Cover not available
Article published In:
Second language pragmatic development in study abroad contexts
Edited by Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández
[Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 7:1] 2022
► pp. 152–175

The impact of predeparture instruction on pragmatic development during study abroad

A learning strategies perspective

ORCID logo | Ryukoku University

This study investigates the impact of a predeparture intervention on developing pragmatic knowledge in a study abroad context. The study included 66 university-level Japanese learners of English who participated in a four-month study abroad program in Canada. The intervention consisted of the implicit-inductive, explicit-deductive, and explicit-inductive methods of instruction on speech acts. Pragmatic development was measured by gain scores on a written a discourse completion test requiring realization of apologies. Results of the analysis of covariance, controlling for levels of English proficiency, revealed that the explicitly taught groups had significantly larger gains in pragmatic knowledge than the implicitly taught group, and that when comparing the deductive and inductive approaches in the explicit instruction, the two groups did not differ significantly. Follow-up interviews using extreme-case sampling revealed that the metacognitive strategies they had acquired at the predeparture stage contributed to the gains. Implications for maximizing pragmatic development during study abroad are discussed.

Keywords: L2 pragmatics, instructional pragmatics, predeparture instruction, pragmatics learning strategies
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Predeparture instruction on L2 pragmatics
    • 2.2Methods of pragmatics instruction
    • 2.3Research questions
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Settings of the predeparture orientation course
    • 3.3Treatment procedure
    • 3.4Quantitative phase
      • 3.4.1Data collection
      • 3.4.2Instrument
      • 3.4.3Data analysis
    • 3.5Qualitative phase
      • 3.5.1Data collection
      • 3.5.2Data analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Descriptive statistics
    • 4.2Analysis of covariance
    • 4.3Analysis of the interview data
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 19 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.21006.mat
References
Alcón-Soler, E.
(2015) Pragmatic learning and study abroad: Effects of instruction and length of stay. System, 48 1, 62–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bennett, J. M.
(2008) On becoming a global soul: A path to engagement during study abroad. In V. Savicki (Ed.), Developing intercultural competence and transformation: Theory, research, and application in international education (pp. 13–31). Stylus.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. D.
(2005) Strategies for learning and performing L2 speech acts. Intercultural Pragmatics, 2–3 1, 275–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2020) Considerations in assessing pragmatic appropriateness in spoken language. Language Teaching, 53 1, 183–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, A. D., & Shively, R. L.
(2007) Acquisition of requests and apologies in Spanish and French: Impact of study abroad and strategy-building intervention. The Modern Language Journal, 91 1, 189–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, A. D., & Sykes, J. M.
(2013) Strategy-based learning of pragmatics for intercultural education. In F. Dervin, & A. Liddicoat (Eds.), Linguistics for intercultural education in language learning and teaching (pp. 87–111). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J.
(1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Curran, P. J., West, S. G., & Finch, J. F.
(1996) The robustness of test statistics to nonnormality and specification error in confirmatory factor analysis. Psychological Methods, 1 (1), 16–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M.
(2003) Implicit and explicit learning. In C. J. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 313–348). Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, J. C.
(2008) Teaching Spanish pragmatics in the classroom: Explicit instruction of mitigation. Hispania, 91 1, 477–492. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fordyce, K.
(2014) The differential effects of explicit and implicit instruction on EFL learners’ use of epistemic stance. Applied Linguistics, 35 1, 6–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Glaser, K.
(2013) The neglected combination: A case for explicit-inductive instruction in teaching pragmatics in ESL. TESOL Canada Journal, 30 1, 150–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) News from the pragmatics classroom: Contrasting the inductive and the deductive approach in the teaching of pragmatic competence. Intercultural Pragmatics, 13 (4), 529–561. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halenko, N., & Jones, C.
(2017) Explicit instruction of spoken requests: An examination of predeparture instruction and the study abroad environment. System, 68 1, 26–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Henery, A.
(2015) On the development of metapragmatic awareness abroad: Two case studies exploring the role of expert-mediation. Language Awareness, 24 1, 316–331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hernández, T. A., & Boero, P.
(2018) Explicit intervention for Spanish pragmatic development during short-term study abroad: An examination of learner request production and cognition. Foreign Language Annals, 51 1, 389–410. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hirschberg, J.
(2006) Pragmatics and intonation. In L. Horn, & G. Ward (Eds.), The handbook of pragmatics (pp. 515–537). Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D.
(2010) Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Routledge.Google Scholar
Kinginger, C.
(2011) English language learning in study abroad. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31 1, 58–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Flor, A., & Alcón-Soler, E.
(2007) Developing pragmatic awareness of suggestions in the EFL classroom: A focus on instructional effects. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10 1, 47–76.Google Scholar
Matsumura, S.
(2003) Modelling the relationships among interlanguage pragmatic development, L2 proficiency, and exposure to L2. Applied Linguistics, 24 1, 465–491. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, M. T. T.
(2017) Using conversation tasks and retrospective methodology to investigate L2 pragmatics development: The case of EFL criticisms and responses to criticisms. The Language Learning Journal, 45 (3), 399–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
(2020) Education at a glance 2020: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Paige, R. M., Cohen, A. D., & Shively, R. L.
(2004) Assessing the impact of strategies-based curriculum on language and culture learning abroad. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10 1, 253–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez Vidal, C., & Shively, R. L.
(2019) L2 pragmatic development in study abroad settings. In N. Taguchi (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and pragmatics (pp. 355–371). Routledge.Google Scholar
Rogosa, D.
(1988) Myths about longitudinal research. In K. W. Schaie, R. T. Campbell, W. M. Meredith, & S. C. Rawlings (Eds.), Methodological issues in aging research (pp. 171–209). Springer.Google Scholar
Shively, R. L.
(2010) From the virtual world to the real world: A model of pragmatics instruction for study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 43 1, 105–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) L2 pragmatic development in study abroad: A longitudinal study of Spanish service encounters. Journal of Pragmatics, 43 1, 1818–1835. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simin, S., Eslami, Z., Eslami-Rasekh, A., & Ketabi, S.
(2014) The effects of explicit teaching of apologies on Persian EFL learners’ performance: When e-communication helps. International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 3 1, 71–84.Google Scholar
Sykes, J. M., & Cohen, A. D.
(2018) Strategies and interlanguage pragmatics: Explicit and comprehensive. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8 (2), 381–402. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S.
(2013) Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Pearson International Education.Google Scholar
Taguchi, N.
(2015) Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48 1, 1–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Pragmatic competence in foreign language education: Cultivating learner autonomy and strategic learning of pragmatics. In I. Walker, D. K. G. Chan, M. Nagami, & C. Bourguignon (Eds.), New perspectives on the development of communicative and related competence in foreign language education (pp. 53–69). Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taguchi, N., & Roever, C.
(2017) Second language pragmatics. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taguchi, N., & Sykes, J. M.
(2013) Technology in interlanguage pragmatics research and teaching. John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, S.
(2010) The effect of pragmatic instruction on speech act performance. In A. Martínez-Flor, & E. Usó-Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical, and methodological issues (pp. 127–142). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Takimoto, M.
(2008) The effects of deductive and inductive instruction on the development of language learners’ pragmatic competence. The Modern Language Journal, 92 1, 369–386. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J.
(1983) Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics, 4 1, 91–112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Winke, P. M., & Teng, C.
(2010) Using task-based pragmatics tutorials while studying abroad in China. Intercultural Pragmatics, 7 1, 363–399. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xiao, Z.
(2015) Adult second language learners’ pragmatic development in the study abroad context: Review. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 25 1, 132–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar