Interpersonal Functions Of The Discourse Markers In EFL Classroom Discourse

Discourse markers are a very common phenomenon which is drawing increasing attention. This thesis is an attempt to analyze discourse markers (henceforth DMs) in EFL classroom discourse in terms of interpersonal meaning within the framework of the Hallidayan Systemic-Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL). Many linguists have studied DMs from different perspectives and have given different terms for them. In the thesis, I try to answer the following questions: how to define DMs? Which DMs usually appear in classroom discourse? What are the interpersonal meanings of DMs in classroom discourse? What is the significance of analyzing DMs in classroom discourse? The third question is the focus of my thesis and is discussed in detail, by virtue of focusing on the data which we have collected while observing some classes.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction of the thesis, including rationale, objective, research questions, the theoretical framework and methodology of the thesis, data collection as well as the significance of the study. Chapter 2 offers an overview to the development of DMs analysis and the general survey of studies of interpersonal meaning. Chapter 3 primarily discusses context and DMs in classroom discourse. Chapter 4 analyzes interpersonal functions of discourse markers in classroom discourse. Chapter 5 summarizes the conclusion, proposes an analytic model for the analysis of DMs in interpersonal meaning, points out the limitations of this study and some questions for the future research.The significance of this research is on the following three spheres. One is to bring a new thought into the field of language teaching. The other is that both teachers and students can encode and decode language better, get better mutual understanding and communication in order to achieve better effect of teaching. The last is to provide a new perspective for the analysis of discourse markers.