Characteristics of Children's Oral Texts in Terms of Coherence and Cohesion

Çetin M., Bayat N.

Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, cilt.15, sa.4, ss.234-252, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of coherence and cohesion in the oral

texts of children between the ages of 60 to 72 months. In the study, a survey method in a quantitative

research approach was adopted, and a total of 110 preschoolers were included as participants. The data

of the study were obtained from the oral texts taken from the conversations during the interviews with

the children. Oral texts consisting of at least eight sentences were analyzed by using the Text

Evaluation Form and a rubric. The coherence- and cohesion-related qualities of the spoken texts were

evaluated by two experts. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential

statistics. Descriptive statistics were calculated as frequencies and percentages to present the levels of

the oral texts in terms of cohesion and coherence. In addition, independent sample t-test and one-way

analysis of variance were computed as inferential statistics to determine whether scores for cohesion

and coherence differed significantly based on the child’s gender, socioeconomic status, and the

duration of the early childhood education. First, the results of the analyses revealed that the oral texts

were acceptable and sufficient with respect to the means of cohesion, whereas they were inadequate

and unacceptable in terms of coherence. Second, it was found that the cohesion device that children

were the most successful was the ellipsis. Third, the results also indicated that the levels of cohesion of

the oral texts displayed a significant difference regarding gender and SES, while they did not differ

depending on the duration of preschool education. Moreover, the levels of coherence showed no

significant difference in terms of gender, SES, and the duration of early childhood education. In

conclusion, in the study, it was determined that the oral texts of the children were more appropriate to

the standard language in terms of cohesion compared to coherence.