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Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners
Edited by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, Milica Savić and Nicola Halenko
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 328] 2021
► pp. 151–178

Chapter 6
The effect of first language pragmatics on second language email performance

The case of Greek students’ email requests

ORCID logo | University of Nicosia

The present study is a comparative production study which investigates the effect of L1 email pragmatics on L2 email performance and examines the extent to which the L2 email production of advanced, Greek learners of English shows agreement with their L1 email production. The study identified culture-specific pragmatic norms and aspects of L1 pragmatic behaviours that learners transferred to their L2 emails. A preference for formality and direct strategies was confirmed in both data sets suggesting that the learners’ emails converge with those of NS of Greek and approximate native Greek norms. Results further pointed towards a high degree of agreement in the majority of the modifiers employed by the two groups.

Keywords: L1 pragmatic behaviour, requests, Greek learners, first language, culture
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Setting the scene: L2 learners and native-speakers’ emails to faculty
  • 3.Methods and procedures
    • 3.1Data and participants
    • 3.2Email analysis
    • 2.3Scoring and statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Request head-acts: Strategies and substrategies
    • 4.2Lexical/phrasal and external modifiers
    • 4.3Forms of address/salutations
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 27 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.328.06eco
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