This paper discusses the parameters of discourse topic management in terms of a multidimensional model of topic coherence; interaction between these parameters and linguistic and cognitive knowledge; effects of discourse, linguistic, and cognitive level difficulties on topic parameters; a method of assessment across all parameters and knowledge…

Outlines how the current work in linguistics and psychology can be joined with rhetoric in the study of cohesion and suggests the ways in which this synthesis leads to both a literary and philosophical sense of form and a practical pedagogy for teachers. (MM)