Abstract
This study examines the use of cohesive devices (pragmatic markers and conjunctions) in a 24,000-word corpus of transcribed oral data from 47 learners and native speakers of English. Both of these cohesive devices increase with proficiency level, but not in the same way. Conjunction use seems to increase steadily, and only the differences between the highest and lowest proficiency levels were found to be statistically significant. Pragmatic marker use, however, remains fairly stable across the three lowest proficiency levels and rises drastically for the two highest proficiency levels, and the two higher proficiency levels are significantly different from the two lower levels in their use of pragmatic markers. The results are compared to native speaker rates of cohesive device use for the same tasks and under the same conditions.
Highlights
The aim of this study is to examine the use of cohesive devices in spoken English by learners at varying proficiency levels in comparison with native speakers
The mean number of words, pragmatic markers, and conjunctions produced by the examinees at each level are presented, along with the corresponding standard deviations, minimums, and maximums
The mean number of total words, pragmatic markers, and conjunctions rose from Level 3 through to 6
Summary
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), expressions such as pragmatic markers and conjunctions facilitate the construction of cohesive discourse. Halliday and Hasan argue that the fundamental property of a text (which can be either written or spoken) is cohesion, a semantic property which “refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as a text” Conjunction as a cohesive relation works through the use of conjunctions and through various other “conjunctive items.”. The conjunctive items that Halliday and Hasan discuss include classic discourse markers such as well, and I mean. Halliday and Hasan consider both pragmatic markers and conjunctions to be important vehicles for the construction of cohesion in discourse. Since Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) study, a variety of further research has explored how pragmat-
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