An Analysis of Text Cohesion and Coherence Theories: Towards a Framework for Evaluating Readability in Discourse Level

In this article، “cohesion” and “coherence” as two textual properties are reviewed in the major discourse theories، and on the basis of the results a preliminary model for evaluating readability in discourse level is proposed. This article tries to provide answers to such questions as to what extent different discourse theories have given weight to textual cohesion and coherence and which theories may have simple practical procedures to evaluate readability in discourse level. To this end، seven discourse theories were extensively reviewed and their encounters with textual cohesion and coherence were evaluated. The evaluation of discourse theories indicated that their conceptions of text cohesion and coherence have not been consistent and different theories have focused on different aspects of these textual phenomena. Based on the proposed model and the evaluation of theories it is concluded that the theories of Kintch & van Dijk (1978) and of Daneš (1974) provide a practical and simple framework to develop or assess discourse readability systematically.