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Abstract

This study explores individual variation in advanced foreign language learners’ cognitive processes in speech act performance while negotiating meaning in English as a foreign language (EFL). To reveal learner perceptions and cognitions on their clarification request (CR) production, data were collected using retrospective verbal reports from 16 advanced Korean EFL learners through two conversation tasks. Ten verbal reports were analyzed by conducting introspective thematic analysis, considering concepts in pragmatics and second language (L2) acquisition. The sampled learners had multiple foci of attention, such as sociopragmatic norms and subjective perceptions of face and rapport, pragmalinguistic awareness, and emotion in the employment of CR strategies. These findings reveal that learners’ decision-making processes regarding employment/avoidance of CRs during EFL conversation tasks varied: (i) for some learners, it related to perceptions of the interlocutor’s linguistic proficiency and first-language pragmatics; (ii) for others, despite their pragmalinguistic awareness, it related to a lack of sufficient L2 sociopragmatic and L2 pragmalinguistic knowledge. These learners’ CR choices are not necessarily face-threatening because for many these choices were made to scaffold the interlocutor or politely express disagreement based on their construction of explicature in micro-contexts created during conversations, rather than focused solely on face.

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2026-05-05
2026-05-11

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Individual variations in learner perceptions
John Benjamins ; https://doi.org/10.1075/ap.24027.coo
/content/journals/10.1075/ap.24027.coo
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: speech act ; pragmatic awareness ; L2 pragmatics ; clarification request ; contextual factors

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