Effects of Text Cohesion on Inference Generation During EFL Reading: Evidence from Think-Aloud Protocols

Reading involves an interaction between a reader and a text. Previous studies have endeavored to identify means of improving comprehension when revising texts, mainly by attempting to compensate for readers' lack of inferencing skills. Some such studies have revealed that making texts explicit (i.e., raising text cohesion) contributes to facilitating readers' comprehension; other studies have claimed that this can have the opposite effect (i.e., the reverse cohesion effect). Moreover, the manner of processing different cohesive texts and comprehending them remains relatively unknown. Consequently, to bridge this gap, the present study investigated whether and how text cohesion affects reading processes and comprehension among Japanese learners of English as a foreign language. In the experiment, 40 Japanese university students read both low- and high-cohesive texts while verbalizing their thoughts while reading (think-aloud task), and then performed free written recall. The results showed that low-cohesion text facilitates inference generation in skilled readers, whereas high-cohesion text prompts inference generation in less-skilled readers. However, the effect of text cohesion in terms of the participants' comprehension was not determined. These research findings have pedagogical implications for teachers, describing cases in which text cohesion should be improved and when it should not.