1887
Volume 5, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2542-9477
  • E-ISSN: 2542-9485
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

English L2 email is an important mode of communication for Japanese university learners. However, learners often find it challenging to vary register in a pragmatically-appropriate manner when emailing. Identifying specific aspects of English email writing that learners find challenging can provide the basis for addressing learner needs. A corpus approach can help, systematically identifying instances of perceived divergence from register-specific norms in an email dataset. Few learner corpora, however, have focused on appropriate register variation in learner L2 English. This article describes the development, annotation, and analysis of a specialized corpus of Japanese university English L2 learners’ request-based email writing, annotated for perceived instances of pragmatic failure. Findings show high frequencies of perceived pragmatic failure across all aspects of English L2 email writing, with participants struggling to appropriately adapt their language to varying contexts. Implications for the language learning classroom are discussed.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/rs.20016.nic
2022-10-18
2025-06-15
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S.
    (1996) Language testing in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Vellenga, H. E.
    (2012) The effect of instruction on conventional expressions in L2 pragmatics. System, 40(1), 77–89. 10.1016/j.system.2012.01.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2012.01.004 [Google Scholar]
  3. Baron, N.
    (2010) Discourse structures in instant messaging: The case of utterance breaks. Language@internet, 71. https://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2010/2651
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Biesenbach-Lucas, S.
    (2006) Making requests in email: Do cyber-consultations entail directness? Toward conventions in a new medium. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 111, 81–107.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. (2007) Students writing e-mails to faculty: an examination of e-politeness among native and non-native speakers of English. Language Learning and Technology, 11(2), 59–81.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bloch, J.
    (2002) Student/teacher interaction via email: the social context of Internet discourse. Journal of Second Language Writing, 11(2), 117–134. 10.1016/S1060‑3743(02)00064‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(02)00064-4 [Google Scholar]
  7. Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G.
    (1989) Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Bolkan, S., & Holmgren, J. L.
    (2012) “You are such a great teacher and I hate to bother you but…”: Instructors’ perceptions of students and their use of email messages with varying politeness strategies. Communication Education, 61(3), 253–270. 10.1080/03634523.2012.667135
    https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2012.667135 [Google Scholar]
  9. Bou-Franch, P.
    (2006) Solidarity and deference in Spanish computer-mediated communication: A discourse-pragmatic analysis of students’ emails to lecturers. InP. Bou-Franch (Ed.), Ways into discourse (pp.61–79). Granada: Comares.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C.
    (1987) Politeness: Some universals in language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813085
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085 [Google Scholar]
  11. Campbell, J. L., Quincy, C., Osserman, J., & Pederson, O.
    (2013) Coding in-depth semistructured interviews: Problems of unitization and intercoder reliability and agreement. Sociological Methods & Research, 42(3), 294–320. 10.1177/0049124113500475
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124113500475 [Google Scholar]
  12. Chen, C-F. E.
    (2006) The Development of e-mail literacy: from writing to peers to writing to authority figures. Language Learning and Technology, 10(2), 35–55.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Chen, Y.
    (2015) Developing Chinese EFL learners’ email literacy through requests to faculty. Journal of Pragmatics, 751, 131–149. 10.1016/j.pragma.2014.05.009
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.05.009 [Google Scholar]
  14. Cho, T.
    (2010) Linguistic features of electronic mail in the workplace: A comparison with memoranda. Language@internet, 71. https://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2010/2728
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Crystal, D.
    (2001) Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139164771
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139164771 [Google Scholar]
  16. Eckart de Castilho, R., Biemann, C., Gurevych, & Yimam, S. M.
    (2014) WebAnno: a flexible, web-based annotation tool for CLARIN. InProceedings of the CLARIN Annual Conference (CAC). Soesterberg, Netherlands.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Economidou-Kogetsidis, M.
    (2011) “Please answer me as soon as possible”: Pragmatic failure in non-native speakers’ e-mail requests to faculty. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(13), 3193–3215. 10.1016/j.pragma.2011.06.006
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.06.006 [Google Scholar]
  18. (2015) Teaching email politeness in the EFL/ESL classroom. ELT Journal, 69(4), 415–424. 10.1093/elt/ccv031
    https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv031 [Google Scholar]
  19. (2016) Variation in evaluations of the (im)politeness of emails from L2 learners and perceptions of the personality of their senders. Journal of Pragmatics, 1061, 1–19. 10.1016/j.pragma.2016.10.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.10.001 [Google Scholar]
  20. Economidou-Kogetsidis, M., Soteriadou, L., & Taxitari, L.
    (2018) Developing pragmatic competence in an instructed setting: The effectiveness of pedagogical intervention in Greek EFL learners’ request production. L2 Journal, 10(3), 3–30. 10.5070/L210333950
    https://doi.org/10.5070/L210333950 [Google Scholar]
  21. Fukushima, S.
    (2000) Requests and culture. New York: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Goy, E., Zeyrek, D., & Otcu, B.
    (2012) Developmental patterns in internal modification of requests: A quantitative study on Turkish learners of English. InM. Economidou-Kogetsidis & H. Woodfield (Eds.), Interlanguage request modification (pp.51–86). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.217.03goy
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.217.03goy [Google Scholar]
  23. Gries, S. Th.
    (2011) Commentary. InK. Allan & J. Robinson (Eds.), Current methods in historical semantics (pp.184–195). Berlin/ New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110252903.184
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110252903.184 [Google Scholar]
  24. Halenko, N., & Jones, C.
    (2011) Teaching pragmatic awareness of spoken requests to Chinese EAP learners in the UK: Is explicit instruction effective?System, 39(2), 240–250. 10.1016/j.system.2011.05.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2011.05.003 [Google Scholar]
  25. Hassall, T.
    (2012) Request modification by Australian learners of Indonesian. InM. Economidou-Kogetsidis & H. Woodfield (Eds.), Interlanguage request modification (pp.203–242). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.217.07has
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.217.07has [Google Scholar]
  26. Hendriks, B.
    (2010) An experimental study of native speaker perceptions of non-native request modification in e-mails in English. Intercultural Pragmatics, 7(2), 221–255. 10.1515/iprg.2010.011
    https://doi.org/10.1515/iprg.2010.011 [Google Scholar]
  27. Hudson, T., Detmer, E., & Brown, J. D.
    (1995) Developing prototypic measures of cross-cultural pragmatics (technical report 7). Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Hunston, S.
    (2002) Corpora in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139524773
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524773 [Google Scholar]
  29. Kallen, J., & Kirk, J.
    (2012) SPICE-Ireland: A user’s guide. Belfast: Clo Ollscoil na Banriona.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Kaneko, E., Park, M., Wilson, I., Heo, Y., Roy, D., Yasuta, T., Nicholas, A., & Blake, J.
    (2018) English curriculum innovation for computer science majors in the Japanese EFL context: From needs to tasks. InProceedings of the 2018 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (pp.84–89). 10.1109/ProComm.2018.00028
    https://doi.org/10.1109/ProComm.2018.00028 [Google Scholar]
  31. Kankaanranta, A.
    (2006) “Hej Seppo, could you pls comment on this!” – internal email communication in lingua franca English in a multinational company. Business Communication Quarterly, 69(2), 216–225. 10.1177/108056990606900215
    https://doi.org/10.1177/108056990606900215 [Google Scholar]
  32. Krulatz, A.
    (2012) Interlanguage pragmatics in Russian: The speech act of request in email. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Utah).
  33. Kubota, M.
    (1995) Teachability of conversational implicature to Japanese EFL learners. IRLT Bulletin, 91, 35–67.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Lazarescu, R. C.
    (2013) “Can you upload as soon as you can please?” A study of university student requests by e-mail in English Medium Instruction. (Master’s thesis, Universidad Complutense Madrid).
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Leech, G.
    (1992) Corpora and theories of linguistic performance. InJ. Svarvik (Ed.), Directions in corpus linguistics (pp.105–122). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110867275.105
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110867275.105 [Google Scholar]
  36. Leech, G., & Weisser, M.
    (2003) Generic speech act annotation for task-oriented dialogues. InD. Archer, P. Rayson, A. Wilson, & A. Mcenery (Eds.), Proceedings of corpus linguistics (pp.441–446). Lancaster University.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Lewin-Jones, J., & Mason, V.
    (2014) Understanding style, language and etiquette in email communication in higher education: A survey. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 19(1), 75–90. 10.1080/13596748.2014.872934
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2014.872934 [Google Scholar]
  38. Liddicoat Anthony, J., & Crozet, C.
    (2001) Acquiring French interactional norms through instruction. InK. R. Rose & G. Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching (pp.125–144). New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139524797.012
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524797.012 [Google Scholar]
  39. LoCastro, V.
    (1997) Pedagogical intervention and pragmatic competence. Applied Language Learning, 8(1),75–109.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. (2012) Pragmatics for language educators. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Maynard, C., & Leicher, S.
    (2007) Pragmatic annotation of an academic spoken corpus for pedagogical purposes. InE. Fitzpatrick (Ed.), Corpus linguistics beyond the word: Corpus research from phrase to discourse. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 10.1163/9789401203845_008
    https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401203845_008 [Google Scholar]
  42. Mey, J. L.
    (1993) Pragmatics: An introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Negueruela, E.
    (2008) Revolutionary pedagogies: Learning that leads (to) second language development. InJ. P. Lantolf & M. Poehner (Eds.), Sociocultural theory and the teaching of second languages (pp.189–227). London: Equinox Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Nicholas, A.
    (2015) A concept-based approach to teaching speech acts in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 69(4), 383–394. 10.1093/elt/ccv034
    https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv034 [Google Scholar]
  45. Rosch, E. H.
    (1973) On the internal structure of perceptual and semantic categories. InT. E. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and acquisition of language (pp.111–144). London: Academic Press. 10.1016/B978‑0‑12‑505850‑6.50010‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-505850-6.50010-4 [Google Scholar]
  46. Savic, M.
    (2018) Lecturer perceptions of im/politeness and in/appropriateness in student e-mail requests: A Norwegian perspective. Journal of Pragmatics, 1241, 52–72. 10.1016/j.pragma.2017.12.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.12.005 [Google Scholar]
  47. Taguchi, N.
    (2007) Task difficulty in oral speech act production. Applied Linguistics, 28(1), 113–135. 10.1093/applin/aml051
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml051 [Google Scholar]
  48. Taguchi, N., & Roever, C.
    (2017) Second language pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Tono, Y.
    (2003) Learner corpora: design, development and applications. InProceedings of Corpus Linguistics 2003 (pp.800–809). Lancaster University.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Thompson, G., & Hunston, S.
    (2006) System and corpus: Exploring connections. London: Equinox.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. van Compernolle, R. A.
    (2014) Sociocultural theory and L2 instructional pragmatics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783091409
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783091409 [Google Scholar]
  52. Weisser, M.
    (2014) Speech act annotation. InK. Aijmer & C. Ruhlemann (Eds.), Corpus pragmatics: A handbook (pp.84–113). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139057493.005
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139057493.005 [Google Scholar]
  53. Yoshimi, D.
    (2001) Explicit instruction and JFL learners’ use of interactional discourse markers. InK. R. Rose & G. Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching (pp.223–244). New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139524797.016
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524797.016 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/rs.20016.nic
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/rs.20016.nic
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): email writing; learner corpus; pragmatics; second language learning
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error