Pragmatic Knowledge Research Articles

The “semantic P600” in second language processing: When syntax conflicts with semantics

In sentences like “the mouse that chased the cat was hungry”, the syntactically correct interpretation (the mouse chases the cat) is contradicted by semantic and pragmatic knowledge. Previous research has shown that L1 speakers sometimes base sentence interpretation on this type of knowledge (so-called “shallow” or “good-enough” processing). We made use of both behavioural and ERP measurements to investigate whether L2 learners differ from native speakers in the extent to which they engage in “shallow” syntactic processing. German learners of Dutch as well as Dutch native speakers read sentences containing relative clauses (as in the example above) for which the plausible thematic roles were or were not reversed, and made plausibility judgments. The results show that behaviourally, L2 learners had more difficulties than native speakers to discriminate plausible from implausible sentences. In the ERPs, we replicated the previously reported finding of a “semantic P600” for semantic reversal anomalies in native speakers, probably reflecting the effort to resolve the syntax-semantics conflict. In L2 learners, though, this P600 was largely attenuated and surfaced only in those trials that were judged correctly for plausibility. These results generally point at a more prevalent, but not exclusive occurrence of shallow syntactic processing in L2 learners.

PRAGMATIC TRANSFER IN REFUSALS REALIZED BY PROFICIENT EFL LEARNERS ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM SRIWIJAYA UNIVERSITY

This research was aimed at describing the strategies of proficient EFL students’ refusal realization in Indonesian and in English and the occurrences of pragmatic transfer (PT) in their refusal realization. Qualitative research method was employed. As the subsidiary of the qualitative research method, quantitative research method was also employed. The subjects were 18 EFL students of English Study Program Sriwijaya University whose TOEFL prediction scores were 450 above. DCT was used as the instrument of collecting data. Data were analyzed based on combined refusal classification by Wannaruk (2005) and Campillo (2009). The results of this research show that proficient EFL students’ mostly used the indirect strategies in their refusal realization both in English and Indonesian. Nevertheless, differences occurred in term of semantic formula choice and order in the twelve situations of DCT. Thus, PT could be observed. In consequences, it is suggested to foreign language teacher or lecturers should be aware that fluency in a language involves both a mastery of linguistic knowledge and pragmatic knowledge. Foreign language learners should be aware of the fact that social variables play a role when refusing, and that their inappropriate refusals may make them sound rude, vague or abrupt. Due to the limitation of this study, future researchers should also explore the differences between EFL students’ refusal realization in their mother tongue and Indonesian, the idiosyncrasies that occur in the proficient EFL students’ refusal realization, and communication strategies used by EFL students in realizing their refusals.

THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH DEFINITE NOUN PHRASES BY MANDARIN CHINESE SPEAKERS

AbstractBy replicating Cho (2017), this article investigates how second language (L2) learners with an article-less first language acquire two types of English definiteness, anaphoric and nonanaphoric. Mandarin Chinese, as an article-less language, has a demonstrative determiner that shares the same feature set as the English definite article the: [+definite, +/-anaphoric]. In the current study, the participants were 28 advanced and 25 intermediate L1-Chinese L2-English learners and the native control data were from Cho. The results from an acceptability judgment task revealed that intermediate Chinese speakers, unlike advanced speakers, had difficulties in the nonanaphoric definite condition where, without a potential antecedent, definiteness is established through pragmatic knowledge and acquisition of nonanaphoric definiteness essentially takes place at the semantics-pragmatics interface. The findings of this article suggest that accommodating presuppositions at the semantics-pragmatics interface is challenging to L2 learners, even when feature reassembly is not required.

Jakość życia seniorów

Europe has a great social challenge. Seniors in the social landscape are its inseparable and an important element, but never before have they formed such a large group. That is why the quality of life of older people has become such an important challenge. The article is a voice in the discussion about the aging society and the quality of life of seniors. This text aims to approximate the importance of quality of life and the analysis of individual elements such as health, contacts with families, active participation in social life, opportunities for development or the ability to implement their own plans and objectives, taking into account the needs, opportunities and values of older people. The subject matter is the voice in the shaping social image, it is a contribution to supplementing pragmatic knowledge about the functioning of older people. Seniors, thanks to their experience and values passed on to younger generations, are huge capital with invaluable resources: knowledge, wisdom and skills. The detailed characteristics of selected elements that create the quality of life will allow a more comprehensive understanding and take steps to optimize the quality of life of the older generation.

Teaching apologies through the use of audiovisual materials

Since Austin’s (1962) classic work How To Do Things With Words there have been numerous studies about the way in which utterances are used as a mean to perform actions. The branch of linguistics that deals with this phenomenon is pragmatics, which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to Chomsky’s idea that the importance of language lies in the correct use of grammar (MartinezFlor and Uso-Juan 2010). After the elaboration of several models of communicative competence presented by a number of authors such as Canale and Swain (1980), Bachman (1990), and Celce-Murcia (1995, 2007), the idea that pragmatic awareness is necessary in order for speakers to be successful in communication has spread, being one of the most relevant constructs the one introduced by CelceMurcia (2007). Research has been conducted especially on speech acts, such as Leech’s (2014) book The Pragmatics of Politeness, whose taxonomy will be used in this study, and on the use of audiovisual material for teaching purposes. For that reason, we have carried out an analysis on speech acts, and in particular on apologies, in the fiction TV series The Big Bang Theory. The aim of this study is to analyse whether apologies in the nine episodes examined mirror real-life conversations, and if so, to show that this audiovisual material may be used for classroom activities as an appropriate tool to develop students’ pragmatic knowledge.

The Effects of Explicit/Implicit Instructions on the Development of Advanced EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Knowledge of English: Apology Speech Act

The current study explored the effects of explicit and implicit instructions on the development of advanced EFL learners’ pragmatic knowledge in terms of apology speech act. A total of 10 English native speakers and 40 advanced EFL students participated in this study. The Iraqi Kurdish EFL learners were selected from grade 12 in British International School in Erbil/ Iraq and their level was determined by Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) proficiency test. These 40 participants were divided randomly into two; explicit group (EG) and implicit group (IG) Later, they were provided a Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT) as a pre-test, which consisted of 10 different situations of apology and were based on the participants’ real-life situation, each situation included 3 options and only one answer could be selected which considered to be the most appropriate answer to them. The aim was to show if there were any significant differences between EG and IG. The English native speakers were given the same (MDCT) and were asked to choose the most appropriate answers. After the treatment, (EG) and (IG) were provided the same MDCT as a post-test. The findings revealed that the results of EG and IG were significant and they showed improvements after the treatment, and the EG outperformed the IG in post-test and delayed-test.

The Poverty of Philosophy

This article explores the essence of philosophy as a situation of authentic asking (poverty) which transcends the bounds of pragmatic knowledge. The poverty of philosophy is investigated in three meanings: liminality, abandonment, freedom. Liminality means that basic philosophical concepts are not ontologically given, they point to the openness of being, so docta ignorantia, learned ignorance is posited as the archetypal form of philosophy. Learned ignorance here means the knowledge of the whole (freedom, truth, God, soul, death, etc.). Knowledge of these is not gained experientially, not amassed, nor passed on, but rather exists in the special mode of already-knowledge. This knowledge leads to the dichotomy of captivation for fundamental philosophical concepts that precedes reflection and “grasp” of the instrumental mind, which turns the world as a whole into the object of power-seeking (V. Bibikhin). Abandonment: philosophy unfolds as thinking after the catastrophe of great beginnings. Historically, philosophy emerges with the collapse of mythological thinking. Philosophy is defined as post-catastrophic thinking, thinking in the state of abandonment. Freedom: philosophy as a self-collected readiness to place oneself at the edge. The author points out the marginality of philosophy, which doesn’t represent any metasubject (nation, state, class). This article shows philosophy’s destructive influence on myth, using the juxtaposition of community and society. Myth is shown to be a meta-narrative that integrates the community through a grand story of identity, marginalizing the Other and taking away her voice. At the same time, community is not an alternative project to be implemented as “utopia”; it is called to resist the final immanentization of society by generating splits and disruptions. The author outlines the main characteristics of community: the interruption of myth through giving voice to outcasts, and the destruction of the mimetic stance of “sacred beginnings”; the dispersion of subjective collectedness in existence- at-the-edge of a simulacrum; the introduction of the principle of ontological inadequacy (M. Blanchot); the gainsaying of the alternative between the singular and the general through articulating a “singular plural” (J.-L. Nancy), “any” being (G. Agamben); com-patibility as division (of joint space of coexistence and resisting homogenization); death as extreme openness to the other; communication as an ontological phenomenon beyond the function of representation and passing “information”; and memory as preservation of the traumatic Forgotten (J.-F. Lyotard). This article analyzes contemporary culture’s simulation of poverty, where exoticism of amassed impressions replaces liminality, the place of abandonment is taken by the apocalyptic rhetoric of postmodernity, and freedom is simulated through the biopolitical themes of security.

Paintings of Flower, Vegetable, and Fruit from the Late Joseon Period: Focusing on Sim Sajeong and Gang Sehwang

This essay explores new aspects of paintings of flower, vegetable, and fruit that Sim Sajeong (1707~1769), Gang Sehwang (1713~1791), and their artistic circle escalated into one of the major pictorial genres in the late Joseon dynasty. Falling into a conventional category Bird-and-Flower painting, this branch of painting has hitherto been studied only in the context of an individual artist’s development without receiving a proper recognition as a sign of a new pictorial trend of the period. The rise of the novel genre and its characteristics will shed a new light on the eighteenthcentury painting. The late Joseon period witnessed growing interests in pragmatic horticultural knowledge beyond a tradition of associating plants with idealistic virtues or subjective sentiments. Also a cultural phenomenon of appreciating and favoring flowers and trees has developed into extreme aestheticism and an extravagant pastime. Gardening books and related materials from the Ming and Qing dynasties were widely read, including painting manuals that inspired Kim Ingwan’s (act. fl. early 18th century) Landscape, Fish and Crab, Flower and Insects. The artistic currents, which Sim and Gang channeled into new heights, feature an increase of a single plant motif, the growth of paintings combining flowers and garden rocks, and the emergence of new subject-matters (e.g. begonias, rose mallows, lilies, hydrangeas, red plum blossoms, and narcissi). In addition, new pictorial modes settled, the kernels of which lie in the Idealistic inkmonochrome method or color-washed boneless manner. As such it made solid its status as a subject of privileged scholar-artist paintings. Although Sim and Gang display pictorial modes and subjects in common, their styles differ according to their social standings (Sim as a semi-professional literati painter, while Gang an amateur scholar painter). Sim sought rich and animated brushworks, a sophisticated composition inviting birds and worms against a garden background, and the picturesque. On the contrary Gang liked to employ somewhat monotonous ink tonalities, calligraphic strokes, concise structures, and blandness. Sim’s combined application of light-color washes and vivid paints contrasts with Gang’s nearly exclusive use of limpid color washes. Whereas Sim had an eclectic tendency to derive visual constituents from various painting manuals, Gang deliberately pursued the flatness of the prints. Those who shared subjects, modes, and styles with Sim and Gang are Choe Buk (1712~ca. 1786), Jeong Chungyeop (1725~after 1800), Ryu Sin (1748~1790), Jang Siheung (act. late 18th century), Kim Deokhyeong (act. late 18th~early 19th century), and Yi Bang-un (1761~after 1815). Their individual styles and brushworks based on sketching from life contributed not only to the proliferation of paintings of flower, vegetable, and fruit but also to the enrichment of late Joseon art world.

An analysis of content structure matrix for primary English education in the 2015 national curriculum

The present study aims to discuss validity of the matrix for content structure of primary English education presented in the national curriculum revised in 2015. The research questions are as follows: 1) Is the matrix an appropriate tool to select and arrange content in accordance with the characteristics and the objectives of primary English education? 2) Is the matrix organized and composed in a rational and logical way? 3) Does the matrix need to be improved and if so, how? To answer these questions the study analyzed the characteristics, the objectives, and the content structure matrix of primary English education presented in the 2015 national curriculum, and compared them with those of Korean language education and practical German language education. The results reveal that the matrix is limited in its ability to reflect the characteristics and the objectives properly, and the categories in the matrix and the specifics within them cannot be deemed to be rational and logical. From the results, the conclusion was drawn that the validity of the matrix is questionable and needs to be improved. For its improvement the study makes the following suggestion: to develop for primary English education a content structure matrix being organized on the basis of pragmatic functions, not concepts and knowledge, according to characteristics and objectives of the subject, while maintaining consistency within each category and connectivity among categories.

A Qualitative Investigation of Pragmatic Development in Foreign and Target Context

The effects of learning environment on language development in general and pragmatic competence have received increasing attention in the last few decades. The existing studies examined the effects of ESL and EFL settings on pragmatic development from a variety of standpoints. Taking these studies as the basis, this comparative case study aimed to investigate the effects of target context and foreign context on the pragmatic development of two groups of learners, one learning a foreign language (English) and the other learning a second language (Turkish). What differentiates this study from the previous ones is that it compares the cases of learning foreign and second languages (by two different student groups) in the same country (Turkey) The participants, selected on purposeful sampling, were one group of Turkish learners of English in an EFL department in Turkey and the other group was learners from different nationalities learning Turkish in Turkey. The data were collected through participants’ self-reports, interviews and in-class observations by the researcher. The content analysis mainly revealed that the foreign context did not offer learners adequate chances for exposure to and practice in the target language, which negatively influenced their pragmatic development. However, the target context provided ample chances of natural and authentic communication in which learners of Turkish could develop their pragmatic knowledge and production. Based on these results, some pedagogical and practical suggestions are provided.

De vertaler als schrijver

Abstract The translator as a writer: Text production competence as a component of translation competence Most translation scholars and practitioners believe that translators should be able to write. What this writing competence for translators entails and how it differs from the competence of writers remains undiscussed. In this article we compare the relevant literature from translation studies and writing research. Translation competence models do not mention writing competence but refer (implicitly) to text-productive competence. This term emphasizes that the text-production that takes place during the translation process may be more or less source text-oriented and therefore may resemble to a greater or lesser extent other forms of text production. The translator’s text-productive competence seems to be restricted to communicative competence in the target language, building on declarative but predominantly procedural lexical, grammatical, pragmatic and textual knowledge. This communicative competence in the TL cannot be viewed in isolation of the ability to control interference from the source text and source language. The translator’s text-productive competence also appears to build on strategic knowledge. A comparison between the competences of writers and of translators shows that they indeed share many identical knowledge types, skills, abilities and attitudes. Although a number of writing subcompetences bear great resemblance with translation subcompetences, closer examination reveals divergence in their scope, their purpose and organisation.

Pragmatic interpretation: There is a difference in the way that L1 and L2 learners experience the interpretation of a literary text

This study investigated the premise that pragmatic competence which is needed to access certain features of a literary text differs amongst first language and second language learners in a home language classroom in South Africa. It focused on understanding learners’ difficulties with pragmatic questions in contextual analysis and drew on findings from a qualitative study that examined learners’ pragmatic awareness and strategies in accessing a prescribed literary text. The findings illustrate how linguistic behaviour and exposure to certain features of the target language contribute to differing levels of pragmatic competence. The need is pointed out for the development of pragmatic knowledge of second language learners whose contextual knowledge and worldviews may be different to those of first language speakers but who compete at the same level in the home language classroom.Keywords: pragmatic competence, contextual analysis, communicative competence, inference

A Pragmatic Analysis Of Face Management In Selected English Televion Interviews

Face management is crucial during speech exchanged between the participants. When the interviewer and the interviewee start communicating and turns are transmitted between them, each tries hard to protect his/her own face from being threatened, but this social value is not always protected as it is often threatened on purpose. This paper hypothesizes that the ability to manage face by the interviewer and the interviewee is affected by activating pragmatic knowledge. It also postulates that face threatening act dominates face saving act in TV interviews. The paper is limited to the investigation of face management between the interviewer and the interviewee while they exchange turns from a pragmatic perspective focusing on British English. It is specified to the study of selected English interviews from local British Channels, and uses certain concepts depending on Leech’s politeness principles (1983), Brown and Levinson’s (1987) introduction to positive and negative face, and face threatening acts with the strategies for reducing them. The paper is of theoretical value for those who like to study face management during turn transitions between people generally, and the interviewer and the interviewee in particular while they interact socially on TV.

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

Hybridity and Linguistic Pluralism: A Pragmatic Analysis of University Academic Discourse

The language used in academic texts and pedagogy is referred as academic discourse. Being student and teacher, the researchers observed that mixing of home language with academic language was a common practice in many institutions. Some linguists appreciate it, while others resist it by claiming it detrimental to objectivity and neutrality. Chiang (2006) finds role of teacher’s discourse a determining factor in pedagogy. Current study was conducted to observe the phenomenon of hybridization in academic discourse and to assess it in the light of pragmatics. Pragmatic analysis is known as a useful method to infer covert and implicit meanings of language (Savignon, 2007) and the researchers deemed it appropriate for current research. The pragmatic analysis could provide a newer outlook on academic discourse. Data was collected through observation sheet from the classes. Questionnaire was also used to get relevant data from teachers. The findings revealed that teachers often relied on cultural and ideological underpinnings in their pedagogy. The individual conversational styles were also responsible for different mode of hybridization and subsequently reinforced diverse facet of discourse different in pragmatic nature. The data was first analyzed for hybridization followed by its pragmatic analysis. The study was important in the backdrop of one of many beliefs, that meaning never remains fixed and it resides in socio-cultural structures and lack of pragmatic knowledge among interlocutors impedes semantic proficiency. The study revealed utility of pragmatic competence in turning this mixing of discourses in a class into a continuum. It also found that knowledge of academic pragmatics could reinforce semantic proficiency.

A systematic literature analysis on entrepreneurial orientation and business performance

Purpose- Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) has received substantial attention in entrepreneurship research in recent years. However, this aspect has not been fully considered in relation to graduate entrepreneurs in the university systems. This article aims to investigate the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance. Methodology- 15 empirical research and 126 articles published in relevant journals were selected through major indexes: ISI, SCOPUS and Google Search. The methodology incorporated theses and articles which showed a relationship with the two constructs from 2000 to 2018. This article proposes a conceptual model consisting of some specific dimensions of EO: entrepreneurship desire, innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking and networking capability. Findings- The limited number of research conducted in this area previously does not cover the issues of graduate entrepreneurs and numerous doubts on EO remain unanswered. Conclusion- The proposed recommendations strongly advocate for future empirical research of this topic, whereby it would add new pragmatic knowledge to the existing.

Processing English Formulaic Expressions in Situation-Bound Utterances: Strategies Used by Francophone ESL Learners in Thailand

In examining how English as a second language (ESL) learners process English formulaic expressions in a nonnative English context, this study aims to investigate the strategies that learners use and how first language (L1) culture and conceptual knowledge could influence the use of the strategies. This study is guided by the research question of how francophone ESL learners in Thailand process formulaic expressions in situation-bound utterances (SBUs). Three Francophone Cameroonian learners of English in a university in Thailand (served as the experimental group) and two native English speakers (as the control group) participated in this study. Oral Discourse Completion Task (DCT) was employed to elicit data and evaluated based on 4 categories: (1) Native-like English; (2) Towards Native-like English; (3) Francophone English; and (4) Irrelevant English. The result showed that among the three francophone participants in the study whose native languages were French, 60% DCT responses were Towards Native-like (TNE), 30% were Francophone English (FE), 10% were Native-like English (NE). There was no response from the DCTs, according to the analysis, that was irrelevant English. A further analysis of the three categories revealed that the learners primarily used simplification, verbosity, literal salience, and L1 cultural transfer strategies in processing formulaic expressions. This study corroborates the seemingly weak connection of English linguistic proficiency and sociolinguistic competence in ESL learner’s pragmatic knowledge, as well as the reliance on L1 conventionalized conceptualization in processing English formulaic expressions. Implications for teaching formulaic expressions in a nonnative English as a foreign language (EFL) context in general, and Thai context in particular are also discussed.

English

Pragmatics is a basic and vital part of dialect capacity all together for L2 learners to comprehend and be comprehended in their communications with native speakers (NSs). This study aims to identify pragmatics and pragmatic transfer, and to make an overview about the relation between pragmatic transfer and language acquisition. One of the main results that are demonstrated from this study is that there are several observed factors that play a significant role in the pragmatics competency such as; grammatical competence, input factors and instructions. The study results also indicated that the negative pragmatic transfer occurs usually when the L2 learners erroneously generalized to L2 context from pragmatic knowledge of Ll. Negative transfer may prompt miscommunication but not always. This sort of transfer is called negative, not as a result of its negative impact on the success of communication, but since it includes an unjustified generalization from pragmatic knowledge of L1 to a communicative circumstance in L2. The study recommended for more investigations into this topic and specially, in non-basic viewpoints, including negative pragmatic transfer. Key words: Pragmatics, pragmatic transfer, L2 learners.

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.

Empirical evaluation of educational interactive systems

Educational software systems are usually highly interactive systems that needs to be evaluated from two different perspectives, first as interactive software, mainly using usability and accessibility approaches, and second as an educational product that needs to be evaluated from its learning impact. The empirical evaluation methods may be quantitative, with a more deductive reasoning, or qualitative, with a more inductive reasoning, oriented, however mixed approaches have been used extensively because they combine the both main methods with a more pragmatic knowledge focusing on knowing the consequences or solving problems. The empirical evaluation of interactive educational software due to its own characteristics requires a mixed approach typically. This special issue is devoted to identify, share and valorise best practices and experiences, with a very solid modelling background, that are focused on the empirical evaluation of educational interactive systems with a special emphasis on mixed quantitative and qualitative approaches.