The Cultural Aspect of Discourse Markers among Non-Native English-Korean Communication

• Published in: Institute of British and American Studies Vol. 39; pp. 201 - 234
• Main Author: Park, Eun Jung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 영미연구소 28.02.2017
• Subjects: 학제간연구
• ISSN: 2508-4135; 2508-5417
• DOI: 10.25093/jbas.2017.39.201

Despite the important role discourse markers play in everyday native spoken interactions, there are only few spoken corpus-based studies on how Korean speakers use English discourse markers, particularly in their spontaneous English communication. On the other hand, English native speakers tend to use corpus-based Korean discourse markers. Using a speech task that encourages spontaneous English conversations by Korean speakers, this paper elicits the forms, relative frequencies, and usage of English discourse markers. Researching both the usage of English and Korean discourse markers by non-natives, this paper indicates that Korean ESL learners use limited and less variety of discourse markers compared with English native speakers. This paper shows that Korean speakers’ usage of certain English discourse markers may be quantitatively and qualitatively different from the typical native usage. It is relatively natural that English native speakers use yeah (어, 음) of Korean discourse markers in the act of Korean speeches. It is concluded that English discourse markers need to be taught in both explicit and implicit manners in classroom settings. It is significant, since the proper use of discourse markers plays a significant role in enabling Korean speakers to communicate in English in a more situationally and culturally appropriate manner. However, Korean discourse markers are less important for English TOPIK learners in Korean communication. KCI Citation Count: 0