Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Description
This activity explores textual coherence in written and spoken texts. Participants examine a
range of texts for coherence and the features which make a coherent text. They also
practise a sample task.
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
Look at the texts. Which are them are coherent? Why? Why not?
A
B
A I really love Paris.
A Are you coming to the
B Yes, its a fantastic city
restaurant tonight?
B. The price of fish has gone through
the ceiling.
C
A I wish I could fly.
D
B The roses are just starting to
Anna: Put the water in the pot.
bloom.
Rob: Deserts are spreading on most
continents.
Anna: Hi guys.
E
First, place all the pieces on a flat
surface
Then, put the glue, scissors, hammer
and nails on another surface.
Put your gloves on at this point
F
It is deeply mystifying. However, an
etymological study of texts reveals
its consistent use of features, which
would support a more
contextualised approach.
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
Here are some more texts. They are all extracts. How would you expect them to continue?
A
Ingredients
B
170g/6oz self-raising flour
salt The pool was large, deep, and
2 tbsp cocoa powder clean without the overpowering
170g/6oz caster sugar chlorine smell that usually goes
5 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing with the traditional hotel pool. The
230ml/8fl oz sweetened soya milk steam room was
1 tsp vanilla extract
C
Thepracticeofcloningcanbeusedtobenefitsocietyandthereforeshouldbe
legalised.Eversincethecloningofthefirstadultsheep,Dolly,theideaofcloninghas
becomeamajorissueandthesubjectofmanydebates.Manypeopleareafraidofthe
ideaofcloning ..
Dear all
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
Tick the items in the circle below which help make a text coherent.
Logical progression
Consistent register
Consistency of topic
Punctuation
Use of collocations
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
Exercise 1
Look at these words and phrases.
What function do they have in common?
What kind of information do they each introduce?
Exercise 2
What discourse markers could be used for the following functions?
To introduce:
a. an explanation/ clarification
b. the last point to be made
c. a result or conclusion
d. an example
e. a generalisation
f. the start of a list
g. more information on the same point
h. contrasting information
i. the next thing to happen
j. the next point from a list
k. a summary
l. some new/ surprising information
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
Early tomorrow morning, the clocks go back to herald Greenwich Mean Time - and that extra hour in
bed could do your brain a lot of good, according to a review of research on sleep.
Psychologists at the University of Rome pulled together more than 100 studies of the effects of sleep
on cognitive tasks and found that staying out of bed for too long can have serious effects on ability to
remember and learn new information. In fact, for students, they found that a bad night's sleep could
even result in worse grades.
"Recent studies in molecular genetics, neurophysiology and cognitive and behavioural neuroscience
have strengthened the idea that sleep may play an important role in learning and memory, although
the extent of this role remains hotly debated," wrote Giuseppe Curcioa, Michele Ferrara and Luigi De
Gennaroa in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews. "There is still poor understanding as regards which
aspects of memory function are affected by sleep and which processes underlie memory
consolidation."
(slightly adapted from Stay in bed that extra hour: it aids thinking, say researchers, by Alok Jha, science
correspondent, Guardian, 28 October 2006)
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
A teacher has prepared a task on the function of different discourse markers for his class
and is writing the answer key.
For questions 1-7, look at the underlined discourse markers in the dialogues and choose the
function listed A, B or C which the discourse marker carries out.
1 Ann: Hurry up, will you? Its nearly time A introducing an excuse
to leave.
B introducing strong opposition.
Brian: No way- Ive only just got out of
C introducing a wish
the shower.
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo
Every effort has been made to identify the copyright owners for material used, but it is not always
possible to identify the source or contact the copyright holders. In such cases, Cambridge ESOL
would welcome information from the copyright owners.
UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo