Investigating the relationship between discourse markers, language proficiency and reading comprehension: a case of some Iranian university students

AbstractThis research aimed at investigating the relationship between discourse markers (DMs), language proficiency and reading comprehension of EFL university students. Three groups of students were selected to participate in the study. The participants in each group took a proficiency test and a reading comprehension test including two passages with various numbers of DMs. Two statistical measures such as UNANOVA and Matched T-Test were run. The study came to significant findings: (1) More DMs meant better comprehension. (2) Levels of proficiency did not display clashing results when dealing with a fewer number of DMs. (3) Manipulation of the passages was significant