Acculturation and acquisition of pragmatic routines in the study abroad context

2018

System

Research has shown that being multilingual is a valuable asset for learning pragmatics.By adopting a multilingual turn perspective, this study investigates patterns of pragmatic development in the multilingual classroom setting of the Valencian Community in Spain, where English, Catalan and Spanish coexist. Participants were 313 learners of English and 15 teachers. Each learner wrote three argumentative essays over one academic year in three languages: English, Catalan and Spanish. A mixed method approach was followed to examine learning trajectories of two types of discourse-pragmatic markers: textual and interpersonal markers. Quantitative results revealed significant gains in the production of textual discourse-pragmatic markers in English, while interpersonal discourse-pragmatic markers followed an irregular pattern.Findings also revealed variations in discourse-pragmatic marker learning trajectories in English, Catalan and Spanish: learning trajectories in the minority language (Catalan) and the L3 (English) were more fluctuating and the patterns interacted with each other, which contrasted with the linear development found in the majority language (Spanish).Qualitative findings are discussed to illustrate how factors such as learners' pragmatic awareness, teachers' practices and the sociolinguistic context of the study may interact in the process of pragmatic learning in the multilingual classroom.2

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Pragmatics In Multilingual Written Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of discourse-pragmatic markers in a multilingual classroom: A mixed method research approach

Martín-Laguna

2018

System

“…Previous studies have also pointed out that pragmatic acquisition during study abroad is largely determined by intensity of interaction with target language speakers (Bardovi-Harlig & Bastos, 2011; Bella, 2011). Additionally, pragmatic development is influenced by learners’ individual differences, including their initial proficiency level (Xiao, 2015), motivation (Eslami & Jin Ahn, 2014), personality (Taguchi, 2014), cultural background (Sánchez-Hernández, 2017), and sociocultural adaptation to the target language environment (Sánchez-Hernández, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pragmatic Development During Study Abroad: An Analysis of Spanish Teenagers’ Request Strategies in English Emails

2017

Ann Rev Appl Linguist

Previous research has shown that adolescent second language learners benefit from pragmatic instruction during study abroad (Alcón-Soler, 2015). As a follow-up investigation, the present study looked at late adolescent study-abroad learners, and it examined both the immediate effect of pragmatic instruction and the pragmatic trajectories that adolescent learners follow once they move from the instructional context to real email communication. Email requests in English produced by 60 (30 treatment and 30 control) Spanish teenagers studying in England were analyzed with regard to the impact of instruction on the frequency of indirect request strategies and internal modifiers. In addition, the pragmatic trajectories of two learners—one high producer and one low producer of request modifiers—were analyzed qualitatively on four separate occasions during the study-abroad experience. The findings show the positive effects of instruction on learners’ use of indirect request strategies and request modifiers. However, there is no homogeneous pattern of change during participants’ study-abroad experiences. Closer examinations of the pragmatic trajectories of two learners show that learners’ perceptions of request imposition or their desire to be accepted in the community in which they find themselves may explain pragmatic changes.

Pragmatic outcomes in the English-medium instruction context

Herraiz-Martínez

2021

This study investigates pragmatic development in the English-medium instruction (EMI) setting of the Valencian Community in Spain. More specifically, the study examines whether the intensity of EMI influences functional adequacy (FA) in second language (L2) writing. Participants were 102 EMI learners, each of whom wrote three motivation letters over one academic year in English. The rating scales designed by Kuiken and Vedder (2017) were used to examine the FA of the written texts in terms of cohesion, coherence, task requirements, content, and comprehensibility. Quantitative results revealed significant differences among the EMI groups under analysis, suggesting that the intensity of instruction may exert an influence on FA in L2 writing. Results from this study show the importance of intensity of exposure to EMI for L2 writing.