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A corpus study on topic shifting discourse macro markers in TED talks

Year 2020, , 229 - 239, 31.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.30900/kafkasegt.742904

Abstract

Huge number of students enroll at universities in countries other than their own; in majority of these universities the courses are taught in English which might be challenging for whom English is not their native language. These students need to be trained adequately to be able to listen and follow the lectures to be successful in their academic studies. In EFL classes TED Talk speeches can be used to prepare students to real life lectures at the universities since they have a resembling structure to university lectures and are authentic materials that can be reached easily. In both university lectures as well as TED Talk speeches discourse markers are widely used that need to be identified and introduced in EFL classes since they play important roles in academic lectures, and assist listeners to get the idea what the speaker intends to do. Macro markers are used in lecture discourses by speakers to arrange their speeches and help the audience follow them. |Topic shifting macro markers are vital since they signal the listener that the topic and flow of the speech is going to change. This study aimed to find out what discourse macro markers are used in TED Talk speeches to change topics or subtopics. For this reason 18 speeches were manually analyzed to note down the topic shifting markers. Later the frequency of the found markers were checked on the related corpora. It was revealed that using pauses along with ‘so’ and ‘now’ were the most frequently used markers to shift the topics or subtopics.

References

  • Bolden, G. B. (2006). Little words that matter: Discourse markers “so” and “oh” and the doing of other-attentiveness in social interaction. Journal of Communication, 56(4), 661-688.
  • Brinton, L. J. (1996). Pragmatic Markers in English: Grammaticalization and Discourse Functions (Topics in English Linguistics 19). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Caliendo, G., & Compagnone, A. (2014). Expressing epistemic stance in university lectures and TED talks: a contrastive corpus-based analysis. Lingue E Linguaggi, 11, 105-122. Doi:10.1285/i22390359v11p105
  • Chafe, W. (2008). The Analysis of Discourse Flow. p.673- 687. In Schiffrin, (ed). (2008). The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell Publishing.
  • Chaudron, C., & Richards, J. C. (1986). The effect of discourse markers on the comprehension of lectures. Applied Linguistics, 7(2), 113-127. Doi:10.1093/applin/7.2.113
  • DeCarrico, J., & Nattinger, J. R. (1988). Lexical phrases for the comprehension of academic lectures. English for specific purposes, 7(2), 91-102.
  • Deroey, K., & Taverniers, M. (2011). A corpus-based study of lecture functions. Moderna park, 105(2), 1-22.
  • Deroey, K. L., & Taverniers, M. (2012). Just remember this: Lexicogrammatical relevance markers in lectures. English for Specific Purposes, 31(4), 221-233.
  • Dudley-Evans, A., & Johns, T. F. (1981). A team teaching approach to lecture comprehension for overseas students. The teaching of listening comprehension, 30-46.
  • Flowerdew. J (Ed.). (1994). Academic listening: research perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (1997). The teaching of academic listening comprehension and the question of authenticity. English for specific purposes, 16(1), 27-46.
  • Fortuño, B. B., & Gómez, I. F. (2005). Spoken academic discourse: An approach to research on lectures. Revista española de lingüística aplicada, (1), 161-178.
  • Fraser, B. (1988). Types of English discourse markers. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 38(1-4), 19-33.
  • Fraser, B. (2009). An Account of Discourse Markers. International Review of Pragmatics, 1(2), 293–320. https://doi.org/10.1163/187730909X1253804 5489818.
  • Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English Language Teaching. Fourth edition. Pearson Education Limited. England.
  • Heeman, P. A., Byron, D., & Allen, J. F. (1998). Identifying discourse markers in spoken dialog. Discourse, 58298(6163), 8278.
  • Howe, M. (1991). Collaboration on topic change in conversation.
  • Hyland, K. (1999). Disciplinary discourses: Writer stance in research articles. Writing: Texts, processes and practices, 99121.
  • Johnson, Alison, 2002. So . . .?: pragmatic implications of so-prefaced questions in formal police interviews. In: Cotterill, J. (Ed.), Language in the Legal Process. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 91–110.
  • MacDonald, M.; Richard, B.; & White, G. (2000). The real thing?: authenticity and academic listening. English for Specific Purposes (19), 253-267.
  • Morell, T. (2004). Interactive lecture discourse for university EFL students. English for specific purposes, 23(3), 325-338.
  • Mullany, L., & Stockwell, P. (2010). Introducing English language: A Resource book for students. Routledge.
  • Northcott, J. (2001). Towards an ethnography of the MBA classroom a consideration of the role of interactive lecturing styles within the context of one MBA programme. English for Specific Purposes,20, 15–37.
  • Purver, M. (2011). Topic segmentation. In: Spoken Language Understanding: Systems for Extracting Semantic Information from Speech.
  • Ranger, G. (2018). Discourse markers: An enunciative approach. Springer.
  • Rido, A. (2015). The use of discourse markers as an interactive feature in science lecture discourse in L2 setting. TEFLIN Journal, 21(1).
  • Rowling, J. K., & Mariano, S. (2002). A study of the translation of discourse markers in Italian in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone.
  • Sadeghi, B., & Heidaryan, H. (2012). The effect of teaching pragmatic discourse markers on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. English Linguistics Research, 1(2), 165-176.
  • Schiffrin, D., 1987. Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D., & Hamilton, H. (2008). The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell Publishing.
  • Uicheng, K., & Crabtree, M. (2018). Macro Discourse Markers in Ted Talks: How Ideas Are Signaled to Listeners. PASAA: Journal of Language Teaching and Learning in Thailand, 55, 1-31.

A corpus study on topic shifting discourse macro markers in TED talks

Year 2020, , 229 - 239, 31.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.30900/kafkasegt.742904

Abstract

Öğrencilerin büyük bir çoğunluğu kendi ülkelerindense diğer ülkelerin üniversitelerine kayıt yaptırırlar, kayıt yaptırılan bu üniversitelerin çoğunda dersler İngilizce öğretilir ki bu durum ana dili İngilizce olmayan öğrenciler için zorlayıcı olabilir. Bu öğrencilerin akademik çalışmalarında başarılı olabilmeleri, dersleri takip edebilmeleri ve dersleri dinleyebilmeleri için yeterli şekilde dinleme beceri uzerine eğitilmeler gerekmektedir. Yabancı dil sınıflarda Ted konuşmaları üniversite derslerine benzeyen yapıları ve kolayca erişilebilen gerçek materyaller olmaları sebebiyle üniversitelerde öğrencileri gerçek hayata hazırlamak için kullanılabilir. Yabancı dilin İngilizce olduğu sınıflarda tanımlanması ve tanıtılması gereken söylem işaretçileri konuşmacının ne yapmak istediği fikrini kavrayabilmede dinleyicilere destek sağladıkları ve akademik derslerde önemli bir rol oynadıkları için hem üniversite derslerinde hem de Ted konuşmalarında geniş çapta kullanılır. Konuşmacılar tarafından konuşmalarını düzenlemek ve dinleyicilerin onları takip etmelerine yardım etmek için ders söylevlerinde makro isaretçiler kullanılır. Konu değiştiren makro isaretçiler dinleyiciye konunun ve konuşmanın değişeceği sinyalini verdikleri için son derece önemlilerdir. Bu çalışma Ted konuşmalarında konuları ya da alt konuları değiştirmek için kullanılan makro söylem işaretçilerini ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu nedenle, 18 Ted konuşması konu değiştiren işaretçileri kaydetmek için el ile analiz edilmiştir. Sonrasında bulunan işaretçilerin sıklık derecesi ilgili karporada kontrol edilmiştir. “ Bu yüzden “ ve “ Şimdi “ ile beraber kullanılan duraklamalar, konuları ya da alt konuları değiştirmek için kullanılan en sık isaretçiler olduğu ortaya çıkartılmıştır.

References

  • Bolden, G. B. (2006). Little words that matter: Discourse markers “so” and “oh” and the doing of other-attentiveness in social interaction. Journal of Communication, 56(4), 661-688.
  • Brinton, L. J. (1996). Pragmatic Markers in English: Grammaticalization and Discourse Functions (Topics in English Linguistics 19). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Caliendo, G., & Compagnone, A. (2014). Expressing epistemic stance in university lectures and TED talks: a contrastive corpus-based analysis. Lingue E Linguaggi, 11, 105-122. Doi:10.1285/i22390359v11p105
  • Chafe, W. (2008). The Analysis of Discourse Flow. p.673- 687. In Schiffrin, (ed). (2008). The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell Publishing.
  • Chaudron, C., & Richards, J. C. (1986). The effect of discourse markers on the comprehension of lectures. Applied Linguistics, 7(2), 113-127. Doi:10.1093/applin/7.2.113
  • DeCarrico, J., & Nattinger, J. R. (1988). Lexical phrases for the comprehension of academic lectures. English for specific purposes, 7(2), 91-102.
  • Deroey, K., & Taverniers, M. (2011). A corpus-based study of lecture functions. Moderna park, 105(2), 1-22.
  • Deroey, K. L., & Taverniers, M. (2012). Just remember this: Lexicogrammatical relevance markers in lectures. English for Specific Purposes, 31(4), 221-233.
  • Dudley-Evans, A., & Johns, T. F. (1981). A team teaching approach to lecture comprehension for overseas students. The teaching of listening comprehension, 30-46.
  • Flowerdew. J (Ed.). (1994). Academic listening: research perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (1997). The teaching of academic listening comprehension and the question of authenticity. English for specific purposes, 16(1), 27-46.
  • Fortuño, B. B., & Gómez, I. F. (2005). Spoken academic discourse: An approach to research on lectures. Revista española de lingüística aplicada, (1), 161-178.
  • Fraser, B. (1988). Types of English discourse markers. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 38(1-4), 19-33.
  • Fraser, B. (2009). An Account of Discourse Markers. International Review of Pragmatics, 1(2), 293–320. https://doi.org/10.1163/187730909X1253804 5489818.
  • Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English Language Teaching. Fourth edition. Pearson Education Limited. England.
  • Heeman, P. A., Byron, D., & Allen, J. F. (1998). Identifying discourse markers in spoken dialog. Discourse, 58298(6163), 8278.
  • Howe, M. (1991). Collaboration on topic change in conversation.
  • Hyland, K. (1999). Disciplinary discourses: Writer stance in research articles. Writing: Texts, processes and practices, 99121.
  • Johnson, Alison, 2002. So . . .?: pragmatic implications of so-prefaced questions in formal police interviews. In: Cotterill, J. (Ed.), Language in the Legal Process. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 91–110.
  • MacDonald, M.; Richard, B.; & White, G. (2000). The real thing?: authenticity and academic listening. English for Specific Purposes (19), 253-267.
  • Morell, T. (2004). Interactive lecture discourse for university EFL students. English for specific purposes, 23(3), 325-338.
  • Mullany, L., & Stockwell, P. (2010). Introducing English language: A Resource book for students. Routledge.
  • Northcott, J. (2001). Towards an ethnography of the MBA classroom a consideration of the role of interactive lecturing styles within the context of one MBA programme. English for Specific Purposes,20, 15–37.
  • Purver, M. (2011). Topic segmentation. In: Spoken Language Understanding: Systems for Extracting Semantic Information from Speech.
  • Ranger, G. (2018). Discourse markers: An enunciative approach. Springer.
  • Rido, A. (2015). The use of discourse markers as an interactive feature in science lecture discourse in L2 setting. TEFLIN Journal, 21(1).
  • Rowling, J. K., & Mariano, S. (2002). A study of the translation of discourse markers in Italian in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone.
  • Sadeghi, B., & Heidaryan, H. (2012). The effect of teaching pragmatic discourse markers on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. English Linguistics Research, 1(2), 165-176.
  • Schiffrin, D., 1987. Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D., & Hamilton, H. (2008). The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell Publishing.
  • Uicheng, K., & Crabtree, M. (2018). Macro Discourse Markers in Ted Talks: How Ideas Are Signaled to Listeners. PASAA: Journal of Language Teaching and Learning in Thailand, 55, 1-31.
There are 32 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Makaleler
Authors

Hamideh Hamdi 0000-0001-7024-1836

Publication Date December 31, 2020
Submission Date May 26, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2020

Cite

APA Hamdi, H. (2020). A corpus study on topic shifting discourse macro markers in TED talks. E-Kafkas Journal of Educational Research, 7(3), 229-239. https://doi.org/10.30900/kafkasegt.742904

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