Helping Students Develop Coherence in Writing

This article discusses the need to bring coherence in writing from an abstract level to a concrete concept that can be described and taught. Teachers need to teach coherence by sharing its metalanguage with students. This can be done for example by using more specific comments such as “unclear reference” or  “inappropriate conjunction” instead of vague ones such as “the essay lacks unity.” The article offers a coherence checklist for students to self-edit and to review their peers’ writing.