The Use of Discourse Markers in Academic Writing by In-Service Primary School Teachers of English

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses a computer-assisted study that seeks to investigate the use of discourse markers (“DMs”) in academic writing in English as a Foreign Language (“EFL”) by a group of in-service primary school teachers (“participants”). The aim of the study is to establish whether or not there would be differences in the use of DMs in the corpus of academic writing in EFL in literature and linguistics written by the participants, who concurrently with teaching EFL at a range of primary schools are enrolled in an in-service tertiary course in English. The corpus of the study consists of the participants’ i) reflective essays in English linguistics and children’s literature in English, respectively, and ii) analytic explanatory essays in English linguistics and children’s literature, respectively. The corpus of the participants’ essays was analysed quantitatively in order to identify the frequency of DMs per 1,000 words. The results of the quantitative data analysis indicated that the participants’ use of DMs seemed to be, primarily, determined by i) genre conventions of academic writing in English associated with reflective essays and analytic explanatory essays and ii) the participants’ individual preferences. These findings are further presented and discussed in the paper.

Self-mention in argumentative essays written by pre-service teachers of English

“…Summarising the present findings, it is possible to offer the following linguo-didactic suggestions. First, given that academic writing can be considered to constitute an integral part of teacher education (Kapranov 2020, Monsen and Rørvik 2017, Shrestha 2020, the use of self-mention in academic writing should be explicitly taught to EFL student writers. Arguably, EFL student writers could benefit from the instructional approach to academic writing that regards self-mentions as an index of genre-appropriate conventions of writing in English.…”

Discourse Markers in Peer Reviews of Academic Essays By Future Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

“…In contrast to Hypothesis 1, however, another hypothesis (i.e., Hypothesis 2) is considered possible in this study. Specifically, Hypothesis 2 is based upon the findings reported by Kapranov (2017), who suggests that future EFL teachers exhibit awareness of the formal requirements and genre conventions of academic writing in English. Subsequently, future EFL teachers' genre awareness is concomitant with the use of the formal register of the English language (Kapranov 2017).…”

“…Specifically, Hypothesis 2 is based upon the findings reported by Kapranov (2017), who suggests that future EFL teachers exhibit awareness of the formal requirements and genre conventions of academic writing in English. Subsequently, future EFL teachers' genre awareness is concomitant with the use of the formal register of the English language (Kapranov 2017). In addition, Hypothesis 2 takes into account the following variables: i) the course requirements to write the essays in the academic register of the English language; ii) the course teacher's feedback on the content and form of the essays (i.e., E1 and E2); and iii) the course teacher's suggestion to write informative and objective peer reviews, preferably in the formal register of English.…”

“…It means that peer review writing could, potentially, be executed in academic English, since it is up to an individual participant to follow up on that suggestion. Taking into account these variables as well as the findings in the study by Kapranov (2017), Hypothesis 2 is stated as follows:…”

Discourse marker in descriptive essays: A study on junior high school students

“…DM has been studied, both in oral and written discourse. In the context of writing, DM research is related to how it is used in the written language of ESL / EFL students see (Dumlao & Wilang, 2019;Ghanbari et al 2016;Jalilifar, 2008;Kapranov, 2017;Rahimi, 2011;Surjowati, 2018), the difference between native and non-native of English in using DM (Field & Yvette, 1992;Hinkel, 2001;Šimčikaitė, 2012), and how DM contributes on the whole writing product quality (Castro, 2004). The exposure shows how much research on DM.…”