The Use of Discourse Markers in L2 English Writing by Iraqi Postgraduate Students at Karabuk University

Abstract

The current study describes the use of discourse markers (DMs) in essay writing by Iraqi M.A. students at Karabuk University. 15 Iraqi M.A. students participated in this study. The main aim of the current study is to find the use of DMs in essay writing by the participants. 30 essays were written by the participants; each participant wrote two essays on two topics that were chosen. The DMs used by the participants were classified into four categories; a) Contrastive Markers (CDMs); b) Elaborative Markers (EDMs); c) Implicative Markers (IDMs) and d) Temporal Markers (TDMs). The result of the current study shows that the participants used EDMs (64%) followed by TDMs (20%), CMDs (10%) and IDMs (6%). It was concluded that the students had overused the EDMs, such as ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’, ‘as’, and ‘also’. In addition, they had misused some DMs in their writing. The study also concluded that students’ ability in using discourse markers have to be developed to reach the Academic level in their writing.

Keywords

• Discourse Markers,Iraqi students,Essay writing,Qualitative

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