Cover not available
Part of
Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners
Edited by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, Milica Savić and Nicola Halenko
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 328] 2021
► pp. 101–126

Chapter 4
Experts and novices

Examining academic email requests to faculty and developmental change during study abroad

ORCID logo | University of Central Lancashire
| University of Central Lancashire
This longitudinal study seeks to contribute to a shortage of email investigations examining expert (L1) and novice (L2) English practices and tracking L2 developmental change during a UK study abroad period. Using a corpus of 315 authentic request emails, distinct features of Chinese ESL and British students’ email practices were examined, in addition to changes in Chinese ESL practices between the beginning and end of the ten-month period abroad. Findings firstly indicated that choice of request strategies, internal modification, and request perspective showed much variation between the two groups due to different approaches to projecting politeness. Secondly, exposure to the L2 and engagement in email writing had minimal impact on pragmatic performance over the academic year.
Keywords: authentic emails, requests, study abroad, Chinese students, longitudinal study
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background research
    • 2.1L2 English request development and study abroad
    • 2.3Chinese-speakers’ L2 email requests
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants and email data
    • 3.2Email analysis
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Distinctive features of expert and novice English user request emails (RQ1)
    • 4.2Examination of changes in novice L2 user email requests (RQ2)
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Pedagogical implications
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 27 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.328.04hal
References (69)
References
Alcón-Soler, Eva. 2015. “Pragmatic Learning and Study Abroad: Effects of Instruction and Length of Stay.” System 48: 62–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ali, Ziyad, and Helen Woodfield. 2017. “A Cross-sectional Study of Syrian EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Development: Towards a Taxonomy of Modification in Interlanguage Requests.” In Current Issues in Intercultural Pragmatics, ed. by Istvan Kecskes and Stavros Assimakopoulos, 297–322. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, and Maria-Thereza Bastos. 2011. “Proficiency, Length of Stay, and Intensity of Interaction and the Acquisition of Conventional Expressions in L2 Pragmatics.” Intercultural Pragmatics 8 (3): 347–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, and Beverly S. Hartford. 1990. “Congruence in Native and Nonnative Conversations: Status Balance in the Academic Advising Session.” Language Learning 40 (4): 467–501. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1993. “Learning the Rules of Academic Talk: A Longitudinal Study of Pragmatic Development.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 15 (3): 279–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Interlanguage Pragmatics: Exploring Institutional Talk. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, and Heidi E. Vellenga. 2012. “The Effect of Instruction on Conventional Expressions in L2 Pragmatics.” System 40 (1): 77–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006. “Learning to Say “You” in German: The Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Competence in a Study Abroad Context.” In Language Learners in Study Abroad Contexts, ed. by Margaret A. DuFon and Eton E. Churchill, 59–88. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2007. ‘“Ah No Honestly We’re Okay:” Learning to Upgrade in a Study Abroad Context.” Intercultural Pragmatics 4 (2): 129–166. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bataller, Rebeca. 2010. “Making a Request for a Service in Spanish: Pragmatic Development in the Study Abroad Setting.” Foreign Language Annals 43 (1): 160–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bella, Spyridoula. 2011. “Mitigation and Politeness in Greek Refusals: Effects of Length of Residence in the Target Language and Intensity of Interaction on Non-native speakers’ Performance.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6): 1718–1740. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biesenbach-Lucas, Sigrun. 2006. “Making Requests in E-mail: Do Cyber-consultations Entail Directness? Toward Conventions in a New Medium.” In Pragmatics Language Learning. Volume 11, ed. by Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig, César C. Félix Brasdefer and Alwiya Omar, 81–107. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
. 2007. “Students Writing E-mails to Faculty: An Examination of E-politeness Among Native and Non-native Speakers of English.” Language Learning and Technology 11 (2): 59–81.Google Scholar
. 2009. “Little Words that Could Impact One’s Impression on Others: Greetings and Closings in Institutional Emails.” In Little Words: Their History, Phonology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatic, and Acquisition, ed. by Ronald P. Leow, Hector Campos and Donna Lardiere, 183–195. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, Juliane House, and Gabriele Kasper (eds). 1989. Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Bou-Franch, Patricia. 2011. “Openings and Closings in Spanish Email Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1772–1785. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bouton, Lawrence F. 1994. “Can NNS Skill in Interpreting Implicature in American English Be Improved Through Explicit Instruction? – A Pilot Study.” In Pragmatics and Language Learning, Vol. 5, ed. by Lawrence Bouton, 89–109. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Division of English as an International Language Intensive English Institute.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chang, Yu-Ying, and Yi-Ping Hsu. 1998. “Requests on Email: A Cross-cultural Comparison.” RELC Journal 29: 121–151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Chi-Fen Emily. 2006. “The Development of E-mail Literacy: From Writing to Peers to Writing to Authority Figures.” Language Learning and Technology 10 (2): 35–55.Google Scholar
Chen, Yuan-shan. 2015. “Developing Chinese EFL Learners’ Email Literacy through Requests to Faculty.” Journal of Pragmatics 75: 131–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Yuan-Shan, Der-Hwa V. Rau, and Gerald Rau (eds). 2016. Email Discourse Among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca. Singapore: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Codina-Espurz, Victoria, and Patricia Salazar-Campillo. 2019. “Openings and Closing in Emails by CLIL Students: A Pedagogical Proposal.” English Language Teaching 12 (2): 57–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cole, Simon, and Aaron Anderson. 2001. “Requests by Young Japanese: A Longitudinal Study.” The Language Teacher Online 25 (8). Available online: [URL] (accessed 21 September 2017).
Drew, Paul, and John Heritage (eds). 1992. Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Economidou-Kogetsidis, Maria. 2011. “‘Please Answer Me as Soon as Possible’: Pragmatic Failure in Non-native Speakers’ E-mail Requests to Faculty.” Journal of Pragmatics 43: 3193–3215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. "Variation in evaluations of the (im)politeness of emails from L2 learners and perceptions of the personality of their senders." Journal of Pragmatics 106: 1-19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2018. “‘Mr Paul, Please Inform Me Accordingly’”: Address Forms, Directness and Degree of Imposition in L2 Emails”. Pragmatics 28 (4): 489–515. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, César. 2012. “Email Requests to Faculty: E-politeness and Internal Modification.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, and Helen Woodfield, 87–118. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goy, Elif, Deniz Zeyrek, and Bahar Octu. 2012. “Developmental Patterns in Internal Modification of Request: A Quantitative Study on Turkish Learners of English.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Helen Woodfield, and Maria Economidou Kogetsidis, 51–86. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halenko, Nicola, and Christian Jones. 2011. “Teaching Pragmatic Awareness of Spoken Requests to Chinese EAP Learners in the UK: Is Explicit Instruction Effective?” System 39 (2): 240–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2017. “Explicit Instruction of Spoken Requests: An Examination of Pre-departure Instruction and the Study Abroad Context.” System 68: 26–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halenko, Nicola, Christian Jones, Laura Davies, and Joseph Davies. 2019. “Surveying Pragmatic Performance During a Study Abroad Stay: A Cross-sectional Look at the Language of Spoken Requests.” Intercultural Communication Education 2 (2): 71–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hassall, Tim. 2001. “Modifying Requests in a Second Language”, IRAL International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 39 (4): 259–283. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hendriks, Berna. 2010. “An Experimental Study of Native Speaker Perceptions of Non-native Request Modification in Emails in English.” Intercultural Pragmatics 7 (2): 221–255. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iwasaki, Noriko. 2011. “Learning L2 Japanese “Politeness” and “Impoliteness”: Young American Men’s Dilemmas During Study Abroad.” Japanese Language and Literature, 45: 67–106.Google Scholar
Kinginger, Celeste. 2009. Language Learning and Study Abroad: A Critical Reading of Research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Cynthia F. K. 2010. “Written Requests in Emails Sent by Adult Chinese Learners of English.” Language, Culture and Curriculum 17 (1): 58–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee-Wong, Song M. 1994. “Imperatives in Requests: Direct or Impolite – Observations from Chinese.” Pragmatics Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPRA) 4 (4): 491–515. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lin, Yuh-Huey. 2009. “Query Preparatory Modals: Cross-linguistic and Cross-situational Variations in Request Modification.” Journal of Pragmatics 41 (8): 1636–1656. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Shuai. 2014. “The Effects of Different Levels of Linguistic Proficiency on the Development of L2 Chinese Request Production During Study Abroad.” System 45: 103–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Wan-jing, and Yuan-Shan Chen. 2016. “Politeness and Effectiveness of English Email Requests: Taiwanese Professors’ Perspectives.” In Email Discourse Among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca, ed. by Yuan-Shan Chen, Der-Hwa V. Rau, and Gerald Rau, 91–111. Singapore: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Wei. 2018. Pragmatic Transfer and Development: Evidence from EFL Learners in China. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Masuda, Kyoko. 2011. “Acquiring Interactional Competence in a Study Abroad Context: Japanese Language Learners’ Use of the Interactional Particle ne.” Modern Language Journal 95: 519–540. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matsumura, Shoichi. 2001. “Learning the Rules for Offering Advice: A Quantitative Approach to Second Language Socialization.” Language Learning 51: 635–679. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2003. “Modelling the Relationships Among Interlanguage Pragmatic Development, L2 Proficiency, and Exposure to L2.” Applied Linguistics 24 (4): 465–491. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Merrison, Andrew John, Jack Wilson, Bethan Davies, and Michael Haugh. 2012. “Getting Stuff Done: Comparing E-mail Requests from Students in Higher Education in Britain and Australia.” Journal of Pragmatics 44: 1077–1098. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, Thi Thuy Minh. 2018. “Pragmatic Development in the Instructed Context: A Longitudinal Investigation of L2 Email Requests.” Pragmatics 28 (2): 217–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Vidal, Carmen, and Rachel Shively. 2019. “L2 Pragmatic Development in Study Abroad settings.” In The Routledge handbook of Study Abroad Research and Practice, ed. by Naoko Taguchi, 355–371. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sánchez-Hernández, Ariadna and Eva Alcón-Soler. 2019. “Pragmatic Gains in the Study Abroad Context: Learners’ Experiences and Recognition of Pragmatic Routines.” Journal of Pragmatics: 1–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Savić, Milica. 2018. “Lecturer Perceptions of Im/politeness and In/appropriateness in Student E-mail Requests: A Norwegian Perspective.” Journal of Pragmatics 124: 52–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schauer, Gila A. 2006. “Pragmatic Awareness in ESL and EFL Contexts: Contrast and Development.” Language Learning 56 (2): 269–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007. “Finding the Right Words in the Study Abroad Context: The Development of German Learners’ Use of External Modifiers in English.” Intercultural Pragmatics 4 (2): 193–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schieffelin, Bambi B., and Elinor Ochs. 1986. Language Socialization Across Cultures, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taguchi, Naoko. 2010. “Longitudinal Studies in Interlanguage Pragmatics” In Handbook of Pragmatics vol 7: Pragmatics Across Languages and Cultures, ed. by Anna Trosborg, 333–361. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
. 2012. Context, Individual Differences and Pragmatic Competence, New York/Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tseng, Chia-Ti Heather. 2016. “An Interlanguage Pragmatic Study on Taiwanese EFL Learners’ Email Request.” The Asian Conference on Language Learning 2016 Official Conference Proceedings.
Universities UK. 2018. “Patterns and Trends in UK Higher Education 2018.”, Available online: [URL]. (accessed 20 November 2019).
Vilar-Beltrán, Elina. 2008. “The Use of Mitigation in Role-play Activities: A Comparison between Native and Nonnative Speakers of English” In Learning How to Request in an Instructed Learning Context, ed. by Eva Alcón-Soler, 127–143. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Wang, Jiayi, and Nicola Halenko. 2019. “Longitudinal Benefits of Pre-departure Pragmatics Instruction for Study Abroad: Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language.” East Asian Pragmatics 4 (1): 87–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Vincent X. 2011. Making Requests by Chinese EFL Learners. Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woodfield, Helen. 2008. “Interlanguage Requests: A Contrastive Study” In Developing Contrastive Pragmatics: Interlanguage and Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ed. by Martin Puetz, and JoAnne Neff Van Aertselaer, 231–264. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.Google Scholar
. 2012. “‘I Think Maybe I Want to Lend the Notes from You’: Development of Request Modification in Graduate Learners.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, and Helen Woodfield, 9–50. Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woodfield, Helen, and Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis. 2010. “‘I Just Need More Time’: A Study of Native and Non-native Students’ Requests to Faculty for an Extension”. Multilingua – Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 29 (1): 77–118. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xiao, Feng. 2015. “Adult Second Language Leaners’ Pragmatic Development in the Study Abroad Context: A Review.” Frontiers: The interdisciplinary journal of study abroad 25: 132–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, Ming-Chung. 1999. “Universalistic and Culture-specific Perspectives on Variation in the Acquisition of Pragmatic Competence in a Second Language.” Pragmatics Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics association (IPRA) 9 (2): 281–312. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Yanyin. 1995. “Indirectness in Chinese requesting” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 69–118. Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Zhu, Wuhan. 2012. “Polite Requestive Strategies in Emails: An Investigation of Pragmatic Competence of Chinese EFL learners.” RELC Journal 43 (2): 217–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Nuzzo, Elena & Nicola Brocca
2024. Raising the (meta)pragmatic awareness of non-native pre-service teachers of L2 Italian with a telecollaborative data-driven learning project on formal email writing. System ► pp. 103518 ff. DOI logo
Ekiert, Monika, Andrea Révész, Eivind Torgersen & Emily Moss
2022. The role of pausing in L2 oral task performance. TASK. Journal on Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning 2:1 ► pp. 33 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.