连贯理论在英文写作中的应用

连贯理论在英文写作中的应用

莫文业

莫文业广西经济管理干部学院

【Abstract】Writingisaprocessofformingatextthatservesasacommunicationbridgebetweenthewriterandreader.Cohesionandcoherenceinwritingatextprovidethemeansforbothwriterandreadertocommunicate.Howtoapplythetheoryofcoherenceproperlyandhowtodirectourstudentsinwritingacoherenttextarewhatweexploreinthispaper.

【Keywords】CohesionandcoherenceThetheoryofcoherence

【中图分类号】G642【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1674－4810（2009）12－0029－03

1．Introduction

Writingisaprocessofformingatextthatservesasacommunicationbridgebetweenthewriterandthereader.Inthisprocess,thewriter’sprimeconcernsaretoconveyclearlywhatheencodesinwriting,andthereader’smaintaskistofacilitatethemessageofthewriter,ortodecodeitcorrectlyandeasily.Todothis,bothpartieshavetoabideby“Gamerules”,“Gamerules”heremeanscertainrulesthewriterusesbywhichtoorganizethetrueandpureformsandstructureintoacoherentwholeregardingasaparticulartopic.Forthereadertheyarerulesbywhichtointerprettheformsbyreconstitutingthem.“GameRules”givebothwriterandreaderasharedlinguisticknowledgeorexpectednessofcontentorformneededforcommunication.

However,thiswritingprocessconstitutesanirksomeandproblematicactivityinstudents’learningEnglish.DuringtheprocessofEnglishteaching,wefindoutthecausesoflearners’writingproblems.Amongthem,twomajoronesarepresentedasfollows:thediscontinuityofcohesionandthediscontinuityofcoherence.Itissuggestedthattwofactorsaremainlyresponsibleforthesetwodiscontinuities.Oneis“alternativeusesofdifferentregisters”andtheotherisan“indirectapproach”usedbylearnerstodeveloptheirtopics.Bothofthemcausetheflowofdiscoursetostopanddeviatefromtopics,whichresultsintheforementioneddiscontinuitiesofcohesionandcoherence.ThemainpurposeofwritingthispaperishowtoapplythetheoryofcoherenceandhowtodirectourstudentsinEnglishwriting.

2．Cohesionandcoherenceinwritingatext

Cohesionandcoherenceinwritingatextprovidethemeansforbothwriterandreadertocommunicate.So,writingatextwellhastobebothcohesiveandcoherent.

（1）Cohesioninwritingatext

Toachievetheobjectiveofconveyingthewriters’meaning,thewriterhastoavoiddistractingthereaderfromhismessagebymakingitunderstood,whichistoensurecontinuitybetweenonepartofthetextandanother.Thebestwayofachievingthisistousecohesionappropriatelysothatitholdssegmentsofatexttogether,makingitasemanticedifice,justasmortardoesbricksorstoneinabuilding.Seethefollowingpassage.

AlittleboycalledMikewentintothewoodsfarawayfromhisvillageoneday.MikewasverypleasedtoseelovelysmallanimalsApplicationEnglishwritingandbirds.Hewassobusywatchingthiswonderfulworldthathedidn’tnoticeanuglywolfapproachinghim.Theboywastoolatetobeawareofthedangerandthewolfswallowedhim.

Fromtheabovepassage,wecanseethatastypicalchainoflexisandreference——“AboycalledMike.Mike.He.Theboy.him.”——runsthroughthewholepassage,andholdsinpidualclausestogetherandmakesthewholestoryreadable.Thechainoflexisandreferenceisoneoffourmainchainsthatservethesamefunctionofholdingthetexttogether.Theotherthreearethechainsofellipsis,ofsubstitution,andofconjunction［2］.

Theaboveexampleshows,cohesionpavesthewayforcoherenceandbothworktogethertofacilitateinterpretationofthetexti.e.,itis“cohesivechains”thatmainlyprovidecoherenceinwritingatext.

（2）Coherenceinwritingatext

“Alllanguageneedsameanoflinkingoneparttoanotherinatext”［3］,orinotherwords,writersneedtokeepthemessagesequenceclear.Thisisoftenreferredtoascoherence.Coherenceisachievedthroughtwoaspects:Semanticandcohesivechains.e.g.

AlfredNobel,theSwedishinventorandindustrialist,wasamanofcontrasts.Hewasthesonofabankrupt,butbecameamillionaire;ascientistwithasloveofliterature,anindustrialistwhomanagedtoremainanidealist.Hemadeafortunebutlivedasimplelife,andalthoughcheerfulincompanyhewasoftensadinprivate.Hewasagreatfigurewithaconflictingcharacter［4］.

Therearetwocohesivechainsinthispassage.Thefirstoneis:“AlfredNobel.He.He.He.”Thesecondoneis:“amanofcontrasts.thesonofabankruptbutbecameamillionaire.madeafortunebutlivedasimplelife.cheerfulincompanybutsadinprivate.”

3．Howtoapplythetheoryofcoherenceinwritingacoherenttext

Therearetwomainmethodsofachievingcoherenceintextwriting:touselogicalorderproperlyandtouselinkingdevicescorrectly.

（1）Logicalorderinformingatext

Thelogicalorderofpassagesorevenawholetextisusuallyarrangedinthefollowingmodes.

1）TimeorderAnauthoroftenorganizesthematerialsandmanagessentencesaccordingtotimeorderindescriptionofanevent.Pleasecomparethefollowingtwopassages.

Tomgoesthroughthesamemorningroutineeveryweekday.Heshaves,brusheshisteeth,washeshisfaceanddresses.Hehasbreakfastandreadsthemorningnewspaper.Atsixheiswakenedbyalarmclockandgetsup.Atseventhirtyhesaysgoodbyetohisfamilyandleavesfortheoffice.Heexercisesdeep-breathinginthegardenfortenminutes.

Theabovepassageshowsthatallthesentencesarecorrect,butthetimeorderisnotcorrect,whichmakesthereaderconfused.Ifwearrangeitincorrecttimeorder,thispassagewillbeclearinsemanticmeaning.

Tomgoesthroughthesamemorningroutineeveryweekday.Atsixheiswakenedbyanalarmclockandgetsup.Thenheshaves,brusheshisteeth,washeshisface,anddresses.Afterthatheexercisesdeep-breathinginthegardenfortenminutes.Thenhehasbreakfastandreadsthemorningnewspaper.Atseventhirtyhesaysgoodbyetohisfamilyandleavesforhisoffice.

2）Spaceorder

Itisausualwaytousespaceordertoarrangethesentencesinformingalltypesoftext.Justlikebuildingahouse,whattodofirstandwhattodonextisdeterminedbythedesignofthebuilding,notbytheimaginationoftheworkers.Pleasecomparethefollowingtwopassages.

WhenProfessorSmithreturnedtothecollegethisfall,wenoticedseveralchangesinhisappearance.Insteadofshoesheworeleathersandals.Hishairwascombedforwardoverhisforehead.Hiscoatswerebrighterincolorthantheyusedtobe.Onhisupperlipgrewasmallmoustache.Hishasstartedwearingheavyeyeglasseswithblackframes.Histrouserlegswerenarrowerthantheyhadbeenlastyear.Althoughhealwaysworedarknecktieslastyear,nowheworestripedbowtieseveryday.

Theabovepassageisnotacoherentone.Thereadercan’tunderstandwhatthewriterreallywantedtosay.Thesentencesinthefollowingpassagearearrangedinatop-downmethod.

WhenProfessorSmithreturnedtothecollegethisfall,wenoticedseveralchangesinhisappearance.Hishairwascombedforwardoverhisforehead.Hehadstartedwearingheavyeyeglasseswithblackframes.Onhisupperlipgrewasmallmoustache.Hiscoatswerebrighterincolorthantheyusedtobe.Althoughhealwaysworedarknecktieslastyear,nowheworestripedbowtieseveryday.Histrouserlegswerenarrowerthantheyhadbeenlastyear.Insteadofshoesheworeleatherscandals.

Therearealsotwokindsof“orders”concerningwithlogicalorder——orderofimportanceandgeneral-to-specific/specific-to-generalorder,whicharenottobeintroducedhere.

（2）Linkingdevices

Besidesthelogicalordermentionedabove,touselinkingdevicescorrectlyisaneffectivewaytoachievingcoherenceinwritingatext.Linkingdevicesincludeusingpronoun,transitionalwordsandexpressions,usingkeywordandrelatedsentencepatternrepeatedly.

4．Howtodirectstudentsinwritingatext

“Textisasemanticunit:aunitnotofformbutofmeaning”［1］.

Sinceitisasemanticunit,atexthassemanticstructure.Thissemanticunit,atexthassemanticstructure.Thissemanticstructureissupportedbymeansofcohesion.Withoutcohesion,therewouldbenocoherencewithinatextandthenthetextwouldnotbeatext.Inordertodirectstudentsinwritingatext,weshouldfindoutwheretheproblemsareinstudents’passagewriting.Thefollowingaretwoexamples.

Example1：Hereisacartoonconcerningpraise.Thepictureshowsahusbandwhoisquiteindifferenttoherwife’swinningmedalandhowdisappointedhiswifeis.Itreflectspeopleareoftenreluctanttogivepraisewhileweareeagertogetit.Inthepicture,thehusbandevendidnotraisehiseyesfromanewspaper.

Example2：Honestyisaveryimportantpartofone’scharacter.Thischaracterwillaffectyouwhenyougrowup.Ifyouareanhonestman,peoplecanbelieveinyou.Whenyouareindifficulty,theywillhelpyou.Andwhenyoumeetsomethingwhichyoucan’tdo,peoplearegladtohelpyou,Ifyouarehonest,peoplewilltrustyouandtheywillmakefriendswithyou.Inaword,honestisagoodcharacter.Itcanbringyouhappiness.

FromExample1,wecanseethatthepassageseemslikeatextbuthasnosemanticconnectionsbetweenonepartofthetextandanother——thefirstsentenceisadescriptionofthepicture.Thencomesasentenceofinterpretation.Anothersentenceofdescriptionfollows,andsoonandon.

Example2showsthatoncethetopicsentence.“Honestyisanimportantpartofone’scharacter”isfont,thetheme“Honesty”,shouldgovernthediscoursethatfollows.Itisamajortarget,presupposedbythewholetext.Unfortunately,thelearnerdidn’tchoosetheproperthemefromthetopicsentenceasthethemeforthenextclauseandsocontinuethedecidedtopic.Insteadheevadedthetopicandusedawrongtheme,“you”,whichwasirrelevant.Thus,theprocessofformingcohesivechainswasbroken,thesemanticmovementstoppedandnosemanticrelationshipbetweenclauseswasestablished.

Asforcoherence,semanticconnectionswerenon-existentasthetopic,honesty,hadthepartfollowingtalkingaboutwhatyoushouldbelikeasaperson.Byindirectapproach,thelearnerintroducedotherthemesbyusingsuppositions,examplesandremindersthatwereirrelevantagain.Itwasthesethatbrokethecohesivechainsofthetextandbroughtaboutthediscontinuityofbothcohesionandcoherence.

Fromtheaboveexamples,wecanseethatourstudentsusuallydeveloptheirtopicsbyalternativeusesofdifferentregisters（example1）andanindirectapproach（example2）,whichresultinthediscontinuityofbothcohesionandcoherence.Hence,Gameofcohesionandcoherenceforbothwriterandreadertoabidebyhasbeenviolated.Towriteacoherenttext,thisviolationhastobecorrected.IthasbeensuggestedthatmanywaysareprovedvaluabletoachievingcoherenceinEnglishwriting.Theyare:①enrichthestudents’backgroundknowledge.②analyzethestructureofthetextforthestudents.③raisethestudents’awarenessoflearningtowrite.④comparevariousstylesofwriting.Byusingthesemethods,learnersarecompelledtoconsciouslyrecognizetheproblemsinvolvedindiscoursewriting,which,inturn,mayhelpthembecomeawareofwhatisneededtowritegoodcompositions.

5．Conclusion

The“alternativeusesofdifferentregisters”and“indirectapproach”arenotEnglishwaysofwriting.Englishlearnersshouldestablishpropercohesivechainsonwhichthecoherenceisbased.TherearemanywaystoachievingcoherenceinEnglishwriting.Besidesthemethodsmentionedabove,touselogicalorderandlinkingdevicesproperlyarealsogoodwaystowriteacoherenttext.

References

［1］Halliday,M.A.K.&R.Hasan.CohesioninEnglish［M］.London:Longman,1976

［2］Halliday,M.A.K.AnIntroductiontoFunctionalGrammar（Secondedition）［M］.London:Arnold,1994：334～339

［3］Halliday&R.Hasan.Language,TextandContext［M］.Geelong.Vic.:DeakinUniversity,1985：48

［4］董亚芬总主编.大学英语精读（第二册）.上海：上海教育出版社，1997：100