School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemProficiency and Preference Organization in Second Language Mandarin Chinese Refusals(WILEY, 2021-12)Abstract This study investigates second language (L2) interactional competence in Mandarin Chinese, with a specific focus on dispreference organization in refusals. Twenty‐eight L2 Chinese learners at 3 proficiency levels (A2, B1, and B2) and 10 native speakers each participated in 3 role plays. We found that learners at different levels clearly differed in their ability to organize refusals as dispreferred and to fine tune their refusal to the initiating action. Lower intermediate (A2) learners either fronted negative responses or adopted a single dispreference marker (e.g., apologies, pauses, prefatory particles, etc.), whereas upper intermediate (B1) learners overwhelming delayed their refusals and never produced straightforward negations, also showing different organizations of refusals depending on the initiating action. Advanced learners combined sequential tools and linguistic devices to demonstrate a strong orientation toward affiliation, and clearly oriented to scenarios differentially. However, they lagged behind native speakers, who had more diversified interactional tools and systematically oriented to features of the initiating actions. We attribute the differences partially to L2 proficiency, though proficiency‐independent increase in contextual sensitivity can be observed.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableQuantitative Methods for Second Language Research: A Problem-Solving Approach(Routledge, 2018)Practical and lucid, this book is the ideal resource for data analysis for graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics.
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ItemConsequences of test use: a case study of employers’ voice on the social impact of English certification exit requirements in Taiwan(Springer Nature, 2016)Background: This study investigates the social impact of a policy requiring university graduates to pass an English proficiency test by examining the consequences of test use in the workplace in Taiwan. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 19 business people in charge of recruiting potential employees in 17 industries across Taiwan. All these 19 employers hired the gratudes from a technological university in southern Taiwan. These interviews sought to discover the importance of English certification as an element of job hunting, the opinions of businesses regarding various certification tests, and their attitudes towards the exit requirement. Results and conclusions: Findings indicate that although these employers were favorably disposed towards this policy, only 13 % of them required English certificates as a hiring criterion. Another finding was that 53 % of employers regarded the certificates as evidence that applicants who possessed them were diligent and likely to be hard-working employees. These informants interpreted tests differently from testers, focusing on cultural notions of what personal qualities tests highlight rather than on language ability. Due to this and other factors, the impact of the test remained weak.
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ItemAssessing Language Use in Social Context: A Fresh Look at Tests of Second Language Pragmatics(The Language Training and Testing Center, 2010)
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ItemResearching Pragmatics(Continuum, 2010)