Discourse markers and L2 listening: do computers make a difference in L2 listening comprehension?

This study explores whether discourse markers play a role in L2 listening comprehension and whether software programs make a difference in L2 listening comprehension. Two groups of approximately 25 freshman students listened to two versions of three different talks with and without higher order discourse markers. The talks were delivered by a native speaker, a non-native speaker and by a software listening program (NaturalReader© 7.0). The scorings, compared using the MannWhitney U test, indicate that discourse markers play a significant role only in native speaker speech (p<0,05). It is seen that the highest mean of comprehension is found in the talks delivered by the native speaker. Computers ranked second in providing more comprehensive talks.