The Future of Education

The given corpus-assisted study in discourse markers is aimed at comparing a pragmatic content in linguistic items Moreover and Therefore in academic writing of non-native English speakers (NNESs) and native English speakers’ (NESs). In terms of a research method, academic papers of 30 Russian undergraduates, which have been collected in the Russian Error-Annotated Learner English Corpus (REALEC), have been contrasted with those of 30 American students. After that, a qualitative analysis of the items Moreover and Therefore, according to their meanings and patterns of usage, has been undertaken.

Our findings have shown that NESs use the discourse markers Moreover and Therefore primarily as connective elements, while NNESs attach to them a wider range of discourse functions, including those which are being brought from their L1 language. Regarding these results, our research may contribute to the theoretical studies dealing with a pragmatic content of DMs in non-native English speakers’ discourse. As for practical implications, this study may be a starting point for designing a REALEC-based linguistic simulator for NNESs with a view to preventing use of discourse markers in the meanings that are not typical of the English language.