Mei-Ying Chen 
(Ming Chuan University, Taiwan)

 

Abstract: The present study explored whether English learners in Taiwan use spoken discourse markers in academic writing or not. Forty Taiwanese university students who enrolled in an undergrad English reading course participated in this study. Without receiving any instructions on writing, they wrote one essay on a specific topic assigned as a written task in class individually each week for five straight weeks. In total, the participants generated 200 pieces of essays on five different topics. The results of the data analysis showed that students tended to initiate a sentence with I think while expressing an attitude towards the topic in question, in my opinion a commitment to an important idea, and so an explanation or a conclusion to the issue under discussion. Two factors may lead to these usages. First, the students lacked knowledge about rhetorical structures and conventions associated with English academic writing. Second, students’ L1 influences the choice of these two expressions: I think and So. Nevertheless, the higher us of these discourse markers could create problems and rendered student’s writings an informal style. It is suggested that explicit instruction aimed at the development of rhetorical structures and conventions of academic writing will be beneficial to L2 learners.

 

Key words: I think, in my opinion, so, discourse markers, L2 writing, Taiwanese students