Enhancing Chinese EFL Learners’ Coherence and Cohesion in the Continuation Task through Blended Learning: A Collaborative Action Research

Abstract

The continuation task, which requires learners to read an incomplete story and continue it in a logical and coherent way, has been adopted in NMET (the National Matriculation English Test) in mainland China since 2016. However, many Chinese EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners struggle to continue the story coherently and logically. This study adopted a blended learning approach to address learners’ problems with coherence and cohesion in continuation writing as identified by the collaborative action research. Drawing on a case of sixteen students’ writing instruction, this study examined students’ writings, open-ended questionnaires for students, and teacher’s reflection journal in two action research cycles. Cohesion features of students’ writings were analyzed by natural processing tools, i.e., Coh-Metrix and Python, covering features of connectives, referential cohesion, semantic similarity, and the overlap of content words, synonyms, and semantic meaning. Coherence features were rated through a holistic rating scale. In order to take specific actions to improve students’ coherence and cohesion in continuations, a blended learning approach was adopted. A self-built corpus of 500 continuations was compiled to identify the salient cohesion features. Based on the result, operational learning objectives were formulated and the teaching design was developed. The findings indicated that this blended learning approach significantly improved students overall writing and coherence in their continuations but that the cohesion features showed no statistical significance. Overall, both students and teachers expressed positive attitudes towards the learning experience provided by the blended learning. Implications for future research were provided.