A Study On English Major Students' Use Of Discourse Markers In Oral Speech

In communication, discourse markers (DMs) play important role in connecting utterances and expressing intentions, so improper use of DMs may be a hindrance to successful communication. Nowadays there are many researches about DMs but few are focusing on student's oral speech. Therefore, this research is about DMs used in English major students'oral speech. The three key research questions addressed in this thesis are: 1. What is the frequency of DMs used in English major students'oral speech? 2. What is the frequency of correct use and improper use of DMs respectively in students'oral speech? 3. Is there any relationship between the use of DMs and the rank of students'oral speech? If yes, what is the relation between them?The data used in this thesis is from the data base of Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. The samples were chosen randomly and analyzed according to Blackmore's classification of DMs under the framework of Relevance theory. Finally, the data were related to the score of students'oral speech.This research shows that the frequency of DMs used in English major students'oral speech is not high; problems like misuse, lack of use and overuse of DMs are obvious, and the use are rather flat; students with higher oral speech level tend to use DMs better, which shows that the use of DMs may influence the oral speech level. Therefore, teachers should increase their knowledge of DMs, pay attention to the teaching of DMs in class, and enhance students'ability to use DMs correctly in oral speech.