Thai EFL learners’ use of the discourse marker like in discourse marker combinations

Abstract

Although Discourse marker (DM) combinations (DMCs) used by first language (L1) speakers of English have been studied, DMCs have not been examined in the field of interlanguage pragmatics. This research examined the use of the DM like in DMCs produced by Thai intermediate-level and advanced-level learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in spoken interactions. In total, 80 Thai EFL participants were involved in the collection of naturally occurring data, including 40 Thai intermediate-level and 40 Thai advanced-level EFL learners. Both the DM + like and the like + DM patterns were identified. In the DM + like pattern, the frequently used DMs that co-occurred with the DM like were and, yeah, and I mean, while the DMs that co-occurred with the DM like in the like + DM pattern were uh/um, yeah, and you know. The juxtaposition type was used most often by the Thai EFL learners with both English proficiency levels, followed by the composition subtype and the addition subtype. Although the Thai advanced-level EFL participants used the DM like more often compared to the Thai intermediate-level EFL participants, the Thai intermediate-level EFL participants used more DMCs that contained the DM like compared to the Thai advanced-level EFL participants.