The interface between interlanguage pragmatics
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This article offers in written form most of the points that I made in my plenary at the JALT Pan-SIG Conference in the
Spring of 2004. The article will first speak to the importance of pragmatics, and especially speech acts,
in the teaching and learning of a second language (L2). Second, it will speak to the challenges of testing pragmatic behavior.
Finally, suggestions for action are offered.![]() |
the ability to deal with "meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader) ...[and to interpret] people's intended meanings, their assumptions, their purposes or goals, and the kinds of actions (for example, requests) that they are performing when they speak. (Yule, 1996, p. 3-4)
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Pragmatic behavior in SLA
"While there has been a presumption (or perhaps wish) among language educators that learners will eventually acquire on their own a sense of how to perform speech acts just from being exposed to the target language, experience and research as well has proven this view to be false." |
A Website on speech acts for teachers
". . . there is a real problem associated with the explicit teaching of speech acts: the very act of doing so means that we are extracting them from their rich context, creating a more artificial situation." |
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Self-access materials on speech acts for learners
Numerous unresolved issues
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Assessing speech acts
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Perception of a Speech ActRate the following responses according to whether they are "acceptable," "more or less acceptable," or "unacceptable" in an American English situation:(1) A student forgets to return a book to a professor. Student: a. ____ Oh, damn! I forgot it. b. ____ Sorry. I forgot. c. ____ Oh, I'm really sorry. I completely forgot. d. ____ Oh, well, I've had a lot on my mind lately. (2) A young woman bumps into your shopping cart at the supermarket and some of your groceries spill onto the floor. Aside from helping you pick them up, she says: a. ____ Sorry. b. ____ Please forgive me. c. ____ I'm very sorry. d. ____ I'm really sorry. |
Production of a Speech Act: Classical DCT(1) You promised you'd buy your neighbor medicine for her sick child while in town, but you forgot. Your neighbor: "Did you get the medicine?" You: _________________________ (2) You don't stop in time at a red light and bump into the car in front of you. The other driver and you get out and see that there is damage to the other car. The other driver is very upset. You: _________________________ |
Production of a Speech Act: Multiple-Rejoinder DCT(1) You find a bargain air ticket to a city where you have great friends. In order to take advantage of this deal, you need to ask your instructor for an extension on a paper that you were supposed to hand in after the weekend. You: __________________________ Professor: Well, you know, you had plenty of time to work on this paper already. There was no need to wait until the last minute to prepare it. You: __________________________ Professor: I'm sorry, but I can't really agree to give you an extension on this paper. I don't think that going to visit some friends during the semester is a good enough reason for an extension. You: _________________________ Professor: Well, I'm not so thrilled about doing it. It's not my policy. You: _________________________ Professor: Ok, well, just this time. |
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Discussion
". . . the best approach is to collect data from more than one measure and all the same, to view these measures as an approximation of the respondent's speech act ability." |
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References
See Cohen and Ishihara (2004) for more on the strategies component of the website. |