Authenticity of Discourse Markers and Features in Iranian School English Textbooks

Journal of Applied Linguistics Studies

دوره 3، شماره 1، فروردین 2024، صفحه 19-36   

نوع مقاله: Original Article

نویسنده

Husain Abdulhay^*

University of Kashan

چکیده

A carefully-constructed discourse is requisite for acquainting learners with a native-like lingual situation. The present study sought to appraise three locally-made EFL textbook series, prescribed by the Ministry of Education in Iran for the school students, in respect of their discourse features to ascertain the extent to which these course-books enable the foreign language learners to achieve pragmatic competence. The content analysis was built mainly on the framework developed by Carter and McCarthy (2006) and Cutting (2011). The post-use evaluation of 21 dialogues incorporated in the course-books divulged that they were satisfactory at living up to the provision of sufficient instances of discourse markers but showcasing them in a hackneyed and iterative motif and in a cursory and hasty tempo. Situational ellipsis, as the most salient feature of the spoken discourse, was sparsely evidenced and for some discourse markers a one-off insertion of their instances was witnessed. Results of this study have some practical implications and suggestions for language teachers and textbook developers.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Discourse markers؛ EFL textbook؛ Materials evaluation؛ Spoken communication