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［摘 要］This paper deals with a comparative study of Chinese college students’ writing with mother language and interlanguage based on Hoey’s theory of lexical cohesion with the aim of revealing that the papers which were written in mother language have more reiterations than those written in interlanguage.

［關(guān)鍵詞］lexical cohesion mother language interlanguage

［中圖分類號］G64 ［文獻標識碼］A ［文章編號］1009－5489(2009)07－0014－03

According to Hoey，“the study of cohesion in text is to a considerable degree the study of patterns of lexis in text”.However，the previous study of text analysis focused much on the organization of text which is made up in large part of relationships amongst items in the text，semantic or grammatical，which are referred as cohesive ties.These grammatical devices are divided into five broad classes，which are conjunction，reference，substitution，ellipsis and lexical cohesion.Although they function diversely in their own sense，with the exception of conjunction，Hoey claims that what these classes of cohesive tie share is that they are all ways of repeating，and this is also true of much of the category that Halliday and Hasan loosely label lexical cohesion.“A lexical item may exactly repeat an earlier item.Alternatively，an item may be in a relation of synonymy or near-synonymy with an earlier item”.In other words，repetition serves to show the relatedness of sentences in much the same way that a bibliographical reference shows the relatedness of academic papers.

Method

All the data has been collected from the Chinese undergraduate college students of English majors in grade one.Totally，44 copies of writings have been collected，half of which were written in Chinese，i.e.their mother language and the other half were written in English，i.e.the interlanguage.Four copies of writings were randomly selected from them，among which three are written in Chinese and the other three are written in English.

Results and Qualitative Analysis

“It is possible to recognize the shared semantic component between two lexical items in a text which can be identified by a variety of means，including paraphrasing the item within the

context”.

1.Sample 1：

What do you think about listening？

I think listening is one of the most important things among any skills.I guess it is more important than grammar，reading，and writing.It is important as well as speaking.Because I think our destination is to exchange with foreign people.It needs mainly speaking and listening.If he or she does not have such skills enough，he or she cannot exchange with any foreign people.Of course both reading and writing are also necessary.Here I talk about process of my Chinese learning.I have studied Chinese for two years.According to this process，it is most important to be audible Chinese for international students who are living here.Because if we are walking outside or we are in shop，if we cannot understand what Chinese people are saying，it is a little bit dangerous.I have experienced many of such things.

2.Sample 2：

Some suggestions about the listening course

Having taken the listening course for nearly two months this semester，I do enjoy it and it of course helps me improve my English listening.To make it more interesting and enjoyable，I have some suggestions to make.It is really a pit that our listening room is not available to play music.And every time I might be absent minded in the last period of the class though I try not to.So maybe it will help to solve the problem to have some rest during the class such as telling some little funny stories，having a casual chat or playing funny games which will refresh us quickly.I think the lesson goes a little quickly.Is it ok if we have some acting performances which go with the conversation texts right after we finish listening the texts and questions.The listening course is quite enjoyable because I can learn many useful and funny expressions in the texts.I only want one thing for the course and that is what the course can really bring to us—the happy English.I wish you can consider my suggestions.

3.Sample3：

關(guān)于聽力課

通過兩個月的聽力學習，我不僅聽力技巧得到鍛煉，而且從中了解到了許多西方文化，生活習慣及不同場合的交際用語。喜歡聽課堂穿插講解的文化知識，中西方的文化差異，這樣既引發(fā)了我們的興趣又擴大了知識面。在以后的學習生活中避免鬧笑話，還能幫助更好地理解文章高效閱讀。我在準確性方面還有待提高，好多連讀略讀都聽不準，大段的聽寫速度跟不上，怎么才能做到速記。往往寫好這一空，下一空就聽過去了，沒時間寫。有時聽寫時單詞卡殼了，就總想那個單詞影響了下面的聽寫。教材內(nèi)容可以聽的再細一些，比如把好的聽力聽一句復(fù)述一句以便加深印象用于口語。以后可不可以在完成課堂內(nèi)容前提下，多加一些課外聽力材料。聽聽音樂電影對白等等。

4.Sample 4：

關(guān)于聽力課

在這兩個月的學習中，我學到了很多新的英語單詞，同時也多西方的文化和一些餐桌上的習俗慣例有了一定的了解。而且在這段學習中，我也發(fā)現(xiàn)自己存在著一些問題和不足。對于一些比較簡單的聽力問題，我答的還是比較自如，但是遇到一些難的說得比較快流利的對話，我就聽起來有一些吃力。每次聽到同學都答的很自如，準確，完整，我心里就有一點著急覺得自己在聽力方面差很多。我希望老師您可以在每次對完答案之后再給我們放一遍，尤其是一些比較難的，這樣我可以知道自己到底聽不懂在哪里。我知道學好英語聽力是很重要的。如果在課上能有一些空閑時間的話，我希望您能給我們放一些好聽的英文歌曲。如果可以的話，在學到一些有用的知識點時，我希望您還可以給我們多擴展一些相關(guān)的知識和內(nèi)容，亦有助于我們的理解和擴充我們的知識面。總之，我對自己能聽力充滿信心，也希望您能多多指教我的不足，我會耐心聽取。在課堂上，我也爭取做到能積極回答您所提出的問題。

The samples show that the total number of repetition is quite low no matter they were written in mother language or in interlanguage.The language used in sample 1 and 2 is English，i.e.the writers’ interlanguage.In sample 1，only sentence 4 and sentence 6 have four repetitions.There are no other two sentences are connected by at least three repetitions.

In sample 2，sentence 1 and sentence 2 have three repetitions； sentence 1 and sentence 9 have three reiterations.Sentence 2 and sentence 5 have three reiterations.So we see that sentence 1 and 2 are very essential in this paragraph，because they have more reiterations and connect with others more closely compared to other sentences.

The language used in sample3 and 4 is Chinese，i.e.the writers’ mother language.In sample 3，only sentence 1 and sentence 2 are connected by three repetitions.But later in this whole paragraph，these lexis are not mentioned any more.

In sample 4，there are not any sentences which share at least three repetitions.It seems that each sentence is emphasizing one perspective of an issue of listening.However，they are correlated by grammatical devices.

Conclusion

Generally speaking，the first or the second sentence often plays an essential role in constructing a text.It could be argued that“the ability of sentence 1 to make sense with other sentences in the text is the result of this special status”.

Comparing the different languages used in the samples，the papers which were written in mother language have more reiterations than those written in interlanguage.This indicates that the Chinese college students do not always follow the writing pattern in English.They have different thinking modes and patterns of constructing ideas.

Nevertheless，although they may have unique ways of writing papers，no matter Chinese or English，the cohesion can be achieved only by meaningful reiterations between lexis.

［參考文獻］

［1］Halliday and Hasan.1976.Cohesion in English.London：Longman.

［2］Hoey，M.1991.Patterns of Lexis in Text.Oxford：Oxford University Press.