The Misrepresentation of Cohesive Devices in EFL Textbook Dialogues

This study investigated how adequately cohesive devices are dealt with in Korean EFL textbook dialogues. In order to attain this purpose, a total of 15 English textbooks were analyzed, with a focus on three types of cohesive ties: reference, ellipsis, and conjunction. The analysis showed that the textbooks exhibited a wide array of cohesion problems in the dialogues. With respect to the use of reference, four types of problems were found: (a) a noun was used where a pronoun is preferable; (b) a pronoun was used where a noun is preferable; (c) the pronoun 'it' was used where 'this' is appropriate; and (d) the demonstrative 'this' was used where 'that' is more appropriate. Ellipsis problems were shown to range from violation of nominal ellipsis to violation of phrasal ellipsis. The analysis of conjunctions also yielded a wide range of problems: (a) the conjunctive adverbial 'then' was overused where it is not necessary; (b) the conjunction 'and' was added where it is not necessary; (c) a sentence with a verb of watch/see class followed by the bare-stem infinitive was used in the situation where it should be broken down into two clauses linked by 'and'; (d) the conjunction 'but' was omitted where its presence enhances cohesion; and (e) the coordinating conjunction 'and' was used where a subordinating conjunction is more appropriate. On the basis of these findings, pedagogical implications are provided together with helpful suggestions.