A Study on the Pragmatic Fossilization of Discourse Markers among Chinese English Learners

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of discourse markers (DMs) by Chinese EFL learners and find out the relationship between English proficiency and the pragmatic fossilization of DMs. The current study focuses on the use of DMs in speech. The data from the high-level English learners and the intermediate English learners are used for the exploration of Chinese EFL learners’ DMs use, and Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English is selected as speech of native speakers for comparison. By analyzing three frequently used DMs in their oral production, the results show that the fossilization of DMs is caused by English learners’ lack of acquiring the pragmatic functions of DMs as native speakers do. The study indicates that Chinese learners are not aware of the importance of DMs in constructing textual coherence. In this case, both explicit instructions and implicit instructions should be given in class. Under the framework of Relevance Theory, the textual coherence of DMs should be explained explicitly in classroom. From the perspective of Relevance Theory, DMs can be used to help the speaker to organize information, produce clear utterances, and ultimately direct the hearer towards the intended interpretation of the utterances in discourse with the minimum cost of processing effort. On the other hand, DMs can ease the hearer’s search for relevance of utterances by providing an effective means for constraining his interpretation of utterances in discourse in terms of the principles of relevance. In addition, teachers should provide learners with accurate and appropriate L2 input and as many chances as possible to make enough L2 output in proper situation.