Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Modern Approaches in Humanities and Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Chinese EFL Learners’ Problems with Coherence in English Paragraph Writing
Hui-Chen Hsu
ABSTRACT:
In English academic paragraph writing, coherence is recognized as a vital component of effective writing skills. However, this concept can still be unclear or confusing for some Chinese EFL learners. This study investigated the underlying perceptions of coherence among fifty Taiwanese collegiate EFL learners. The results indicated that around twenty percent of participants could not differentiate between a coherent and an incoherent paragraph on a coherence judgment task, and their misjudgments were more influenced by the topic and content rather than by cohesive devices. These findings might be related to the Chinese writing style, which tends to have features such as a topic-comment style and a more flexible paragraph structure. It is suggested that incorporating more writing activities focused on cohesive devices into English paragraph writing instruction could be necessary for enhancing Chinese EFL learners’ academic English writing skills.
keywords: Chinese EFL learners, English writing, Taiwanese learners, coherence, perception