Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? In the last chapter we looked at the way a text hangs together - how is it is 'made cohesive'. But a text needs to do more than simply hang together. It also needs to make sense. In this chapter we will look at ways that this is achieved and the relation between this sense-making quality (a text's coherence) and its internal cohesion. To do this it may help to unravel a text in order to demonstrate that its coherence is more than simply a function of its cohesive ties. Discovery activity 3.1 Ordering Here, for example, is a short text from a children's encyclopedia30. The sentences have been re-arranged and lettered. Can you sort them into their correct order? What linguistic (and non-linguistic) clues did you use to help you do the task? 3.1a a) Two years later his father took him to play at concerts in the great cities of Europe. b) Mozart wrote church music, opera and nearly 50 symphonies. c) The Austrian composer Mozart was a musical genius. d) He worked hard but earned little money and died very poor at the age of 35. e) He began writing music at the age of five. Commentary ■ ■ ■ In case you didn't get it, the original text is as follows: 3.1b (c) The Austrian composer Mozart was a musical genius, (e) He began writing music at the age of five, (a) Two years later his father took him to play at concerts in the great cities of Europe, (b) Mozart wrote church music, opera and nearly 50 symphonies, (d) He worked hard but earned little money and died very poor at the age of 35. The point of this exercise is that the correct ordering of the sentences does not depend on cohesive ties alone. The only sentence that is explicitly linked to its predecessor is (a) because of the connector later. Neither it, nor sentences (e) and (d) - because of the referring pronoun he- could begin the text. But apart from that constraint, they could go anywhere, technically speaking. Nevertheless, our expectation, as readers, is that the text will more or less follow the chronological order of Mozart's life. Moreover, it simply wouldn't make sense to put sentence (a) at the end, for example: 3.1c He worked hard but earned little money and died very poor at the age of 35. Two years later his father took him to play at concerts in the great cities of Europe. ■ 35 Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? Coherence This capacity of a text to 'make sense' is called coherence. An incoherent text, such as 3.1 c, doesn't make sense: however closely connected its individual sentences might be, it is non-sense. Coherence is a quality that the reader derives from the text: it is not simply a function of its cohesion. Even quite cohesive texts can be nonsense, as in this invented example: 3.2 The Austrian composer Mozart was a musical genius. He has got a swimming pool. It actually tingles on your skin to tell you it's working. Water would then come out of fountains such as the one shown here. And that is why dogs still chase rabbits. The text, in case you hadn't noticed, is constructed out of sentences from other texts in this and the previous chapter. Meaningless as it is, it is not without cohesion - the sentences are notionally connected by the use of pronouns, substitutions and conjuncts. But it is incoherent - however hard we try, we can't get it to make sense. Cohesion, then, is a surface feature of texts, independent of the reader. Coherence, on the other hand, results from the interaction between the reader and the text. This is not to say that cohesion and coherence function independently. Writers intentionally use cohesive devices with the aim of making their texts easier to follow, ie more coherent. But if the text is basically nonsense, no amount of linkers will make it coherent. Unfortunately, a lot of student writing reflects an over-dependence on the cohesive 'trees' at the expense of the coherent 'wood', as we shall see shortly. First, though, we need to consider what exactly it is that makes a text coherent -or, rather, what helps make a text coherent, since coherence, I am arguing, is in the eye of the beholder. The issue of coherence is usually approached from two perspectives: the micro-level and the macro-level. At the micro-level, readers have certain expectations of how the proposition (ie the meaning) of a sentence is likely to be developed in the sentence or sentences that follow it. When these expectations are met, the immediate text will seem coherent. At the macro-level, coherence is enhanced if a) the reader can easily discern what the text is about, b) the text is organized in a way that answers the reader's likely questions and c) the text is organized in a way that is familiar to the reader. Micro-level coherence We'll start by looking at the micro-, sentence-by-sentence, level. Discovery activity 3.2 Logical relationships Match the two halves of these short authentic texts. What is the logical relation between the two parts of each text? 36 Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? 1 Shares in Parmalat, the Italian global food group, fell by more than 50% after a three-day suspension. A Pool, brook, stunning views, lush groves, comfort, privacy.31 2 Doctor Foster went to Gloucester In a shower of rain. B They may be recovered via the lodge on payment of the current fee. 3 Magical Provence: modernized farmhouse in medieval village. C Add Spice Paste and stir well. 4 Shockingly, 10 passengers on a flight are at risk of DVT. D The company had been plagued by apparent balance sheet discrepancies.32 5 Bicycles parked other than in the racks provided are liable to be impounded. E We are blocking the pavement. Thank you. 6 Boil water in a saucepan. F Scholl flight socks can help prevent you being one of them.33 7 To all smokers: Please cross the road to smoke. G He stepped in a puddle Right up to his middle And never went there again. Commentary ■ ■ ■ The complete texts are: 1-D, 2-G, 3-A, 4-F, 5-B, 6-C, 7-E. The exercise should have been easy to do: apart from anything else, there are lexical clues that bind the texts together. But, there are also implicit logical connections and it is these that help create the feeling that the (admittedly minimalist) texts make sense. The logical connections are the same as those we looked at when discussing linking devices, but note that there are no explicit conjuncts signalling the relation between the two sentences. We take the relation on trust. Here are the relations: • additive, as in text 3-A. The second sentence gives details about, or specifies, the statement in the first sentence. This movement, from general to specific, is one that readers are 'primed' to recognize. • adversative, as in texts 4-F and 5-B. In 4-F the second sentence, in claiming to solve the problem stated in the first, makes a contrast that could have been signalled with however, for example. In 5-B (which was a notice in the forecourt of an Oxford college) there is a contrast between impounded and recovered, which could have been signalled with but or however. • causal, as in texts 1-D and 7-E, where the second sentence provides a reason for the situation or request mentioned in the first. • temporal, as in texts 2-G and 6-C, where the chronological order of events (and then...) is implied, rather than explicitly stated. Note that when two past tense sentences are placed together, and in the absence of any other evidence, we assume that the first happened before the second, as in John sang a song. Janet told a joke. ■ The above texts have been chosen to demonstrate how whole (admittedly short) texts cohere because of the kinds of expectations that are both set up and satisfied by their component parts. This happens both at the level of the whole text and 37 ipter 3 What makes a text make sense? also at the local level, from one sentence to the next, such that at any point in a text any one sentence both reflects what has gone before and anticipates what is going to come. The sentence 'represents' the text at that point. Take a sentence randomly chosen from the middle of a text: (12) The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal. We can fairly safely assume that the previous sentence was about genes, and that the sentence that follows will develop this general statement further by saying something more, and possibly more specific, about either genes or information. Let's see if this is in fact the case: (11) Each part is called a gene. (12) The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal. (13) They decide its sex and also what characteristics it inherits. Our hypotheses have been confirmed: sentence 11 introduced the term gene and sentence 13 specified two sub-sets of information subsumed under all the information in sentence 12. We could repeat the exercise with sentence 11 and sentence 13, reflecting back and projecting forward, and again with sentences 10 and 14, and so on, until, in theory, we had 'guessed' the whole text - or, rather, a limited set of potential whole texts. We are able to do this not only because of cohesive clues like the definite article the that goes with genes in sentence 12, suggesting a previous mention, but also because the information in sentences is distributed in a predictable way. In English, sentences (and the clauses of which they are composed) have a simple two-way division between what the sentence is about (its topic) and what the writer or speaker wants to tell you about that topic (the comment). Moreover, the topic of the sentence is often associated with what is already known, or given. Given information is information that is retrievable because it has been explicitly mentioned at some prior point in the text, or because it is inferable from the text or from the context, or because it is part of the shared world knowledge of writer and reader (or speaker and listener). Given information normally precedes new information in the sentence. The new information is typically placed in the comment position. Theme and rheme / Topic and comment The topic and comment are also called the theme and the rheme of the sentence or clause. The different terms derive from different theoretical viewpoints and also from the need to distinguish the topic of a sentence from the topic of a text (which we will discuss below). In our example sentence the topic is the genes: topic (theme) comment (rheme) given information new information (12) The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal. The topic is the 'launch pad' of the message and is typically - but not always -realized by a noun phrase (the grammatical subject of the sentence). The comment is what the writer or speaker considers to be 'newsworthy' about the Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? topic: what you as reader or listener need to pay attention to. (For this reason, the comment typically carries the major word stress when articulated.) The tendency to place the new information in the latter part of a clause or sentence is called end-weight. This new information, in turn, often becomes the given information of the next sentence, as in sentences 11 and 12. Or the same topic is carried over and a new comment is made about it (as in sentences 12 and 13): topic (theme) comment (rheme) given information new information (11) Each part is called a gene. (12) The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal. (13) They decide its sex and also what characteristics it inherits. Predicting 'backwards' again, we can be fairly sure that the word part (in the theme of sentence 11), or one of its synonyms, was either the topic or comment of sentence 10. This is in fact the case: topic (theme) comment (rheme) (10) Different parts of each chromosome carry different 'coded messages'. (11) Each part is called a gene. Going back again, we are not surprised to find that chromosome is 'carried over' from sentence 9: topic (theme) comment (rheme) (9) Inside every cell are tiny chromosomes... (10) Different parts of each chromosome carry different 'coded messages'. (11) Each part is called a gene. The comment may consist of more than one element (as in sentence 13), only one of which may be carried over: topic (theme) comment (rheme) (13) They decide its sex and also what characteristics it inherits. (14) Some inherited characteristics are stronger than others. 39 hapter 3 What makes a text make sense? These patterns of topic and comment can be represented like this (after comment topic etc. 3 topic1 topic comment1 + comment2 comment topic The Genetics text demonstrates how writers mix and combine these patterns in order to carry their argument forward in the way they feel is most coherent. (It would be rare to find a longish text that adopted one pattern at the exclusion of others.) As readers, these alternating patterns of topic and comment help us make sense of the writer's argument. Disrupting these patterns, by moving topics to the comment position, for example, would prove very distracting: ... Different 'coded messages' are carried by different parts of each chromosome. A gene is what each part is called. The information needed to make a new plant or animal is carried by the genes. Its sex and what characteristics it inherits they decide. Stronger than others are some inherited characteristics... There are other means, as well, for signalling the evolving argument of a text. One is through the use of nominalization (see page 27). There are key words, such as way, problem, answer, situation, process, and so on, that can either encapsulate what has gone before or set up expectations as to what is to come. Here is another segment from the text on genetics. Note how the underlined words 'gather up' the adjacent sentences, both retrospectively and prospectively: (6) Each parent passes on certain characteristics to its offspring. (7) This process is called heredity. (8) Heredity works in an amazing way. Process encapsulates the entire proposition expressed in sentence 6. Way, especially in rheme position, signals that some kind of description will follow. It would be very odd if the sentence that follows way did not go on to outline how, in fact, heredity works. 1 Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? Discovery activity 3.3 Logical relations It's time to look at the whole of the Genetics text35. You should now be able to identify the logical relations between its sentences, showing how each sentence either anticipates the sentence that follows, or encapsulates some element of the sentence that preceded it. GENETICS The science of genetics explains why living things look and behave as they do. Advanced animals have two sexes, male and female. Each individual produces sex cells. If a male and female sex cell join, the female cell grows into a new individual. Each parent passes on certain characteristics to its offspring. This process is called heredity. Heredity works in an amazing way. Inside every cell are tiny chromosomes, largely made of a chemical called DNA. Different parts of each chromosome carry different coded messages. Each part is called a gem. The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal. They decide its sex and also what characteristics it inherits. Some inherited characteristics are stronger than others. They are dominant. Weaker ones are recessive. Genes for brown eyes, for example, dominate over the weaker genes for blue eyes. Commentary I The following outline summarizes the logical relations between the sentences of the text. (1) GENETICS Statement of topic. (2) The science of genetics explains why living things look and behave as they do. The topic (genetics) is now a given, having been announced in the title and takes theme position. The definition that follows is the 'news' and takes the rheme slot. The embedded question (Why do living things look and behave as they do?) predicts an answer. The rest of the text in fact answers the question. (3) Advanced animals have two sexes, male and female. The topic (advanced animals) echoes part of the comment in (2) (living things) - this suggests that (3) is the beginning of an answer to (2). (4) Each individual produces sex cells. Again, the topic (each individual) is a . re-focusing of the living things, advanced animals thread - same topic, new comment, with the word sex carried over. The dynamic verb ipter 3 What makes a text make sense? (produces) suggests a process is being described (compared to (3), which describes a state), and since processes usually have stages, we can predict more sentences with more dynamic verbs. (5) If a male and female sex cell join, the female cell grows into a new individual. This sentence is almost entirely composed of ingredients from the previous two sentences: the topic combines elements from the comments of both sentences (3) and (4), ie male and female, sex cell(s); the word individual is also carried over. Again, the dynamic verbs joins and grows confirm the 'process' hypothesis. (6) Each parent passes on certain characteristics to its offspring. Re-phrasing of parts of (5): male and female = each parent; new individual -offspring. New dynamic verb: will there be more stages to the process? And will these certain characteristics be itemized? (7) This process is called heredity. This process summarizes the text to date. Heredity is given special emphasis by the use of italics, suggesting it's a key word which will be further explained or elaborated on. (8) Heredity works in an amazing way. Previous comment becomes topic; way anticipates a description. (9) Inside every cell are tiny chromosomes, largely made of a chemical called DNA. Ce//is carried over from (4); two comments: chromosomes and DNA. If this is the description of a way something works, it is incomplete, because so far there are no dynamic verbs. We expect more to follow. (10) Different parts of each chromosome carry different coded messages. Chromosome is carried over from (9). Dynamic verb (carry) suggests this is part of the way signalled in (8) and anticipates further sentences with dynamic verbs, since 'ways', like 'processes', have stages. (11) Each part is called a gene. The topic is the same as (10); new comment, given special emphasis (italics) which anticipates further commentary. I I 1 Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? (12) The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal. Previous comment becomes topic; information is similar in meaning to coded messages in (10). (13) They decide its sex and also what characteristics it inherits. Same topic as previous sentence. Characteristics is carried over from (6). Again, will the characteristics be itemized? (14) Some inherited characteristics are stronger than others. One of the previous comments becomes the topic. (15) They are dominant. Re-wording of previous sentence. (16) Weaker ones are recessive. Weaker ones = others in (14); the structure of the sentence imitates (15) - and is an example of parallelism (see page 22). (17) Genes for brown eyes, for example, dominate over the weaker genes for blue eyes. At last, and as expected, some specific characteristics are mentioned (see 6, 13 and 14); dominant becomes dominate; weaker is repeated; genes is repeated twice. This analysis does not in any way exhaust the intricate network of intertwiriing themes and arguments in this one text: not for nothing does the word text derive from the Latin texere, to weave. In fact, some writers use the word texture to describe the combined effect of such structural features of a text as the topic-comment organization and of its internal cohesion, both grammatical and lexical. ■ It is important to stress, at this point, that texture is not simply a decorative or stylistic quality of texts, but that it fulfils a vital communicative purpose. When we are reading a text - or listening to spoken text - we are attending only to the immediate sentence or utterance. We cannot process the whole text all at once. (Of course, with a written text, you can glance back through it, but, generally, we don't.) Therefore, as readers and listeners, we need guidance as to what has gone before and what is yet to come. The immediate sentence has to represent the text at that moment. Or, as John Sinclair puts it, 'The text at any particular time carries with it everything that a competent reader needs in order to understand the current state of the text.'36 This view of a text unfolding in time has led Sinclair to propose a radical theory of text, which argues that the text is only the immediate sentence. This focal sentence either encapsulates the immediately preceding sentence, or it sets up an anticipation of the sentence that follows (what is called prospection). So far this argument is consistent with our analysis of the genetics text. In fact, its coherence is achieved almost entirely by acts of prospection, that is, by setting up an expectation that is immediately satisfied, as in: Heredity works in an amazing way. —> Inside every cell are tiny chromosomes, largely made of a chemical called DNA. etc. 43 ter 3 What makes a text make sense? But Sinclair goes on to argue that, for all intents and purposes, the rest of the text apart from the immediate sentence exists only as a trace or an echo. It is not subject to mental consultation, hence there cannot really be such a thing as anaphoric (or back) reference. This is of course easier to argue with regard to spoken language, where it is simply not possible to consult the text in any physical way. But Sinclair extends the argument to written text as well. The interconnectivity of texts is only an artefact, he argues. It is available for us to study after the event, but it is not an accurate way of modelling what happens when we actually read. What does happen? As the focus of our attention proceeds from one sentence to the next, the state of our mental representation based on the text - the knowledge shared by writer and reader - is continuously updated through processes of encapsulation and prospection. Referents in the sentence, such as pronouns, do not 'point back' in the text. Rather, they point at what has become shared knowledge, much in the same way as definite articles or proper nouns do, as in the sentence from text 2.18: And the apron will be perfect for Sant Pol barbies... The referents are not in the text, but in the reader's and writer's heads, as it were. Sinclair concludes that 'a text does not consist of a string of sentences which are intricately interconnected, but of a series of sentence-length texts, each of which is a total update of the one before'.37 As compelling (and exciting) as Sinclair's argument is, it does not invalidate the study of cohesion in texts, but it does suggest that the processes of encapsulation and prospection demand more attention than they have been normally been given. Reader expectations Not all texts are as transparent as text 3.3, which, apart from anything else, was written for children and therefore is relatively straightforward and unadorned. Some texts do not yield their sense without more of a struggle. Nevertheless, as readers we approach a text assuming it will make sense until proven otherwise, even if it means putting our initial hypotheses on hold, or even abandoning them altogether. Take these two sentences, for example: 3.4 (1)1 learned to read around my sixth birthday. (2) I was making a dinosaur in school from crepe bandage and toilet rolls when I started to feel as if an invisible pump was inflating my head from the inside. Our understanding of the first sentence suggests that the second sentence will be connected to it either in some temporal or causal sense, eg it will relay the circumstances, or the cause, or the effect of the writer's learning to read. The past continuous in sentence 2 (/ was making a dinosaur.,.) tends to support the . temporal hypothesis, as it is a verb form often used to set the scene for some particular narrative event. It's only when we get to the 'invisible pump' that the hypothesis starts to wobble a bit. Perhaps the writer is implying that the experience of learning to read felt like his head was being pumped up. But how is the dinosaur related to reading? Is the dinosaur a red herring? Let's put our theory on hold and move on: (3) My face became a cluster of bumps, my feet dangled limp and too far away to control. Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? While this possibly relates to the sensations described in sentence 2, the theory that it has something to do with learning to read is becoming untenable. We are compelled to read on with no clear idea of what the connections are: (4) The teacher carried me home on her shoulders. Well, now sentences 2, 3 and 4, are starting to cohere. Sentences 2 and 3 are related in an additive way {What's more...) and 3 is related in a causal way (So...). But we are still none the wiser as to how sentence 1 fits in. Much later in the same paragraph, after the writer has described in detail the onset of mumps, the connection at last becomes clear: (12) When I caught the mumps, I couldn't read; when I went back to school again, I could. (13) The first page of The Hobbit was a thicket of symbols, to be decoded one at a time and joined hesitantly together... (15) By the time I reached The Hobbit's last page, though, writing had softened and lost the oudines of the printed alphabet and become a transparent liquid, first viscous and sluggish, like a jelly of meaning, then ever thinner and more mobile, flowing faster and faster, until it reached me at the speed of thinking and I could not entirely distinguish the suggestions it was making from my own thoughts.38 It is now clear, in retrospect, that sentence 2 launched a long detour in which the circumstances leading up to the writer's learning to read are described in detail. Normally, this would have been signalled more obviously, eg happened when I was away from school with mumps... Perhaps the writer wanted to suggest that there was more than simply a temporal connection between the experience of catching mumps and the experience of learning to read. The imagery of accelerating fluids in sentence 15 is not unlike the invisible pump image in sentence 2, as if learning to read is like catching mumps. The text is not only coherent but there is a coherent sub-text as well! The writer has taken certain risks, testing the reader's faith in the coherence of his text, but it all comes clear in the end. (It's no coincidence, either, that the extract comes from a book about reading.) The writer is able to take these risks because he knows that readers are on the constant look-out for clues that will support their assumption that texts are, first and foremost, coherent - that they make sense. These clues are usually close at hand, in the associated text (or the co-text) - and often in the adjoining sentence. Or they may be in the cerates where the text is situated. (For more on co-text and context, see Chapter 5.) When, occasionally, two sentences are juxtaposed whose relationship cannot be established, we have to conclude that their juxtaposition is accidental, as in this illuminated sign on a cafe in the USA in 2003: 3.5 OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH THE TROOPS TRY OUR FRESH TENDER HOME COOKED TURTLE 45 iter 3 What makes a text make sense? Discovery activity 3.4 Rogue sentences Good readers can usually spot lack of coherence quickly - in fact, the capacity to do so is sometimes used as a test of reading ability. What, for example, is the sentence that doesn't fit in this text39? TORTOISE AND TURTLE (1) Unlike other reptiles, tortoises and turtles have hard shells to protect Tortoises are land animals. (2) They live in warm countries and eat plant food. (3) A tortoise cannot run away from an enemy. (4) Instead, it tucks its head and legs into its shell. (5) Some tortoises can live to be much more than a hundred years old - older than any other animals. (6) Turtles live in the sea. (7) Some seaweeds can be eaten. (8) They have flatter shells than tortoises and use their legs as paddles for swimming. (9) On land they are very clumsy. See also REPTILE. Commentary ■ ■ ■ The rogue sentence is, of course, number 7. A fairly easy exercise, you'll agree, but it can be made more difficult depending on the choice and length of the text and the choice of'rogue' sentence. It can be made still more difficult if the text, along with its inserted sentence, is jumbled up (as in text 3. la) - so that the exercise becomes a test of the ability to recognize cohesive ties as well as overall coherence. ■ The above exercise is a type of'deletion' exercise. The opposite process involves insertion. Insertion exercises also require (and therefore test) the ability to recognize how coherence works and are now popular in some public ELT examinations. Discovery activity 3.5 Sentence insertion Here is a text from Henry Widdowson's Teaching Language as Communication40 (in which the sentences have been numbered for convenience). The two sentences that follow (A and B) have been extracted from it (in no particular order). Can you re-insert them? As you do, consider the kinds of skills and knowledge that you need to enlist in order to do the task. How would you prepare students to do similar tasks? A In some respects, however, it is unsatisfactory. B But what exactly do we mean by this? 3.6 Chapter 3 What makes a text make sense? (1) The aims of a language teaching course are very often defined with reference to the four 'language skills': understanding speech, speaking, reading and writing. (2) These aims, therefore, relate to the kind of activity which the learners are to perform. (3) But how can we characterize this activity? (4) What is it that learners are expected to understand, speak, read and write? (5) The obvious answer is: the language they are learning. (6) We might mean a selection of lexical items recorded in a dictionary combined with syntactic structures recorded in a grammar. (7) In this view, the teaching of a language involves developing the ability to produce correct sentences. (8) Many teachers would subscribe to this view and it has been productive of a good deal of impressive language teaching material. (9) We may readily acknowledge that the ability to produce sentences is a crucial one in the learning of a language. (10) It is important to recognize, however, that it is not the only ability that learners need to acquire. (11) Someone knowing a language knows more than how to understand, speak, read and write sentences. (12) He also knows how sentences are used to communicative effect. Commentary ■ ■ ■ To do this task requires more than simply recognizing cohesive ties (such as however, but, etc), although this is of course very important. It also involves the ability to understand and follow the thread of the argument, sentence by sentence, including recognizing what is 'new information' in each sentence. This in turn involves more than simply understanding the words and the grammar. Familiarity with the argument itself, and with this kind of text and writing style, is an obvious advantage. To prepare learners for this kind of task requires, therefore, that attention be given to the formal ties between sentences, including the use of reference and conjuncts. It also means encouraging learners to read for meaning - stepping back, as it were, from the text in order to get its overall gist. For example, learners would be advised to read the whole text first, before attempting to re-insert the missing sentences. Knowing that the text is a complete paragraph would help matters. Since paragraphs (in academic writing) typically start out by presenting the writer's case, going on to elaborate it or give examples, before finally summarizing it, it's generally a good idea to pay special attention to the beginnings and endings of paragraphs. In the case of the above text, Widdowson's whole argument can be summarized in sentences 1,11 and 12. The missing sentences, by the way, fit in like this: A comes between sentences 8 and 9; B comes between sentences 5 and 6. ■ Classroom applications End weight The principle of 'end-weight' - of placing the newsworthy information at the end of the clause - is one that can form the focus of a number of classroom tasks. Asking learners to choose the best of a number of options for continuing a text can help draw attention to the way given and new information is typically distributed. For example: 47 ter 3 What makes a text make sense? necessary, suggest they use one that includes the word this, as in this means..., this is why..., because of this..., despite this..., etc. This (!) will ensure that any conjuncts are firmly anchored. • Remind writers that the topic and the way the topic is being considered, needs to be spelled out lexically and early on in the text. This may mean repeating, paraphrasing, or re-formulating elements of the rubric in the opening sentence. So, if the rubric asks the writer to Suggest ways developed countries can contribute to global well-being, an appropriate opening sentence might be: How can developed countries contribute to global well-being? • Show learners how sentence topics are frequently carried over from the comments of previous sentences. Thus, a follow-on sentence to the opening one might begin: Global well-being [depends on a number of factors... I can be defined as... I was once thought to mean..., etc]. • Explain to writers that lexical repetition is not necessarily a bad thing. Show, using authentic texts, how effective writers use both direct and indirect repetition to convey their argument and to create cohesion. If the rubric includes words like developed countries 2nd global well-being, these should reappear in the body of the text, along with derived forms and synonyms, such as development, developing, nations, international, welfare, etc. This is where some pre-writing dictionary work might be useful - pre-activating not only key words, but derived forms and synonyms as well. • Having written a first draft, learners should read this aloud to other students, in pairs, or at least silently read and then comment on each other's texts. Any point where their 'audience' asks for clarification should be considered a potential 'danger spot' and subject to re-writing. Ask students to summarize the gist of each other's texts, even if this has to be done in their first language. If they can't easily summarize their colleague's argument, then there may well be something wrong with the coherence of the text. • As a last resort, be prepared, as teacher, to tell the writer, 'I'm afraid, this doesn't make sense.' This is best done on a one-to-one basis, if possible, where you can challenge the writer to tell you what it was he or she intended to say. Often this is enough for the bits to fall into place, for the logic to emerge, for coherence to kick in. Conclusion In this chapter we have looked at ways texts achieve coherence - ie how they make sense to the reader - through a combination of local (or micro-level) and global (or macro-level) effects. Writers use cohesion to help readers create coherence in a text, but it is the degree to which the reader is able to interact with the text that is the true test of coherence. Ultimately the reader has to decide whether the writer has kept the reader in mind. The discussion has centred almost exclusively on written texts. Do the same principles apply to the production and interpretation of spoken texts? What makes spoken text coherent?. What are the particular characteristics of spoken text that distinguish it from written? And what are the implications for teaching? These issues will be addressed in the next chapter.