Using a Genre-Based Approach to Raise College Students’ Awareness and Use of Discourse Markers to Improve Discourse Competence in Oral Communication

Abstract

This study explored college students’ knowledge of discourse markers (DMs hereinafter) and the development in raising their awareness of discourse competence by adopting a genre-based approach (GBA hereinafter) to eliminate students’ inappropriate use of certain DMs. The participants were 28 freshman students with an English proficiency at the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR hereinafter) B2 level. A pre- and post-test design was employed to measure students’ use of DMs in speaking before and after the GBA intervention in written and spoken discourse. The results showed a statistically significant increase in the students’ frequencies and varieties of DMs in the post-test. The study concluded that teaching DMs through GBA raised the students’ metalinguistic awareness of using DMs in different genres and enhanced their ability to engage in coherent and cohesive discourse. The outcomes suggested that applying GBA to teach DMs helps students transfer receptive skills into productive skills used to express their thoughts orally.