ACADEMIC

ENGLISH
WEEK TWO
Shazia Asif
Let’s Recap

•Four Language Skills

- Listening
- Speaking
- Reading
- Writing
•Tenants of reading
•What is reading?
Last weeks recap

What is skimming and

scanning?
Nine common types of patterns of organizations or text
structures:

1. Chronological
2. Compare and Contrast
3. Order of Importance
4. Advantages- Disadvantages
5. Sequence
6. Spatial
7. Cause and Effect
8. Problem and Solution
9. Topical Patterns
 VISUALIZING
• Visualizing is an important reading strategy
that good readers use to help create mental
images or movies in their minds to
represent the ideas that they read in the
text. The images that they make help them
to understand what they are reading at a
deeper level.
 SUPPORTING DETAILS
Supporting Details provide information to clarify,
prove, or explain the main idea. These details
demonstrate the validity of the main idea. They often
list parts, aspects, steps, or examples of the main idea.

Or sometimes they may list the causes of it, effects

from it, or ways in which it shows itself to be true.
Example:
• I really like apples. They are sweet, crisp, and juicy
and just filling enough to take the edge off my
appetite. When I eat apples, I also think of the
vitamins and minerals they contain, and the fiber they
supply to keep me healthy.
• Main Idea: I like apples (for the following reasons).
• Major Detail: They are crisp, juicy, and filling.
• Minor Detail: They provide healthy vitamins,
minerals, and fiber.
Controlling idea in a text

• The controlling idea in the thesis is a word,

phrase, or clause that states the opinion,
attitude.
• It stand that the writer takes about the subject.
• It provides the angle from which the writer
wishes to approach his subject.
DEDUCTIVE and INDUCTIVE pattern of organization of texts
Inductive reasoning presents facts
and then wraps them up with a
conclusion.

Deductive reasoning presents a

thesis statement and then provides
supportive facts or examples.
 Here is helpful strategy for reading
Chunking

•Break up reading passages into

“chunks” (1 paragraph - 3
paragraph)
•Otherwise, it serves no useful
purpose towards the
understanding.
WEEK 2
Topic 1: Reading Skills - Textual Coherence
Intended Learning Outcomes
Students will:
• Identify a number of textual coherence devices.
• Exemplify, visualize and discuss aspects of textual coherence.
• Name the coherence through synonyms.
• Identify the coherence device of repetition.
• Show an understanding of using substitutes as coherent devices, such as noun.
substitutes, verb substitutes, adverb substitutes and adjective substitutes.
• Identify the definite article “the” as a coherent device.
WEEK 2

Topic 2: Reading Skills - Textual Coherence and

Unity

Learning Outcomes
Students will:
• Categorize textual coherence through chronology signals.
• Name textual coherence through causality signals.
• Identify textual coherence through spatial signals.
PARTS OF SPEECH
 PARTS OF SPEECH - Revision
Individual Activity
•With the help of the handout provided
to you.
•Identify all the parts of speech and put
them in their respective columns.
Cohesion refers to the grammatical
or lexical meaning
to which sentences are connected
so that the flow of ideas are easy
and understandable.
• Coherence is based more
on the logic of the ideas
and how they are
presented.
 Cohesive devices are
words and phrases that
connect ideas.
Let's see the handout

• The differences between Cohesion and

Coherence
 Coherence Cohesion

Coherence mainly deals with logic and appropriate Cohesion focuses more on lexical syntax and

organization of the sentences to form meaningful and grammar in sentence formation.

understandable content.

Coherence is more sort of a pattern in the collected parts Cohesion is just the individual parts that are
of writings. collected together and are stick together for
representation.

Coherence is the attribute that is decided by the end-user Cohesion is the writer’s attribute and which is
or reader, which determines whether the content seems brought by using different techniques like repeated
meaningful, understanding and useful. words/ideas, reference words, transition signals,
substitution, etc.
 Coherence Cohesion

Coherence is not a measurable property and very hard Cohesion is a measurable property that can be

to achieve. measured by checking the lexical syntaxes and

grammar rules.

It is abstract as it deals with the ideas. It is observable as it is dealt with the actual written

content.

Coherence is a qualitative property. Cohesion is a quantitative property.

Activity 2
Read through the following list of words and
underline those which you understand.
Then tick those which you regularly use in your
academic writing.
WHY DO WE PUT COHESIVE DEVICES?

To tell the reader, what we are doing in a

sentence and help to guide them through
our writing. 
Signal to the reader what the relationships
are between the different clauses,
sentences and paragraphs.
 Cohesion refers to the act of
forming a whole unit. It is
effectively a subset of coherence.
See cohesion as the bricks and
cement which make up the
building (coherence).
 Synonyms for Coherence
• To emphasise attention on a part of text, we
sometimes repeat the same word or phrase.
However, this technique can make the
writing start to sound repetitive if it is used
too often.
• To avoid this, we can use words and
phrases with similar meaning to refer back
to an earlier concept.
 The government’s election
campaign commenced with a media
blitz outlining a series of election
promises. This beginning to the
campaign sparked numerous media
commentaries.
 •In the following example, the word
‘campaign’ repeated in the second
sentence continues the topic of the first.
Replacing ‘commenced’ with ‘beginning’
adds variety, but also keeps a focus on
the topic.
EXAMPLES OF COHESIVE DEVICES
Coherence is about the
unity of the ideas and
cohesion the unity of
structural elements.
One way to do this is through the
use of cohesive devices:
 logical bridges (repetition),
verbal bridges (synonyms),
linking words, and clear back
referencing.
Linking words
• Academic writing usually deals with complex ideas. To enable the
reader to follow your thoughts, they need to be clearly and smoothly
linked. To join ideas and sentences, we use a number of connecting
words and phrases. For example:
• and – to add information
• however – to show contrast
• therefore – to show cause and effect
• although – to qualify
• because – to show cause and effect
• whilst – to signal concurrency
For example

• Although the government was elected for a

three-year term, the Prime Minister decided
to hold an early election. At the same time,
the opposition parties, which had
anticipated this move, had been planning
their own election campaigns.
Referring backwards

• To avoid repeating words and phrases many times, we

use cohesive devices to make references to other
parts of a text, such as:
• Pronouns: it, he, she, his, her, they, their
• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• Articles: a, the
• Adverbs: previously, subsequently
 The Australian prime minister has called an early election. The date was
selected to coincide with the start of the Olympic Games. This
decision was based on the views of his ministerial advisors, who
predicted that voter confidence in the government’s policies would be
strong at this time. As previously mentioned, decisions on the timing of
elections are based on predictions of voter confidence in the existing
government.
• In the example above:
The date - refers back to the election date
This decision - refers to the prime minister calling an early election
His - refers to the Australian prime minister
this time - refers to the start of the Olympic Games
As previously mentioned - refers to all of the earlier information about
the selection of election dates
 SUBSTITUTION
Substitution is the replacement
of a word or phrase with a filler
word such as "one", "so", or "do"
in order to avoid repetition.
 NOUN SUBSTITUTE
•Niles: "I'll have a decaf latte, and please
be sure to use skim milk.
Frasier: I'll have the same,“

• ("You Can't Tell a Crook by His Cover").

 VERB SUBSTITUTION
•"Don't you ever read the Times,
Watson? I've often advised you to do
so if you want to know something,"
(Lee, Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly
Necklace).
 • Make additional information
• Make exemplification
• Make sequencing
WHEN DO WE • Show result
NEED TO PUT A • Make comparison
COHESIVE • Make contrast
DEVISE?
• Show qualifying
• Do reformulation
• Give highlight
• Make transition
Let’s Practice
Read through the following passage and identify the function of the
LINKING DEVICE, which appear in bold.

• Linking devices have a number of specific language functions,

such as sequencing summarizing and referencing. In
addition, linking devices enable writers to express their ideas
naturally. Although, linking devices can be extremely useful,
it is important not to overuse them, otherwise your writing
may sound too verbose. In contrast, not using them enough
will make your writing sound simplistic. Finally, be sure that
you use a suitable range of linking devices.
PART 2
•Categorize textual coherence through
chronology signals
•Name textual coherence through
causality signals
•Identify textual coherence through
spatial signals
Organizational Patterns of a Paragraph
Chronological order

• Chronological order is time order.

• In this case, we begin with the topic sentence
and then put our support sentences in the order
in which they occurred in time.
Chronological (Time) Order or Sequence
Items are listed in the order in which they occurred or in a specifically planned
order in which they must develop.  In this case, the order is important and
changing it would change the meaning.
Signal words often used for chronological order
or sequence are:

first, second, third until

before, after at last
when next
later
 • This structural order
in descriptive
How would paragraphs
we define determines the
readers' perspective
spatial and how details are
order? perceived. Focus is
on location; time is
ignored.
Description or Spatial

•Description is like listing; the characters

that make up a description are no more
than a simple listing of details.
 Cause and Effect
• In this pattern, one item is showed as having produced another
element.  An event (effect) is said to have happened because of
some situation or circumstance (cause).  The cause (the action)
stimulates the event or effect (the outcome).
Signal words often used for cause and effect are:
•for this reason •hence
•consequently •because
•on that account •made
LET'S SEE AN EXAMPLE
HOME
TASK
 Select a piece of writing, preferably from a textbook or journal

Strategies
article, from your area of study.

Choose a paragraph and underline or highlight all the different

to forms of cohesion used, such as using linking words, referring

backwards, looking forwards or adding synonyms.

improve Which forms are the most common?

cohesion Choose a couple that you think are effective and practice using
them in your own writing.

Try to use a variety of ways to show the relationship between

your ideas.
 FEEDBACK 3 things you liked
about the class.
FEED 2 things you did not
BACK like about the class.
1 thing you don’t
understand.
THANK YOU