Shadi Majed AlShraah; Haliza Harun; Aa-ieshah Abrahams Kariem
Abstract
The previous three decades have seen a growing body of research into interlanguage pragmatics (ILP), language proficiency, and their effects on pragmatic competence. One of the most important independent aspects in the field of ILP development is language ability. This study which involved 98 Saudi learners, ...
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The previous three decades have seen a growing body of research into interlanguage pragmatics (ILP), language proficiency, and their effects on pragmatic competence. One of the most important independent aspects in the field of ILP development is language ability. This study which involved 98 Saudi learners, was conducted to determine whether there was a relationship between language proficiency and pragmatic production and realization. This study depended basically on the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Pattern and politeness theory to analyze the gathered data using a Discourse Completion Task. Findings showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the Directness Level according to the variable of proficiency between the two groups. However, there were statistically significant differences in Conventionally Indirect in producing request acts. Regarding Non-Conventionally Indirect, only the high achiever group employed this strategy. Furthermore, results indicated that language proficiency had a significant influence on Saudi EFL learners’ production and comprehension of the request act.
Shuan Wei-Hong Ko; Zohreh R. Eslami; Lynn M. Burlbaw
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, , Pages 1-15
Abstract
The present study investigated learners’ interlanguage pragmatic development through analysis of 99 requestive emails addressed to a faculty member over a period of up to two years. Most previous studies mainly investigated how non-native English speaking students’ (NNESs) pragmalinguistic ...
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The present study investigated learners’ interlanguage pragmatic development through analysis of 99 requestive emails addressed to a faculty member over a period of up to two years. Most previous studies mainly investigated how non-native English speaking students’ (NNESs) pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence differed from native English speaking students (NESs) and compared learners with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds with NESs. In addition, most of the existing literature on developmental pragmatics has used elicited data. Naturally occurring data, in the form of emails, offer a more valid reflection of learners’ pragmatic competence. This study adopted speech event analysis approach, which seeks to account for all parts of requestive emails and recognizes the “work” each part does in the production of the speech event. Results indicated that, although NNES students did not show much pragmatic development in the frequency and type of strategies they used, the NNES students used a more deferential style in the opening and closing of their emails compared to native speakers. Additionally, the findings revealed the merits of analyzing natural data in interlanguage pragmatics and offered the benefit of recognizing email requests as a situated event.