On the Relationship between Discourse Markers and Reading Comprehension

In accordance with Chaudron and Richards' point of view on discourse markers (1986), the present research aimed at investigating the relationship between discourse markers (henceforth DMs) and reading comprehension of EFL students at the University of Khorasgan. The following research question was addressed in this study: Is EFL readers' comprehension of a text pertinent to the existence of various numbers of DMs? To provide plausible answer for the question, two groups of EFL university students were selected to participate in the study. The participants in each group took the same reading comprehension test; by contrast, the DMs were omitted from one of the test while, they were present in the second type of the reading comprehension test. In order to analyze the obtained data an independent T-Test was run. As a result, the study came to this significant finding: The results indicated that the more DMs had been used in a text, the better participants could comprehend it.

Keywords:

Discourse Markers , Reading Comprehension