The Department of Applied Linguistics is proud to announce that Ghadah Noorelahi successfully defended her dissertation “Promoting Saudi Learners’ Coherence and Cohesion Writing Development Using Dynamic Assessment – An Approach for IELTS Preparation” on March 20th.

Dissertation Committee: Kimberly Urbanski (Chair), Panayota Gounari, and Rebekha Abbuhl

Abstract: A well-documented gap exists in pedagogical approaches for teaching L2 coherence and cohesion writing skills, particularly in high-stakes testing contexts. Prior research on coherence and cohesion has been non-developmental as it has not tracked learners’ progress over time. In order to fill this gap, this study employed a robust instructional approach to promote the development of learners’ coherence and cohesion writing skills. Underpinned by Sociocultural Theory (SCT), this study bridges the gap between test preparation and actual language development through implementing a Dynamic Assessment (DA) approach into the context of IELTS. This dissertation investigated how four Saudi L2 English learners developed their coherence and cohesion writing skills, specifically for the IELTS Academic Writing Task 2, through seven online DA sessions over Google Docs. The DA procedure incorporated a genre process approach to writing which helped learners identify the genres of the IELTS Academic Writing Task 2, recognize their rhetorical purposes and incorporate textual organizational stages to develop their coherence writing skills. Additionally, it emphasized accurately integrating cohesion concepts into learners’ texts to develop their cohesion writing skills. Development was promoted through the use of specific mediational moves that were attuned to each participant’s needs. The written interactions between the researcher-mediator and participants were saved on Google Docs and analyzed using microgenetic analysis to track learners’ developmental trajectories. The findings suggest that the DA sessions not only promoted the participants’ coherence and cohesion development but also their independent application of the developed writing skills in delayed and more challenging transfer tasks.