ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 reports findings concerning differences (across task types and proficiency levels) and changes (across test occasions) in four discourse aspects of students’ texts: cohesion, coherence, text organization, and argument quality. Each aspect was measured holistically using human rating, while cohesion and text organization were also measured using the computer programs Coh-Metrix and Criterion, respectively. Cohesion was measured at multiple levels (local, global and text) and multiple specific dimensions (referential, conceptual, and coreference). The findings indicated a general trend of improvement in terms of the four aspects of discourse after instruction as well as significant variation for some of the discourse indices across tasks and learner proficiency levels. Tables and graphs show the significant main and interaction effects for test occasion, task type and proficiency level on indices used to measure each of the four discourse aspects.
