On the Application of Discourse Cohesion Theory to English Reading Teaching in Senior High School

Abstract

Improving students’ reading ability has always been an important goal of English teaching in senior high school. However, English reading teaching nowadays has simply focused on translation, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. Discourse analysis that is more important for students to improve reading ability, has received surprisingly little attention. Cohesion theory initially proposed by Halliday and Hasan is an important part of discourse analysis. The dozens of studies on cohesion theory carried out over the past 40 years have mostly focused on the theory research, while the practical application to English teaching and its strategies have been much ignored. In the research of English teaching, most people pay more attention to the application of cohesion theory to English writing, translation, and reading teaching in college, but neglect the application of cohesion theory to reading teaching in senior high school. This paper is a tentative probe into applying cohesion theory to English reading teaching in senior high school. Its purpose is to discuss strategies of cohesion theory in English reading class and to offer teachers some new perspectives of teaching reading.