Investigating the oral proficiency of English learners in China: A comparative study of the use of pragmatic markers

This paper investigates the use of pragmatic markers by college learners of English in China. It compares the use of pragmatic markers in different contexts by students at different proficiency levels. An audio-video instrument called the Video Oral Communication Instrument was conducted to elicit ratable speech samples. Stenstrom's (1994) inventory of the most common lexical items in spoken interaction was adopted as the analytical model. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that advanced students were more active and involved than intermediate students in the use of pragmatic markers, and showed a greater sensitivity to different types of simulated interactive context. The findings suggest that the proficiency level relates to the way pragmatic markers are used both generally and across contextual variations. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.