DISCOURSE MARKERS AND CODE-SWITCHING:

ACADEMIC MEDICAL LECTURES IN SAUDI ARABIA

USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

Manal A. Al Makoshi

For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Department of English Language and School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law

June 2014

University of Birmingham Research Archive

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ABSTRACT This thesis is a corpus-based study of two spoken academic corpora in an English as the (foreign) medium of instruction (EMI) context. The first corpus is compiled of transcripts of academic lectures by non-native speakers (NNS) from an EMI medical college in Saudi Arabia. To compare the data, a second corpus is compiled of similar transcripts by native speakers (NS) taken from the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus.

The first part of the research qualitatively and quantitatively investigates the use of English discourse markers (DMs) on two levels: Structural (e.g. okay, so, because) and Interactional (e.g. okay?, I mean, any questions?). Structural DMs are found to function frequently as Topic Initiators, Topic Developers, Summarizers, and Closers, and occur more frequently in NS lectures' discourse. Interactional DMs, which function as Confirmation Checks, Rephrasers and Elicitors, are found to occur more frequently in the NNS lectures. This thesis demonstrates that the uses of DMs by the NS and NNS lecturers are affected by discourse context, pedagogic goals, personal lecturing styles, interaction with students and the need to create a conducive learning environment.

The second part explores the use of Arabic discourse markers (ADMs) in the NNS lecture discourse on similar Structural and Interactional levels. Interactional ADMs (e.g. ya3ni {means}, mafhoom? {understood}) have a higher overall frequency than Structural ADMs (fa {so}, laanu {because}).

The third part of this thesis explores the pedagogical functions of English-Arabic code- switching (CS) in the NNS lectures. When the purpose of CS is to make meaning clearer and convey knowledge more efficiently, it is not a language barrier but an effective communicative strategy. The data shows that CS is used mainly in seven roles in the NNS lecture discourse: (1) solidarity, (2) reiteration, (3) elaboration, (4) topic, (5) elicitation, (6) checking comprehension and (7) classroom management.

— ii — ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the King Saud bin AbdulAziz University for Health Sciences and the UK Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau for the academic scholarship and the support for me to complete my PhD.

I must thank my supervisors, Paul Thompson and Crayton Walker, for their endless patience, extensive knowledge, continued support and good humor. I am especially grateful for their helpful comments, instruction and constant encouragement throughout the research and writing process. I am indebted to them both for everything they have taught me during my time at the University of Birmingham. I could not have asked or wished for better supervisors than Paul and Crayton and know that my success in this program and beyond is a product of their guidance.

I also wish to acknowledge the support of Professor Abdulrahman Abouammoh, a senior consultant to the Centre for Higher Education Research and Studies (CHERS) in the Saudi Mini