Every element composing a discourse has a significant connection relation with each other, further contributing to forming the coherence of the entire discourse. However, as such a relation is not easily observed as a linguistic marker on the text sur... Every element composing a discourse has a significant connection relation with each other, further contributing to forming the coherence of the entire discourse. However, as such a relation is not easily observed as a linguistic marker on the text surface, it is not easy to explain what is coherence to Korean language learners. Due to such a limitation, researches have been mostly conducted on the referential coherence of the text surface rather than coherence itself in Korea education so far. On producing texts with a higher degree of completion, however, exposing referential coherence relations on the text surface has a limit. Even to Korean language learners, education on coherence, which is one of the key characteristics of a discourse, should be provided by any means. Thus, this study aims to review kinds of relational coherence that Korean language learners use and examine the mechanism of forming relational coherence. The below shows the composition and contents of this study. Chapter Ⅰ clarifies the necessity and purpose of this study and examines some previous studies on coherence and expository discourses. Chapter Ⅱ examines relational coherence that is the theoretical background of this study. Specifically, this chapter examines the meaning of relational coherence, the standard of classifying relational coherence, the mechanism of forming relational coherence and the realization layer of relational coherence. As concepts distinguished from those of referential coherence, relational coherence has some discourse segments, such as cause-effect and parallel, and they seem to come from relations connected and established in semantic and pragmatic levels. The kinds of relational coherence can be largely divided into resemblance relations, cause-effect relations and contiguity relations. Resemblance relations indicate when coherence is formed by similarities and differences between contents or concepts of targets to connect. As kinds of relational coherence having such a relation, there are parallel relations, contrast relations, exemplification relations, generalization relations, exception relations and elaboration relations. Cause-effect relations indicate the relation between cause and effect, which requires a process of inferring the link with events that each proposition may cause, beside the original meaning of discourse segments. As kinds of cause-effect relations, there are result relations, explanation relations, violated expectation relations and denial of preventer relations. Lastly, contiguity relations indicate that discourse segments are connected when a situation of sharing the same occasion provides a chance for another event to take place. As mechanisms of forming relational coherence, this chapter examines linguistic contexts, situational contexts and social and cultural contexts. Linguistic contexts indicate connection relations between semantic features of discourse segments, which is the formation of coherence. In the semantic aspect, relational coherence formed can be regarded as a basic and general pattern, which indicates when the semantic connection inside a discourse is established by linguistic contexts. On the other hand, situational contexts indicate when coherence is formed by situational contexts that discourse segments share with each other, while social and cultural contexts indicate when coherence is formed by contexts of general world knowledge, such as social and cultural background knowledge, values and social ethnics, that discourse segments connote. In addition, as realization layers of relational coherence, this chapter examines lexical layer, grammatical layer and discursive layer. Chapter Ⅲ examines research methods to solve research problems. This chapter is composed of research procedures, research subjects, data collection method and tools and data analysis method. As research subjects, this study selected 55 Korean language learners from Chinese speaking countries who had the second, fourth and sixth grade Korean language skills, and analyzed their s about Seoul. To compare the data from Korean language learners, this study selected some expository discourses from three kinds of high school Korean textbooks as a corpus, representing the Korean native speakers’ data. Chapter Ⅳ and Ⅴ describe the results of analyzing the data from Korean language learners from Chinese-speaking countries and Korean native speakers. Chapter Ⅳ deals with the results of analyzing the kinds of relational coherence used in expository discourses. resemblance relations were used far more than cause-effect relations in expository discourses, and as sub-domains, parallel relations were used most, followed by elaboration relations, exemplification relations and cause-effect relations. The data from Korean native speakers was similar to this, but explanation relations were more used in Korean language learners than Korean native speakers. This chapter also examined each data of Korean language learners in beginning level, intermediate level and advanced level respectively. As a result, it was found that parallel relations were most used. However, as their proficiency was higher, they used elaboration relations more often, further being characterized to use denial of preventer relations and contiguity relations which were not found in the beginning level and intermediate level learners. Chapter Ⅴ analyzes mechanisms of forming the relational coherence of expository discourses, particularly by dividing Korean language learners’ discourses and Korean native speakers’ discourses into linguistic contexts, situational contexts and social and cultural contexts. As a result, linguistic contexts were found most, followed by social and cultural contexts and situational contexts As Korea language learners had a higher degree of proficiency, the rate of relational coherence being formed by social and cultural contexts became higher as well. Based on the results of analyzing the kinds of relational coherence used, this study found out that there are specific kinds of relational coherence frequently used in expository discourses. Besides, relational coherence is formed most by linguistic contexts, but it was also found that relational coherence is often formed by social and cultural contexts as well. As Korean language learners’ proficiency became higher, coherence seemed to be developed into social and cultural contexts. The results of this study has significance in systematically analyzing coherence, which is one of the key elements of discourse, and clarifying the developmental aspects of Korean language learners as well as the characteristics of relational coherence so that Korean language learners may improve their discourse ability.
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