A Study On Chinese EFL Learners' Usage Of Well As A DM

Discourse Markers (hereafter DMs) are words or short phrases commonly used in language, which results in the understanding of an utterance or constrains the comprehension of a discourse. Since the 1970s, great interest has been shown in the study on DMs. Linguists particularly pragmatic linguists make an extensive research on DMs. As a result, DMs are not only considered as one of the most significant study projects in pragmatics but play an important role in language acquisition, language pedagogy, and sociolinguistics.However, much of the research on DMs has been focused on native speakers. The studies in China are not as extensive as that in native speakers' language environment. Therefore, based on the relevance-theoretical framework, the present thesis attempts to investigate the Chinese EFL learners' use and acquisition of DMs through analyzing the usage of well.The study is a corpus-based comparative analysis. The data are from two parts: SECCL (Spoken English Corpus of Chinese Learners); the results from the research of Romero Trillo (2002), M(u|¨)ller (2004) and Klerk (2005). Through analyses and comparisons of the dada on two dimensionalities concerning frequencies and functions, some patterns and problems of Chinese EFL learners' use and acquisition of well are revealed. Then, the findings are further discussed with reference to some SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theories on a cognitive approach.At the end, the discussions come up with the suggestion that the formal instruction be introduced into EFL oral class and make our EFL learners recognize the importance of DMs in discourse organizing and smooth communication, so as to increase their acquisition efficiency and pragmatic competence.