A Study on Text Cohesion in Senior High Students’ Continuation Writing Based on Coh-Metrix

Abstract

Continuation writing is a new type of writing task introduced in the Chinese college entrance examination reform. Text cohesion is essential for a well-written continuation. Cohesion in a text can be explicit, involving language-level textual cohesion, or implicit, involving semantic-level meaning continuity. This study uses the text analysis software Coh-Metrix to analyze the cohesion in high school students’ English continuation writing. It explores the features of coherence in these writings from both the explicit language usage and the implicit semantic continuity, and the differences between the high-scoring group and the low-scoring group, aiming to provide effective teaching suggestions and references for English teachers.