The purpose of this paper is to investigate Discourse Markers (DMs) used by NNETs (non-native English Teacher) and NETs (native English Teacher). DMs play a significant role in communication to develop ideas and to relate them to one another. Four sub-objectives of the present study were: (1) How do non-native English teachers differ from native English teachers in their most frequent use of DMs (2) What is the most frequently used DM and how frequently does it occur in both groups, (3) What are the prevailing functions of the DMs employed in both groups, and (4) What are the implications for teaching L2 learners and the training of Korean English teachers? The encoded DMs offer a reservoir of DMs from six NETs and NNETs teachers’ DM usages when teaching in class. The data were based on the video recorded data analysis performed by six NETs and six NNETs at a Korean university. First, they were analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and then classified according to Brinton s (1996) inventory of items and Schiffrin s (1987) classification. It is concluded that both NNETs and NETs more frequently consider coherent discourse by using DMs in an interactive situation that requires speakers to draw upon communicative knowledge and pragmatic resources. This may be because NNETs and NETs have different normative pragmatics (Sellars, 1969) of language. Therefore, more research and attention should be redirected to DMs to emphasize pragmatic use of English in teachers training programs.
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Review of DMs
3. Research Methods
4. Results
5. Conclusions