The role of causal and concessive connectives in comprehending and producing L2 English discourse.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: The role of causal and concessive connectives in comprehending and producing L2 English discourse.
Authors: Fei, SiShi1 (AUTHOR) sishi_fei@163.com
Source: Reading & Writing. Nov2025, Vol. 38 Issue 9, p2483-2513. 31p.
Subject Terms: *Reading comprehension, *Cohesion (Linguistics), *English as a foreign language, *Conjunctions (Grammar), *Chinese-speaking students, Linguistic complexity, Causal models, Poster presentations
Abstract: This study investigates how the presence and proper use of causal and concessive connectives affect the comprehension and production of English discourse among Chinese English learners. Seventy-two English major undergraduates with similar language proficiency levels read four narrative texts featuring varying connective conditions (correct use, incorrect causal, incorrect concessive, or absence of connectives). They then answered identical comprehension questions and completed the same reading-writing continuation task. The results showed that the use of causal and concessive connectives improve both local and global discourse comprehension for second language learners. Furthermore, these connectives enhance their writing quality, with causal connectives more related to discourse coherence and concessive connectives more associated with language complexity. Overall, the study highlights the significance of causal and concessive connectives in facilitating comprehensible input and intelligible output for second language learners, pointing out their distinct roles in this dynamic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Reading & Writing is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Description
Abstract:This study investigates how the presence and proper use of causal and concessive connectives affect the comprehension and production of English discourse among Chinese English learners. Seventy-two English major undergraduates with similar language proficiency levels read four narrative texts featuring varying connective conditions (correct use, incorrect causal, incorrect concessive, or absence of connectives). They then answered identical comprehension questions and completed the same reading-writing continuation task. The results showed that the use of causal and concessive connectives improve both local and global discourse comprehension for second language learners. Furthermore, these connectives enhance their writing quality, with causal connectives more related to discourse coherence and concessive connectives more associated with language complexity. Overall, the study highlights the significance of causal and concessive connectives in facilitating comprehensible input and intelligible output for second language learners, pointing out their distinct roles in this dynamic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:09224777
DOI:10.1007/s11145-024-10602-y