ABSTRACT
This chapter argues for the inclusion of discourse markers (DMs) in pedagogical grammars of Chinese. A small sample of video-recorded monologues has been collected from both L1 Mandarin and L2 Chinese learners with an Italian language background on the topic of Covid-19 and conducted both quantitative and qualitative analyses based on this data. This chapter shows that interesting differences exist in terms of frequency and types of DMs and that DM use has relevance for assessing learner proficiency. Therefore it is suggested that 1) pedagogical improvements need to be made at the discourse level through awareness-raising of DM use, and 2) teaching of DM can be done through, among others, input selection, material design and classroom practices.
