Oral Discourse Completion Task Research Articles

Message sent. Message-received? Teachers and target community members decide

ABSTRACTThe linguistic, social, and intercultural benefits of overseas experiences for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners continue to gain attention as the significance of English as a lingua franca proliferates. As the use of English for international communication increases, it is important to examine such interactions from multiple viewpoints. While previous studies have investigated various aspects of study abroad for EFL learners, the perspectives of target community members (TCMs) have often been overlooked. Therefore, this study investigated differences in EFL teacher and nonteacher TCM perceptions of five Japanese university study abroad students’ spoken pragmatic output. Students completed 10 oral discourse completion tasks before and after their one-semester study abroad. The EFL teacher and nonteacher TCM groups watched videos of and rated each task for formality and appropriateness. Findings showed the two groups perceived gains related to student speech and development. However, teachers rated on the pre-departure tasks lower but the post-tasks higher, while the TCMs did not identify as much improvement. Implications for students, teachers, and receiving communities are discussed.

The effects of learner profiles on pragmalinguistic awareness and learning

Abstract By focusing on motivation and proficiency, this study examined the effects of Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' “learner profiles” on their awareness of bi-clausal request forms and their learning of these forms in the context of implicit intervention. The study involved 154 Japanese EFL learners. The concept of awareness was operationalized as the summation of learners' “interest” in the target forms and their “detection capacity” of these forms; data relevant to the awareness session were obtained through video dictation tasks. Learners' pragmalinguistic development was assessed through oral discourse completion tasks in the pre- and post-test sessions. Cluster analysis was performed on the two motivation subscales and listening proficiency, yielding three learner groups constituting the independent variable. The results of a one-way repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that the learner profiles constrained awareness of target bi-clausal request forms, although these profiles did not affect their learning of bi-clausal forms. Qualitative data obtained from learners' awareness journals and follow-up data on their post-test performance supported the findings from the quantitative analysis. The study suggests that pragmalinguistic learning requires learners' deep processing of instructional input, which may be greatly constrained by listening proficiency and grammatical knowledge.

Complimenting in Spanish in a short-term study abroad context

This study examines the effects of learning context on the production of compliments among Study Abroad (SA) learners of Spanish during an eight-week summer program in Mexico, and a group of learners in an At Home (AH) context. Baseline data from Native Speakers (NS) of Mexican Spanish and US English were analyzed and compared to the learner data. A subset of the SA group provided data for a delayed posttest, four months after learners returned to their home country. Learner data were collected in a pretest-posttest design, using a modified oral Discourse Completion Task (DCT). All participants produced compliments in four situations with equal status but differing levels of social distance. Results indicate that, while evidence of change toward the NS norm was observed in the SA learners, there was also evidence of change that reflected deviation from NS pragmatic norms. This study addresses the issue of individual learner variation, quality and intensity of the input, and the effects of the SA context.

Effect of Pragmatic Awareness on Comprehension and Production of Conventional Expressions

Mastery of target language conventional expressions seems to require awareness of the differences between native language and target language pragmatic features. To test the effect of awareness of target language pragmatic features on comprehension and production of target language conventional expressions, the current study was conducted over 60 learners of English in an intensive English program in Universiti Sains Malaysia. Pragmatic awareness, comprehension, and production were respectively assessed through a contextualized pragmatic judgment task, a multiple choice pragmatic listening comprehension test, and an oral discourse completion task. The results of the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient revealed that awareness of target language pragmatic features is a predictor of appropriate comprehension and production of target language conventional expressions. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested the development of awareness of target language pragmatic features in English as Foreign Language learners.

Politeness in Interlanguage Pragmatics of Complaints by Indonesian Learners of English

Complaint is intrinsically an abusive act which tends to offend the complainees. In spite of this complainers could consider politeness when they still intend to maintain a good relationship with the complainees. This paper investigated politeness strategies involved in complaints relating to different social status levels and social distances. The data of the complaints were elicited through oral discourse completion tasks from 50 Indonesian learners of English consisting of 25 males and 25 females. The findings indicated that most complaints sounded very direct, particularly those addressed to lower-unfamiliar interlocutors. Four politeness strategies of Brown and Levinson (1987) were employed by the learners. Bald on record and Positive politeness were the most pervasive strategies used across status levels and social distances. Negative politeness was comparatively high, but it was not as high as Bald on record and Positive politeness. Off-record was rarely phrased across status levels and social distances.

Investigating apology response strategies in Australian English and Bahasa Indonesia

Studies on apologies have proliferated in pragmatics research, but little research has been conducted on apology responses (ARs). The present inquiry contributes to filling the gap in the literature, and it does so by examining such responses in two languages, Australian English (AE) and Bahasa Indonesia (BI). The study ultimately focuses on two variables, gender and culture. It probes behavioural differences in the genders in and between the two societies, and considers cultural differences in the expression of ARs. Using oral discourse completion tasks (DCTs), the researchers recorded and analyzed a total of 360 responses to three apology situations. The findings reveal that ARs in both languages were complex and elaborate, embodying various subsidiary speech acts and expressions. The ARs generally showed indirectness and mitigated face threats towards interlocutors. However, one striking result is that there was no marked gender difference in AR strategy either within or between languages, thus challenging a stereotype that females are more accepting and ‘polite’ than males (Brown, 1980; Holmes, 1995, 2008). Another surprising result was that, in a significant minority of cases, Indonesians were revealed to be more direct and face-threatening than their Australian counterparts, again confronting a stereotype of speech behaviour, in this case that Asians are more indirect and ambiguous than native English-speakers in Western cultures

“You don’t seem to know how to work”

This study aims firstly to compare the complaints of local native-Malay speakers and expatriate native-English speakers in Brunei in terms of move structure and levels of directness combined with the frequency of modality markers; and secondly, it attempts to address the relationship between polite behaviour and its effectiveness in eliciting the appropriate response from the hearer. Data from an oral discourse completion task show interesting similarities and differences in the complaint move structure between the two groups of speakers. Superficially, there appears to be no significant difference between the two sets of complaints in terms of levels of directness, but a detailed analysis shows each group employing different mitigating strategies to minimise the force of a complaint. Furthermore, responses from an acceptability judgement questionnaire indicate that being indirect, and therefore polite, may not be effective in eliciting the appropriate response to a request for action in a complaint speech act.

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of English Request Speech Acts in Native Speakers of English and Chinese

This paper aims at comparing the uses of the English request speech acts in native speakers of English and Chinese. An oral discourse completion task (ODCT) was used to collect data and the chi-square analysis method was applied to examine the data. From the results, the comparisons of request strategies and internal modifications between Chinese and English native speakers showed no significant differences; both groups frequently used indirect strategies. However, with regard to the use of alerts and external modifications, significant differences were found between these two groups. Further results also indicated the effects of social status and familiarity on both groups. To interlocutor in higher status, both groups showed significantly different usages of internal and external modifications. As to interlocutors in equal status, they performed different request strategies, alerts and external modifications. In addition, significant differences were found in the use of alerts to interlocutors in lower social status. To familiar interlocutors, both groups showed different usages in alerts and external modifications. To unfamiliar interlocutors, significant differences were also found in the use of alerts and external modifications. At last, Chinese native speakers with high and low proficiency levels showed significantly different usages in alerts. Key words : English request speech act; Oral discourse completion task; Chi-square analysis; English native speaker; Chinese native speaker

The Effects of Input‐Based Practice on Pragmatic Development of Requests in L2 Chinese

This study examined the effects of input‐based practice on developing accurate and speedy requests in second‐language Chinese. Thirty learners from intermediate‐level Chinese classes were assigned to an intensive training group (IT), a regular training group (RT), and a control group. The IT and the RT groups practiced using four Chinese request‐making forms via computerized structured input activities over 2 consecutive days. During this time, the IT group practiced using the request‐making forms twice as much as the RT group. The control group did not practice. The results show that the input‐based practice was effective in promoting accuracy in an Oral Discourse Completion Task and in enhancing speed in a Pragmatic Listening Judgment Task. No other effects of practice were observed.

한국어 학습자의 공손 표현 습득 연구－말레이시아 학습자의 요청 화행을 중심으로－

Lee Jeongdeok. 2010. 10. 30. A study on Korean language learner’s polite expressions acquisition: Focus on request speech act of Malaysian learners. Bilingual Research 44, 217-246. This longitudinal study was designed to investigate the polite expressions acquisition of L1 Malaysian learners of Korean. During 9 months 3 Malaysian learners participated in oral discourse completion tasks which examined learner’s use of polite expressions in Korean. At the same time I examined polite expressions use of 30 Korean native speakers and observed various devices to express politeness in Korean discourse. The polite expressions use of the 3 learners showed differences from the native speakers of Korean, especially learners transferred from their L1 expression to Korean polite expressions. And learners’s polite expressions showed individual differences between learners in the development process. In order to help learners develop their polite expressions use teachers need to provide various Korean polite expressions input. (Ewha Womans University)

Variables that affect the dependability of L2 pragmatics tests

Researchers have tested L2 pragmatics using at least six types of instruments. This study focuses on four of them: (a) Written Discourse Completion Tasks, (b) Oral Discourse Completion Tasks, (c) Discourse Role-Play Tasks (DRPT), and (d) Role-Play Self-Assessments. Students learning Korean ( n = 53) took these tests. Generalizability theory was used to examine the effects of different numbers of raters, item functions, item types, item characteristics on the dependability (analogous to reliability) of these tests. In addition, multifaceted Rasch (FACETS) analyses were used to investigate: (a) the relative severity or difficulty (on a common logit scale) of individual raters, item functions, item types, and item characteristics and (b) the degree to which the five-point scale was working well on each test. Based on these analyses, recommendations are made for deciding how to design each of the four types of tests in terms of the numbers of different raters, item functions, item types, and item characteristics that should be used to maximize test dependability in light of whatever practical considerations language teachers, testers, administrators, or researchers may deem important in using L2 pragmatics tests for actual decision making. The relative importance of item types, functions, and testing methods are also considered from a theoretical perspective.