The Effect of Understanding Linguistic Markers on EFL Reading Comprehension

本研究的目的是根据语言特征和逻辑流动的方向对语言标记及其所表达的连贯关系进行分类。然后，以篇章中的因果关系为研究对象，考察了英语水平、标记语的显性及其逻辑指向对日本英语学习者理解目标语因果关系的影响。结果表明，语言水平高的学习者能够有效地使用语篇中的语言标记来理解连贯关系，但无论熟练程度如何，即使语篇中没有明确的语言标记，学习者似乎也没有意识到在语篇片段之间建立逻辑联系的重要性。得出了对英语阅读教学的实践启示。

The aim of this study was to categorise linguistic markers and coherence relations expressed by these markers in terms of their linguistic characteristics and the direction of logical flow. Then, focusing on causal relations in a text, the influence of English proficiency, the explicitness of markers, or their logical direction on understanding of target causal relations by Japanese EFL learners was investigated. The results showed that learners with high proficiency could effectively use linguistic markers in a text in order to understand coherence relations but, irrespective of proficiency, learners did not seem to be aware of the importance of establishing logical connections between text segments even if there were no explicit linguistics markers in a text. The practical implications for EFL reading instruction were drawn.