This study investigates cohesion in the spoken English discourse of thirty Arabs from three proficiency levels: superior, advanced, and intermediate. Two models were applied to the analysis. Halliday and Hasan's taxonomy was used to investigate local cohesion, or cohesion withinn turns; and Schiffrin's discourse markers approach was used to investigate global cohesion, or cohesion between turns. An ANOVA determined that the differences between the means of the three groups were significant for global cohesion and insignificant for local cohesion. The results suggest that the ability to use global cohesive ties increases with proficiency. This ability is manifested by the use of a variety of markers to achieve different communicative goals that include reorientation to information, coordination of ideas, and modification of previous responses.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etsu-works-18202 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Creators | Elhindi, Yousif |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | ETSU Faculty Works |
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