An Analysis of Discourse Markers in Oral Communication among Elementary Students in Private Tutoring Sessions

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the types and pragmatic functions of discourse markers (DMs) utilized by elementary school students during oral communication in an out of school private tutoring context in Pasar Kemis, Tangerang. Adopting a descriptive qualitative design, data were collected through participant observation and non-intrusive audio recording during routine weekend story-sharing activities, which were subsequently transcribed verbatim. The findings reveal that young EFL learners employ a varied repertoire of discourse markers, including coordinate/subordinate conjunctions (so, but), adverbs (actually, instead), sequential particles (then, and then), prepositional frames (as for me), and complex interpersonal lexical phrases (you know what Miss, you know Miss, right). These discourse markers serve four primary pragmatic functions: (1) interpersonal functions for building rapport and securing listener attention, (2) structural functions for turn-taking and narrative framing, (3) referential functions for signaling logical and contrastive relationships, and (4) cognitive/affective functions as online planning mechanisms and hesitation devices during real time speech production. The supportive, low-anxiety environment of private tutoring significantly lowers students' affective filters, enabling them to take pragmatic risks and effectively maintain L2 conversational flow.