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Abstract

This paper investigates the use of discourse markers among Form Four second language learner (SLL) students in essay writing. The objectives of this study are to discover how Form Four SLL students use discourse markers in their essay writing and to identify the teachers’ perception about the usage of discourse markers among students. 30 intermediate semi urban school students were chosen where all of the student’s essays writing were analyzed. The researchers analyzed the use of discourse markers in each paper and stated the usage of discourse marker under its own theme. Then, an interview was conducted with four English teachers who taught those students and it was transcribed before being analyzed. The result involved three categories of discourse markers in terms of misused, overused and advanced used.

International Education Studies; Vol. 7, No. 2; 2014

ISSN 1913-9020 E-ISSN 1913-9039

Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education

54

The Use of Discourse Markers among Form Four SLL Students in

Essay Writing

Melor Md Yunus1 & Siti Nor Fatimah Haris1

1 Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Correspondence: Siti Nor Fatimah Haris, Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi,

Selangor, Malaysia. Tel: 12-663-6434. E-mail: fatimahharis@gmail.com

Received: November 18, 2013 Accepted: December 24, 2013 Online Published: January 21, 2014

doi:10.5539/ies.v7n2p54 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n2p54

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of discourse markers among Form Four second language learner (SLL) students

in essay writing. The objectives of this study are to discover how Form Four SLL students use discourse markers

in their essay writing and to identify the teachers’ perception about the usage of discourse markers among

students. 30 intermediate semi urban school students were chosen where all of the student’s essays writing were

analyzed. The researchers analyzed the use of discourse markers in each paper and stated the usage of discourse

marker under its own theme. Then, an interview was conducted with four English teachers who taught those

students and it was transcribed before being analyzed. The result involved three categories of discourse markers

in terms of misused, overused and advanced used.

Keywords: discourse markers, intermediate, essay writing

1. Introduction

Improving writing competency has always been the goal in education which is used in everyday social situation

and one must strecth his or her mind within this complex intellectual activity (Sanford, 2012). According to

Siniajeva (2005), writing involves uncommon situation as it needs to be inferred from the text but without

considerating readers’ correct schemata, it might hinder the communication. Chow (2007) viewed writing as an

essential learning tool as it helps students to comprehend the ideas and concepts better. According to University

of Westminster (n.d), writing does not have usual extension as learning speaking as it required an organized

instruction and practice. As mention by this University, writing is not only concerning about speech written

down on paper but it is also the expression of ideas and meaning on the page which is relied by the writers.

Based on Rhetoritical Structure Theory, it also concentrating on the relation that joining between parts of text in

the text organization (Taboada & Mann, 2006). In addition, these researchers also stated that besides than

supporting the text organization and coherence theory, Rhetorical Structure Theory also supported coherence by

suggesting a hierarchical, related organization of text, where every text has its role, a function with other parts of

the text. Discourse markers indeed provide all of above elements as viewed as Sanford (2012), it consists of the

meaning of the sentences as well as communicative competence expressions and realistic message effeciency. In

addition, discourse markers are also crucial in helping both reader and writer to understand better and as a

support for comprehension of text (Z. Eslami & A. Eslami, 2007). This is also aligned with Dergisi’ (2010) idea ,

where he stated that a good writing is not only about grammar, but it is also about coherence and cohesive as

well. This researcher also added that particularly in English writing teaching, discourse markers should be

focused on instead of being ignored.

According to Al-Kohlani (2010), the scarcity of competency in using discourse markers indeed affects the

coherence in writing especially in advanced level while Devi (2012) stated that both macro and micro coherence

in a text implied by coherence markers. In relation with coherence, Crane (2006) stated that coherence relates the

semantic ties which involving dependent link between items that combining the meaning. It helps to group

sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into sections forming a hierarchical structure to the text as viewed by

Devi (2012), that the coherence relations combine different part or unit of text and develop a structure view of

the text. Al-Kohlani (2010) asserted that besides than providing the cohesion in connecting-words in the text,

discourse markers are also an important tool in gaining communication in the text. However, Jucker and Ziv

(1998) stated that discourse markers are lack of semantic content as well as syntactic and phonological

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characteristics while Schiffrin (1987) added that markers having no meaning or vague meaning (as cited in

Muller, 2005).

Based on the previous study made by Hamzah and Karuppiah (2010) regarding the coherence in writing among

English Second Language learners in UTM, Malaysia, they found that students indeed faced problems in

coherence when it comes about writing which can be improved in many ways. These researchers also added that

ESL learnerd focused entirely on sentence and word level rather than the textual coherence although coherence is

crucial in essay writing.

Based on Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Menengah or KBSM in Malaysia, communicative language teaching or

CLT has been included in Malaysian secondary schools to enhance English profiency in classroom

communications (Raissi et al., 2013). According to Raissi et al. (2013), CLT motivates students to communicate

with each other in classroom context in a second language. These theorists added that CLT focuses on students’

real life needs and developing their communication. CLT is an approach that views language as a social tool

where speakers communicated with someone for some purpose either orally or in writing (Berns, 1990 as cited

in Sreehari, 2012). In Form Four textbook, there are many types of communicative activities have been included

to encourage secondary students to participate in communicative interaction and it involves the usage of

discourse markers as well. (English Textbook Form Four, 2002) By rights, the students who have already

exposed with this kind of approach should be able to include the use of discourse markers in their speaking and

writing.

Form Four students are chosen since they are considered as skillful learners. As skillful learners, they are supposed

to know on how to use the discourse markers effectively in essay writing and moreover, with the new

implementation of CLT in their textbook syllabus, supposedly they use discourse markers when they speak or

write in doing the activities inside their classroom but whether they use it or not is also a question here. Discourse

markers have been taught in their primary school as well as secondary school for many years, but how the students

apply the use of discourse markers when writing needed to be investigated.

Hence, the purpose of this research is to investigate the use of discourse markers among Form Four students in

essay writing. Henceforth, the objectives of this research are to discover how Form Four students use discourse

markers in their essay writing. In addition, this research is also made to identify the teachers’ perception about

the usage of discourse markers among students.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Second Language Learner and Discourse Markers

Second language learners (SLL) are those who used another language besides than their own mother tongue. In

Malaysia context, normally SLL use English as their second language which become more prominent day by day

as English is mainly known as the world language. Writing is seen as a discouraging task due to its difficulty for

SLL as written symbols can not be memorized when it comes about writing (Yunus et al., 2012). Based on Ali

and Yunus (2004) previous research which was conducted in one of the universities in Malaysia, it was

concluded that nearly half of SLL respondents perceived writing as more difficult than speaking skills and

students expected higher in their ESL writing course. In the future research, as English is SLL non native

language, more knowledge and skill about English should be learned for them to become more skillful and the

use of discourse markers in essay writing is one of the skills that is important for them to develop their skills in

writing.

2.2 Discourse Markers in Malaysian Curriculum Specification

In Curriculum Specifications for English Form Four (Ministry of Education, 2003), the syllabus only involves

some types of discourse markers such as conjunctions (either…or, neither…nor, although, however), logical

connectors (however) and sequence connectors (later) to be learned by the students during the lesson. However,

the influence of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the English syllabus has exposed the variety of

discourse markers in relation to Ministry of Education Curriculum Specification. There are many activities in the

textbook or during the lesson that involve CLT approach which influence the students to communicate a lot

among themselves (English Textbook Form Four, 2002). This also helps to introduce discourse markers along

with the activities that they need to do in order to achieve good communication with one another. For example,

activities in Form Four English Textbook (2002) involve active communication such as group discussion,

dialogue and etcetera where the students need to use appropriate language and in a correct manner that are

needed to manage a conversation. The textbook also has acknowledged some discourse markers that are

appropriate in its correct usage to be implemented by the students. Thus, students whom are already been

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exposed to CLT approach in Malaysia’s school context supposedly know about the usage of discourse markers

which not only important for the spoken skill, but also for the written skill as well.

2.3 The Varieties Function of Discourse Markers

Discourse markers have a lot of functions and below these are only some of the functions which are commonly

used:

 Coordinating Conjunction; for example for, but and so.

 Subordinating Conjunction; for example as, in order that and since.

 Connectors; for example however, therefore and in the other hand.

 Phrase Linkers; for example due to.

 Focusing and linking; for example for reference to, regarding and as for.

 Contrasts; for example however, in contrast and conversely.

 Similarity; for example similarly, in the same way and likewise.

 Change of subject; for example right, incidentally and by the way.

 Structuring; for example first of all, finally and to begin with.

 Adding; for example moreover, in addition and furthermore.

 Generalizing; for example in general, apart from and broadly speaking.

 Exemplification; for example in particular, for instance and such as.

 Logical Consequence; for example thus, hence and accordingly.

 Making things clear; for example actually, in other word and in my opinion.

 Referring to the other person’s expectations; for example actually, in fact and well.

 Summing up; for example to summing up, in conclusion and briefly.

(Fraser, 1993 as cited in Siniajeva, 2005).

2.4 The Benefit of Discourse Markers in Student’s Essay Writing

Discourse markers provide the unity of texture in someone’s writing which in the other word; it produces

coherence in linking what someone wants to express. Coherence comes from the Latin word “cohaerere” (co =

together, haerére = to stick) (Corbett, 1987 as cited in Dulger, 2007). With coherence, it will provide the flow of

information which link from one idea to another idea. According to Halliday and Hassan (1977), cohesion occurs

when the interpretation between some elements in the discourse is dependent with another. By providing a good

flow of ideas, there will be less interruption for the reader to understand what the writer tries to conveyed, hence

this will create a good quality of writing. Discourse markers also been perceives as indicator where it has a

feature of conversational speech and it helps to assist the flow of speech. As CLT approach has been

implemented in Malaysian Education recently, the students should have been exposed on how to incorporate

discourse markers during the lesson and they should be able to apply the use of discourse markers in both spoken

and written as well.

3. Method

3.1 Selection of Respondents

The target population of this study was Form Four SLL students in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Hulu Kelang

(semi urban school) who were considered as skillful learners. This research generally involved the selection of

30 intermediate proficiency level students in the school chosen which around three classes in every form but

only one class in Form Four was chosen. All of the 30 students’ essays writing were analyzed and four English

teachers were interviewed to ask their opinion regarding certain matter about discourse markers. In this research,

the researchers used purposive and cluster sampling.

 Cluster sampling- Due to the unavailability of finding the list name, the researchers used cluster sampling

by regarding each class in SMK Hulu Kelang as clustered where all of the individuals had the probability

to be chosen as samples. The total population of Form Four students in SMK Hulu Kelang is about 150

students but the researchers chose only 30 students which study in one particular class. The reason in

choosing only 30 students is because they had engaged in the CLT process and they had experiences more

in English course compared to Form 1, 2 and 3 students.

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 Purposive sampling- because all of the 30 students were from Form Four class and they were purposively

chosen to meet with the objective of this research by the researchers since they shared similar

characteristics; second language learners and similar intermediate proficiency levels. Four English

teachers were chosen as the respondents for the interview as they personally taught in that particular

school.

3.2 Research Design

This was a qualitative research design which focused on observation and interview. The researchers had a

permission to conduct this research from the principal of the school. Then, the researchers asked the cooperation

from the English teacher of the particular classroom to ask the students to write an essay and collected it. First,

all of the 30 essays were read thoroughly one by one. As it was read thoroughly, all of the discourse markers

were marked using different coloured pens. Each colour represented the function of discourse marker that the

students had included in their writing. For example, red pen represented for addition, the pink pen represented

for contrast, purple pen represented for change of subject and green pen represented for condition. The types, the

functions, the frequencies and the examples of discourse markers used in each respondent’s essay were analyzed.

All of the results were elaborated under its own theme.

Secondly, the recorded interview was transcribed and the teachers’ answers were analyzed to get extra

information about their opinion regarding discourse markers based on their teaching experience. This extra

information could help the researchers to have some conclusion about the usage of discourse markers.

4. Results and Findings

Based on the analysis that had been carry out, it revealed that although the students are intermediate level student

and can be consider as a skillful leaner, they also made several mistakes in their essays which had been

explained further in this section. These were the results of the observation and analysis of data from the students’

essays.

4.1 Analysis of Observation

4.1.1 Misuse of Discourse Markers

Based on the respondent’s essays, there were quite a number of them who misused the function of discourse

markers in their essays. For example as in third respondent’s essay:

But, when I started tuition with her, she was not scolding me at all but she explained to me that I should not do

that when I make many problems for her. Because of her patient, I started to become a student which is quite

discipline in doing anything.

The use of “but” at the beginning of the sentence is not suitable as it has been repeated at the middle of the

sentence. Moreover, “but” is not suitable to be placed at a beginning of a sentence as “but” is used as a

coordinating conjunction to join two independent clauses. “However” is more suitable because it also represents

contrast. The discourse marker “when” is not suitable to be used in that position and sentence, as it seems that

“when” does not represents any time or condition relationship within that sentence. In contrast, “because” is

more suitable to be used in that sentence as it represents reason relationship. The third one,“which” is not

suitable when we are talking about a person or someone, but “who” is more suitable as it is a relative pronoun to

replace noun such as people. For example:

However, when I started tuition with her, she was not scolding me at all but she explained to me that I should not

do that because I make many problems for her. Because of her patient, I started to become a student who is quite

discipline in doing anything.

Another example is in respondent number 26 essay:

Dato Nicole is also good in her studies, she scored seven A’s for her PMR and so as her SPM. Her first national

level victory was also in 1990 at the Milo-Dunlop Sport National Junior Championship when as she won silver

in the under 16 category…Later that, she won the Women’s World Junior Squash Competition in Belgium.

This respondent misuses the discourse markers “so”, “as”, “when”, “later” and “that” which signal different

relationship towards each other. For example “so” indicates result or consequence, “as” indicates reason or cause,

“when” and “later” indicates time, and “that” indicates description or identification. In the respondent content,

“so as”, “when as” and “later that” are used wrongly to express her meaning. Indeed, “so as” should be replaced

with “as well as” as it shows similarity, “when as” should be replaced with only “when” as it shows time, and

“later that” should be replaced with only “later” as it also shows duration of time. For example:

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Dato Nicole is also good in her studies, she scored seven A’s for her PMR and as well as her SPM. Her first

national level victory was also in 1990 at the Milo-Dunlop Sport National Junior Championship when she won

silver in the under 16 category…Later, she won the Women’s World Junior Squash Competition in Belgium.

Another example is in fifth respondent’s essay:

Her personal qualities are she is a kind girl and smart. She is a fashion designer, actress and artist. She has a

clothes-line of Abbey Dawn. And the big company of Abbey Dawn is in Japan…she was a cool and hot but has

brain. Very pretty girl and cute…When I grow up I want to try to be a fashion designer and try my line clothes

like her. And try something new in my life but not too much.

When the researchers analyzed her essay, the researchers noticed that the respondent did apply the use of

discourse markers but most of it was in a wrong position. She always uses “and” at the beginning of her sentence

in inappropriate way. This is because “and” is not suitable to be placed at a beginning of a sentence as “and” is

used as a coordinating conjunction to join two independent clauses. The discourse marker “but” in the sentence

“she was a cool and hot but has brain” is also wrongly used. “But” indicates contrast or concession relationship,

however in the sentence, it is not appropriately used as it does not show any contrast in her statement. She should

apply more appropriate discourse markers to make her sentences make sense, for example:

Her personal qualities are she is a kind girl and smart. She is a fashion designer, actress and artist. She has a

clothes-line of Abbey Dawn which the big company is in Japan…she was cool and hot as well as has brain.

Moreover, she is a very pretty girl and cute…When I grow up I want to try to be a fashion designer and try my

line clothes like her. In addition, I also want to try something new in my life but not too much thing.

Another example is as in nineth respondent’s essay:

I also get their news from koreoboo.com, allkpop.com, scompi.com and neither. I have known them for 3 years

ago until now…As an idol, they are not arrogant at all. In the other way, they are really nice and supporting.

There are two mistakes in her sentences. The first one, “and neither” is not an appropriate combination as

“neither” signals negative meaning such as “not this one nor the other or not this nor that.” In her context, the use

of “neither” does not support her earlier statement when she gives the examples in her sentence. The second

mistake is “in the other way” which is wrongly used to support the earlier statement about the idol. “In the other

way” also is inappropriately used as it has no connection which the previous sentence, “As an idol they are not

arrogant at all. In the other way, they are really nice and supporting.” The discourse marker “as” or “because”

is best replaced it as it signals reason or cause. This is one example that could help to make her sentences better,

for example:

I also get their news from koreoboo.com, allkpop.com, scompi.com and other websites as well. I have known

them for 3 years ago until now…As an idol, they are not arrogant at all because they are really nice and

supporting.

4.1.2 Overused of Discourse Markers

There were also some students who overused the discourse markers in their essay, for example in fourth

respondent’s essay:

By the way, the guitarist is Synister Gates and Zacky Vengeance. By the way, the bassist is Johny Christ. The

vocalist is M.Shadow, by the way the drummer is Jimmy Sullivan…

The respondent’s essay has no variety as he keeps repeating the same discourse marker over and over again just

to ensure that his sentence is longer and extent. The overuse of “by the way” is too much and unnecessarily as it

distracts the reader in focusing into his content. The sentences should be more appropriate for example:

The guitarist is Synister Gates and Zacky Vengeance while the bassist is Johny Christ. The vocalist is M.Shadow,

whereas the drummer is Jimmy Sullivan…

Another example is in respondent number 12 essay:

Torres is a football player for Spain and play for the premier league and for club name Chelsea. He is very

discipline and cheerful player…He ran fast and strike the ball with his right leg and score goal.

In the respondent’s essay, there is lack of variety in the usage of discourse markers as he also keeps repeating the

same discourse markers over and over again. The respondent use too much “and” at one time until sometimes he

joins two or three “and” in one sentence which make it inappropriate and unnecessarily in his essay. However, to

make his content better, he should add another discourse marker, for example:

Torres is a football player for Spain and play for the premier league as well as for club name Chelsea. He is very

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discipline and cheerful player…He ran fast and struck the ball with his right leg. At last, he managed to score

goal for his team.

Another example is as in respondent number 18 essay:

I only want to study for all my subjects in Form 4. I also try to imagine that in my SPM I got straight A, my

feeling is so high. I make a schedule for myself that everyday to follow my schedule that want always study to

forget my activity that I like most. After that, I really success in my SPM.

Similarly, this respondent’s essay is also lack of variety in the usage of discourse markers. The repetition of “that”

is overused until it distracts the reader than continue reading. The sentence is too long; supposedly the reader

should break it by adding more appropriate discourse markers, for example:

I only want to study for all my subjects in Form 4. I also try to imagine that I got straight A’s in my SPM. Hence,

I will make a schedule for myself so that I can follow my schedule everyday. In addition, I always want to study

to forget my activity that I like the most so that I will gain success in my SPM.

The last example is as in respondent 21 essay:

The Christian siege about 1 month and 2 weeks to take control and defeat the Islam warrior. And so on, the

knight of the Christ across the Jerusalem and take over the other city…In the name of Jihad, Islam army wins

the battle and takes over the city over a year and so on.

When the researchers analyzed this essay, the researchers found that the respondent rarely used different

discourse markers in his essays because the discourse markers that he used were almost the same and lacked of

variety. The discourse marker “and” was used about two times in one single sentence and when the researchers

read his essay, the discourse marker “and” was too many and overused in some sentences. It is true that discourse

markers can extend our sentences, but overused of it can make the sentences appear awkward or inappropriate.

The above sentences should be like this:

The Christian siege about 1 month and 2 weeks as they want to take control and defeat the Islam warrior. Thus,

the knight of the Christ across the Jerusalem and take over the other city…At last, in the name of Jihad, Islam

army wins the battle and takes over the city over a year.

4.1.3 Advanced Use of Discourse Markers

There were also some advanced students who applied some advanced discourse markers in their essay. For

example in the third respondent’s essay:

Besides that, I will also think about the effect before I do anything. This is one of the way how she inspired

me………But, she is very clever and hardworking student even though we are only in Form one.

In his essay, “besides that” is used to add on his idea in the sentence while “even though” is used to represent

concession or result of his earlier statement. According to this respondent, he learned those advanced discourse

markers when he interacted with people around him which been applied later in his writing.

Another example is in respondent number 18 essay:

His characteristic has guides him to carry out a big international project that is included many famous person.

Moreover, he is the person who suggests to build the famous KLCC, KLIA and Multimedia Super Corridor.

Besides that, he is also a kind person that always helps those who suffer in their life……….

The use of “moreover” and “besides that” show that this respondent uses some advanced discourse markers

although it is not in his level. “Moreover” and “besides that” is used to indicate the addition in his content to

extend his sentences. This respondent also learned those advanced discourse markers when he interacted in his

daily conversation where he adapted it by learning and understanding the function of discourse markers stated

above.

Another example is as in respondent number 25 essay:

Have you ever thought about who you admire? Well, I certainly have. Indeed, everyone have their hero and

heroin in their heart. The famous person I admire the most is football player Christiano Ronaldo.

The use of discourse marker “indeed” shows that the respondent uses advanced discourse marker in his essay. He

uses “indeed” to emphasis about his statement regarding the person that he admires as well as to emphasis his

earlier statement. This respondent learned the discourse markers by watching television, where he made it into

practice in his learning process. He already knew its function, so he just applied it in his essay writing.

Another example is as in respondent number 27 essay:

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He was so intelligent that he scored 1590 out of 1600 on his SATS and subsequently enrolled in Harvard College

in 1973. However, he decided to leave the college after 2 years of study to start his own business…he wrote

Altair Basic programmes, completed Microsoft which is indispensable for every PC now. Moreover, he was one

of the richest people with an asset of $59 billion in 2007.

The respondent uses three advanced discourse markers in her essay which are “subsequently”, “however” and

“moreover”. Impressively, she incorporates all of the advanced discourse markers in appropriate and correct

usage that suit with her sentences. For example “subsequently” which is also known as later or afterward is used

to show time relationship, “however” is used to show contrast to her previous statement while “moreover” is

used to add and also support the previous statement in the same sentences. According to this respondent, she

learned it during her tuition classes as well through her family as they spoke English language at home besides

than Chinese language. In her tuition classes, the tuition teacher gave a lot of exercises and in one of her

exercises was to write an essay, so her tuition teacher helped her a lot in building ideas as well as sentences.

4.2 Analysis of Interview

The selected respondents for interview section was four English teachers who had more than 10 years of

experiences in teaching English, age from 35-45 years, and the gender was one male and three females.

4.2.1 The Implementation of Discourse Markers by the Teachers

Based on question number one, it was true that the teacher taught discourse markers to the students, but it was

different between all of the teachers. For example, the first interviewee viewed discourse markers as a good

indicator in coherence perception as aligned with what this research wanted to observe.

Disourse markers are good indicators of how a student can write and express his ideas and thoughts in a logical

and coherent manner.

However, the second and third interviewees viewed it more as a part of grammar lesson as in below respectively:

The usage is very important especially in essay writing. Students are able to write compound and complex

sentences thus it varies overall sentence structures in their essay. This will help students score better.

It is important for the students to know how to use it correctly. It is also included in the English syllabus.

Meanwhile, the forth interviewee’s answer is a little bit shocking for a teacher who had already ten years of

experiences in teaching as he viewed it in a negative way as in below:

I think discourse markers should not be taught formally to students. Furthermore, it is not part of the syllabus

requirement.

4.2.2 The Frequency of Discourse Markers Usage in Students’ Essay Writing

Based on question number two, although the first interviewee stated that most of the students can used discourse

markers effectively, but what the researchers had found and analyzed proved the other way around. There were

still many of the students made mistakes, and did not use discourse markers effectively in their essay writing:

Occasionally, but the majority can use these markers effectively.

The second interviewee stated that it depended on the student’s proficiency where the better students used

discourse markers throughout their writing while the weaker students used them occasionally.

It depends on the students’ proficiency. Good students naturally use discourse markers throughout their writing.

Weak students use occasionally.

Meanwhile, based on the forth interviewee’s answer, he admitted that his students rarely used discourse markers

in their essay writing. Apparently, the researchers found that this interviewee’s characteristic itself hinder the

students’ usage of discourse markers as he is an examination-oriented type eacher.

My students rarely used discourse markers because most of the time they are just writing.

4.2.3 The Functions of Discourse Markers from Teachers’ Perception

As in first interviewee’s answer:

Indirectly in the process of writing to indicate sequence or order of the plot or story they are producing.

Based on question number three, the first interviewee use it for coherence purpose although it is informal way,

while the second interviewee integrated it more as part of grammar lesson in the class.

As in second respondent’s answer:

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Explain what are discourse markers are. Give a lot of examples of compound sentences. Asks the students to join

sentences using conjunction or sentence connectors. Students identify discourse markers used in a passage.

In terms of grammatical aspect, this could also be seen in second interviewee’s answer based on question number

four, where she incorporated discourse markers as one of the topics in grammar lesson. She viewed discourse

markers as part of grammar, instead of incorporating it together in cohesive manner. She did not look out from

the box, as theoretically discourse markers do not function only as conjunctions or connectors, but it has variety

of functions as well like what the researchers have included in this research.

Yes, discourse markers are taught as one of the topics in the grammar lesson, students do no have to memorize

what discourse markers are but shoul be able to use them effecticely in their writing.

Besides that, the third interviewee also supported this view as she also incorporated discourse markers in

grammatical purpose. This is view can be seen as below:

By filling in the blank with the correct discourse markers. The students also use it by constructing sentence using

discourse markers

However, the forth interviewee let the students independently learned it informally by their own which can be

seen in his answer for questions number three and four respectively.

I only teach conjunction. Most of the time students picked up discourse markers on their own either through

movies or daily conversation.

I do not think the students even need to have adequate knowledge about discourse markers at their level.

The forth interviewee had a totally different opinion than other respondents. He said that the students not need to

learn discourse markers in depth because it was not really important for their school level. In addition, he said

that everything was about examination-oriented based only and discourse markers were rarely used in writing.

Based on the researchers personal observation, this interviewee is really examination-oriented teacher and

basically, most of his lesson only is done to achieve the examination-oriented goal so that is just the way he

taught his students until now. He focused more on what the students needed to achieve during the examination

rather than let the students learned out of the context. His previous class students also said that he had never

taught them about discourse markers although they had been taught by him almost two years.

4.2.4 The Teachers’ View about the Students’ Knowledge regarding Discourse Markers

Based on question number four, the first interviewee agreed that some of the students preferred not to use

discourse markers sometimes because they were not sure of the correct usage of it. This is true because when the

researchers observed their paper, there were some students who repeatedly used the same discourse markers over

and over again in most of their paragraph. Most of their paragraphs were lack of variety and the used of

discourse markers were redundant. However based on question number five, this interviewee thought that the

students already had enough knowledge about discourse markers and they only needed to write more in order to

incorporate it in their writing.

I believe they do but some prefer not to use these as at time, they are little unsure of the correct usage.

Yes, I believe so since students need only to write more in order to learn the usage of discourse markers in their

writing.

In addition, based on question number four, the third interviewee agreed that the students should be able to use it

correctly in their writing but based on her answer in question number five, she declared that the students did not

or seldom implement discourse markers in their daily conversation.

They should be able to use them correctly since they have learnt them since primary school. it means they should

have adequate knowledge about it.

Yes, but unfortunately the students don’t really or seldom use them in their daily conversation.

Although all of the interviewees agreed that the students had already enough knowledge about discourse markers,

but based on the analysis, the students did not really have adequate knowledge in using discourse markers. They

only concerned about how to present their sentences, without emphasized on the coherence and the message that

they wanted to deliver to their reader. Some of the students wrote everything in their mind and tried to combine

the sentences so that it would make sense, but their overall essay was lacked of coherence and the usage of

discourse markers did not appear effectively.

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5. Conclusion and Discussion

For the conclusion, when the researchers analyzed the use of discourse markers in secondary school students’

essay writing, they had identified something about the use of discourse markers such as the misused, the

overused and also the advanced used of it. This is not a problem that should be underestimated, but it is a

problem that should be taken care of. In writing, it is true that almost everyone can write about anything, but

there is not so many people can write about something. The writer’s interpretation and the reader’s understanding

are different as it depends on how certain individual comprehend it, so it is very crucial for writers to ensure that

their message is delivered appropriately to the receiver.

Truthfully, when the researchers interviewed the teachers, all of the interviewees seemed clueless and had no

idea what discourse markers is all about. It can be seen that some of the teachers also lacked of knowledge about

discourse markers and not only the students. If the teacher themselves were lacked of knowledge about discourse

markers, how can discourse markers effectively been applied by their students? Even some of the teachers

themselves agreed that they were not focusing too much on the discourse markers in the classroom so there was

not enough exposure to make the students had a better understanding on how to incorporate the use of discourse

markers in their essay. As the researchers had already mention in the previous chapter, discourse markers is not

only important in joining words, sentences or paragraph, but it is also indispensable for the coherent of the whole

essay. A writer writes because they have their own purpose, but without cohesion, it will be difficult to for the

reader to understand the purpose that the writer tried to deliver.

Writing is not generally concerns only about grammar, but it is also about coherence. For example, some of the

interviewees included discourse markers as part of grammar into the lesson. They only concerned about how

discourse markers could help to join students’ sentences and the sentences should be grammatically correct. This

might be one of the reasons why there are still some students who do not know the correct usage of the

application of discourse markers. Truthfully, discourse markers are not only bound as part of grammatical

function only, but it has a variety of functions that are important to be learned by the students. Impressively, they

are certain students use advanced discourse markers and indeed based on the observation, it helps to improve

their writing better.

The result of the research showed that the misused and overused of discourse markers indeed affected the flow of

the students’ essay writing and makes it less coherent. Hence, discourse markers are obviously important in

someone’s writing and it should be emphasis in teaching and learning process. The students need not only to

focus on grammatical or vocabulary meaning, but they also need to focus on the content and the objective of

their writing as well.

6. Implication

Both teachers and students should focus and concentrate on the use of discourse markers to enhance more

effective writing. The students need to be taught specifically about discourse markers in carrying out activities

inside the class. They need not only be taught, but also need to be able to see the clear and the big picture of

discourse markers. The teachers need to ensure that it is not only the students need to understand how to apply

discourse markers as well as its vast usage, but the teachers also need to instill adequate knowledge about it

before transmit it to their students as its role is not only to join sentences only. The teacher themselves, need not

to avoid to teach discourse markers or expect the students to learn by themselves, but they need to pay more

attention towards this as well when teaching writing to the students. Thus, by completing this research, the

researchers hope that it could help the other researchers in exploring the usage of discourse markers as coherence

provides good quality of writing and allow the writers’ ideas to meet with the readers’ understanding.

Acknowledgements

We dedicated this work to every single person who spending some of their precious time in helping and

motivating us to complete this research. Hope that this research can be a guide for other researchers and give

some useful insight within the same area as well.

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