Written Communication Oct 1985

Coherence and Cognitive Style

JAMES D. WILLIAMS

Abstract

The primary hypothesis was that field independent subjects would produce discourse that would be judged more coherent than the discourse of field dependent subjects. A total of 44 subjects in their first term of college composition were selected from a group of 60 volunteers from two universities and a community college. Each subject was administered the Culture Fair Intelligence Test, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, and the Group Embedded Figures Test. There were five research conditions: Three evoked oral responses, and one evoked a written response. A group of readers unaware of the nature of the research evaluated each response holistically, rating it in terms of a coherence scale. Coherence scores were then analyzed in relation to cognitive style classification. The primary hypothesis was supported by the data. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant cognitive style effect, F(6,25) = 4.82, p <.0001. The correlation between cognitive style and coherence was significant, r(32) = .54, p <.002. The results suggest that cognitive style is a significant variable in explaining differences between good writers and poor ones.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1985-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088385002004008
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis two-year college
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. WILLIAMS (1993)
    Rule-Governed Approaches to Language and Composition
    Written Communication
  2. WILLIAMS (1987)
    Covert Linguistic Behavior During Writing Tasks: Psychophysiological Difference…
    Written Communication

References (53) · 5 in this index

  1. Austin, A.
    How to do things with words
     ↗
  2. 10.2307/357898
     ↗
  3. Bamberg (1984)
    Assessing Coherence: A Reanalysis of Essays Written for the National Assessment…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. Bates, E.
    Language and context
  5. 10.1037/0022-0663.76.5.820
     ↗
Show all 53 →
  1. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1969.tb01761.x
     ↗
  2. 10.1016/S0022-5371(72)80006-9
     ↗
  3. Bransford, J.
    Visual information processing
  4. Britton, J. (1975). The development of writing abilities (11-18). London: Macmillan.
  5. Clark, H.
    Discourse production and comprehension
  6. Coates, S. (1975)
    Perceptual and Motor Skills
  7. 10.1080/00461527309529093
     ↗
  8. 10.2307/357897
     ↗
  9. Ferrara, A. (1980)
    Journal of Pragmatics
  10. Flavel, J.
    The development of role-taking and communication skills in children
  11. Flower et al. (1981)
    The Pregnant Pause: An Inquiry Into the Nature of Planning
    Research in the Teaching of English
  12. 10.1037/h0093916
     ↗
  13. 10.1016/0191-8869(83)90018-1
     ↗
  14. Green, G.
    Radical pragmatics
  15. Grice, P.
    Syntax and semantics
  16. Gumperz, J.
    Discourse strategies
     ↗
  17. Halliday, W.
    Cohesion in English
     ↗
  18. Hirsch, E.
    The philosophy of composition
  19. Hobbs, J.
    Why is discourse coherent?
  20. Hunt, E.
    Human information processing: Tutorials in performance and cognition
  21. Kagan, J.
    Carmichael's manual of child psychology
  22. Kates, C.
    Pragmatics and semantics: An empiricist theory
  23. Kogan, N.
    Cognitive styles in infancy and early childhood
  24. 10.1016/0361-476X(84)90014-6
     ↗
  25. Markels, R.
    A new perspective on cohesion in expository paragraphs
  26. Messer, S.
    Reflection-impulsivity: A review
  27. Messick, S.
    Individuality in learning: Implications of cognitive styles and creativity for human deve…
  28. Olson, D.
    Exploring speaking/writing relationships
  29. Oltman, P.
    Group embedded figures test
  30. Phelps (1985)
    Dialectics of Coherence: Toward An Integrative Theory
    College English
  31. Piaget, J.
    The language and thought of the child
  32. Robinson, A.
    Investigating the process of natural language communication
  33. Rose, M.
    Writer's block
  34. Sabsay, S.
    Topics and conversation
  35. Sacks, H.
    Directions in sociolinguistics
  36. 10.1353/lan.1974.0010
     ↗
  37. Scardamalia, M.
    Writing: The nature, development, and teaching of written communication
  38. 10.1037/h0037053
     ↗
  39. Searle, J.
    Intentionality
  40. 10.1016/S0022-5371(76)90039-6
     ↗
  41. Tierney et al. (1983)
    Cohesion and Textual Coherence
    Research in the Teaching of English
  42. van Dijk, T.
    Macrostructures
  43. Williams, J. D. (1983). Coherence and cognitive style. Unpublishe…
  44. Williams et al. (1983)
    Motivation in the Composition Class
    Research in the Teaching of English
  45. Witkin, H.
    Personality through perception
  46. Witkin, H.
    Psychological differentiation
     ↗
  47. 10.2307/356693
     ↗
  48. 10.2307/1127355
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Teaching English in the Two-Year College Sep 2024
    Instructional Note: The Labor of Ungrading ↗
    Nicole Hancock
    discourse analysis two-year college teacher development assessment affect and writing
  2. Teaching English in the Two-Year College Dec 2023
    About Us: Guided Pathways and the Recontextualization of Teaching English ↗
    Donald Penner
    discourse analysis two-year college teacher development
  3. Teaching English in the Two-Year College Mar 2022
    Feature: Critiquing the Normative Discourse Circulated by Two-Year College Writing Center Websites through Critical Disability Studies and Technical and Professional Communication ↗
    Kristin C. Bennett
    discourse analysis first-year composition two-year college writing centers professional writing disability studies
  4. Pedagogy Oct 2021
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis writing pedagogy graduate education two-year college teacher development collaborative writing transfer assessment labor and working conditions multimodality social media online writing instruction multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing gender and writing public rhetoric community literacy affect and writing literary studies editorial matter
  5. Research in the Teaching of English Aug 2014
    Discourse and Identity among ESL Learners: A Case Study of a Community College ESL Classroom ↗
    Yueh-ching Chang; Melanie Sperling
    discourse analysis two-year college qualitative research multilingual writers grammar and mechanics literacy studies