Discourse Markers Application in Spoken English: A Case Study at Faculty of Social Sciences, Kuwait University | ||||
| Øوليات أداب عين شمس | ||||
| Volume 52, Issue 11 - Serial Number 3, July 2024, Page 295-315 PDF (346.76 K) | ||||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/aafu.2024.380949 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| عباس هبر الشمري; ريم Ù…Øمد القناعي | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| This paper examined the utilization of discourse markers as practised by Arabic native speakers taking English as a foreign language at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Kuwait University. The paper sought to examine the disparities between the high and low language proficiency levels of the Faculty of Social Sciences learners. The researchers implemented Fung and Carter’s (2007) model, which categorizes discourse markers into four groups. This classification may overlook nuances in discourse marker usage or fail to capture all relevant categories, potentially limiting the depth of the analysis. These groups were interpersonal, structural, inferential, and cognitive. To collect and analyze data, the researchers adopted quantitative and qualitative approaches. The sample study included 32 students of intermediate level taking English as a foreign language course at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Kuwait University. The researchers chose the students depending on their scores in the presentation component. The findings demonstrated that the interpersonal discourse markers were the most common discourse marker being used by the students, whilst the referential discourse markers were reported to be least used ones. The structural and cognitive discourse markers registered the second and the third, respectively. It was also found that the high proficient learners displayed better proficiency in using discourse markers than low level students. Consequently, while the study suggests a correlation between speaking proficiency levels and discourse marker usage, establishing a causal relationship may be challenging due to the cross-sectional nature of the research design. The study recommended integrating discourse markers into the evaluation process. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Discourse markers; English conversation; EFL learning; speaking skill | ||||
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