VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ THU HUYỀN DISCOURSE MARKERS IN ORAL INTERACTION BY THIRD-YEAR ULIS MAINSTREAM ENGLISH MAJORS (Dấu Hiệu Diễn Ngôn trong Giao Tiếp Nói của Sinh Viên Năm Thứ 3 Khoa Tiếng Anh, ĐHNN, ĐHQGHN) M. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI - 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ THU HUYỀN DISCOURSE MARKERS IN ORAL INTERACTION BY THIRD-YEAR ULIS MAINSTREAM ENGLISH MAJORS (Dấu Hiệu Diễn Ngôn trong Giao Tiếp Nói của Sinh Viên Năm Thứ 3 Khoa Tiếng Anh, ĐHNN, ĐHQGHN) M. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc. Lê Hùng Tiế n HANOI - 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS PAGE DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1.
Statement of the problems and rationale behind the study 1 2. Aims and objectives of the study 3 3. Scope of the study 4 4. Contribution of the study 5 5.
Organization of the study 5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 7 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 1. Characteristics of DMs 9 1. Selection of DMs in the present study 12 1. Main functions of four selected DMs 13 1.
Previous studies on DMs 15 1. Related studies worldwide 15 1. Related studies in Vietnam 19 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21 2. Third-year ULIS mainstream English majors 21 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Teachers of English Speaking Skill 25 2. Data collection instruments 25 2. Data collection procedure 28 2. Data analysis methods and procedures 30 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 32 3.
Most common DMs used by third-year ULIS mainstream English majors in spoken interaction with native speakers of English 32 3. Specific discourse functions of DMs in spoken discourse 34 3. Justifications for the low frequency of DMs in students‟ spoken discourse 47 CHAPTER 4: SOME PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND 52 SUGGESTED DMs TEACHING RESOURCES 4. Some pedagogical implications 52 4.
Implications for learners of English 52 4. Implications for teachers of English and syllabus designers 55 4. Suggested DMs teaching resources 57 4. Two explicit DM teaching frameworks 57 4.
Some suggested activities for teaching oral DMs 60 PART III: CONCLUSION 65 1. Major findings of the study 65 2. Concluding remarks 66 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Limitations of the current study 67 4.
Suggestions for further research 68 REFERENCES 70 APPENDICES I Appendix 1 Topic and questions for the interaction I Appendix 2A Questionnaire for students II Appendix 2B Questionnaire for teachers IV Appendix 2C Interview schedule for teachers VI Appendix 3 Excerpts in the student data VII Appendix 4 Transcription of the interview XI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES PAGE Table 1: Terminology variations of DMs (adapted from Yang, 2011) 8 Table 2: Main functions of the four DMs (Adapted from Müller, 2005: 246 and 14 Huang, 2011) Table 3: The distribution of students in different specific major classes 15 Table 4: Participants in the interaction with native speakers of English 25 Table 5: Codes and conventions used in the study. (Adapted from Müller, 2005: 31 281) Table 6: Positions of the DM you know in the student data 40 Table 7: Sample lesson procedures in PPP and III frameworks in Jones‟s (2011: 74) 59 study FIGURES Figure 1: Number of occurrences of some DMs used by third-year ULIS students 34 Figure 2: Students‟ and Teachers‟ perception of the importance of DMs in oral 48 communication Figure 3: The extent to which DMs are displayed in students‟ oral discourse, as 49 perceived by the students and teachers. Figure 4: Possible reasons for the students‟ infrequent display of DMs in speech, 50 from the perspectives of the students and the teachers Figure 5: The extent to which DMs have been explicitly taught by teachers 51 Figure 6: The students‟ expectation to acquire and incorporate DMs in their speech 54 Figure 7: Ways for students to acquire the use of oral DMs as suggested by the 55 students and teachers Figure 8: Teachers' perception towards the level at which DMs should be explicitly 57 taught TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DM(s) Discourse marker(s) EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as a Second Language FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education L1 first language L2 second language NNSs Non-native speakers NSs Native speakers ULIS – VNU University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale behind the study In the world of increasing globalization, teaching and learning English language, especially in terms of communicative oral skill has become a matter of concern to many linguists and educators.
Ur (1996: 120) states that “of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important”. Ur‟s (1996) viewpoint was supported later on by Rudder (1999: 25) who regards speaking skill as “one of the most important goals in language teaching” since it is “now more than ever before (…) essential for interactive survival in a global setting.” It is not hard to find many other researchers and linguists who stress the importance of communicative skill. In Littlewood‟s (1981: 89) words, one‟s ability to “use real and appropriate language to communicate and interact with others” is – and should be – “the primary goal of most foreign language learning”. Since the adoption of the communicative language teaching approach, the prioritized focus has been put on the achievement of functional abilities in the target language.
Language learning has therefore shifted from a grammatical perspective to a communicative perspective that emphasizes the ability to use the linguistic system effectively and appropriately in the target language and culture. Similarly, Campbell and Wales (1970, cited in Nguyen, 2006: 1) stress that in order to speak competently, not only does a person need to know the grammar and pronunciation rules of a language but s/he is also required to discern what to say, to whom, in which circumstances, and in what manner. It is understandable why many acknowledge the importance of knowledge in a foreign language beyond grammar and vocabulary. One of the aspects regarding knowledge beyond grammar and vocabulary is the use of discourse markers (hereafter DMs) in oral communication, which can help to make the speaker sound like a native.
This aspect, however, seems to be ignored though they belong to the speaker‟s delivery, particularly his/her fluency, which is said to define the way the listeners perceive the speaker (Croucher, 2004: 38). The lack of linguistic devices such as DMs may account for the fact that in social interactions in English, some ESL/EFL learners may unintentionally come across as “abrupt or brusque” (Lee, n. In other TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 words, the omission of DMs might make the speakers appear impolite or the speech might appear somehow deficient. The following two conversations given by Lee (n.) can clearly exemplify the above point: Conversation 1 Speaker B1: No, I think I need it tonight.
Speaker A: Could I borrow your car? Speaker B2: Well, I think I need it tonight. Conversation 2 Speaker D1: I’m going to be out of town next Speaker C: Could you take me to the weekend. airport next weekend? Speaker D2: Well. uh, I'm going to be out of town next weekend.
In responding to the requests, thanks to the presence of DMs (Well, uh…), Speakers B2 and D2 sound more polite and less abrupt. The messages therefore reach Speakers A and C in a less extreme way although their requests have been refused. Understandably, abruptness may especially happen most commonly in direct interactions in which no time is given for the interlocutors to think (Östman, 1982 and Croucher, 2004: 41). Having to think of ideas and select words to utter at the same time, these students may encounter problems of on-line discourse production (Chaudron and Richard, 1986).
As a matter of fact, the use of DMs such as well, you know, right, okay, I mean, etc. can help fill the pauses. In fact, these items were considered performance errors for a long time (Moreno, 2001: 130). Luckily enough, their important roles in conversations and speeches have been increasingly acknowledged in a growing number of recent studies.
Stenström (1994: 17) believes that a conversation is “much less lively and less 'personal' without [DMs] signaling receipt of information, agreement and involvement”. As stressed by Moreno (2001: 130), DMs not only help to “build coherence”, but they also “fulfill multiple interactive functions fundamental to the speaker – hearer relationship”. Although DMs have been viewed from a variety of perspectives and approaches, it is generally agreed that DMs contribute to the pragmatic meaning of utterances, thereby playing an important role in the pragmatic competence of the speaker. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3 Similarly, the significance of the use of DMs is asserted in Moreno‟s (2001: 130-131) study that “they form part of the L2 students‟ pragmatic competence”.
Never before has the term “pragmatic competence” been mentioned so frequently in the body of research on second language (L2) learning and foreign language teaching. Defined as “an aspect of communicative competence [which] refers to the ability to communicate appropriately in particular contexts of use” (Jaworski, 1998: 249, cited in Müller, 2005: 18), pragmatic competence is acknowledged as part of what a student should learn about a language. DMs are much related to this kind of competence since they “constitute an intrinsic part of one‟s communicative competence” (Wei‟s, 1996: 2). In Vietnamese language teaching and learning context, many learners of English, even English-major ones, find it difficult to communicate with foreigners due to the fact that they lack the strategies to employ in conversations.
Meanwhile, DMs have been relatively neglected despite their claimed function as useful communicative strategies. Being intrigued to further study the EFL speakers‟ use of DMs in interactions, the researcher conducts an investigation of the issue among English-major students in ULIS who are trained to become teachers and interpreters or do business-related jobs in the future. It is undeniable that those students, in their prospect jobs, are required to communicate frequently with foreigners. Nonetheless, owing to some reasons, students do not seem to pay due attention to make such interactions as authentic and native-like as that of the native speakers.
All the aforementioned grounds have genuinely inspired the researcher to conduct a study entitled “Discourse Markers in Oral Interaction by Third-year ULIS Mainstream English Majors”. It is hoped that the research would contribute to the teaching and learning of DMs in classroom context, thereby enhancing the students‟ performance in learning foreign languages. Aims and objectives of the study First and foremost, the current interlanguage pragmatic research is conducted with the aims to identify the most frequently-used DMs produced by the students in their interaction with native speakers and then to some extent, to identify the functions of those TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Based on the findings, the students‟ and teachers‟ attitudes towards the use of DMs are scrutinized, paving the way for the pedagogical implications on the teaching of DMs in classroom.
Finally, some suggested exercises and activities for practicing DMs in English are proposed for those who want to make their conversations authentic and native- like. It is also hoped that the paper can raise the awareness of utilizing effective DMs in communication. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims, the study has been carried out to address the four research questions as follows: 1. What are the most common DMs used by third-year ULIS mainstream English majors in their spoken interaction with native speakers? 2.
What specific functions do DMs perform in their spoken discourse? 3.