Language Pragmatic Competence Research Articles

The methodological model for the formation of future English teachers' pragmatic competence based on Web 2.0 technologies

In the article pragmatic competence as a subcompetence within the framework of foreign language communicative competence was considered, which is the speaker's ability and willingness to reproduce pragmatically literate statements, as well as interpret the pragmatic intention of another speaker. Ignorance of pragmatic structures and principles can lead to misunderstandings in extreme cases. For future teachers and teachers of a foreign language, mastering pragmatic competence is important to transfer knowledge properly about the discipline being taught. The principle of interactivity is one of the most important in the formation of foreign language pragmatic competence, and also acts as the main didactic property of Web 2.0 technologies, which contributed to the choice of these tools in this study. The results of fundamental research conducted in the countries of the far and near abroad on the formation of pragmatic competence for the development of a model for the formation of future English teachers’ foreign language pragmatic competence were analyzed. Thus, the authors propose their own model of learning aimed at the formation of students' pragmatic competence based on Web 2.0 technologies, which includes five interrelated component blocks: prerequisites, a block of target definition, a theoretical block, a functional block of technology, an evaluative and effective block. Only the integration of all these components of the model will contribute to achieving its goal. The use of this model during the research experiment significantly improved the professional training of future English teachers and the formation of a high level of foreign language pragmatic competence

Effects of exposure to L2 input and language proficiency on pragmatic competence during study abroad

Developing second language pragmatic competence is crucial because it enables learners to effectively communicate and interact with native speakers of that language. It goes beyond mere grammatical and lexical knowledge, and encompasses the ability to comprehend and produce language in a way that is contextually appropriate and respectful. The quantitative study and group interviews were conducted to investigate the effects of exposure to L2 input and language proficiency on the comprehension and expression of indirect speech acts of 180 Chinese learners of English in Malaysia. The results showed that exposure to L2 input significantly contributed to learners’ pragmatic competence at all levels; interactive and instructive exposure to L2 input was more beneficial to the pragmatic improvement; pragmatic competence did not develop in parallel with language proficiency, and increased significantly only after language proficiency reached the intermediate level; pragmatic expression was more influenced by exposure to L2 input, while pragmatic comprehension was more significantly influenced by language proficiency.

The Relationship between Pragmatic Language Competence, Parental Child Abuse, and Teacher-Child Relationships in School Bullying: Focusing on Gender Differences in Fourth Graders in Elementary School Children

Objectives: The relationship between child pragmatic language competence, parental child abuse, and teacher-child relationships in school bullying was examined by gender group. Methods: 340 fourth-grade boys (34.41%) and 648 girls (65.59%) who participated in the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC) were analyzed for child pragmatic language competence (CPLC), parent-child abuse (PCAQ), teacher-child relationship (STRS), Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ-R). Results: In the case of male students, controlling their Communication function and Discourse management according to contextual variation can help maintain intimacy in teacher-child relationships, but it does not affect school bullying. In addition, physical or mental abuse by parents was not related to the damage of male students’ peer school bullying. On the other hand, in the case of female students, emotional abuse of parents was a major variable that significantly affected the degree of damage (frequency) of peer school violence, as well as nonverbal communication skills and communication functions. Conclusion: If the results of this study are applied to the development and application of school bullying prevention programs, it would be desirable to distinguish between male and female students. First, in the case of female students, it was confirmed that non-verbal communication skills were especially important in the relationship between teachers, peers, and parents. And in the case of male students, direct verbal skills such as discourse management, communication function, and contextual variation ability according to the situation seem to affect intimacy with teachers and peer school bullying.

Predicting Written Language Competence and Pragmatics in Students at Risk of Reading Disability in Oman Using Teacher Report Data

This study investigated whether teachers’ observations of pragmatic language competence predict literacy skills (and the reverse) in students referred for reading disabilities in Oman. A sample of 574 at-risk children between 7 and 12 years old participated. Teachers rated students’ pragmatic language, reading, and written expression. Results showed (a) teachers rated female students significantly higher in all three areas, while ratings were not different across grades; (b) relationships between pragmatics and literacy skills were significantly stronger for girls than for boys; (c) after controlling for gender and grade, pragmatic language competence accounted for significant unique variance in both reading and written expression; and (d) after controlling for gender and grade, reading and writing both contributed significant unique variance to pragmatic skills, and the standardized regression coefficients suggested stronger effects of literacy skills on pragmatics than pragmatics on literacy skills. Implications for school professionals and future research directions are discussed.

Variation Patterns in Interlanguage Pragmatics: Apology Speech Act of EFL Learners vs. American Native Speakers

Abstract Pragmatic competence consists of both pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic components. The choice of pragmalinguistic strategies aligned with sociopragmatic norms may vary based on situational, cultural, and individual variables. The relationship between these important aspects of second language pragmatic competence, however, is underdeveloped in the literature. To fill this gap, the present paper is aimed at investigating the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic variations of the Iranian EFL learners from different proficiency levels. A written discourse completion task (WDCT) was adopted for collecting data. Data were analyzed using the coding categories for apologies developed in the previous benchmark studies. The findings of the study provided evidence showing both sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic development across the levels of language proficiency. The findings can be used for the development of pragmatics-focused materials in L2 and pragmatics instruction.

Formuły rutynowe i ich dydaktyzacja w podręcznikach do nauki języka niemieckiego jako języka obcego w gospodarce i biznesie

Routine formulas represent an essential challenge for foreign language teaching as a compound of typical communicative situations due to speech acts (in maintaining new and old business contacts, expressing emotions, and discourse organization), and as an important element of pragmatic language competence. The main subject of the reflection is the selection and presentation of formulaic expressions in selected course books for business German as a foreign language which are used in the academic context. In particular, the fields of business correspondence, business phone calls, and other common communicative situations were analyzed, as well as exercises and other didactic activities aimed at developing business foreign language skills.

Information and communication technologies and the formation of cross-cultural communication skills in a foreign language environment

The article discusses the various possibilities of using ICTs in teaching Russian as a foreign language at the University of Pisa and the methods of working with a modern virtual educational environment. A brief description of the modern educational environment (and, more broadly, ecosystem) that has developed under the influence of informatization, computerization and digitalization of society in the late XX — early XXI centuries is proposed. The paper also focuses on the ways in which the Blended learning approach as an integration of classroom and online learning is put in practice by using the E-learning system and Moodle tools. Particular attention is paid to the methodology of working with the multimedia corpus of the Russian language MURCO in teaching grammar. In particular, it is demonstrated that the use of the corpus allows developing pragmatic language competence and mastering adaptation mechanisms for the adequate implementation of communicative intentions within any social scenario. In language teaching, the recognition of the need to study pragmatics using corpus data is due to the fact that the design of the verbal-semantic and linguo-cognitive levels of the secondary language personality is not enough to form a stable communicative skill. Reaching the third and the highest, i.e. pragmatic level of functioning of the secondary language personality, which allows to realize communicative-activity needs, is impossible without immersion in the environment (which can be artificially recreated) of the language being studied. In particular, it will be demonstrated how the analysis of micro-dialogs from the MURCO corpus, illustrating imperative speech acts, allows not only to describe the elements of the “expanded” semantics of the imperative mood in the Russian language, but also to reveal the socio-pragmatic factors of its use.

The clinical utility of the Children’s Communication Checklist-2 in children with early childhood traumatic brain injury

Objective Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits. Social communication impairments are common and impact functional outcomes, such as social engagement and academic performance. There are many barriers to identifying social communication deficits following TBI, including the absence of a standardized parent-reported communication measure for use in this population. The Children’s Communication Checklist—Second Edition (CCC-2) has demonstrated utility in identifying communication deficits in diagnoses other than TBI. This study investigated the clinical utility of the CCC-2’s social communication scales in children with TBI. Method: 203 children who sustained TBI or orthopedic injuries between the ages of 36 and 83 months were recruited as part of a larger, longitudinal study. We analyzed social communication subscale scores from the CCC-2 an average of 3.5 years postinjury. We used binary logistic regression analyses to examine the measure’s accuracy in classifying children with and without social communication deficits on other measures of pragmatic language and social competence. Correlation analyses and linear mixed models were used to examine the construct validity of the CCC-2. Results: The CCC-2 was able to accurately classify those with and without pragmatic language impairments on the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language 92% of the time (sensitivity = 55%) and 96% of the time on the Home and Community Social Behavior scale (sensitivity = 72%). The CCC-2 demonstrated strong correlations with and predictive validity for measures of social communication and competence. Conclusions: The findings offer support for the clinical utility of the CCC-2 in the pediatric TBI population.

Effects of children s pragmatic language competence on school peer adjustment: the mediating effects of school environment

Effects of children s pragmatic language competence on school peer adjustment: the mediating effects of school environment

日本語学習者の語用論的運用力とその問題点への一考察 ― 上級日本語学習者の作文を事例に ー

日本語学習者の語用論的運用力とその問題点への一考察 ― 上級日本語学習者の作文を事例に ー

Association between Pragmatic Language Competence and Emotional/Behavioral Outcomes of 3rd Graders in Elementary School

ë°°ê²½ 및 ëª©ì  일반아동을 대상으로 í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ê³¼ ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œ 간의 ê´€ë ¨ì„±ì„ ì§ì ‘ì ìœ¼ë¡œ 살펴본 연구를 찾아볼 수 없었다 이에 일반아동의 í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ê³¼ ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œì™€ì˜ ê´€ë ¨ì„±ì„ 살펴보았다. 방법 í•œêµ­ìœ¡ì•„ì •ì± ì—°êµ¬ì†Œì˜ 대규모 ì¢ ë‹¨ì—°êµ¬ì¸ 한국아동패널연구(PSKC)에 참여한 ì „êµ­ì˜ 9세 아동 600ëª ì„ 대상으로 실시된 í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥(CPLC)ê³¼ ì •ì„œ/행동 ê°•ì /ë‚œì (SDQ) 평가의 하위영역별 상관과 경로분석을 실시하였다. ê²°ê³¼ 상관분석 ê²°ê³¼ í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ì€ 과잉행동/부주의, ì •ì„œì¦ìƒ, ì¹œì‚¬íšŒì  행동과 ê´€ë ¨ì´ 있었으며, 또래관계와 í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œì™€ëŠ” ê´€ë ¨ì´ 없는 것으로 나타났다. ê·¸ë¦¬ê³ ê²½ë¡œë¶„ì„ê²°ê³¼ 과잉행동/부주의 ë¬¸ì œëŠ” ì§ì ‘ì ìœ¼ë¡œ í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ì— 의해 영향을 ë°›ê³ (β = −.973, p< .0000) ì •ì„œì¦ìƒì„ 매개로 ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œì— 직/ê°„ì ‘ì ìœ¼ë¡œ 영향을 미쳤다(β =1.529, p< .0000; β = .283, p< .0000). 이는 í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ì´ 낮을수록 과잉행동/부주의 ë¬¸ì œê°€ 많이 나타나며 ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œë¥¼ 야기한다는 것을 의미한다 ê·¸ë¦¬ê³ ì •ì„œì¦ìƒì€ ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œë¥¼ 더 가중시키는 매개효과로 ìž‘ìš©í•˜ê³ ìžˆì—ˆë‹¤. ë ¼ì˜ 및 ê²°ë¡ ì´ˆë“±í•™êµ 3í•™ë „ 일반아동의 화용언어의 ë¬¸ì œëŠ” ë˜ëž˜ë¬¸ì œ 또는 í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œì™€ ê´€ë ¨ë˜ì–´ 있을 것으로 여겨지지만 이와는 달리 과잉행동/부주의 ë¬¸ì œì™€ ì •ì„œë¬¸ì œê°€ 직/ê°„ì ‘ì ìœ¼ë¡œ 연결되어 ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œë¥¼ 야기하는 것으로 나타났다. 그러므로 í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ê³¼ 과잉행동/부주의 ë¬¸ì œê°€ ADHD아동 집단의 ë¬¸ì œë¡œë§Œ ì ìš©ë ê²ƒì´ 아니라 일반아동에게 있어서도 ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œë¥¼ 야기하는 주요인으로 ê·¸ë¦¬ê³ ì •ì„œì¦ìƒì€ 매개요인으로 ìž‘ìš©í•˜ê³ ìžˆë‹¤ëŠ” 것을 주지해야 한다. 또한 이러한 í™”ìš©ì–¸ì–´ëŠ¥ë ¥ 증진 프로그램을 일반아동에게 ì ìš©í•˜ì˜€ì„ 때 과잉행동/부주의, ì •ì„œì¦ìƒ, ê·¸ë¦¬ê³ ì •ì„œ/í–‰ë™ë¬¸ì œê°€ ì™„í™”ë ìˆ˜ 있을 것인지에 대한 추가 연구가 요구된다. Keywords: 아동화용언어체크리스트(CPLC), SDQ-Kr, PSKC, 과잉행동/부주의, ì •ì„œì¦ìƒ, 경로분석

Second language pragmatic attrition after studying abroad

Abstract This research examined the attrition and/or maintenance of second language pragmatic competence among Japanese learners of English after returning home from studying in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Participants were university students who had studied abroad (SA) for four months at two U.K. universities and had lived in a homestay environment. A pragmatic appropriateness judgment task of request-making sentences was administered at the end of the SA and six months after returning home, in which the accuracy and speed of appropriateness judgment of these request sentences were compared. The results demonstrated a loss of (a) judgment accuracy for under-polite inappropriate requests, but not for appropriate requests; and (b) automatic processing of request-making sentences, evaluated using the coefficient of variation, for both under- and over-polite inappropriate requests. These results suggest that pragmatic attrition does occur after SA but does not occur at the same time for every aspect of pragmatic competence examined.

한국어 화용 능력 평가를 위한 하위 평가 범주의 설정 연구

This paper reviews existing studies on designing sub-components of test items to assess Korean pragmatics competence for KSL(Korean as a second language) or KFL(Korean as a foreign language) learners, particularly focusing on defining and selecting context variables, speech acts/functions, discourse components, and test items. Assessing second or foreign language pragmatic competence has been one of the underestimated areas but now it is one of the fastest growing areas of ESL or EFL assessments. However, it is still an underestimated or underdeveloped area in KSL or KFL assessment. Even though teaching and learning Korean pragmatic competence has gained a larger attention and it has produced a larger amount of studies, assessing Korean pragmatic is relatively a less activated field. Therefore, this paper aims to preferentially make suggestions on basic and fundamental issues for developing assessment tools for Korean interlanguage pragmatics such as variables, functions, and discourse and test items. To achieve this goal, this paper will widely research the cases of other language assessment and suggest the method to design sub-components of test items for assessing Korean pragmatic components based on what is found by means of other research. (Gyeongin National University of Education)

“So that's the way it is for me — always being left out.” Acquired Pragmatic Language Impairment and Social Functioning following Traumatic Brain Injury

Our ability to interact appropriately in everyday interpersonal situations is fundamental to successful social integration. Impaired pragmatic competence correlates significantly and substantially with indices of social function across several domains for adults with acquired neurological disorders. In particular, evidence supports the negative impact of pragmatic impairments on the development and maintenance of relationships and community integration more generally.Pragmatic language competence sits in a complex, multifactorial space characterised by interacting associations with cognitive and psychological functions and social and environmental parameters. This complexity is evident in much of the research seeking to unravel the nature and magnitude of interactions between pragmatic language competence and social outcomes in adults with acquired neurological disorders.Over recent years our understanding of the impact of pragmatic impairments on social outcome has benefited substantially from inclusion of the insider's perspective in our research evidence base. Indeed, a methodological inclusion of constructivist paradigms has enabled the development of a rich understanding of the devastating social impact of impaired pragmatic competence.The aim of this paper is to review pragmatic language impairment in the context of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and detail its impact on social functioning from the perspectives of people with TBI and their intimate partners/spouses and friends. With these perspectives as background, the paper concludes with consideration of therapeutic developments and a brief look at a novel intervention designed to reduce the negative impact of pragmatic deficits and improve functional language use following TBI.

Altered sensitivity to social gaze in the FMR1 premutation and pragmatic language competence

BackgroundThe FMR1 premutation affects 1:291 women and is associated with a range of cognitive, affective, and physical health complications, including deficits in pragmatic language (i.e., social language). This study investigated attention to eye gaze as a fundamental social-cognitive skill that may be impaired in the FMR1 premutation and could underlie pragmatic deficits. Given the high prevalence of the FMR1 premutation, efforts to define its phenotype and mechanistic underpinnings have significant public health implications.MethodsThirty-five women with the FMR1 premutation and 20 control women completed an eye-tracking paradigm that recorded time spent dwelling within the eye region in response to a face displaying either direct or averted gaze. Pragmatic language ability was coded from a conversational sample using the Pragmatic Rating Scale.ResultsWomen with the FMR1 premutation failed to show attentional preference to direct gaze and spent more time dwelling on the averted eyes relative to controls. While dwelling on the eyes was associated with better pragmatic language performance in controls, these variables were unrelated in the women with the FMR1 premutation.ConclusionsAltered sensitivity to social gaze, characterized by increased salience of averted gaze, was observed among women with the FMR1 premutation. Furthermore, women with the FMR1 premutation were unable to capitalize on information conveyed through the eyes to enhance social-communicative engagement, which differed from patterns seen in controls. These findings contribute to the growing characterization of social and communication phenotypes associated with the FMR1 premutation.

The Contribution of Grammar, Vocabulary and Theory of Mind in Pragmatic Language Competence in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

The first author wants thank support from Grant GV/2015/092 by Conselleria de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte of Generalitat Valenciana (Spain), Grant UJI-A2016-12 funded by Universitat Jaume I de Castello, and the second author wants to thank support from AHRC (AH/N004671/1) and a British Academy Small Research Grant (SG-47135).

Relationship between Language Learners’ Attitudes toward Cultural Instruction and Pragmatic Comprehension and Production

Development of target language pragmatic competence in language learners requires not only provision of cultural features of target language community in language classes but also language learner’s willingness to learn and use those cultural features. To investigate the relationship between language learners’ attitudes toward cultural instruction and their gains in comprehension and production aspects of pragmatic competence, the current study was conducted on 50 undergraduate Japanese students of English education at a university in Japan. The adapted version of the attitude questionnaire developed by Albirini (2009) was used to measure language learners’ attitudes toward cultural instruction. A 24-item pragmatic comprehension test developed by Taguchi (2007, 2008) was used to measure language learners’ pragmatic comprehension ability. Finally, a 32-item discourse completion task developed by Bardovi-Harlig (2009) was used to measure language learners’ pragmatic production ability. The analysis of Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient (r) revealed a strong positive relationship between attitude toward cultural instruction and pragmatic comprehension ability as well as attitude toward cultural instruction and pragmatic production ability. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested incorporation of interesting cultural features of the target language community in language classes and presenting them in interesting ways to attract language learners’ attention and interest. Keywords: Attitude, Cultural Instruction, Pragmatic Comprehension, Pragmatic Production

Interventionist applied conversation analysis

Pragmatic language competence plays a central role in how aviation flight crews perform crew resource management (CRM); this competence significantly affects aviation safety. This paper contributes to existing literature on interventionist applications of conversation analysis (CA) by defining and evaluating a novel collaborative transcription and repair based learning (CTRBL) method for aviation CRM learning. CTRBL was evaluated using a quantitative quasi-­experimental repeated-measure design with 42 novice, university pilots. Results support that CTRBL is an effective, low-resource CRM learning method that will benefit from exploratory applications and further study in pragmatics, aviation, and other sociotechnical domains. The views in this article were the result of independent research of the authors. Views herein do not necessarily represent the views of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) or the United States.

Pragmatic skills of children and youth with mild intellectual disability

Pragmatic competence means the use of language in social context. Persons with intellectual disability experience numerous problems in this aspect of communication, but they are relatively pragmatically skilled in well-known situations, in which they are not subjected to significant cognitive and social requirements. The aim of this paper is to determine the level of pragmatic abilities of children and youth with mild intellectual disability and to perceive its relation to chronological age, speech comprehension, speech production, the level of intellectual functioning, gender and bilingualism of the participants. The level of pragmatic competence was tested in the sample of 120 children with mild intellectual disability, aged between 8 and 16, by using the Test of pragmatic language competence. The Clinical scales of Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological battery for children were also used. The results obtained in this research suggest that general level of achievement of children with mild intellectual disability in this domain of development is far below the expectations based on their chronological age. Significant progress appears between 12 and 14 years of age, but there are also two critical periods in their development. Important relations of pragmatic skills with speech comprehension, speech production, chronological age and intellectual level were established.

Inter-relations of core language, pragmatic language, and social competence in preschoolers

Language skills provide preschoolers with the foundational skills needed to socially interact, but little is known about the relationship between specific language skills and broad constructs of social competence. Sixteen preschoolers between 3-5 years with varying language abilities were recruited. Descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between language and social competence. The main finding of this study showed that early literacy skills and word knowledge and retrieval were significantly correlated with Social Independence and Social Interaction respectively. These findings support the notion that the content of preschoolers’ conversations rather than the accuracy of their speech or syntax is associated with success in social interaction and social independence.