Abstract
This study investigated the production of discourse markers by non-native speakers of English and their occurrences in their spoken English by comparing them with those used in native speakers’ spoken discourse. Because discourse markers (DMs) are significant items in spoken discourse of native speakers, a study about the use of DMs by nonnative speakers is necessary and guiding. Thus, the study was based on two specific corpora. First, a research corpus was composed using the transcriptions of the course presentations of twenty non-native undergraduate students studying at an English Language Teaching (ELT) program in Turkey. To compare the data, transcripts of student presentations of native speakers were attained with the help of MICASE Corpus. The occurrences of the discourse markers in both corpora were determined with frequency analysis. The results indicated that non-native speakers of English use a limited number and less variety of discourse markers in their spoken English. The study therefore highlights the importance of the need for raising non-native speakers' awareness of using discourse markers in their spoken English, and recommends implications for English language teaching.
Highlights
There are certain invisible rules that govern interactions and are applied by native speakers without noticing (Crozet, 2003)
The occurrences and frequencies of the discourse markers (DMs) identified in Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) and the research corpus are presented throughout the tables (See Table 1 and 2)
The findings of the study suggest that in language teaching environment, knowledge of DMs can be made more significant in terms of variety and their functions in spoken discourse, in correspondence with Trillo (2002), Müller (2005) and Fung and Carter (2007)
Summary
There are certain invisible rules that govern interactions and are applied by native speakers without noticing (Crozet, 2003). Native speakers of English apply these invisible rules without noticing what kind of elements they should or should not include to their discourse. In spoken discourse, native speakers naturally use certain units of talk. The studies of discourse markers in other languages have been conducted by many authors (Bazzanella, 1990; Gupta, 1995; Chen & He, 2001). The studies about the use of discourse markers in English by second or foreign language speakers are limited. Hays (1992), Trillo (2002), Müller (2004) and Fung and Carter (2007) are notable authors within this field of investigation who searched the use of discourse markers by different groups who speak another language as their first language The studies about the use of discourse markers in English by second or foreign language speakers are limited. Hays (1992), Trillo (2002), Müller (2004) and Fung and Carter (2007) are notable authors within this field of investigation who searched the use of discourse markers by different groups who speak another language as their first language
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