The Effect of Discourse Markers on Second Language Lecture Comprehension

Flowerdew, John; Tauroza, Steve

doi:10.1017/s0272263100014406

Cited by 112 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The most frequent methodology followed similar steps in all cases. First, an experimental group received A lecture with DMs and a control group received the same lecture without them (Chaudron and Richards, 1986;Flowerdew and Tauroza, 1995;Morell, 2004;Eslami and Eslami-Rasekh, 2007;Reza et al, 2012 inter ali.). The second step was to check students´ comprehension by different means (questions, tests or the notes taken).…”

Section: Formal Elements Facilitating Lecture Comprehension: Discoursmentioning

confidence: 99%

Training teachers for English Medium Instruction: lessons from research on second language listening comprehension

Pozo

2017

Rev. lingüíst. leng. apl.

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CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and EMI (English Medium Instruction) practices have outpaced theory and teacher training. There is a need to provide answers to some of the key issues such as the language requirements. This paper aims to show that knowledge from English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic Purposes, fields which have provided effective teaching practices and materials, could now be used in CLIL/EMI. The paper focuses on two of these. First, the issues related to second language academic listening comprehension and, secondly, the findings from research on it and their implications for student / lecturer training and materials design. These implications and suggestions are summarized. The paper concludes providing some language learning resources originally targeted to students but which could become tools for (self) training of those teachers who need to update their language skills for CLIL.

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Section: Formal Elements Facilitating Lecture Comprehension: Discoursmentioning

confidence: 99%

Training teachers for English Medium Instruction: lessons from research on second language listening comprehension

Pozo

2017

Rev. lingüíst. leng. apl.

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“…The category of discourse markers includes macro-markers like my first point is and in conclusion, which provide clues about the overall structure of the passage, and micro-markers like yet, because, and in fact, which establish links between adjacent utterances (Chaudron & Richards, 1986;Dunkel & Davis, 1994;Flowerdew & Tauroza, 1995 Global coherence: The cohesiveness of the entire passage as a unit…”

Section: Discourse Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flowerdew and Tauroza (1995) argued that Dunkel and Davis (1994) included too few micro-markers compared to what occur in authentic passages and too many markers associated with written rather than spoken language. They also pointed out that Chaudron and Richards (1986) specifically inserted micro-markers in such a way as to minimize the semantic information they conveyed (i.e., discourse micro-markers in their study could only be acting as filled pauses [a.k.a.…”

Section: Discourse Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…hesitation markers], see the Hesitation and Pause section for a more in-depth discussion). Flowerdew and Tauroza (1995) conducted their own study and found that recall and comprehension was lower for a passage from which discourse micro-markers had been deleted compared to one which had not been modified. Flowerdew and Tauroza's (1995) results provide evidence that micro-markers, when allowed to contain semantic information (in contrast to Chaudron and Richard's [1986] study) and when presented in appropriate number and type (in contrast to Dunkel and Davis's [1994] study), improve comprehension for L2 listeners.…”

Section: Discourse Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension

Bloomfield¹,

Wayland²,

Rhoades³

et al. 2010

150

120

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Factors affecting second language listening comprehension gies-that is, those who are aware of and use effective strategies, such as avoiding mental translation-demonstrate better L2 listening comprehension. 2 In addition to these general cognitive abilities, a number of factors pertaining to experience with the L2 influence listening skill. These factors include the amount of prior exposure to the language; familiarity with and an ability to understand the non-native language's phonology; vocabulary size; and background knowledge about the topic, text, structure, schema, and culture.Familiarity with the L2 changes the extent to which the L2 listener uses top-down or bottom-up strategies in listening. For example, expert listeners use both types of strategies: They are able to accurately make sense of the speech signal (bottom-up information) 3 and integrate this information with PurPose-To establish what is currently known about factors that affect foreign language listening comprehension, with a focus on characteristics of the listener, passage, and testing conditions.ConClusions-Research on second language (L2) listening comprehension strongly supports the importance of a number of factors, for example, a listener's working memory capacity and the number of ideas in a passage. Much of the research, however, reports weak or inconclusive results, leaving many factors and complex interactions among factors unresolved and in need of further investigation.relevanCe-Identifying the factors that affect L2 listening comprehension will help Defense Language Institute Proficiency Test (DLPT) designers anticipate how qualities of selected authentic materials will impact listening comprehension. Executive Summary PurPoseThe U.S. Government administers the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) to military linguists and other government personnel to assess their listening and reading comprehension in a number of foreign languages, including critical languages such as Mandarin, Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, and Persian Farsi. The DLPT is updated every 10 to 15 years, and the most recent transition-from DLPT IV to DLPT5-included a greater emphasis on testing listening comprehension with authentic materials. In turn, this has led to a growing interest in the factors that make second language (L2) listening difficult.To examine these factors, CASL reviewed the current scientific literature and summarized the characteristics of listeners, passages, and testing conditions. The review targeted features of particular interest to stakeholders at the Defense Language Institute (DLI). The long-term goal of the project is to support the selection of authentic listening materials that accurately reflect different proficiency levels. ConClusionsAlthough the available research on L2 listening comprehension is limited, CASL's literature review identified several factors that affect listening comprehension. These factors are summarized below and in Tables 1, 2, and 3. 1 Characteristics of the listenerUnderstanding a fo...

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“…Firstly, an experimental group received the lecture with DM, while a control group received the same lecture without those DM (Chaudron and Richards 1986, Eslami and Eslami-Rasekh 2007, Flowerdew and Tauroza 1995, Jung 2003, Morell 2004, Reza et al 2012. Secondly, students' comprehension is checked by means of questions, tests or the notes taken.…”

Section: Ii4 Dm In Lecture Comprehensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discourse markers and lecture structure: their role in listening Comprehension and EMI lecturer training

Pozo

2019

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Listening comprehension of lectures in L2 contexts is a widely researched topic. Findings have been applied to both materials and course design. This paper focuses on findings about the facilitative role in comprehension of those discourse markers (DM) which signal lecture structure. These markers can also be of assistance in L2 contexts such as new English Medium Instruction (EMI) scenarios, where the lecturer is not a native speaker of English. A small-scale investigation about the presence of these markers in EMI lecturer discourse is presented. Findings indicate that lecturers need a more overt signalling of lecture phases and a wider stylistic variety enabling them to do so. The paper concludes by suggesting that EAP materials for training students in listening comprehension could be a good resource to provide the lecturer with a repertoire of linguistic tools to structure their lecturers and in consequence facilitate comprehension for students. Flowerdew (1994) defended the undeniable importance of teaching listening comprehension skills in a language other than the mother tongue. The reason for this was the high number of students learning through a foreign language at that time. Keywords: listening comprehension, academic language, bilingual education, teacher education, discourse markers I. INTRODUCTIONToday, more than two decades later, his vindication becomes even more vital with the proliferation of English Medium Instruction (EMI) and other bilingual education approaches. Practice has outpaced the provision of qualified and prepared teachers.Surveys reveal that Spanish teachers at all educational levels are more concerned with linguistic than with methodological training. Though the partiality of this vision is arguable, the urgency of language upskilling is evident for in-service and prospective EMI teachers. This paper aims to advocate and propose the utility of academic listening comprehension materials as a valid resource to support EMI teachers in the process of class preparation. Research about the role of discourse markers in lecture Discourse markers and lecture structure: their role in listening comprehension and EMI lecturer training Language Value 8 (1), 26-48 http://www.e-revistes.uji.es/languagevalue 27 comprehension and the learning materials derived from these findings could now be transferred to these new scenarios of L2 listening comprehension. The paper will open with a reflection on the lecture as an academic oral genre and the role of discourse markers to signal phases and facilitate comprehension. Next, the actual presence of these DM in EMI lecturer discourses will be observed to identify linguistic needs.Finally, some academic listening materials will be suggested as resources to cover those needs. II. LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN LECTURES II.1 Academic listening: understanding lecturesSome teaching methods such as tutorials, seminars and practical sessions are gaining momentum in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). However, the lecture continues to be "a cornerst...

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The Effect of Discourse Markers on Second Language Lecture Comprehension

Cited by 112 publications

References 24 publications

Training teachers for English Medium Instruction: lessons from research on second language listening comprehension

Training teachers for English Medium Instruction: lessons from research on second language listening comprehension

What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension

Discourse markers and lecture structure: their role in listening Comprehension and EMI lecturer training

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