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L2 Pragmatics in Action: Teachers, learners and the teaching-learning interaction process
Edited by Alicia Martínez-Flor, Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández and Júlia Barón
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 58] 2023
► pp. 145–167

Chapter 6
Proficiency effects on L2 pragmatics

| The University of Melbourne Australia
| Kansai University Japan
| Fudan University China
| University of Auckland New Zealand
Proficiency is a widely used concept in second language (L2) pragmatics where it is commonly viewed as lexico-grammatical knowledge, and can be measured by means of standardised or researcher-designed tests, or estimated on the basis of levels in a language program. It is a common grouping variable in research studies, allowing researchers to compare the pragmatic or interactional abilities of learners at different proficiency levels, and such studies have overwhelmingly found a strong contribution of proficiency to L2 pragmatics. However, this contribution varies depending on the area of pragmatics investigated, and the degree of overlap depends strongly on the measurement instruments for both proficiency and pragmatics. We illustrate this through a study on the effect of proficiency on implicit and explicit pragmatic knowledge.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1The proficiency construct
    • 2.2Proficiency in L2 pragmatics: Theoretical considerations
    • 2.3Research on proficiency in L2 pragmatics
      • 2.3.1Philosophical-anthropological pragmatics: Speech acts
      • 2.3.2Sociological-discursive pragmatics: Interaction
    • 2.4Problems of proficiency as a grouping variable
    • 2.5This study: Proficiency and explicit and implicit pragmatic knowledge
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Instruments
      • 3.2.1C-test
      • 3.2.2Elicited Imitation Test (EIT)
      • 3.2.3Role plays
      • 3.2.4Monologues
      • 3.2.5Irony test
      • 3.2.6Metapragmatic judgment
      • 3.2.6Social Context Variables
    • 3.3Procedures
    • 3.4Analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
    • 5.1Limitations of this study
    • 5.2Pedagogical implications
    • 5.3Future directions
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 12 April 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.58.06roe
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