Exploring the role of strategy instruction on learners’ ability to write authentic email requests to faculty

This study used a pre-test post-test research design to investigate the role of explicit strategy instruction on Spanish English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ ability to write authentic email requests to faculty. Drawing on Taguchi’s (2018) classification of pragmatics learning strategies, the instructional intervention followed a strategy-based approach to help learners understand the form–function–context mapping of email requests in the academic context. A total of 110 naturally occurring email requests for action addressed to three faculty members were collected at two different times: as a pre-test (i.e. before engaging learners in the instructional period), and as a post-test (i.e. after learners’ participation in the treatment sessions). Learners’ email messages were analysed considering both their appropriateness of use as well the frequency of utilization of different structural (i.e. subject line, openings and closings) and content components (i.e. request strategies and internal request modifiers). Results showed that strategy instruction helped learners write more appropriate email requests after the instructional period. The findings suggest that arming learners with a variety of strategic tools may lead to pragmatic development in actual language use.

Classroom learning of English L2 requests: Input and interactional opportunities in French secondary schools

With today’s strong focus on communicative competence in second language (L2) classrooms, speech acts like suggestions, requests, refusals, and apologies are often investigated in interlanguage pragmatic (ILP) as well as instructional pragmatics. Even though there is strong evidence in ILP research that purports that L2 learners respond well to pragmatic instruction (Taguchi, 2015), the teaching of L2 pragmatics is not always prioritized in textbooks, teaching programmes or teacher education (Barron, 2016; Savvidou & Economidou-Kogetsidis, 2019) with the consequence that pragmatic learning can only occur incidentally. The present study examines opportunities to acquire L2 requests for 308 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners across 7 years of instruction in French secondary schools, investigating textbooks preferred by teachers, classroom interaction (39 hours), and teacher perspectives (semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers). After a pragmatic analysis of 15 EFL textbooks with a focus on requests, the study examines the incidence of metapragmatic input in 39 hours of teaching in 13 classes at 3 levels, and relates interactional patterns with interview data from the 10 teachers concerned. Findings suggest limited pragmatic input in both textbooks and classroom interaction. By comparing the profiles of teachers who encouraged L2 requests with those who did not, the study offers new explanations for L2 learners’ limited pragmatic development which also broadly corroborate previous findings of somewhat limited potential for L2 pragmatic development in obligatory school contexts.

Study Abroad and Its Effect on the Pragmatic Performance of English Requests by Hong Kong English Language Students

<p>This thesis investigates the study abroad experience and its effect on the pragmatic development of second language learners. The research first describes affective and environmental dimensions of the study abroad experience as undertaken by a group of Hong Kong learners over a nine-month period of study at an Australian university. Second, it investigates changes in the way these learners performed requests in English over the duration of the study abroad experience. This data provides insights into their pragmatic development in English. Comparisons of request devices were made with a matched group of learners who continued their studies in Hong Kong and with a group of Australian native speakers. Finally the research examines the relationship between affective and environmental dimensions of the study abroad experience and changes in the performance of requests across the nine month study abroad period by the learners. This research takes a quantitative and qualitative approach to data analysis. A quantitative approach, using inferential statistics (ANOVA) was used to analyse learner self-report data gathered before and during the study abroad period using the Language Contact Profile. This data included information on time spent interacting or listening in English, attitudes and reasons for learning English, perceptions of the target language community, perceptions of Australia, self-rated proficiency and self-rated confidence scores. Similarly, inferential statistics (ANOVA and chi-square tests) were used to analyse and compare request performances obtained through oral Enhanced Discourse Completion Tests (EDCTs) and role-plays by three groups: the study abroad learners; an equivalent group of students in Hong Kong; and by a group of Australian native speakers. Finally, Spearman’s rho correlation was used to analyse the relationship between study abroad learners’ pragmatic performance and the affective and environmental dimensions of their experience. Qualitative data in the form of interview data and student entries in introspective diaries was collected to provide in-depth explanations for responses to the oral EDCTs and role-plays. Three main findings emerged from this study. The first finding relates to the environmental and affective dimensions of learners’ study abroad experience. Analyses revealed that, unsurprisingly, there was an overall increase in the number of hours study abroad learners listened and interacted face-to-face in English. Nevertheless, this increase plateaued after the first four months of learners’ sojourn in Australia and their interactions were mostly with other English learners who were their classmates, flat mates or friends through the Hong Kong Association at the university. These findings suggest learners established their network of friends in the first months of their sojourn in Australia, and it was unlikely learners went beyond this circle of friends during their stay in Australia. Thus, learners’ contact with fluent/native English speakers was limited. Additionally, and contrary to the common belief that there is a ‘homestay advantage’, learners living with a host family did not necessarily have more face-to-face interaction with fluent/native English speakers than those living in a student dormitory. Interaction between the host and the learner depended heavily on the individual learner’s attitude towards the host family. Furthermore, learners’ English input and face-to-face interaction correlated significantly with the increase in learners’ self-perceived confidence in speaking, communication and grammar, but not self-perceived proficiency. The second main finding concerns the pragmatic performance of English requests by at-home and study abroad learners, focusing specifically on three features of requests: request heads, softeners and external modifications. Results showed no change in the occurrence of these three features in requests made by the at-home learners at the beginning of the data collection period and again four months later. Similarly there was no change in the type of request heads and softeners used by the study abroad learners by the end of ninth months study in Australia. However, they had begun to use some of the request external modifiers that were frequently employed by native speakers of Australian English and used significantly more request external modifiers. These results lend support to the Complexification Hypothesis (Trosborg 1995) because learners first used the more routinised features before developing proficiency in the non-formulaic features of request external modifiers. More importantly, this study offered further support for the Bulge Theory (Wolfson 1986). The results in this study indicated that after nine months of being in Australia, the learners used a less familiar structure ‘conventional indirect request’ in close distance situations, such as with friends. However, in maximum social distance interactions between higher and lower status interlocutors, the learners employed direct requests to reduce cognitive burden to free more processing capacity for using external modifiers to express politeness. The third main finding relates to the effect of environmental and affective factors on the study abroad learners’ performance of English request devices. This study showed the number of request external modifiers study abroad learners used significantly increased with time. Furthermore, the results showed that by the end of the nine months, the number of request external modifiers study abroad learners used correlated significantly with a number of environmental and affective factors: learners’ overall English input, learners’ face-to-face interaction with English speakers in the living environment, as well as learners’ self-perceived proficiency and self-perceived confidence in speaking and communication, but not with their self-perceived proficiency in grammar. Overall, the research shows that learners can improve their pragmatic performance through exposure to English in the target language community in ways that are not seen in the language development of learners learning in an English as a foreign language setting. However, the results also show that study abroad learners may have quite limited opportunities to interact with English speakers during their sojourn abroad.</p>

Study Abroad and Its Effect on the Pragmatic Performance of English Requests by Hong Kong English Language Students

<p>This thesis investigates the study abroad experience and its effect on the pragmatic development of second language learners. The research first describes affective and environmental dimensions of the study abroad experience as undertaken by a group of Hong Kong learners over a nine-month period of study at an Australian university. Second, it investigates changes in the way these learners performed requests in English over the duration of the study abroad experience. This data provides insights into their pragmatic development in English. Comparisons of request devices were made with a matched group of learners who continued their studies in Hong Kong and with a group of Australian native speakers. Finally the research examines the relationship between affective and environmental dimensions of the study abroad experience and changes in the performance of requests across the nine month study abroad period by the learners. This research takes a quantitative and qualitative approach to data analysis. A quantitative approach, using inferential statistics (ANOVA) was used to analyse learner self-report data gathered before and during the study abroad period using the Language Contact Profile. This data included information on time spent interacting or listening in English, attitudes and reasons for learning English, perceptions of the target language community, perceptions of Australia, self-rated proficiency and self-rated confidence scores. Similarly, inferential statistics (ANOVA and chi-square tests) were used to analyse and compare request performances obtained through oral Enhanced Discourse Completion Tests (EDCTs) and role-plays by three groups: the study abroad learners; an equivalent group of students in Hong Kong; and by a group of Australian native speakers. Finally, Spearman’s rho correlation was used to analyse the relationship between study abroad learners’ pragmatic performance and the affective and environmental dimensions of their experience. Qualitative data in the form of interview data and student entries in introspective diaries was collected to provide in-depth explanations for responses to the oral EDCTs and role-plays. Three main findings emerged from this study. The first finding relates to the environmental and affective dimensions of learners’ study abroad experience. Analyses revealed that, unsurprisingly, there was an overall increase in the number of hours study abroad learners listened and interacted face-to-face in English. Nevertheless, this increase plateaued after the first four months of learners’ sojourn in Australia and their interactions were mostly with other English learners who were their classmates, flat mates or friends through the Hong Kong Association at the university. These findings suggest learners established their network of friends in the first months of their sojourn in Australia, and it was unlikely learners went beyond this circle of friends during their stay in Australia. Thus, learners’ contact with fluent/native English speakers was limited. Additionally, and contrary to the common belief that there is a ‘homestay advantage’, learners living with a host family did not necessarily have more face-to-face interaction with fluent/native English speakers than those living in a student dormitory. Interaction between the host and the learner depended heavily on the individual learner’s attitude towards the host family. Furthermore, learners’ English input and face-to-face interaction correlated significantly with the increase in learners’ self-perceived confidence in speaking, communication and grammar, but not self-perceived proficiency. The second main finding concerns the pragmatic performance of English requests by at-home and study abroad learners, focusing specifically on three features of requests: request heads, softeners and external modifications. Results showed no change in the occurrence of these three features in requests made by the at-home learners at the beginning of the data collection period and again four months later. Similarly there was no change in the type of request heads and softeners used by the study abroad learners by the end of ninth months study in Australia. However, they had begun to use some of the request external modifiers that were frequently employed by native speakers of Australian English and used significantly more request external modifiers. These results lend support to the Complexification Hypothesis (Trosborg 1995) because learners first used the more routinised features before developing proficiency in the non-formulaic features of request external modifiers. More importantly, this study offered further support for the Bulge Theory (Wolfson 1986). The results in this study indicated that after nine months of being in Australia, the learners used a less familiar structure ‘conventional indirect request’ in close distance situations, such as with friends. However, in maximum social distance interactions between higher and lower status interlocutors, the learners employed direct requests to reduce cognitive burden to free more processing capacity for using external modifiers to express politeness. The third main finding relates to the effect of environmental and affective factors on the study abroad learners’ performance of English request devices. This study showed the number of request external modifiers study abroad learners used significantly increased with time. Furthermore, the results showed that by the end of the nine months, the number of request external modifiers study abroad learners used correlated significantly with a number of environmental and affective factors: learners’ overall English input, learners’ face-to-face interaction with English speakers in the living environment, as well as learners’ self-perceived proficiency and self-perceived confidence in speaking and communication, but not with their self-perceived proficiency in grammar. Overall, the research shows that learners can improve their pragmatic performance through exposure to English in the target language community in ways that are not seen in the language development of learners learning in an English as a foreign language setting. However, the results also show that study abroad learners may have quite limited opportunities to interact with English speakers during their sojourn abroad.</p>

Comprehending implied meaning

This study investigated the extent to which proficiency, length of residence, and intensity of interaction in a target language affect L2 learners’ pragmatic ability in comprehending conversational implicature and indirect speech acts. 68 participants, 38 L1 English and 30 L2 English users, completed two measures: a pragmatic listening test measuring implied meaning comprehension and a language contact profile survey identifying length of residence and intensity of L2 interaction. The standard multiple regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between implied meaning comprehension and learners’ proficiency, length of residence, and intensity of interaction. Together, these factors explained a significant amount of the variance in learners’ overall comprehension ability, with proficiency being the strongest predictor, followed by intensity of interaction, then length of residence. Findings also showed that while it was more challenging for the less proficient learners to comprehend conversational implicature than indirect speech acts, there was no significant difference between the two types for the higher proficiency group. Further analysis of the L2 interaction types indicated a significant, moderate relationship between the time spent speaking and learners’ implied meaning comprehension. These findings offer pedagogical and methodological implications for L2 pragmatic development.

The Impact of the Age at the Cochlear Implantation on the Pragmatic Development of the Prelingual Hearing Impaired Egyptian Arabic Speaking Children

Background Hearing impaired children have delayed development of pragmatic skills as hearing impairment (HI) deprives them from exposure to natural communication interactions. The rehabilitation of children with HI aims to improve their listening skills for better language development and better communication and social interactions. Aim of this work to compare the pragmatic language development of the prelingual hearing impaired children who were cochlearly implanted before the age of 3 years and those who were cochlearly implanted after the age of 3 years. Methods Sixty Egyptian Arabic-speaking children with prelingual severe to profound sensory neural hearing loss, thirty children who were cochlearly implanted before the age of 3.0 years compared to thirty children who were cochlearly implanted after the age of 3.0 years. Language assessment was done by Modified Preschool Language Scale – 4th edition (PLS–4), the Arabic version and pragmatic development was assessed by Standardized Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test (EAPLT). Results The two study groups showed no significant differences regarding the receptive, expressive, and total language test scores by PLS-4. Group I showed a significant difference (improvement) regarding the pragmatic factors while there were no significant differences between the two study groups regarding the rest of the pragmatics scores by EAPLT. Conclusion The pragmatic language of cochlearly implanted children either who have been implanted before or after 3 years old is affected. This higher susceptibility to pragmatic impairment in prelingual cochlearly implanted children, as well as the importance of pragmatic skills for further social-communicative and academic careers, should be considered in their rehabilitative plan and advocate the importance for early incorporation of pragmatic behaviors into their intervention programs.

Pragmatic, linguistic and cognitive factors in young children's development of quantity, relevance and word learning inferences

To better understand the developmental trajectory of children's pragmatic development, studies that examine more than one type of implicature as well as associated linguistic and cognitive factors are required. We investigated three- to five-year-old English-speaking children's (N = 71) performance in ad hoc quantity, scalar quantity and relevance implicatures, as well as word learning by exclusion inferences, using a sentence-to-picture-matching story-based task. Children's pragmatic abilities improved with age, with word learning by exclusion acquired first, followed by relevance and ad hoc quantity implicatures, and finally scalar quantity implicatures. In an exploratory analysis (with a subset of the data N = 58), we found that structural language knowledge was a predictor of pragmatic performance (but no evidence for an association with socioeconomic status or Theory of Mind, controlling for structural language). We discuss reasons why this developmental pattern emerges with reference to linguistic and extra-linguistic properties of these inferences.

The Assessment of Early Pragmatic Development: A Study of the Reliability and Validity of the Language Use Inventory-Italian

Purpose Pragmatics is receiving much attention in both the fields of developmental and clinical psychology; however, there is a dearth of instruments to assess pragmatic abilities specifically among young toddler-age children. The aim of the current study was to test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Language Use Inventory (LUI), named the LUI-Italian, a parent report measure assessing pragmatic language development in children 18–47 months of age. Method Parents of Italian-speaking children who ranged in age between 18 and 47 months completed the LUI-Italian at T1 ( N = 389) and 1 week later ( N = 53). At T1, children were also administered the First Language Test (Test del Primo Linguaggio [TPL]), a direct measure of pragmatics, vocabulary, and syntax. Results Cronbach's alpha values were at or above acceptable levels. Factor analysis and test–retest confirmed the strong structure and reliability of the LUI-Italian. Some evidence for concurrent validity was found, as shown by associations between the LUI-Italian and the TPL. Conclusions The LUI-Italian demonstrated good psychometric properties relating to reliability, thus providing a sound basis for proceeding to a standardization study, and supporting cross-cultural comparison of pragmatic development and further exploration of profiles of pragmatic competence for children displaying language impairments or delay. Future studies need to further test concurrent, divergent, and predictive validity of the LUI-Italian.