The Impact of Implicit Instruction upon the Use of English Discourse Markers in Written Tasks at the Advanced Beginners’ Level of EFL Proficiency

Abstract

This article aims at examining the impact of implicit instruction upon the use of English discourse markers (further – DMs) in written tasks at the advanced beginners’ level of proficiency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The theoretical premises of the present research are based upon the role of implicit instruction associated with pragmatic competence, conceptualised as a fundamental dimension of language ability (Laughlin et al., 2015). The research further described in the article involves a quantitative computer-assisted metho­do­logy of computing the frequency of DMs in the written tasks by a group of EFL learners at the advanced beginners’ level of EFL proficiency (further referred to as participants). The frequency of DMs calculated by the computer program WordSmith (Scott, 2012) revealed that implicit instruction in EFL settings had no positive effects on the participants’ use of English DMs in the written tasks. These findings are further discussed in the article.