Probing into the Effectiveness of Lexical Cohesive Ties in Reading Comprehension of Iranian High School Students

Hasan  Aalipoor; Amin Marzban; Leila  Akbarpour

Authors

Hasan Aalipoor Department of TEFL, Shi.C., Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5996-4521
Amin Marzban Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of TEFL, Sep.C., Islamic Azad University, Sepidan, Iran. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4299-2533
Leila Akbarpour Department of TEFL, Shi.C., Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran. Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7884-5706

Keywords:

Cohesion, Coherent Links, Lexical Coherence, EFL, Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of lexical cohesive ties in the reading comprehension of Iranian high school students. Using a quantitative, descriptive-correlational, two-stage research design, the first stage examined the Vision series textbooks to identify and quantify lexical cohesive ties (e.g., repetition, synonymy, hyponymy, and collocation) based on Tanskanen’s (2006) framework. In the second stage, the relationship between lexical cohesion and students’ reading comprehension was analyzed. The findings revealed a positive relationship between the density and organization of lexical cohesive ties and reading comprehension. Among the textbooks analyzed, Vision 2 demonstrated the most effective cohesive structure, suggesting that an appropriate density of lexical cohesive ties, combined with activity-related cohesive devices, facilitates reading comprehension among intermediate-level learners. These findings highlight the importance of systematically incorporating lexical cohesive ties into EFL textbook design and provide practical implications for curriculum developers, textbook writers, and English language teachers. Future research is recommended to investigate the effects of lexical cohesion across different educational contexts using longitudinal or experimental research designs.

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