L2 Spanish apologies development during short-term study abroad

Abstract

The present study examined the apologies of 18 study abroad (SA) students during a short-term SA experience in Madrid, Spain. Apologies were assessed with a discourse completion task (DCT) consisting of five vignettes that varied across three variables: relative social status of the interlocutor, relative social distance, and seriousness of the offense. Based on performance ratings assigned to them by two native Spanish speakers, the students made significant gains in pragmatic appropriateness from pretest to posttest, on two out of the five individual vignettes, and on the five combined vignettes. Examination of the students' apologies before and after SA further revealed that they increased several strategies during their time abroad. Despite these gains, other aspects of the SA group's performance remained the same or, in some cases, moved in the opposite direction of the target norm. Moreover, the students also demonstrated continued overreliance on routine, formulaic expressions on the posttest DCT while underusing some important target-like mitigation strategies. Given the study's findings, the researcher offers recommendations for teaching pragmatics before and during the SA experience.

Investigating the effects of pragmatic instruction: a comparison of L2 Spanish compliments and apologies during short term study-abroad

“…Learners did not receive instruction on apologies during their time abroad, so the overgeneralized use of speaker-oriented lo siento is fitting given that apology strategies provided in the at-home classroom via textbook input typically feature this strategy (TROSBORG, 2003). Although results indicate an increased use of the request for forgiveness strategy at the post-test, following previous work on the topic (e.g., Hernández, 2018), it is worth noting that only 5 of 15 participants showed a change over time (i.e., the other 10 participants maintained the use of speaker-oriented lo siento at the post-test), and that one participant alone provided 4 of the 10 instances of this strategy at the post-test. Hernández (2018) found that it was only advanced learners who began to incorporate more target-like illocutionary force indicating devices at the post-test, and we argue that while some learners demonstrate more target-like tendencies after spending time abroad, additional factors such as low to intermediate language proficiency levels contributing to an overuse of formulaic expressions such as lo siento (HERNÁNDEZ, 2018;SHIVELY;COHEN, 2008) or other individual differences, such as motivation, may play a role in this lack of change over time for the majority of participants, regardless of their immersion in the target language and culture.…”

“…The effect of instruction on the learning of pragmatics has been a recent focus within the greater L2 pragmatics literature. Work on instructional pragmatics has been carried out in classroom settings (e.g., HASLER-BARKER, 2016), computer mediated contexts (e.g., Sykes, 2013), and study abroad contexts (e.g., BATALLER, 2010;HALENKO;JONES, 2017;HERNÁNDEZ, 2018;BOERO, 2018aBOERO, , 2018bSHIVELY;COHEN, 2008), with a focus on the instruction of L2 speech acts (e.g., refusals, requests, apologies). Regardless of instructional context, explicit instruction is generally cited as being the most effective form of instruction for L2 pragmatics when compared with implicit instruction or mere exposure (e.g., BARDOVI-HARLIG, 2001;ROSE;KASPER, 2001), but any type of instruction is more beneficial than none (TAGUCHI, 2015).…”

“…Study abroad has been proposed as a necessary component for the acquisition of native-like or near-native knowledge of pragmatics in second language, with the assumption being that learners in study abroad settings have more access to authentic input and interactions in the L2, although some research has shown that this may not be the case (e.g., BARRON, 2003;BATALLER, 2010). The results for short-term study abroad (lasting less three months) (ALLEN, 2010) are mixed, usually documenting some development in pragmatic abilities in the direction of native speaker norms, but not always, as learners' pragmatic competence may show divergences from the expected target norms after a short-term program (CZERWIONKA; CUZA, 2017a, 2017b; FÉLIX-BRASDEFER; HASLER-BARKER, 2015; Hernández, 2016Hernández, , 2018. Within the study of acquisition of pragmatic competence in short-term study abroad, even fewer studies consider the impact of instruction in shaping learners' pragmatic competence BOERO, 2018aBOERO, , 2018b.…”

“Sorry, that's all I know!”: A study on web‐based pragmatic instruction for novice learners

“…Timing also appears to play a crucial role when it comes to producing different apology strategies. In this area, our results confirm the developmental stages found in study‐abroad contexts (DiBartolomeo et al, 2019; Hernández, 2018; Shively & Cohen, 2008). Participants in this study were second‐semester learners of Spanish, and as such, they overrelied on speaker‐oriented strategies that they transferred from their L1.…”

“…While these differences can present difficulties for L2 learners, the results of pragmatic instructional studies suggest they may be overcome via explicit instruction (see Takahashi, 2010 andTaguchi, 2015). Studies on the acquisition of Spanish apologies in study abroad contexts (e.g., DiBartolomeo et al, 2019;Hernández, 2018;Shively & Cohen, 2008) have identified four developmental stages: (1) initial dependency on single prepatterned chunks like lo siento (I'm sorry), which have an exact parallel in the L1; (2) decrease of L1 pragmatic system transfer, reducing the number of nontarget-like expressions such as speaker-oriented apologies; (3) use of a wider range of apology strategies-although not always following native norms-like explanations or expression of responsibility; and (4) use of complex intensifying devices such as adverbs.…”