L2 Pragmatic Knowledge Research Articles

Pragmatic motivation and willingness to communicate as predictors of L2 pragmatic knowledge

AbstractAlthough language learners' knowledge of second language (L2) speech acts is postulated to be substantially influenced by learner variables, there is little empirical evidence of the influence of pragmatic motivation (PM) and willingness to communicate (WTC). To address this gap, this study sought to investigate the impact of PM and WTC as two important multifaceted learner variables on L2 speech‐act knowledge. The participants included 500 Persian‐speaking learners of English as a foreign language. The researchers developed and validated three instruments for data collection: a multiple‐choice discourse completion task (MDCT) including five common English speech acts, a PM questionnaire, and a WTC questionnaire. Data were collected in two subsequent phases. First, the MDCT was administered, and then the participants filled out the two questionnaires. Data analysis using multiple regression revealed that both PM and WTC significantly predicted L2 speech‐act knowledge. However, PM turned out to be a stronger predictor of this knowledge than WTC. The findings imply that PM and WTC are implicated in L2 pragmatic knowledge and hence language teachers should consider these two variables to help learners enhance their pragmatic acquisition.

Combining computer-mediated communication with data-driven instruction: EFL learners’ pragmatic development of compliment responses

The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) combined with data-driven instruction to facilitate second/foreign language (L2) pragmatic development has been shown to be promising. Despite increasing amounts of CMC-based interventional studies of L2 pragmatics, existing literature is inconclusive concerning the influence of CMC paired with data-driven instruction on L2 pragmatic competence. Moreover, few studies have incorporated qualitative analyses exploring factors that affect L2 learners' pragmatic decision-making. Thus, this mixed-methods study aimed to further investigate the effect of CMC on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ pragmatic development of compliment responses (CRs) in two conditions: CMC by itself and CMC combined with data-driven instruction. Fifty-nine university-level Chinese EFL students were divided into two groups; the experimental group engaged in CMC with native speakers and received data-driven instruction in CRs, whereas the control group had CMC without data-driven instruction. Results revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the immediate and delayed post-intervention tests regarding appropriateness and variety, indicating a positive and durable effect of CMC coupled with data-driven instruction on L2 pragmatic development. Additionally, findings from retrospective interviews showed that L2 pragmatic knowledge, crosslinguistic influence, and online processing load potentially influence L2 pragmatic choices. Implications for instructors are discussed.

A Comparative Study of the Effects of Structured Input and Production-Based Tasks in the Development of Request Modifiers

This study investigated the differential impacts of the structured input (SI) and output-based instruction (OI) taskson the improvement of the receptive and productive knowledge of request modifiers. Eighty-three EFL learners were randomly assigned to the SI, OI, and control groupsthrough a quasi-experimental research design. Over a 5-week course, the explicit metapragmatic instruction on the target structures was delivered to all the groups; however, whereas the SI group was exposed to the SI tasks, the OI group was engaged in the dialogue-reconstruction task. Results of ANCOVA and paired comparisons showed the effectiveness of both instructions on L2 pragmatic knowledge. Whereas the SI was more effective in fostering the receptive knowledge of the target structures, the OI better improved the productive knowledge. Moreover, the comprehension gains were not retained in the follow-up test, but the production gains appeared to be durable between the posttest and the follow-up test.

Interlanguage Pragmatic Learning Strategies (IPLS) as Predictors of L2 Social Identity: A Case of Iranian Upper-Intermediate and advanced EFL Learners

Interlanguage pragmatic learning strategies (IPLS) as particularly tailored language learning strategies for acquiring L2 pragmatic knowledge have been recently paid paramount attention in the pragmatics literature. These strategies are, therefore, related to some other social variables which are central to pragmatic development such as L2 social identity. Because of the importance of the IPLS and the rarity of research about the relationship between IPLS and with L2 social identity as a highly pragmatic-oriented variable, the current study tried to investigate the contribution of various forms of IPLS to L2 social identity among a randomly selected sample of 125 upper-intermediate to advanced EFL learners at a state university in Iran. During the two-phased data collection procedure, first, the participants filled out Locastro’s (2001) L2 social identity questionnaire, and then Malmir and Tajeddin’s (2015) IPLS inventory in two subsequent sessions. Data analysis using multiple regression revealed that all types of IPLS were significant contributors to L2 social identity except for the memory IPLS. Among the other five types of IPLS, social IPLS was a significant and strong contributor to L2 social identity. Affective and compensatory IPLS were significant moderate contributors to L2 social identity; however, metacognitive and cognitive interlanguage pragmatic learning strategies were weak albeit significant predictors of Iranian EFL learners’ social identity in English as an L2. The results of this study imply that L2 teachers can enhance social identity among the learners by fostering the knowledge of various forms of IPLS.

The relative efficacy of input enhancement, input flooding, and output-based instructional approaches in the acquisition of L2 request modifiers

This study investigates the effects of input-based and output-based instructions on the acquisition of second language (L2) request modifiers. Four intact classes were randomly assigned to textual enhancement (TE), input flooding (IF), output-based instruction (OI), and control (CO) groups. The TE group watched some captioned videos on requests and read over the video transcripts with the target features typographically highlighted. The IF group watched twice more captioned videos and read over the video transcripts with no textual manipulation. The OI group watched videos with no captions and then engaged in dialogue reconstruction tasks. Results of the pragmatic comprehension and production pre-test and post-test revealed the overall effectiveness of the treatment. TE and OI groups performed rather similarly in the comprehension test. Concerning the production test, the OI group performed best, followed by TE, IF, and CO groups. The findings suggest employing input-based and output-based practices to promote learners’ L2 pragmatic knowledge.

Korean EFL Learners’ Refusals to Requests and Their Perceptions

The act of refusal takes place in everyday lives, but it has been discussed to be a difficult speech act for nonnative speakers. This study seeks to investigate Korean EFL learners’ refusals in extended discourse along with their pragmatic perceptions. Sixteen college students were engaged in oral role-plays with two native English speakers and instructed to refuse the interlocutor’s request. The refusal performances were analyzed using conversation analysis framework with respect to the interlocutors’ different powers and the learners’ proficiency levels. Learners also participated in retrospective verbal reports. Findings depict different verbal and nonverbal features illustrating learners’ sensitivity towards higher status and their different linguistic abilities. Furthermore, their verbal reports revealed that despite their pragmatic awareness, learners were not fully equipped with appropriate L2 pragmatic knowledge.

The effects of corrective feedback with and without revision on enhancing L2 pragmatic performance

AbstractThis study investigated the efficacy of different feedback conditions in developing accurate and fluent production of L2 English email requests. Sixty-nine intermediate-level Vietnamese EFL university students were randomly assigned to one control and three experimental groups. All the four groups received three hours of explicit metapragmatic instruction on email requests, but only the experimental groups received written corrective feedback on their pragmatic production. One experimental group received feedback without opportunity for revision. Another experimental group received one cycle of feedback and revision, and the third group two cycles of feedback and revision. Results of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test indicated that the combination of instruction and feedback had a positive effect on the accuracy of learners’ pragmatic performance. However, no clear-cut evidence for the effect of revision on the fluency of learners’ pragmatic performance was found in the study. The findings highlight the effectiveness of corrective feedback and revision in consolidating emergent L2 pragmatic knowledge, but further research is needed to understand how much revision is sufficient to facilitate fluency development.

Developmental and Transfer Issue of L2 Pragmatic Knowledge: The Case of Tagalog Speakers of L2 English Making Requests

Developmental and Transfer Issue of L2 Pragmatic Knowledge: The Case of Tagalog Speakers of L2 English Making Requests

The measurement of implicit and explicit knowledge

ABSTRACT This article presents a review of research that has investigated ways of measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language (L2), focusing on grammar. It begins by defining implicit and explicit knowledge in terms of a distinguishing set of criteria. Two ways of investigating implicit knowledge are discussed – through experimental studies of implicit learning and by means of factor-analytic studies. This provides the basis for a taxonomy of tests designed to provide separate measures of the two types of knowledge. Proposals for oral production tests, comprehension tests, judgements tests, tests of metalinguistic knowledge and tests derived from psycholinguistic research are examined and critiqued. The article concludes by suggesting there is a need for tests of L2 pragmatic knowledge to complement those available for grammar and offers a number of suggestions for the design of such tests.

Interlanguage pragmatics of pre-service teachers on face threatening speech acts

Interlanguage Pragmatics presents how nonnative speakers understand and perform linguistic action in a target language, and how they acquire L2 pragmatic knowledge (Kasper, 1996; Cai L. and Wang Y., 2013). The study assessed the interlanguage pragmatics of pre-service teachers by determining the level of pragmatic comprehension and the appropriateness of the production of responses to situations as bases for the development of instructional plan/design for the module. The study used descriptive survey method utilizing discourse completion tasks to gather data from the forty-two (42) CTED pre service teachers which were analyzed using frequency count, percentages, mean and ranking. Results of the study revealed that the level of interlanguage pragmatic competence of the pre-service teachers was very good and they produced appropriate responses to communicative situations involving the speech acts of greeting, refusing, apologizing and requesting. Furthermore, an instructional design was formulated as a basis for the development of the module in teaching pragmatics to enhance the interlanguage pragmatics of the pre-service teachers.

An Investigation of Iranian Learners’ Utilization of Politeness Strategies and Power Relations in Refusal Speech Act across Different Communicative Situations

This study aimed to examine the L2 pragmatic knowledge of Iranian intermediate learners of English through the performance of the speech act of refusals in English across diverse situations. One hundred and twenty five Iranian learners whose language proficiency was at the intermediate level took part in this research. The required data were collected by mean of an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and a Written Discourse Completion Task (WDCT). The results showed that most respondents tended to use more indirect strategies (55.5%) to refuse another speaker’s suggestion or request either with higher or lower power or within different social distance. They utilized direct strategies with 24.1% and adjuncts to refusals with 18.9% respectively. The findings are illustrative of the fact that the variations in the use of different strategies are less seen in the data. In other words, learners employed almost the same semantic formulas or pragmalinguistic forms to refuse affairs in most of the situations. It can be said that learners might not have enough awareness or consciousness regarding the use of different pragmalinguistic forms in performing the refusal since they did not have sufficient understanding of context and contextual factors involved as well. Therefore, the results can suggest that the learners lack sufficient pragmatic knowledge in confronting different situations. The implication of this study is for Iranian language instructors to teach a variety of speech acts’ strategies, politeness strategies and draw learners’ their attention to the contextual features in opting out the appropriate strategy in a variety of situations.

A Descriptive Analysis of Disagreement Strategies: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

<p>The purpose of this research was to describe the L2 pragmatic knowledge of Iranian EFL learners by producing the speech act of disagreement in English in different situations. One hundred and twenty Iranian EFL learners took part in this study. The required data were accumulated through a Written Discourse Completion Task (WDCT). The results showed that most participants tended to make use of more indirect strategies (44.85%) to disagree with another speaker’s statement either with higher or lower power or within different social distance. The respondents’ most frequent strategy use refers to counterclaims with 44.8%. On the other hand, challenges with 8.8% and Irrelevancy of claims with 3.2% were respectively among the least frequent strategies used in all situations. The results showed that learners almost utilized the same strategies in different disagreement situations with the same frequency. Therefore, it indicates that they did not notice the situational variables of social power, distance and imposition to vary their choice of strategy. In other words, they did not have the contextual understanding of the mentioned factors. Therefore, the results can suggest that the learners lack sufficient pragmatic knowledge in performing the studied speech act. The implication of this study is for Iranian language instructors, materials writers and curriculum developers. </p>

Pragmatic Transfer in Thai EFL Refusals

Communication breakdowns can occur during cross-cultural communication due to different perceptions and interpretations of appropriateness and politeness. This study investigates similarities and differences between refusals in American English and Thai and incidences of pragmatic transfer by Thai EFL learners when making refusals. The participants of the study include Thai and American native speakers and EFL learners. All of them are graduate students. The data were collected by means of a discourse completion test (DCT) which was designed on the basis of interviews carried out with a view to possible situations for refusals. EFL data for refusals were compared with similar data elicited from native speakers of American English and Thai. Results indicate that overall all three groups share most of the refusal strategies and that pragmatic transfer exists in the choice and content of refusal strategies. Awareness of a person of a higher status and the characteristics of being modest in L1 culture motivate pragmatic transfer. Language proficiency is also an important factor in pragmatic transfer. In making refusals, EFL learners with lower English proficiency translate from L1 to L2 because of their lack of L2 pragmatic knowledge.

Criticizing in an L2: Pragmatic strategies used by Vietnamese EFL learners

Criticizing has been a rather under-represented speech act in interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) literature. Native speakers (NSs) find this speech act challenging, often needing to pre-plan how to perform it (Murphy & Neu 1996). Thus, it can be expected that second-language (L2) learners will also experience considerable difficulty. This paper reports a study of the pragmatic strategies used by Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) when criticizing in English with a view to shedding light on the pragmatic properties of this under-researched act. Interlanguage data were collected from 36 adult learners via a peer-feedback task, a written questionnaire, and a retrospective interview. First and second language baseline data were collected from two respective groups of 12 Vietnamese NSs and 12 NSs of Australian English, via the same peer-feedback task and questionnaire. Results showed that the English language learners criticized in significantly different ways from the Australian NSs in terms of their preference for realization strategies, their choice of semantic formulae, and their choice and frequency of use of mitigating devices. A number of interplaying factors might explain these differences: learners' limited L2 linguistic competence and lack of fluency, which seemed to load their processing capability under communicative pressure, their lack of L2 pragmatic knowledge, and the influence of L1 pragmatics.

PRAGMATICS AND SLA

Pragmatics has two roles in SLA: It acts as a constraint on linguistic forms and their acquisition, and it represents a type of communicative knowledge and object of L2 learning in its own right. The first role of pragmatics is evident in functionalist (Tomlin 1990) and interactionist (Long 1996) views of SLA. The second role puts pragmatics on a par with morphosyntax, lexis, and phonology in that inquiry focuses on learners' knowledge, use, and acquisition of L2 pragmatics. It is the latter sense of “pragmatics and SLA” that is the focus of this paper. In analogy with other areas of specialization within SLA—interlanguage syntax, interlanguage lexis, and so forth—the study of nonnative speakers' use and acquisition of L2 pragmatic knowledge is referred to as interlanguage pragmatics.

Introduction: Interlanguage Pragmatics in SLA

Interlanguage pragmatics—the study of nonnative speakers' use and acquisition of L2 pragmatic knowledge—has hovered on the fringes of SLA research thus far. In theories of 12 acquisition, pragmatics may figure as a constraint on syntactic knowledge, for instance, but pragmatics is not usually recognized as a knowledge component whose development deserves theoretical consideration in its own right. There is thus a tension between SLA as a theoretical (in the sense of “nonapplied”) discipline and the theory and practice of second or foreign language pedagogy. In theories of communicative competence in L2 teaching and testing, pragmatic competence figures prominently (e.g., Bachman, 1990). Curricula and materials for L2 teaching developed in recent years include strong pragmatic components or even adopt a pragmatic approach as their organizing principle.