CHAPTER Ⅰ REVIEW OF LITERATURE 1
1.1 Discourse Markers 4
1.1.1 Schiffrin and Redeker 4
1.1.2 Coherence Theory 8
1.1.3 Relevance Theory 10
1.1.4 Fraser 16
1.2 Spoken vs.Written Discourse 19
1.3 Pragmatic Markers 25
1.3.1 Theoretical Perspectives 25
1.3.2 Pragmatic Markers and Discourse Coherence 27
1.3.3 Pragmatic Markers and Spoken Interaction 28
1.3.4 Corpus-based Approach to Pragmatic Markers 31
1.4 Discourse Markers and Comprehensibility 34
1.5 Discourse Markers and Communicative Competence 39
1.5.1 Theoretical Assumptions 39
1.5.2 Empirical Evidence 44
1.6 Summary 51
CHAPTER Ⅱ METHODOLOGY 55
2.1 Research Purposes 55
2.2 Analytic Models 56
2.2.1 Fraser's Taxonomy 57
2.2.2 Stenstr？m's Inventory 61
2.3 Elicitation Instrument 64
2.4 Data Processing 66
2.5 Operationalization of Task Functions and Contexts 68
2.5.1 Task Functions 68
2.5.2 Task Contexts 69
2.6 The Pilot Study 70
2.7 The Present Study 73
2.8 Summary 74
CHAPTER Ⅲ RESULTS OF IDEATIONAL MARKERS 75
3.1 Overall Use of Ideational Markers 75
3.2 Variety of Ideational Markers 76
3.3 Categorization of Ideational Markers 77
3.4 Task Functions 81
3.4.1 Narration 81
3.4.2 Description 86
3.4.3 Comparison 91
3.4.4 Discussion 98
3.4.5 Hypothesis 104
3.4.6 Apology 108
3.5 Summary 114
CHAPTER Ⅳ RESULTS OF PRAGMATIC MARKERS 119
4.1 Overall Use of Pragmatic Markers 119
4.2 Task Contexts 121
4.2.1 Information Transmission 121
4.2.2 Cassette Message 137
4.2.3 Apology 142
4.3 Summary 146
CHAPTER Ⅴ CONCLUSION 149
5.1 Conclusions of the Findings 149
5.1.1 Ideational Markers 149
5.1.2 Pragmatic Markers 152
5.1.3 General Conclusion 155
5.2 Pedagogical Implications 156
5.2.1 Relevance of DMs to English Speaking Classes in China 156
5.2.2 Pedagogical Suggestions 159
5.3 Limitations 163
REFERENCES 165
APPENDICES 177
Appendix A:ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines—Speaking(Revised 1999) 177
Appendix B:Transcript of VOCI Tasks 178
Appendix C:Transcription Symbols 181