Systems and methods are provided for automatically generating a coherence score for a text using a scoring model. A lexical chain is identified within a text to be scored, where the lexical chain comprises a set of words spaced within the text. A discourse element is identified within the text, where the discourse element comprises a word within the text. A coherence metric is determined based on a relationship between the lexical chain and the discourse element. A coherence score is generated using a scoring model by providing the coherence metric to the scoring model.