A Scrutiny of Bilingualism Impact: Outcomes of a Discourse Marker Intervention for Monolinguals and Bilinguals in Iran

Y

16

Bilingualism; Monolingualism; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; English (Second Language); Language Teachers; Comparative Analysis; Accuracy; Intervention; Teaching Methods; Student Needs; Recall (Psychology); Multiple Choice Tests; Language Tests; Foreign Countries; Models; Discourse Analysis; Written Language; Turkish; Indo European Languages; Adult Students; Native Language; Literacy

2395-9908

Delving into the linguistic performance of EFL learners with varying linguistic backgrounds and potentials appears to be of huge significance, particularly in EFL classrooms. The knowledge of the potential variations between monolingual and bilingual EFL learners might help teachers better meet the needs of these learners, for instance through differentiated instruction for them. Accordingly, through a ten-session intervention on discourse markers (DMs), and providing sixty upper-intermediate Iranian monolingual and bilingual EFL learners with equal DM knowledge, the present study aimed to discover if bilingualism could lead to variations in DM usage, accuracy and recall between the two groups. Initially, to examine DM usage, the study explored the frequency of DM types and tokens, and to study DM usage accuracy, it examined the hurdles to DM employment (i.e., overuse, underuse, and misuse) in the participants' 180 paragraphs. To examine DM recall, we aimed at discovering whether the learners significantly varied in their performance on a DM multiple-choice test after attending the same ten-session intervention. With respect to DM usage, we observed minimal variation, with the monolinguals and bilinguals differing only in their use of exemplifier and conclusive markers, while indicating a similar pattern and range of DM tokens. Similarly, concerning DM usage accuracy, the groups mainly manifested a similar pattern but varied only due to the bilinguals' extreme overuse of DMs. However, the results concerning DM recall disclosed bilinguals as outperforming monolinguals significantly. The findings offer suggestions for the importance of understanding monolingual and bilingual EFL learners' linguistic performance.

As Provided

2021

EJ1311135