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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 26, No. 0, pp.64-83
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2026
Received 03 Nov 2025 Revised 22 Dec 2025 Accepted 31 Dec 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.26..202601.64

The Interconnectivity Between the Pragmatic Properties of Anyway as a Discourse Marker and Answer-Signaling Mechanisms in the TOEIC Listening Test

Jungyull Lee
Assistant Professor, Division of Liberal Arts Wonkwang University 460 Iksan-daero, Iksan-si, Jeonbuk-do 54538, Korea, Tel: +82-63-850-6555 brianlee3838@hanmail.net


© 2026 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This article is oriented to the sequential and monologic settings of anyway as a discourse marker, noting where anyway appears in the distinct positions and how it is utilized by the interlocutors in the TOEIC Listening test. Within this theoretical framework, the use of anyway appears deeply embedded in two context-specific settings, through which speakers establish a salient orientation in the Listening test. The analysis of the test characteristics reveals that anyway serves the distinct pragmatic functions, such as resumption, supplementation, transition, concession, and conclusion. Regarding the disequilibrium in the use of anyway, its distribution is predominantly observed in the initial position and across the three linguistic devices: supplementation, resumption, and transition. In dependent settings, anyway appears to serve nuanced pragmatic functions tailored to the constraints of the listening test; specifically, it enables interlocutors to address emerging concerns, provide clear resolutions, and maintain discourse coherence. In this regard, the stand-alone utilization of anyway almost never occurs in this study since the independent construction of anyway implying an unfavorable stance or a negative indicator may carry out some specific pragmatic functions, such as abandonment, impasse, disapprobation, disagreement, and cessation. Drawing upon my dataset, it turns out that the three functions of anyway (e.g., supplementary, resumptive, and topic-shifting) are highly germane to the correct answers immediately after they are used. Thus, this research suggests that there seems to be the interrelationship between the certain characteristics of anyway as a discourse marker and significant clues bearing upon the correct answers in the TOEIC Listening test.

Keywords:

anyway, devices, discourse marker (DM), interconnectivity, the TOEIC Listening test

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by Wonkwang University in 2025.

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