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Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish
Edited by Sara L. Zahler, Avizia Y. Long and Bret Linford
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 37] 2023
► pp. 82–109

Chapter 3
Situational and contextual variation in the development of Spanish apologies during short-term study abroad

| Longwood University
| Indiana University Bloomington
| University of Indianapolis

This study investigates the effect of instruction and micro-social factors (social distance and power) on learners’ production of L2 Spanish apologies during a 6-week immersion program in Spain. It also explores whether learners are able to apply semantic formulas learned for one speech act (apologies) to the context of another (refusals). Thirty-one learners completed an oral discourse completion task before and after study abroad. Results show that learners approximate native-like norms for apologies after study abroad and instruction, and that they are able to apply this knowledge to the context of refusals. Learners also show differences in apology formula usage across situations of varying social distance and power. They are sensitive to situational differences in both factors after study abroad.

Keywords: L2 pragmatics, Spanish, instructional pragmatics, study abroad, apologies, refusals
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Previous literature
    • Study abroad and pragmatics
    • Instruction of pragmatics during study abroad
    • Study abroad and variation
    • Pragmatic variation
    • Speech acts
    • Apologies
    • Refusals
    • Summary of the gap
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Instrument
    • Procedure
    • Instruction
    • Coding and analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 6 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.03dib
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