The Effect of the Instruction of Discourse Markers on Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

Discourse markers` instruction is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention in foreign language learning. The current quasi-experimental study was an attempt to determine the impact of discourse markers` instruction on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL junior high school female students. To do so, a total of 45 female junior high school students were selected randomly from Nasl-e-Payam Shahed Junior High School in Urmia. Having homogenized by pretest, participants were assigned into either experimental or control group. Then, the experimental group received treatment regarding discourse markers; however, control group only approached the traditional teaching method. Following ten sessions for both groups, all subjects participated in a posttest.  Finally, the statistical analysis of the collected data confirmed that experimental group outperformed control group on reading comprehension test. To sum up, the findings of this study revealed that discourse markers` instruction has a significant effect on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL junior high school female students. The present study has implications for teaching grammar that learners’ improvement in reading comprehension could be enhanced through discourse markers` instruction.