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Figure 4.1 Comparisons of Cohesion Markers 
4.1.2.2 Length of Pause
In addition to the investigation on the cohesion markers as presented above, the 
length of pause was examined for further analysis of the participants’ discourse 
competence. As defined in Chapter Two, the proper length of pause for the 
participants in this study was pausing less than three seconds. It could be between 
one to two seconds, or between two to three seconds.
The analysis of the length of pauses was relatively more difficult to compare 
between the two groups because of the different total number of turn-takings in each 
group. There were more turn-takings in the experimental group than those in the 
control group. Therefore, the comparisons on the length of pauses between the two 
groups were made upon percentage of the overall profile of the pause these 
participants demonstrated, as shown in Table 4.11.
Table 4.11 Inter-group Comparisons on Pause
Discourse Competence II
Pause between turn taking 
Control Experimental 
Less than 3 seconds 
34%
51%
3-5 seconds 
23%
13%
5-7 seconds 
10%
8%
More than 7 seconds
17
33%
20%
17
When students paused more than seven seconds, they usually forgot their lines. Therefore, in the 
coding of this part, it is considered as silence rather than pause. 

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As mentioned in the rationale of the present study in Chapter Two, a regular or 
normal pause in native conversation (both English and Chinese) is about half second.
Since the participants were entry-level EFL learners, they tended to pause longer than 
native speakers. The overall assumption in the counting of the pause was that the 
shorter the pause, the better the cohesion effect. What was compared would be the 
desired pause between one to three seconds. As shown in Table 4.11, the percentage 
of proper pause less than three seconds in the control group was 34 %, while in the 
experimental group it was 51 %.
4.1.3 Strategic Competence 
The strategic competence in this study referred to one’s ability to deal with 
communication breakdown, either caused by partner’s silence or one’s own silence.
Silence was defined by pausing longer than seven seconds, as discussed in the 
rationale of the present study in section 2.8. When the participants paused longer 
than seven seconds, they usually remained silent thereafter. Therefore, the strategic 
competence examined in this section was based on counting the number of the