Pragmatic development and study abroad: new perspectives on the teaching and learning of second language (L2) requests and apologies.
Nicola Halenko
University of Centrail Lancashire
Abstract
This quasi-experimental study employing adult Chinese learners of English (N = 61) represents an underexplored area of explicit pragmatic interventions in the UK study abroad context. Ten hours of explicit instruction on requests and apologies, using differentiated training materials, were measured against natural acquisition of these speech acts through L2 interaction. The study is innovative in its direct comparison of technology-enhanced versus traditional paper-based resources, its focus on multiple speech acts with multiple participant groups (two experimental groups and one control group), and its multiple delayed test design. The study investigated instructional effects over twelve weeks, using innovative virtual role plays, to examine, i) the effects of differentiated explicit instruction on learners’ request and apology production, ii) whether exposure to the target language environment alone enhanced production.
The data were rated for appropriacy on a Likert scale and linguistically analysed. Results showed that explicit instruction was highly effective, particularly for the technology-enhanced group. Exposure to the L2 environment alone facilitated little change in the control group’s pragmatic development, though a language contact questionnaire revealed increased L2 interaction. The outcomes underline the positive benefits of explicit pragmatic instruction (Taguchi, 2014) and technology-enhanced teaching (Shively, 2010), but indicate a need for regular input and practice opportunities for long-term retention of pragmatic knowledge.
Shively, R. (2010). From the virtual world to the real world: a model of pragmatics instruction for study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 43(1), 105-137.
Taguchi, N. (2014). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where ILP studies are, were, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48, 1-50.