21. Text Structure. Cohesion. Coherence.

- A reading text is not a random collection of sentences;

- In order to comprehend the message of the text, the readers have to be aware of certain
features of text structures such as cohesion and coherence;

1. Cohesion: refers to the way a text holds together by particular linguistic means; these
include pro-forms, connectors, reference, substitution, ellipsis and vocabulary;
- it is essential for the pupils to understand how a text is made up, the web of relationships
that is built among the ideas;
- if the pupils fail to understand this, they may also fail to understand the structure, the
communicative value of the text, and its function;
- the cohesion markers will help students when skimming since the recognition of ties will help
them to understand the structure and function of the text;

2. Coherence: refers to the way in which sentences and groups of sentences in a text make
sense in relationship to each other;
- we have to be able to follow the writer through the text, and understand not only the
meaning of individual sentences, but also the writer's purpose in using these sentences;
- some texts achieve coherence through obvious means; in telling a story, the writer usually
proceeds by telling the reader what happened next; in descriptive passages coherence may be
achieved by the writer describing different aspects of the same object, person or scene;