A Study Of The Relations Between The Use Of Discourse Markers & English Writing Ability Of Junior School Students

In English language learning, writing is an important and essential language skill, and it’s also an important mean for communication. Different opinions and feelings can be shared with other people through writing. Discourse markers have become a hot topic in discourse analysis and pragmatics nowadays. Even many linguists have studied discourse markers from their different perspectives based on different recognition, goals and ideas, so far they can’t reach a consensus regarding the definition, classification and functions. It is admitted that the role and significance of discourse markers stands out in discourse. The discourse markers in writing can clearly show the relationship of sentences and paragraphs, and they can help readers understand writer’ writing intentions better. From the collection and analysis of previous researches, the studies on the use of discourse markers in writing focus on college students in most cases, while the empirical researches are short of the exploration of the relationship between the use of discourse markers in English writing and the quality of writing of junior and senior school students.Discourse markers will be studied and analyzed in the thesis from coherence-based approach and relevance-based approach, and the purpose of the thesis is to explore the relationship between the use of discourse markers and the quality of junior school students’ writing. The research questions are listed as follows:1. What is the general situation of the use of DMs in junior school students’ English writing?2. Are there any associations between the use of DMs and junior school students’ writing competence? What kinds of associations?3. What are the problems when junior school students use DMs?The subjects in the study are the students from two different classes in junior 3 in Guiyang. By analyzing the compositions which are collected before the experiment and after the experiment, the relationship between the use of DMs and students’ writing quality is expected to be discussed and observed. The findings are as follows:1. There is no significant difference in categories between the higher-grades group and the lower-grades group. But with regard to quality of their compositions, there are some obvious differences.2. There is some relationship between the use of discourse markers and the junior school students’ writing competence.3. There are some problems when students use DMs, such as overuse, underuse, misuse and mechanical use, etc.Some pedagogical implications and suggestions can be inferred from the findings, and it is hoped that they can be of value for teachers and students.