Discourse markers in written learner English: A corpus-based study of the discourse markers so, like, actually, anyway, well, you know and I mean in written Norwegian learner language

Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation of discourse markers in written Norwegian learner language. Previous studies indicate that learners of English tend to embrace a style of writing which is influenced by oral language. The aim of this thesis is to find out whether advanced Norwegian learners of English overuse discourse markers in their writing compared to English native speakers, and to find out how Norwegian learners of English use discourse markers compared to English native speakers in their writing. This study is corpus-based, and the Norwegian component of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE-NO) and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS) have been used to perform a quantitative and qualitative study of the discourse markers so, like, actually, anyway, well, you know and I mean. This study shows that the Norwegian learners of English in ICLE-NO overuse discourse markers in their writing compared to native speakers in LOCNESS. The analysis also shows that the Norwegian learners use discourse markers with an interpersonal function more often than the native speakers. This coincides with previous research which has found that Norwegian learners of English tend to show reader/writer visibility to a greater extent than both native speakers of English and other learner groups. There seem to be several reasons for this overuse and use of discourse markers in Norwegian learner writing, such as differences in writing cultures, register unawareness due to insufficient teaching and lack of sufficient training in academic writing.