Discourse Marker Variation in Japanese EFL Textbooks and Learner Speech Across Discourse Types

Abstract

This study investigates variation in the use of discourse markers in textbooks for English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction and explores how they are linked to EFL learners’ spoken production. The textbook database comprised three series of graded textbooks commonly used in Japan: nine intended for junior high school students and six for high school students. The learner corpus was drawn from dialogues and monologues produced by Japanese EFL learners during picture descriptions, role-plays, and interviews. The results of the frequency analysis of discourse markers in the textbook database revealed that interpersonal function markers such as I think, I see, and OK/okay were frequently used in dialogues, whereas certain markers such as because and however were often used in monologues. Similarly, the frequency analysis of speech data showed that Japanese EFL learners made different uses of markers according to discourse type. However, learners’ repertoire of discourse markers used was limited, and some easy-to-use markers were preferred in both dialogues and monologues, although a variety of them were provided as input data in the textbooks. These findings have implications for designing lexical syllabi in textbooks and teaching discourse markers suitable for each discourse type.