Teaching Discourse Markers in EFL Composition : A Core/Periphery Approach

概要

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Attempts to teach discourse markers have usually been based on the taxonomies of Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Quirk et al. (1985). However, these studies have tended to confuse by giving the impression that (a) markers which are multi-functional are polysemous, (b) the functional categories used by these writers are pedagogically adequate, and (c) markers in the same functional category are interchangeable. This paper seeks to illuminate the teaching of discourse markers by arguing for a core/periphery approach, which acknowledges that markers may be multi-functional but insists that they have a core meaning. The interpretation of a marker in any one instantiation results from an interaction between its core meaning and the context it occurs in. Instantiations outside the core are considered to be peripheral. The approach is illustrated with regard to a group of markers hitherto known as contrastives but here called cancellatives. A core/periphery approach suggests that: (a) core markers should be highlighted in preference to peripheral markers; (b) greater attention should be given to the interaction of discourse marker and context; and (c) more pedagogically adequate descriptive categories need to be used.