Learner-initiated engagement with English through leisure activities is common amongst many learners globally. The present study explores Greek adolescent learners and the effect of their informal second language learning in their use of discourse markers in spoken production.
Recent research into informal second language learning (ISLL) has reported positive associations between self-initiated engagement with a second language (L2) through leisure activities and language gains, particularly lexicogrammatical knowledge (Cole & Vanderplank, 2016; Peters, 2018; Sundqvist, 2019) and written accuracy and complexity (Kusyk, 2020). However, little is known about the effect of ISLL on spoken, pragmatic performance and, more specifically, the use of discourse markers (DMs) in oral production. The proposed presentation will report on the findings of a longitudinal PhD study which tracked the use of DMs in the spoken production of 52 adolescent learners of English in Greece at four time-points over five months. Speaking activities were used to collect data on the frequency and range of learners' DM use. Classroom recordings, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed iteratively to gain insight into various factors including learners' ISLL, aspects of formal instruction attended and spoken proficiency. Data analysis aimed to examine the effect of different factors on spoken DM use over time and determine the contribution of ISLL. The findings revealed that among several factors (spoken proficiency, formal instruction, engagement in ISLL activities, age and gender), speaking/interacting outside the class for leisure and watching non-subtitled TV were the most important contributors to frequent and broad spoken DM use. Considerable DM users reported that they regularly watched non-subtitled TV, spoke to themselves and engaged in personalised oral communication with other L2 speakers in Greece or from around the world. This study makes important contributions to the fields of ISLL and interlanguage pragmatics which can inform future learner practices and help critically evaluate current methods of formal instruction of DMs.
