Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 26:4 (2016) ► pp.531–562

Offers by Greek FL learners

A cross-sectional developmental study

This study investigates developmental patterns in the ability of Greek foreign language learners to make offers. Drawing data from role-plays and retrospective verbal reports it attempts to explore the initiative offer strategies, the syntactic modification and the degree of insistence that learners of three different proficiency levels (lower intermediate, intermediate and advanced) employ when performing offers in two symmetrical (-P, -D) and two asymmetrical (+P, +D) situations. The results suggest that, although there is a great deal of grammatical and pragmalinguistic development regarding both initiative offer strategies and syntactic modification devices, this does not guarantee concomitant levels of sociopragmatic development (cf. Bardovi-Harlig 1999). Specifically, it is shown that learners of increased proficiency tend to overgeneralise complex grammatical structures like interrogative constructions and the conditional in situations in which NSs employ more direct and simple grammatical means in order to achieve a solidarity effect. Furthermore, the learners appear to lag far behind NSs in the appropriate use of insistence. The findings of the study lend support to both the developmental stages of pragmatic competence acknowledged in the relevant literature (Ellis 1992; Achiba 2003) and to Bialystok's (1993) model regarding the acquisition of pragmatic competence.

Keywords: interlanguage, greek offers, pragmatic development, insistence
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 1 December 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.26.4.01bel
References
Achiba, Machicko
(2003) Learning to Request in a Second Language: Child Interlanguage Pragmatics. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aijmer, Karin
(1996) Conversational Routines in English: Convention and Creativity. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Antonopoulou, Eleni, and Maria Sifianou
(2003) Conversational dynamics of humour: The telephone game in Greek. Journal of Pragmatics 351: 741–769. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bach, Kent, and Robert Harnish
(1979) Linguistic Communication and Speech Acts. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen
(1999) Exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: A research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. Language Learning 491: 677–713. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, and Beverly Hartford
(1990) Congruence in native and nonnative conversations: Status balance in the academic advising session. Language Learning 401: 467–501. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1993) Learning the rules of academic talk: A longitudinal study of pragmatic development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 151: 279–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barron, Anne
(2003) Acquisition in Interlanguage Pragmatics: Learning How to Do Things with Words in a Study Abroad Context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Offering in Ireland and England. In A. Barron, and K. Schneider (eds.), The Pragmatics of Irish English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 141–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Variation revisited: A corpus analysis of offers in Irish English and British English. In J. Frenk, and L. Steveker (eds.), Anglistentag 2010 Saarbrücken: Proceedings: [proceedings of the conference of the German Association of University Teachers of English]. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, pp. 407–419.Google Scholar
Beebe, Leslie, and Hansun Zhang Waring
(2005) Pragmatic development in responding to rudeness. In J. Frodeson, and C. Holten (eds.), The Power of Context in Language Teaching and Learning. Festschrift in honor of Marianne Celce-Murcia. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, pp. 67–79.Google Scholar
Bella, Spyridoula
(2009) Invitations and politeness in Greek: The age variable. Journal of Politeness Research 51: 243–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) Pragmatic development in a foreign language: A study of Greek FL requests. Journal of Pragmatics 441: 1917–1947. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014) Developing the ability to refuse: A cross-sectional study of Greek refusals. Journal of Pragmatics 611: 35–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, Ellen
(1993) Symbolic representation and attentional control in pragmatic competence. In G. Kasper, and S. Blum-Kulka (eds.), Interlanguage Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 43–59.Google Scholar
Boxer, Diana
(2002) Applying Sociolinguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson
(1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Andrew
(1996) Developing the ability to perform speech acts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 181: 253–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DuFon, Margaret
(1999) The acquisition of linguistic politeness in Indonesian by sojourners in naturalistic interactions. Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawaii.Google Scholar
Edmondson, Willis, and Juliane House
(1981) Let's Talk and Talk About it: A Pedagogic Interactional Grammar of English. München: Urban & Schwarzenberg.Google Scholar
Ellis, Rod
(1992) Learning to communicate in the classroom: A study of two learners requests. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 141: 1–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ericsson, Anders, and Herbert Simon
(1993) Protocol Analysis. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, César
(2006) Linguistic politeness in Mexico: Refusal strategies among male speakers of Mexican Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics 381: 2158–2187. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007) Pragmatic development in the Spanish as a FL classroom: A cross-sectional study of learner requests. Intercultural Pragmatics 41: 253–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) Data collection methods in speech act performance: DCTs, role plays and verbal reports. In A. Martínez-Flor, and E. Usó-Juan (eds.), Speech Act Performance: Theoretical, Empirical and Methodological Issues. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 41–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flores Salgado, Elizabeth
(2011) The Pragmatics of Requests and Apologies: Developmental Patterns of Mexican Students. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fukushima, Saeko, and Yoko Iwata
(1987) Politeness strategies in requesting and offering. Japanese Association of College English Teachers Bulletin 181: 31–48.Google Scholar
Gass, Susan, and Noël Houck
(1999) Interlanguage refusals: A cross-cultural study of Japanese-English. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Golato, Andrea
(2003) Studying compliment responses: A comparison of DCTs and recordings of naturally occurring talk. Applied Linguistics 241: 90–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Göy, Elif, Deniz Zeyrek, and Bahar Otcu
(2012) Developmental patterns in internal modification of requests: A quantitative study on Turkish learners of English. In M. Economidou-Kogetsidis, and H. Woodfield (eds.), Interlanguage Request Modification. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 51–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hancher, Michael
(1979) The classification of cooperative illocutionary acts. Language in Society 81: 1–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hassall, Timothy
(2003) Requests by Australian learners of Indonesian. Journal of Pragmatics 351: 1903–1928. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hill, Thomas
(1997) The Development of Pragmatic Competence in an EFL Context. Doctoral dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Kasper, Gabriele
(2000) Data collection in pragmatics research. In Helen Spencer-Oatey (ed.), Culturally Speaking. London: Continuum, pp. 316–341.Google Scholar
Kasper, Gabriele, and Merete Dahl
(1991) Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 131: 215–247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kasper, Gabriele, and Kenneth Rose
(2002) Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Oxford: University of Michigan: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kasper, Gabriele, and Richard Schmidt
(1996) Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 181: 149–169. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey
(1983) Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Martínez-Flor, Alicia, and Esther Usó-Juan
(2011) Research methodologies in pragmatics: Eliciting refusals to requests. Estudios de Lingüística Inglesa Aplicada 111: 47–87.Google Scholar
Maeshiba, Naoko, Naoko Yoshinaga, Gabriele Kasper, and Steven Ross
(1996) Transfer and proficiency in interlanguage apologizing. In S. Gass, and J. Neu (eds.), Speech Acts Across Cultures: Challenges to Communication in a Second Language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 155–187.Google Scholar
Omar, Alwiya
(1991) How learners greet in Kiswahili: A cross-sectional survey. In L. Bouton, and Y. Kachru (eds.), Pragmatics and Language Learning (monograph series vol. 2). Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, pp. 59–73.Google Scholar
Otcu, Bahar, and Deniz Zeyrek
(2008) Development of requests: A study of Turkish learners of English. In M. Pütz, and J. Neff Van Aertselaer (eds.), Contrastive Pragmatics: Interlanguage and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 265–300.Google Scholar
Pavlidou, Theodossia
(1986) 'Na rotiso kati?: Erotisis se ipotaktiki. Studies in Greek Linguistics 71: 253–249.Google Scholar
(1994) Contrasting German and Greek politeness and the consequences. Journal of Pragmatics 21.5: 487–511. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rasouli Khorsidi, Hassan
(2013) Study abroad and interlanguage pragmatic development in request and apology speech acts among Iranian learners. English Language Teaching 61: 62–70.Google Scholar
Saville-Troike, Muriel
(1996) The ethnography of communication. In S. McKay, and N. Hornberger (eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 351–382.Google Scholar
Scarcella, Robin
(1979) On speaking politely in a second language. In C. Yorio, and J. Schachter (eds.), On TESOL ‘79: The Learner in Focus. Washington, DC: TESOL, pp. 275–287.Google Scholar
Schauer, Gila
(2004) May you speak louder maybe? Interlanguage pragmatic development in requests. In S. Foster-Cohen, M. Sharwood-Smith, A. Sorace, and M. Ota (eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook 4. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) Interlanguage Pragmatic Development: The Study Abroad Context. London: Continuum, pp. 253–273.Google Scholar
Schneider, Klaus
(1980) Ratschlag, Vorschlag, Angebot: Klassifiezierung und Spezifizierung. Unpublished paper, English Department, University of Marburg.Google Scholar
Searle, John
(1975) Indirect speech acts. In Peter Cole, and Jerry Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, pp. 59–82.Google Scholar
(1976) A classification of illocutionary acts. Language in Society 51: 1–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sifianou, Maria
(1992a) Cross-cultural communication: Compliments and offers. Parousia H': 49–69.Google Scholar
(1992b) Politeness Phenomena in England and Greece: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Takahashi, Tomoko, and Leslie Beebe
(1987) The development of pragmatic competence by Japanese learners of English. JALT Journal 81: 131–155.Google Scholar
Trosborg, Anne
(1995) Interlanguage pragmatics: Requests, Complaints and Apologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Usó-Juan, Esther
(2010) Requests: A sociopragmatic approach. In A. Martínez-Flor, and E. Usó-Juan (eds.), Speech Act Performance: Theoretical, Empirical and Methodological Issues. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Conpany, pp. 237–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolfson, Nessa
(1981) Invitations, compliments and the competence of the native speakers. International Journal of Psycholinguistics 251: 7–22.Google Scholar
Woodfield, Helen
(2010) What lies beneath?: Verbal report in interlanguage requests in English. Multilingua 291: 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) “I think maybe I want to lend the notes from you”: Development of request modification in graduate learners. In M. Economidou-Kogetsidis, and H. Woodfield (eds.), Interlanguage Request Modification. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 9–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Bella, Spyridoula
2019. Offers in Greek Revisited. In From Speech Acts to Lay Understandings of Politeness, ► pp. 27 ff. DOI logo
Flores-Salgado, Elizabeth
2020. La insistencia en la cultura mexicana. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 33:1 ► pp. 84 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 september 2023. 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.