The Pragmatics Of Requests And Apologies: Developmental Patterns Of Mexican Students (pragmatics & Beyond New Series)
by Elizabeth Flores Salgado /
2011 / English / PDF
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The purpose of this research is to analyse the pragmatic
development of language groups at different proficiency levels and
to investigate the relationship between interlanguage pragmatics
and grammatical competence. For this study, 36 native Spanish
speaking EFL learners at different proficiency levels were asked to
respond in English to 24 different situations that called for the
speech acts of request and apology. Results showed three important
aspects. The first finding suggested that basic adult learners
possess a pragmatic knowledge in their L1 that allows them to focus
on the intended meaning and, in most cases, to assemble an
utterance that conveys a pragmatic intention and satisfies the
communicative demands of a social situation. The second finding
revealed that there are two essential conditions to communicate a
linguistic action: the knowledge of the relevant linguistic rules
and the knowledge of how to use them appropriately and effectively
in a specific context. The findings further suggested that advanced
learners possess the grammatical knowledge to produce an
illocutionary act, but they need to learn the specific L2 pragmatic
conventions that enable them to know when to use these grammatical
forms and under which circumstances.
The purpose of this research is to analyse the pragmatic
development of language groups at different proficiency levels and
to investigate the relationship between interlanguage pragmatics
and grammatical competence. For this study, 36 native Spanish
speaking EFL learners at different proficiency levels were asked to
respond in English to 24 different situations that called for the
speech acts of request and apology. Results showed three important
aspects. The first finding suggested that basic adult learners
possess a pragmatic knowledge in their L1 that allows them to focus
on the intended meaning and, in most cases, to assemble an
utterance that conveys a pragmatic intention and satisfies the
communicative demands of a social situation. The second finding
revealed that there are two essential conditions to communicate a
linguistic action: the knowledge of the relevant linguistic rules
and the knowledge of how to use them appropriately and effectively
in a specific context. The findings further suggested that advanced
learners possess the grammatical knowledge to produce an
illocutionary act, but they need to learn the specific L2 pragmatic
conventions that enable them to know when to use these grammatical
forms and under which circumstances.