Türk öğrencilerin İngilizce konuşma sınavlarında söylem belirleyici kullanımlarına ve bunun sınav puanları ile ilişkisine ilişkin keşfedici bir çalışma

Discourse markers with their functions contributing to the coherence and cohesion of discourse and indicating cooperation between interlocutors and co-construction of the conversation play an important role in pragmatics of a language. Although there have been some studies focusing on the use of discourse markers by non-native English speakers from different language backgrounds such as Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, there is a limited amount of research on the use of these markers by Turkish learners of English. This study aims to examine the variety of discourse markers used by Turkish EFL learners and investigate the relationship between students' use of discourse markers and their speaking exam scores and proficiency level. The results revealed a wide variety of discourse markers used by the participants, and students heavily depend on textual discourse markers and used them significantly more frequently than interpersonal markers, however, no correlation was found between Turkish EFL students' use of discourse markers and their speaking exam scores and overall proficiency exam scores. The findings suggest several implications for teaching practitioners and curriculum designers regarding the development of pragmatic competence of learners in EFL contexts. Key words: Discourse markers, Turkish learners of English, Spoken discourse, Speaking exam, Proficiency level