The Use of Discourse Markers in Second Language Writing of Iraqi Undergraduate Students

Authors : Sarmad ALAHMED, Ozkan KIRMIZI

Pages : 357-385

View : 20 | Download : 4

Publication Date : 2021-12-29

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The current study describes the use of discourse markers insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(DMs); in essays written by Iraqi B.A. students at Al-Qalam University College insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(in Kirkuk province, Iraq);. The main aim of the current study is to find the use of DMs in essay writing. 90 Iraqi B.A. students participated in this study. They were from three stages insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(freshmen, sophomores, and seniors);. The participants wrote 90 essays; each participant wrote one essay on topics that were specified. The DMs used by the participants were classified into four categories; a); Contrastive Markers insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(CDMs);; b); Elaborative Markers insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(EDMs);; c); Implicative Markers insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(IDMs);, and d); Temporal Markers insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(TDMs);. The findings of the current study show that the participants used EDMs insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(66%);, followed by TDMs insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(17%);, CMDs insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(11%);, and IDMs insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(6%);. It was concluded that the students overused the EDMs, such as ‘and’, ‘as’, ‘or’, ‘but’, and ‘so’. In addition, they misused some DMs in their writing. The study also concluded that students’ ability in using discourse markers has to be developed to reach the academic level in their writing.
Keywords : Discourse Markers, Essay Writing, Iraqi B A Students