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Logical Development and Discourse Coherence in English Writing

发表时间：2020/10/27 来源：《基层建设》2020年第19期作者：Wang Ying

[导读] Abstract：Logical development not only determines the basic structure and overall layout of the article，but also has significant functions in English writing. In addition，discourse coherence is realize

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        University of International Relations   Beijing 100091
        Abstract：Logical development not only determines the basic structure and overall layout of the article，but also has significant functions in English writing. In addition，discourse coherence is realized by closely connecting the topic and messages expressed by different parts of the essay. This paper，based on five English essays from College Writing Skills with Readings，has analyzed the logical development and discourse coherence and has found that conceptional metaphor promotes discourse coherence of English articles. The paper will help people understand logical development and discourse coherence as well as grasp the essence of English writing.
        Keywords：English writing；logical development；discourse coherence；conceptional metaphor
        Introduction
        1. The logical development of essays simply means that the writer is making sure that their ideas are stated throughout the essay in a logical sequence. Paragraphs in an essay should follow some type of organization that helps them flow in a logical order. One example of logical development is to arrange the paragraphs in chronological order to show a sequence of events or the passing of time. Another is to arrange paragraphs in order of importance. This can be done by either moving from the most important point to the least important point or going the opposite way，from the least important to the most important. Another common organization is to move from a general point，getting more specific as the paragraph moves along or to move from specific to general.
        2. Coherence is a discourse feature in which words，sentences and sentence groups are connected reasonably and appropriately in concept and logic. A coherent text has an internal logical structure that runs through the whole text from the beginning to the end，and organically connects all concepts to achieve a clear logical progression1. It can be said that coherence is the invisible network of discourse，and semantic coherence is an important symbol of discourse.
        3. This essay takes five English articles，“How to Do Well on a Job Interview”2，“Taming the Anger Monster”3，“Smash Thy Neighbor”4，“How to Make It in College，Now That You're Here”5，and “Seven Ways to Keep the Peace at Home”6 as examples to explore the logical development and discourse coherence in English writing，with the conclusion that logical development varies when it comes to different topics in English articles，and conceptual metaphors to a great extent contribute to the discourse coherence of an article.
        I. Logical Development in English Writing
        4. Developing points and ordering information in a certain way can not only help the readers focus on the essay，but also help the author create an article with a clear purpose that is easy for readers to follow.
        5. For example，in the essay “How to Do Well on a Job Interview”，the author offers some guidelines on how to do well on a job interview. The essay structure could be divided into three parts，including the introduction，the body part and the conclusion. Within the body part，the author provides suggestions from three aspects：“present yourself as a winner”，“be ready for the interviewer’s questions”，and “send a thank-you note”.
        （1）Present yourself as a winner.
         Dress appropriately.
         Pay attention to your grooming.
         Look alert，poised，and friendly.
         Expect to make a little small talk.（para. 4-5）
        （2）Be ready for the interviewer’s questions.
         “Tell me about yourself.”
         “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
         “Why should we hire you?”
         “Why did you leave your last job?”
         “Do you have any questions?”（para. 6）
        （3）Send a thank-you note.（para. 7）
        We can clearly conclude that the pattern of logical development in this essay is the process which presents in strict chronological order. “Present yourself as a winner” in paragraph 4 is a guidance given before the interview；“be ready for the interviewer’s questions” in paragraph 6 is a suggestion for people during the interview；and after the interview，the advice “send a thank-you note” is offered in paragraph 7.
        6. Also，in “How to Make It in College，Now That You're Here”，this essay mainly talks about how to spend a full college life from four aspects and puts forward some tips for students. Similarly，this essay consists of introduction，body part and conclusion. The body part includes four sections，ranging from “What's the Secret of Getting Good Grades?” “How Can I Keep Up with All My Responsibilities Without Going Crazy?” to “What Can I Do If Personal Problems Get in the Way of My Studies?” and “Why Do Some People Make It and Some Drop Out?”
        What's the Secret of Getting Good Grades?
        （1）Set up a study place.（para. 4）
        （2）Get into a study frame of mind.（para. 5）
        （3）Give yourself rewards.（para. 6）
        （4）Skim the textbook first.（para. 7）
        （5）Take notes on what you're studying.（para. 9）
        （6）Review After You've Read and Taken Notes.（para. 10）
        （7）Give Up.（para. 11）
        （8）Take a College Skills Course If You Need It.（para. 12）
        It is apparent that in the section of “What's the Secret of Getting Good Grades，” eight tips are presented according to the chronological order. However，when it comes to the section “How Can I Keep Up with All My Responsibilities Without Going Crazy，” the inner logical development within this section changes.
        How Can I Keep Up with All My Responsibilities Without Going Crazy?
        (1) Monthly Calendar.（para. 15）
        (2) Study Schedule.（para. 16）
        (3) “To Do” List.（para. 18）
        The paragraphs in the section are arranged in the order of importance，moving from the least important one to the most important one，because the author describes “to do list” as “this is the secret that，more than any other，got me through college，” which emphasizes the significance of the “to do list”.
        7. In “Seven Ways to Keep the Peace at Home”，the author introduces the phenomenon of family quarrels，developed with seven suggestions and finally concluded with a bright prospect. This essay could be divided into the introduction part，the main body and the conclusion. Among the main body part，seven suggestions are presented respectively：
        Here are seven steps that I have found to be helpful for diminishing family tension.（para. 4）
        （1）Give Up the Myth of the Perfect Family.（para. 5-12）
        （2）Tell It Like You Feel It.（para. 13-19）
        （3）Don’t Play Telephone.（para. 20-23）
        （4）Make Your Blueprints Flexible.（para. 24-27）
        （5）Learn to Use Contracts.（para. 28-33）
        （6）Stop the “Good Guy” – “Bad Guy” Routine.（para. 34-37）
        （7）Get Rid of Old Emotional Baggage.（para. 38-43）
        It is vital to see that the author organizes the paragraphs moving from general to specific. To begin with，“Give Up the Myth of the Perfect Family” is a general idea and an abstract concept in the mental world. And subsequently the suggestions become more specific as practical actions like “Don’t Play Telephone” and “Learn to Use Contracts.” Therefore，people will have a better understanding of what to do on this occasion.
        8. From the discussion above，we can find that the logical development varies when it comes to different topics. And even within an article of several parts，the paragraphs might be organized in various ways in order to make it clearer for readers to follow and to understand the main purpose of the article.
        II. Discourse Coherence in English Writing
        9. Coherence is a semantic conception that refers to the correlation of meanings among different components of a discourse，which means that topics or messages expressed by different parts of the article are closely related to each other.7 Such coherence of a discourse can be achieved by the construction of conceptual metaphors in an article，for metaphors can form “a systematic lexical network”8 which constructs a specific semantic field in a discourse. A conceptual metaphor is like a clue throughout one article，which helps the discourse form clear and coherent framework.
        10. For example，in “Taming the Anger Monster”，this essay is mainly about why we are losing control of our tempers in this modern society and what we can do to avoid bad behaviors aroused by anger. In this essay，the author employed conceptional metaphor that anger is monster to connect every part of the passage and to achieve discourse coherence.
        （1）Taming the Anger Monster.（Title）
        （2）Add it all together – our feeling of never having enough time；the chronic aggravation caused by technology；and our endless，diffuse sense of stress – and we become time bombs waiting to explode.（para. 14）
        （3）Unfortunately，the culprits behind much of our anger –– are not likely to resolve themselves anytime soon.（para. 16）
        （4）“It’s as true of the body as of arrows，” Tavris says，“that what goes up must come down. Any emotional arousal will simmer down if you just wait long enough.”（para.18）
        The whole essay is closely knit around “anger is monster”. When it comes to the reason why we are so angry，the author expresses that the “culprits” behind much of our anger are the lack of time，frustrating technology，and mega-levels of stress. In terms of the result of our anger，the anger monster inherent in us drives us crazy so that we become “time bombs” waiting to explode and break out our emotion. As for how to deal with our anger，the author recommends patience is a highly practical virtue because all emotional arousal will simmer down like “arrow” no matter how irritable and furious. All these descriptions imply the power and ferocity of monster，namely anger，that we could comprehensively understand the bad consequence of being angry. The three major parts in this essay are connected to each other thus realize the discourse coherence.
        11. Also，in “Smash Thy Neighbor”，the essay discusses the characteristics of football，the reasons behind its cruelty and many similar phenomena in society. The author forms a conceptual metaphor that football game is a war.
        （1）Thus the good teams are “hungry，” the best players are “mean，” and “casualties” are as much a part of the game as they are of a war.（Para. 5）
        （2）And the virtues they celebrate are almost identical：hyper aggressiveness，coolness under fire and suicidal bravery.（Para. 6）
        （3）The team that survives this merry-go-round spectacle of skilled masochism with the fewest incapacitating injuries usually wins.（Para.10）
        （4）And now there was the official “given” that the only way to keep playing was to wear suffocating armor，to play to defeat，to follow orders silently and to renounce spontaneity for joyless drill.（Para. 10）
        At the very beginning of this essay，the author puts forward the metaphor that a football game is a war because they share similarities：“casualties” are as much a part of the game as they are of a “war”. “Causalities” refer to the injured or the dead in a war，but here also refer to the injured players in a football game. Besides，“hyper aggressiveness”，“coolness under fire” and “suicidal bravery” are all noble virtues a soldier possesses. “Armor”，“defeat”，“to follow order”，“drill” are all technical terms related to military training or in a war. With the metaphor that a football game is a war，the features of football games，the intensity and fierceness of football games are revealed unequivocal. The diction in different parts of the article forms a systematic way of talking about the football game in the semantic field of war and creates a coherent reading experience for the readers.
        12. In the essay “How to Do Well on a Job Interview”，the author offers some guidelines on how to do well on a job interview. In this essay，the author uses metaphor that a job interview is a game.
        （1）The job-interview “game” may not be much fun，but it is a game you can win if you play it right. The name of the game is standing out of the crowd – in a positive way.（para. 2）
        （2）Present yourself as a winner.（para. 4）
        （3）How can you keep from becoming a victim of an instant “no” decision?（para. 5）
        （4）And the day will come when you are the one who wins the job.（para. 8）
        To begin with，the author describes the job interview as a game in which you should stand out of the crowd. And latter suggestions are given before the interview，during the interview and after the interview. Words like “winner”，“victim”，and “win” related to a game are used to stimulate people’s desire to win and stand out in a job interview，which further contributes to the discourse coherence in this essay.
        13. From the analysis above，we can find that discourse coherence plays a vital role in English writing. What’s more，conceptual metaphors construct a specific semantic field in a discourse，which enables the discourse to develop within a specific framework and establish tight discourse coherence.
        Conclusion
        14. Different logical developments are employed when it comes to different themes and topics in the English writing to determine the basic structure and overall layout of the article. But also has significant functions in English writing. In addition，discourse coherence can be realized through conceptional metaphor by tightly connecting the topic and messages expressed in different parts of the essay. The paper is conductive to people’s understanding towards logical development，discourse coherence as well as the essence of English writing.
        Bibliography
        [1] Davidson，Anne. “Taming the Anger Monster.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P251 – 255.
        [2] Davis，Glenda. “How to Do Well on a Job Interview.” Taken from Jonh Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P233 – 235.
        [3] McMurtry，John. “Smash Thy Neighbor.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P608 – 612.
        [4] O’Keeney，Brain. “How to Make It in College，Now That You're Here.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P673 – 678.
        [5] Sugarman，Daniel A. “Seven Ways to Keep the Peace at Home.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P 689 – 695.
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        注释：
        1李运兴. 语篇翻译引论[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，（2001）.
        2Glenda Davis. “How to Do Well on a Job Interview.” Taken from Jonh Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P233 – 235.
        3Anne Davidson. “Taming the Anger Monster.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P251 – 255.
        4John McMurtry. “Smash Thy Neighbor.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P608 – 612.
        5Brain O'Keeney. “How to Make It in College，Now That You're Here.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P673 – 678.
        6Daniel A. Sugarman. “Seven Ways to Keep the Peace at Home.” Taken from John Langan：College Writing Skills with Readings（《美国大学英语写作》第六版）[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，（2007）. P 689 – 695.
        7朱永生. 《韩礼德的语篇连贯标准外界的误解与自身的不足》[J]. 外语教学与研究，1997（01）：23-27.
        8苗兴伟，廖美珍.《隐喻的语篇功能研究》[J]. 外语学刊，2007（06）：51-56.