I second this. Critical reading is rarely supported in L2 education. Most programs train learners to understand sentences, but not to see how meaning is constructed across the text.
I only encountered cohesion and discourse analysis during translator training at university. That was the moment reading shifted from decoding language to understanding structure.
Yet advanced reading tasks already assume this skill exists. The gap is structural, learners are expected to perform critical reading without ever being trained in it.
Thanks for lifting up such an important point. Most L2 programs teach learners to decode sentences but never explicitly teach how meaning is constructed across a text. Cohesion and discourse analysis shouldn't be reserved for translator training. They're foundational reading skills. In my experience, that shift from decoding to understanding structure is exactly where learners become truly autonomous readers. The real problem is that curricula jump from comprehension questions to analyze the argument with nothing in between to teach how.
I’m curious which curricula you see this most in: school systems, university programs, or standardized exams like Cambridge.
In my experience, exams often require discourse-level reading (argument structure, inference, cohesion), but preparation still focuses on sentence-level comprehension where exactly L2 learners start failing the most and develop anxiety. That creates a structural mismatch between training and assessment.
I second this. Critical reading is rarely supported in L2 education. Most programs train learners to understand sentences, but not to see how meaning is constructed across the text.
I only encountered cohesion and discourse analysis during translator training at university. That was the moment reading shifted from decoding language to understanding structure.
Yet advanced reading tasks already assume this skill exists. The gap is structural, learners are expected to perform critical reading without ever being trained in it.
Thanks for lifting up such an important point. Most L2 programs teach learners to decode sentences but never explicitly teach how meaning is constructed across a text. Cohesion and discourse analysis shouldn't be reserved for translator training. They're foundational reading skills. In my experience, that shift from decoding to understanding structure is exactly where learners become truly autonomous readers. The real problem is that curricula jump from comprehension questions to analyze the argument with nothing in between to teach how.
I’m curious which curricula you see this most in: school systems, university programs, or standardized exams like Cambridge.
In my experience, exams often require discourse-level reading (argument structure, inference, cohesion), but preparation still focuses on sentence-level comprehension where exactly L2 learners start failing the most and develop anxiety. That creates a structural mismatch between training and assessment.