View Content #17318
Contentid | 17318 |
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Content Type | 3 |
Title | Learning language in context during study abroad: L2 pragmatics |
Body | Learning language in context during study abroad: L2 pragmatics Rachel Shively is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Applied Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Illinois State University. Her research focuses on second language acquisition, second language pragmatics, discourse analysis, and language and culture learning during study abroad. A study abroad experience in a target-language-speaking country offers second language (L2) learners the opportunity to engage in social interaction with members of the host country and to put the target language (TL) to use in a variety of everyday contexts. The immersion environment of study abroad can benefit learners’ speaking, listening, reading, writing, and vocabulary skills (e.g., Brecht, Davidson, & Ginsberg, 1995; Coleman, 1996; Freed, Segalowitz, & Dewey, 2004; Kinginger, 2009; Milton & Meara, 1995), but it can also help learners to enhance their L2 pragmatic competency, that is, their ability to use the TL appropriately in different social situations, for different purposes, and with individuals of different ages, social statuses, and relationships to the student (e.g., Félix-Brasdefer, 2004; Kinginger, 2008; Shively, 2011). Because languages can vary with regard to the behaviors and specific language forms that are socially appropriate in a given context, study abroad students may be faced with preferred ways of interacting that differ from those of their first language and culture. For example, while American English speakers tend to make requests in service encounters using phrases with the first person such as “I need…”, “I want…”, and “Can I have…”, Peninsular Spanish speakers more often employ expressions referring to the second person such as “Give me…” and “Can you give me…” (e.g., Bataller, 2010; Pinto, 2005; Shively, 2011). Likewise, American English speakers tend to make fewer verbalizations in the role of listener in everyday conversation (e.g., mhm, yeah, uh huh) compared to Japanese speakers (e.g., Ishida, 2009; Maynard, 1986). Cross-cultural variation is also observed in speech acts such as greetings, apologies, and invitations, in conversational style, and humor (e.g., Barron, 2003; Edstrom, 2000; Kasper & Rose, 2002; Shardakova, 2005), among other facets of language. Given that the way in which study abroad students employ the L2 can impact how they are perceived in the host country in terms of politeness, friendliness, and respectfulness, language use has important social implications, including the ability to establish and maintain relationships with members of the host country. Research on L2 pragmatic development during study abroad suggests that, in some cases, study abroad students increase their awareness of L2 pragmatic norms and may begin to adopt new ways of using language in context. For example, Kinginger (2008) reported that American study abroad learners of French developed awareness about the contexts in which tu and vous are appropriate and, to some extent, increased their contextually appropriate use of these pronouns. In uninstructed settings, study abroad students can learn about L2 pragmatic norms through observing expert speakers of the L2 using the language in context and through explicit feedback from host families about language use (e.g., DuFon, 1999; Siegal, 1994; Shively, 2011). It has long been observed, however, that learning pragmatics in uninstructed contexts generally proceeds at a slow pace (e.g., Félix-Brasdefer, 2004; Olshtain & Blum-Kulka, 1985), although some features tend to be learned more quickly than others; for example, greetings and leave-takings in Indonesian may be acquired fairly early (e.g., Hassell, 2006), but the complex act of refusing an invitation in Spanish is acquired quite late (Félix-Brasdefer, 2004). Although study abroad students can learn L2 pragmatics via naturalistic acquisition, teaching learners about the L2 pragmatic norms of the host country can accelerate learning (Alcón & Martínez-Flor, 2008). Research suggests that pragmatics instruction can effectively be carried out before, during, and after a study abroad experience (e.g., Cohen & Shively, 2007; Shively, 2010) and can incorporate awareness-raising, analysis, and communicative practice activities. A variety of pedagogical models, resources, and example activities are available to help the language teacher new to pragmatics and pragmatics instruction (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig & Mahan-Taylor, 2003; Ishihara & Cohen, 2010; Félix-Brasdefer, 2006; García, 2001; Lo Castro, 2003; Martínez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2006). Integrating pragmatics into the L2 curriculum is one way to help students make the most of language and culture learning opportunities during study abroad.
References Alcón, E., & Martínez-Flor, A. (2008). Investigating pragmatics in foreign language learning, teaching and testing. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Mahan-Taylor, R. (2003). Teaching pragmatics. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State Office of English Language Programs. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/pragmatics.htm. Barron, A. (2003). Acquisition in interlanguage pragmatics: Learning how to do things with words in a study abroad context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Bataller, R. (2010). ‘Making a request for a service in Spanish: Pragmatic development in the study abroad setting.’’ Foreign Language Annals, 43, 159– 174. Brecht, R. D., Davidson, D., & Ginsberg, R. (1995). Predictors of foreign language gain during study abroad. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a studyabroad context (pp. 37-66). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Cohen, A. D., & Shively, R. L. (2007). Acquisition of requests and apologies in Spanish and French: Impact of study abroad and strategy-building intervention. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 189-212. Coleman, J. (1996). Studying languages: A survey of British and European students: Theproficiency, background, attitudes and motivations of students of foreign languages inthe United Kingdom and Europe. London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research. DuFon, M. A. (1999). The acquisition of linguistic politeness in Indonesian by sojourners in naturalistic interactions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu. Edstrom, A. (2000). Conversationalinteraction between Venezuelans andAmerican L2 learners of Spanish:Comparing perceptions and production. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Félix-Brasdefer, C. (2004). Interlanguage refusals: Linguistic politeness and length of residence in the target community. Language Learning, 54, 587-653. Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Teaching the negotiation of multi-turn speech acts: Using conversation-analytic tools to teach pragmatics in the FL classroom. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, J. C. Félix-Brasdefer, & A. S. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (Vol. 11, pp.165–196). Honolulu: National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Freed, B. F., Segalowitz, N., & Dewey, D. (2004). Contexts of learning and second language fluency in French: Comparing regular classrooms, study abroad, and intensive domestic programs. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 275-301. García, C. (2001). Perspectives in practices: Teaching culture through speech acts. In V. Galloway (Ed.), Teaching cultures of the Hispanic world: Products and practices in perspective (pp. 95–112). Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Hassell, T. (2006). Learning to take leave in social conversations: A diary study. In M. A. DuFon & E. Churchill (Eds.), Language learners in study abroad contexts (pp. 31-58). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Ishida, M. (2009). Development of interactional competence: Changes in the use of ne in L2 Japanese during study abroad. In H. Nguyen & G. Kasper (Eds.), Talk-in-interaction: Multilingual perspectives (pp. 351-385). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’I, National Foreign Language Resource Center. Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Harlow, UK: Longman. Kasper, G., & Rose, K. (2002). Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Oxford: Blackwell. Kinginger, C. (2008). Language learning in study abroad: Case studies of Americans in France. Modern Language Journal Monograph, Volume 1. Oxford: Blackwell. Kinginger, C. (2009). Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Lo Castro, V. (2003). An introduction to pragmatics: Social action for language teachers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Martínez-Flor, A., & Usó-Juan, E. (2006). A comprehensive pedagogical framework to develop pragmatics in the foreign language classroom: The 6Rs approach. Applied Language Learning, 16, 39–64. Maynard, S. K. (1986). On back-channel behavior in Japanese and English casual conversation. Linguistics, 24, 1079-1108. Milton, J., & Meara, P. (1995). How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language. ITL Review of Applied Linguistics, 107-8, 17-34. Olshtain, E., & Blum-Kulka, S. (1985). Degree of approximation: Nonnative reactions to native speech act behavior. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Pinto, D. (2005). The acquisition of requests by second language learners of Spanish. Spanish in Context, 2, 1-27. Shardakova, M. (2010). How to be funny in a second language: Pragmatics of L2 humor. In R. D. Brecht, L. A. Verbitskaja, M. D. Lekic, & W. P. Rivers (eds.), Mnemosynon. Studies on language and culture in the Russophone world: A collection of papers presented to Dan E. Davidson by his students and colleagues (pp. 288–310). Moscow: “Azbukovnik,” Institut russkogo jazyka. Shively, R. L. (2010). From the virtual world to the real world: A model of pragmatics instruction for study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 43, 105-137. Shively, R. L. (2011). L2 pragmatic development in study abroad: A longitudinal study of Spanish service encounters. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1818-1835. Siegal, M. (1994). Looking east: learning Japanese as a second language and the interaction of race, gender, and social context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. |
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