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Article published In:
Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 8:1 (2023) ► pp.76–114

Learning how to request in German during stay abroad

| University of Jyväskylä
This study examines the request development of eight UK-based students during their stay abroad (SA) year in Germany or Austria. Open-ended roleplays were used to elicit 144 requests before, during, and after SA, and to track the development of external and internal request-mitigation strategies and deictic orientation. Semi-structured interviews and a language-engagement questionnaire were carried out to determine which contextual factors most influenced students’ pragmalinguistic development during SA. Participants mainly used conventionally indirect hearer dominant request strategies pre-sojourn. Whilst abroad, sojourners’ requests became more direct and mostly speaker dominant, whilst participants increasingly favored external mitigation strategies and, to a lesser extent, use of the internal-mitigation strategy upgrader. Of the factors hypothesized to be influential in their acquiring pragmalinguistic competence, participants’ awareness of differences in linguistic politeness, followed by their sense of identity in the host community and degree of interaction with the host community, influenced pre- to in-sojourn pragmalinguistic changes the most.
Keywords: German request development, identity, investment, request directness, politeness models, relational work
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1The structure and categorization of requests
    • 2.2Relational work
    • 2.3Language socialization, CoPs, and identity
    • 2.4SA request and sociopragmatic development
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Procedure
    • 3.3Instruments
      • 3.3.1Open-ended roleplays
      • 3.3.2The CCSARP coding scheme
      • 3.3.3Background and language engagement questionnaires
      • 3.3.4Semi-structured interviews
      • 3.3.5Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1How do students’ requests develop with respect to directness, internal and external mitigation, and deictic orientation during SA?
      • 4.1.1Request directness (Level I)
      • 4.1.2Internal mitigation (Level II)
      • 4.1.3External mitigation (Level III)
      • 4.1.4Request perspective (Level IV)
    • 4.2Do learner identity, interaction with the host community, and perception of politeness during SA influence request formulations?
      • 4.2.1Degree of interaction with the host community
      • 4.2.2Self-assessed identity in the host community
      • 4.2.3Awareness of differences in linguistic politeness
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Limitations
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 March 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.17007.kal
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