Abstract
Discourse markers are seen as one of the fundamental units in spoken discourse due to their frequent and multifunctional use by native speakers of English. Discourse markers also have significance in foreign language instruction. In this respect, this study explored the perceptions of Turkish EFL teachers towards the use of discourse markers in terms of the pragmatic and pedagogic value and their representations in EFL classrooms. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to 104 EFL instructors working at seven different state universities in Turkey. The quantitative analyses of the data yielded that the teachers had positive perceptions towards discourse markers by finding them necessary for improving pragmatic competence of language learners. They also stated that discourse markers had teaching value so they highlighted them in their instruction. Moreover, the study also discussed the integration of discourse markers into language instruction. The study had some implications for further discussion over the issue of discourse markers in terms of investigating teacher talk, real classroom practices during language teaching instruction and teaching materials. Key words: Discourse markers, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, spoken discourse.
Highlights
Discourse markers ( DM) are important features of spoken language in terms of their frequency and multi-functionality in spoken discourse
This study aimed at investigating the perceptions of Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers towards the use of DMs in the EFL
The research objectives were to search how Turkish EFL teachers perceive DMs in terms of its pedagogic, pragmatic value of DMs and their current representations in classrooms and to find out their opinions about how DMs should represented in the classrooms
Summary
Discourse markers ( DM) are important features of spoken language in terms of their frequency and multi-functionality in spoken discourse. They are commonly preferred discourse items used by native speakers of English. Due to their significance as ‘sharing devices and intimacy signals in our everyday talk’ (Quirk et al, 1985, p.179), their pragmatic and indispensable value is salient in spoken discourse. DMs are defined as “sequentially dependent elements which bracket units of talk” (Schiffrin, 1987, p.31). DMs are seen as textual and cohesive elements in discourse by depending on the previous or following units. DMs can exist in several grammatical classes; verbs (look, listen, see), conjunctions (and, but, ) or non-finite clauses (you know, i mean, to be honest). Aijmer (2002)
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