Abstract

Discourse markers are guides for information processing in communication. The research work reported here aimed to link writing quality in “discursively defending or rebutting certain thesis” through the use of discourse markers in writing an argumentative academic essay in two stages, at the beginning and the end of an academic semester, by 48 students enrolled at an Engineering program. To identify markers, we used both inductive and deductive computational approaches, by using pacte and text a gram tools. Among the main findings, we can highlight a lack of differences in marker use at both stages. However, the use of some markers was privileged at both times. Also, we established significant relations between writing quality and the use of some discourse markers. Meanwhile, no relation could be observed between quality improvement in argumentative essay writing and an enhanced use or a wider variety of discourse markers. Finally, we can highlight the high correlation between the inductive and deductive tools used. This article sheds light on the value of explicit instruction on discourse markers use in academic and disciplinary literacy courses.