School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemSecond language interactional competence: solicitation effects on suggestions( 2014)This study investigated the acquisition of second language interactional competence via the speech act of suggestion produced by Vietnamese learners of English. The study employed a cross-sectional design to examine the effects of proficiency level and learning environment on learners’ pragmatic development. Specifically, the data elicitation instruments – role-play scenarios - were designed to uncover the solicitation effects on suggestion making. Four groups of learners of different proficiency levels in ESL and EFL environments were recruited for the study: a group of ESL learners of high proficiency level, a group of EFL learners of high proficiency level, a group of EFL learners of middle proficiency level, and a group of EFL learners of low proficiency level. A group of Australian native speakers were also recruited to provide baseline data. The employment of conversation analysis analytical apparatus in data analysis revealed significant solicitation effects on suggestion making. While the analysis of linguistic features of suggestions did not reveal any marked differences between two types of suggestions, the two types did differ in their sequence organizations. Discursive patterns of solicited suggestions varied in insertions and post-expansions whereas patterns of unsolicited suggestions varied in pre-expansions and post-expansions. Similarly, significant differences of preference organization of the two types of suggestions were found. While solicited suggestions were preferred ones, unsolicited suggestions were dispreferred. A number of preferences in suggestions were also documented. The examination of proficiency effects on learners’ performance showed a non-linear developmental pattern in unsolicited suggestions. That is, learners of mid proficiency and low proficiency levels were able to mitigate their suggestions while learners of high proficiency level did not attempt to use mitigating devices. On a learning environment note, learners in a second language environment resembled native speakers’ performance while learners in a foreign language environment differed significantly. The research contributes to the discursive pragmatics and interactional competence development in CA-for-SLA literature. It suggests important implications for pragmatics instruction and methodological implications for interlanguage pragmatic research.
-
ItemAdolescent identity and pragmatic marker acquisition in a study abroad context( 2010)This longitudinal study investigated the acquisition of interpersonal markers by adolescent German students on a five or ten month exchange to Australia. Interpersonal markers were defined as syntactically optional elements of speech that provided implicit information about the relationship between the speakers and the message. The study also explored how structured and semi-structured data collection methods impacted on interpersonal marker use. The data consisted of audio-recordings of informal conversational interviews and the retelling of a story based on Mr Bean DVD clips. A language contact questionnaire was also used to help explain variation in acquisition. Three groups of sixteen to seventeen year old adolescents were recruited for the study: an experimental group of twenty-six German exchange students to Australia, a control group of twenty adolescents in Germany and native-speaker data from a group of twelve Australian adolescents. The experimental group was further divided into fourteen teenagers on a ten month exchange and twelve adolescents on a five month exchange to Australia. The exchange students acquired a large number of those interpersonal markers most associated with adolescent language within the first five months of their exchange. However, even after ten months of the exchange, levels of interpersonal marker use did not always match that of native speakers. Lower levels of interpersonal markers were found for students participating on a five month exchange compared to those on a ten month programme. This was most likely due to lower levels of personal investment and social integration in the five month cohort. Little or no acquisition was observed for German high school students who did not participate in an extended exchange. On a methodological level, a reliable system for the coding of pragmatic markers was developed. The study also highlighted issues of task effects in interview versus retelling data collection and of collecting information via written language contact profiles. The research adds to the growing repertoire of study abroad and developmental pragmatic competence literature and is of particular interest to exchange programme development as well as curriculum design for second language teaching.