Second Language Pragmatics Research Articles

Ideal L2 Self, Self-Efficacy, and Pragmatic Production: The Mediating Role of Willingness to Communicate in Learning English as a Foreign Language.

The role that individual difference factors play in pragmatic learning behavior has received increasing attention in second-language (L2) pragmatics. However, there is a dearth of studies exploring the relationship between learners' motivational variables and their pragmatic production. To address this gap, the present study aims to examine a model of the ideal L2 self, self-efficacy, willingness to communicate (WTC), and pragmatic production among English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners. The study also seeks to explore the mediating role of WTC within this structural model. For this purpose, a total of 427 undergraduate students at a public university in China were recruited for an online survey. The structural validity of the questionnaires was established using a confirmatory-factor analysis, while the hypothesized structural relations between the variables were tested through structural-equation modeling. The results demonstrated that self-efficacy and WTC significantly and directly predicated pragmatic production. Nevertheless, the ideal L2 self influenced pragmatic production indirectly, through the mediation of WTC. The study concludes by providing implications for teaching and by offering suggestions for future research.

Pragmatics in the context of English for occupational purposes: Speech acts produced by Japanese workers

Background: Second-language (L2) pragmatics is one of the important fields of second-language acquisition research, where the native speakers’ norm is the standard. However, in another subfield of applied linguistics, English for occupational purposes (EOP), the importance of speakers’ expertise is instead emphasized. Although pragmatics plays an important role in workplace communication, few empirical studies examined Japanese workers’ English usage. This study clarifies how appropriately the participants can produce speech acts of request, apology, refusal, and advice-giving, and what factors affect their performances. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between pragmatics scores and the strategies used by participants. Methods: We recruited 100 Japanese workers who speak English through a crowdsourcing platform. Complete responses from 92 participants were included in data analysis; eight people input the completion code but failed to save data on the survey response form, thus were excluded from the study. The participants answered demographic questions and then answered a written discourse completion task. We posed 12 situations, representing four speech acts: request, apology, refusal, and advice-giving. Considering the situation, the participants typed the English expression they would offer in response. Their responses were graded with a six-point rating rubric and coded using the strategy framework. Results: Multiple strategies influenced the pragmatics scores, regardless of the type of speech act. Those who obtained higher scores tended to use multiple strategies, and not only main strategies but also modifications. The L2 proficiency was a significant factor affecting how participants offer an apology, while participants’ experiences of working abroad affected how they expressed refusal. Participants who obtained higher scores tended to use indirect pragmatics strategies, accompanied by modifications. Conclusion: The application of multiple pragmatics strategies is essential, regardless of the speech act type. To extend the findings, further EOP research is required with a variety of transferred employees in inner/outer/expanding circles.

Pedagogical linguistics

Abstract The positive effects of instruction on the acquisition of second-language pragmatics has been well documented by numerous recent published studies (81 in the 10 years between Rose, 2005, and Bardovi-Harlig, 2015), but we have yet to see a corresponding increase in the teaching of pragmatics in second and foreign language classrooms or language textbooks. This article explores some of the potential causes for the lack of implementation of pragmatics instruction in second and foreign language classrooms (Skyes, 2013) and suggests means of overcoming such challenges. Pedagogical linguistics, in the form of pedagogical pragmatics, offers insight into meeting the challenges of limited theoretical support for curricular development, lack of authentic input in teaching materials, lack of instructor knowledge, and lack of reference books and pedagogical resources for teachers. The final challenge for pedagogical linguistics and pragmatics researchers is conveying relevant research findings to teachers; means for accomplishing this are discussed in the final section of the article.

Awareness of meaning of conventional expressions in second-language pragmatics

This study explores L2 learners’ awareness of meaning of L2 conventional expressions and the effect of form-meaning associations on the use of the expressions in L2 pragmatics. Definitions and examples were elicited through an aural Vocabulary Knowledge Scale modified for expressions. Elicited definitions were used to explore the meanings that learners assign to conventional expressions and learners’ examples were used to investigate the use to which they put them in conversation. One hundred and thirteen learners participated in a 22-item task in which all conventional expressions were presented aurally. Learner awareness of the meaning of conventional expressions seems likely to play a role in whether learners use an expression, and which expression among related expressions they use to the exclusion of others. Moreover, plausible meanings may be gradually associated with a conventional expression and refined rather than acquired at the same time as the form of the expression.