OA2 PREPARATIONS

STRATEGY TRAINING SESSION II

COHESION

1. Some key things to keep in mind:

Cohesion is the “glue” that holds your ideas together and allows them to flow
smoothly. Good cohesion means that what you are saying is organized, thus
making it easier for your listeners to understand.
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Cohesive devices (linkers) are important features of cohesion that help you
connect your ideas in a logical way. To have a variety of cohesive devices,
you may think about relationship of ideas:

✔ Adding ideas,
✔ Comparing & contrasting,
✔ Cause & Effect,
✔ Giving examples.
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Cohesive chain of ideas = series of ideas are connected well together !
2. Please have a look at this example below and say whether this answer has good cohesion:

Teacher: “Tell me about the kind of accommodation you live in.”

Student: “I live in an apartment. I really like my apartment. It’s modern. It’s conveniently located.
The apartment is in the city center. It’s close to my school. It only takes me 10 minutes to walk to
school. The apartment is a bit small. I’d like to find a bigger one in the future.”
What is the problem here? Your feedback?

3. Please have a look at the video sample and while watching, write down the cohesive devices
the speaker uses throughout the speech. Are the ideas linked well and is there variety? (please
watch between 04.26 and 06:30) (please see the feedback at the end of the document)
Here are the questions:

Talk about a business idea you have had.

What was the idea?
Where did the idea come from?
How can this idea impact people?

Your feedback?

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 TIP
As you cannot develop yourself in cohesion very quickly, you may expose yourself to a
number of texts that you see in your BtB book, blog posts, videos etc. You may
extensively study them by highlighting them and trying to see the links among ideas.

You may study cohesive devices beforehand (it does not develop very easily), here is a
small list for you to have a look at:

(Linkers, n.d.)

Further suggestion to analyze the sample

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Please have a look this sample speaking task from a cohesion perspective and say what you
think about it:

Topic: Should an event be prepared in advance?

Well  [give yourself time to think],  I have to say  [preface what you really think] yes, by all means. I
must admit [confess that smth is true] that only few celebrations can be successfully organised on
the spot without too much planning effort. For instance, [give example] it would be so easy to
throw a surprise birthday party for a friend or a family member since  [give reason] there’s such a
wild range of products that one can buy at a Dollar store for such purposes – all sorts of paper
cups, plastic plates and cutlery, single use tablecloths and so on. Yet, [contrast] most events do
require a good deal of planning. Family celebrations like  [give example] Christmas, Thanksgiving,
wedding anniversaries, as well as [add ideas] wedding parties, product launches or various
receptions simply can’t be spontaneous. Their organisation needs a good plan because  [give
reason] there are way too many aspects to take into account – the menu, guest list, or even
gifts.  So  [express a result] good planning of large events always equals order and peace of
mind. On the other hand, [introduce another point of view] it is not uncommon for people to
overplan their events and then, when something small deviates from the initial plan, it wreaks
havoc on the whole event and the festive feeling associated with it. That is why [give an
explanation] I don’t think we should plan every single detail of every single event, so that [express
purpose] we leave some space for adjustment in case the circumstances change.

Material ID (to be included in the Teacher’s Notes section at the end of the material)
Objectives covered (please also provide at the top Practicing necessary strategies based on the

Prepared by S. Öz
of the student material) OA criteria
Intended CEFR level B1+/B2
Purpose (e.g. strategy training; awareness Strategy training
raising; self-study; HW; additional support; exam
prep. etc.)
Date of creation / modification 11.04.2021
Book and unit fit BtB 3.1. & BtB 2.2
Source(s) and/or writer(s)  Castro, A. (2017, October 23). Making your
(use *APA and indicate the source on student speaking and writing more cohesive:
copy in APA format) A look at linkers. IELTS.
https://ieltscanadatest.com/2017/10/m
aking-your-speaking-and-writing-
more-cohesive-a-look-at-linkers/

Speaking cohesion and linking words for

IELTS. (n.d.). IELTSPodcast.
Retrieved April 11, 2021, from
https://www.ieltspodcast.com/ielts-
speaking/band9-speaking-cohesion/
#:~:text=Coherence%20in%20speech
%20or%20writing,cohesive
%20features%20or%20link%20words

Linkers. (n.d.). Mrsilvadigital. Retrieved

April 11, 2021, from
http://mrsilvadigital.blogspot.com/p/li
nkers.html

+ Serpil Öz
Suggested time frame for the whole material 30-35 minutes (including the discussion)

Technology or any other materials needed (please Internet

provide links if necessary)
Exact location (e.g. folder on SL Online or Drive)
To be provided by the MGM

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