Goals

The primary research goal within the project proposal is to describe and compare coherence dimensions and the ways of developing coherence in texts created by foreign language users of German, English, Hungarian, French, and Croatian, and compare these with coherence dimensions and the ways of developing coherence in texts in their respective first languages.
The specific research goals include the following:
1. Analysis of coherence properties of texts written by foreign language users of German, English, Hungarian, French, and Croatian.
2. Analysis of factors responsible for (in)coherence in foreign language texts.
3. Analysis of interrelation between the use of cohesive devices and the text coherence level in foreign language.
4. Investigation of the existence of differences in coherence properties and the ways of developing coherence with regard to personal characteristics of foreign language users (gender, academic background, level of language knowledge, formal vs. informal language learning context) as well as some external factors (the way teacher conceptualizes coherence).
5. Investigation of the strategies employed by foreign language users for developing text coherence.