectives in the selected discourse can be summarized as"but","and" and "still"."but" in example (1) is for adversative relationship,"and" is for coordinating and it acts as a connection.It can be seen from Quirk's classification of logical conjunctions that the semantic relations expressed by"and" are diversified.Therefore,teachers should be good at summarizing,guiding and inspiring students to analyze and classify them in the teaching process so as to better understand the meaning of the text.

Lexical cohesion

Halliday and Hasan (1976) divide the cohesive relations of English words into two categories:reiteration and collocation.Reiteration refers to a word that is used as a synonym,near-synonym,superordinate,hyponym and general word or other forms repeated in a text.The sentences in the text are connected to each other through this reiteration.The collocation is also called the co-occurrence relation of words.The collocation here is not the collocation of fixed phrases but the phenomenon of co-occurrence of items in the same semantic field.In other words,when a certain topic is developed in a text,the words used to describe the same topic will often appear simultaneously,while other words unrelated to the topic have few or no chances of appearing.For example,the selected discourse mainly talks about the difficulties behind the dream of becoming a writer,so the words used to describe difficulties and poverty usually appear in the same discourse,while the words used for product instructions do not appear in this discourse.Halliday and Hasan(1976)divide collocations or co-occurrence into antonym and contrasting.The following examples from the selected text illustrate how the lexical reiteration and co-occurrence relations achieve the cohesion between clauses.

Same word

The repeated occurrence of the same word in the same text can not only play the role of discourse bond,but also highlight the theme effectively.In the first four paragraphs of the selected text,the word "I" is repeatedly used 16 times,which not only achieves the function of coherent mood,but also powerfully shows the author's writing intention.By his own experience,the author can prove to readers that being a writer is a beautiful dream,but it is also full of ups and downs.

Synonym and near-synonym

Repeated use of the same word in a text will inevitably make the text dull and monotonous.The repetition of words with the same or similar meanings can more accurately express the meaning,convey feelings and depict objects.For example,the continuous use of "alone","lonely","private" and "poor-paying" in the selected passage make difficulties and loneliness in the writing process be conveyed vividly.

Superordinate and hyponym

Superordinate refers to a word with a general meaning that includes the meanings of other particular words,for example:the word"writer"is the superordinate of"freelance writer".From the hyponym"freelance writer",the reader can deduce it is not easy to become a writer.At the same time,the words echo the previous passage.From the overall structure of the article,the text is compact and coherent,therefore,the organization of the article can be enhanced.

General word

When we encounter words related to people,things or places in the discourse,we can replace them with words that generally refer to the above concepts,such as people,man,thing,etc.These general words are not specific and their appearance in a text can enhance the objectivity and credibility of the text.At the beginning of the text the author uses the general words"Many a young person..."and"In most cases"express their attitude towards the topic under discussion,without absolutizing their views,and at the same time leave space for readers to think.

Antonym

The antonym is the extreme of synonymy,and its function is to form a meaningful contrast relation between two lexical items.The antonym between words can also promote the cohesion of text to achieve the purpose of semantic coherence.For example,"wealth" and "poverty" and "success" and "failure" in the selected text form antonyms,which form a semantic reference to the title of the text.The coherence and macro structure of the text emerge in the reader's mind.The contrasting is not reflected in the selected text and will not be analyzed here due to space limitations.

The implications of cohesive devices in English reading teaching

Based on the analysis above,cohesive device theory plays an extremely important role in the overall semantic coherence and reading comprehension,and it also plays a guiding role in English reading teaching.If we master the features of cohesive devices and can skillfully apply them in reading teaching,we can not only improve the level of reading teaching,but also help to cultivate students'ability to understand the text from both macro and micro aspects.First of all,teachers should change the traditional ideas of reading teaching.For example,some teachers focus on micro-skills such as recognizing words,analyzing grammatical structures,interpreting and translating difficult sentences.Teachers should pay attention to the connection of knowledge system,and constantly cultivate students' ability to apply theory to study and practice.Secondly,the micro level such as vocabulary and grammar teaching should not be ignored.The premise of discourse comprehension is that students should master a certain amount of vocabulary and corresponding grammatical knowledge,which seems simple but is not easy to break down.This requires teachers not only to explain the meaning of a word,but also to combine the new word with other words in the same semantic field.Grammar teaching should be combined with the context to cultivate students' sense of language.This can help students understand the relationship between sentences and sentences,and lay a foundation for further analysis and understanding of the text.Thirdly,the analysis of discourse structure at the macro level is one of the indispensable teaching segments.In teaching,teachers should guide students to analyze the text structure from a macro perspective.A large proportion of students only pursue the meaning of each word,believing that only by translating word for word and sentence for sentence can they grasp the central idea of the article.In fact,it is not.The analysis of discourse structure from a macro perspective is helpful to fully understand the hierarchy,logical relationship,theme and author's standpoint of the whole discourse.Finally,teachers should combine the theoretical knowledge of cohesion with the TEM-4 exam training,so that students can feel the joy of harvest while applying the theory.

Conclusion

It is a meaningful attempt to combine cohesive devices with English reading teaching.In the course of reading teaching,teachers should teach students to master cohesion theory and identify cohesive devices in texts and help students to analyze the text from both micro and macro aspects,so as to give consideration to both the exterior and interior,and finally have an accurate grasp of the topic of the article.Therefore,the proper application of the theory of discourse cohesion to the teaching of reading is of great practical significance for improving the teaching effect,and also of great benefit to the improvement of students'reading comprehension ability.

Acknowledgment

This paper is the research result of university-local collaborative teaching and research project of Tonghua Normal University:Research on Optimization Strategies of Primary School English Teaching Design Based on New Curriculum Standard(No:XDXT202011).