Patterns of Development in Spanish L2 Pragmatic Acquisition: An Analysis of Novice Learners' Production of Directives

Abstract

This article investigates from an acquisitional approach the development of pragmatic competence by novice learners of second language (L2) Spanish. Specifically, it examines the acquisition of various strategies (e.g., head acts, use of softeners, formality marking, and hearer‐oriented directives) to realize Spanish directives. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data detected patterns in the learners' directive production. The analysis considered factors such as instruction, L2 grammatical competence, and the influence of the first language (L1) to illustrate the patterns of development of L2 pragmatics at lower proficiency levels. The results show (a) verb forms with increased morphological complexity replaced lower level directive strategies, possibly as a result of the expansion of L2 grammatical competence; (b) pragmatic competence seems to precede grammatical competence; and (c) the L1 pragmatic system appears to play a role in interpreting and processing new L2 data for use in production.