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Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 2:1 (2017) ► pp.107–131

Metapragmatic perceptions in native language vs. lingua franca settings

Does target language status during study abroad make a difference?

| University of Leipzig

Language learning in study abroad is usually analyzed for settings where the target language is the native language, thereby ignoring the growing number of lingua franca contexts in study abroad. To address this gap, this study examined the pragmatic perceptions of 19 English learners studying abroad, comparing students in native-language settings to their peers in lingua franca environments. During their semester abroad following pragmatic instruction, the learners composed essays which elicited their perceptions of the instruction’s usefulness, applicability, gains in pragmatic awareness, and (dis)advantages of including pragmatics in the curriculum. The results indicate that the native-language setting offers more opportunities to apply pragmalinguistic strategies taught in class, but the lingua franca environment provides more room for sociopragmatic awareness and negotiation. The lingua franca students valued the instruction more, and they highlighted the importance of pragmatic consciousness-raising to complement pragmalinguistic strategies. Implications for study abroad research and language teaching are derived.

Keywords: study abroad, lingua franca, ELF, pragmatic perceptions, metapragmatic perceptions, pragmatic instruction, acquisitional pragmatics, English as a Foreign Language
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Pragmatic perceptions in study abroad
    • 2.2The lingua franca component in study abroad L2 research
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Research aims
    • 3.2Sample and data collection
    • 3.3Pragmatic instruction prior to sojourn abroad
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
  • 5.Summary, implications, and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 13 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.2.1.05gla
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