A Case Study on the Use of Discourse Marker ‘OK’ in a Tutorial Session between a Korean Learner and a Canadian Teacher

Abstract

The purpose of present study is to explore the pragmatic function of discourse marker OK and to examine whether OK facilitates the learner’s linguistic production in a tutorial context. For these purposes, over one month a total of five class hours (discourse data between the two participants, a 13-year old Korean learner and a Canadian teacher) were recorded; one hour out of two-hour class time each week was randomly selected and audio-taped for five weeks. The data was transcribed with a focus on the use of OK mainly by the teacher and the responses by the learner. Based on the data analysis, the teacher varied the prosodic features of OK when she had different messages, and the learner reacted differently. According to the learners’ responses, in this study four pragmatic roles of OK were examined: eliciting response, framing, following, and interrupting. In addition, the results of the current study demonstrated that discourse marker OK functioned as a linguistic facilitator by which the learner was stimulated to develop his speech production particularly when it was employed as a maker of response and of following. (Sookmyung Women’s University)