Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education - Volume 7, Issue 1, 2022

This special issue illustrates current research on the development of second language (L2) pragmatic competence in study abroad (SA) contexts. In doing so, it accounts for the complexity entailed in learning the linguistic and sociocultural norms of interaction with people of diverse backgrounds while facing the multiple challenges involved in adapting to a new and unknown setting. This introduction to the special issue presents key topics and previous findings that frame such processes of L2 pragmatic development. These include (1) a description of study abroad as a context for L2 pragmatic development, (2) pragmatic targets that students learn during SA, (3) internal and external factors that are likely to play a role in the learning process, and (4) the role of instruction in helping students maximize their stays abroad in terms of pragmatic learning. Finally, an overview of the articles included in this special issue is provided, highlighting how they contribute to the key themes illustrated throughout this introductory section.

The present study tracks the longitudinal pragmatic development of spoken requests by Japanese, adult learners of English during an academic year abroad, and aims to examine whether and how their requestive performance develops over time in high and low-imposition situations. Data were collected at three points of the academic year using oral, virtual role plays, and semi-structured group interviews. Data analysis examined the type and frequency of request strategies and modification devices employed by the group over time. Findings revealed that there were only some pragmatic gains (e.g., a slight drop in the use of want statements) as learners were very slow in adopting a new form-function mapping and expanding their pragmalinguistic repertoire. They relied on (and overused) a limited set of request sequences and had clear preferences for particular ways to express (in)directness, confirming that pragmatic gains might often be small, and development may follow a non-linear trajectory.

The study abroad (SA) experience presents opportunities to enrich linguistic and cultural knowledge, but pragmatic development does not always follow a linear path. This investigation describes one interlanguage challenge: managing online interactions in upward email requests. Openings and closings in emails of two academic discourse communities are examined: (L1) English-speaking experts with three years of prior socialization into UK academic practices (n = 162) and (L2) Chinese English as a foreign language novices as newcomers on their SA stay (n = 159). The study aims to analyze sociocultural variance between the groups and whether a 10-month sojourn influences novice email practices. Results revealed novices and experts adopted markedly different strategies for interpersonal work. Experts tended to take a less formal, egalitarian stance when initiating emails while novices opted for increased levels of formality in structure and style. Most novices’ mismanagement could be traced back to first language influences or, more commonly, to an overreliance on formal letter writing techniques.

This investigation of second language (L2) pragmatic development over a six-week, short-term study abroad program examines compliment responses among English-speaking, L2 learners of Spanish, and compares the L2 group to native speakers of Spanish and English. Data were collected by offering a compliment during interviews, thus eliciting naturalistic compliment responses in a uniform context. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of this corpus offered a discourse-level analysis of compliment responses as a (co)constructed and multimodal speech act. Results revealed cross-cultural differences in the use of appreciation tokens (e.g., “thanks”), nodding, and compliment-compliment response discourse structures (i.e., English: pragmatic routine with appreciation; Spanish: co-constructed agreement). L2 learners’ compliment responses before and after study abroad aligned with English speaker norms. Thus, compliment responses in the L2 may not be salient for L2 learners. Results highlighted cross-cultural differences in the speech acts used to respond to a compliment and the complex issue of interlanguage pragmatics.

This study investigated the effects of different levels of linguistic proficiency on the development of multiple speech acts during study abroad. Participants were 109 American learners of Chinese recruited from a study abroad program in China. They were divided into a higher proficiency (HP) group and a lower proficiency (LP) group based on their scores on a standardized Chinese proficiency test. The participants completed a computerized oral Discourse Completion Test (DCT) that assessed the production of compliment response, refusal, and request as pre- and posttests. The learners’ oral productions were analyzed according to measures of appropriateness rating and speech rate. Linguistic analysis was performed to examine changes in strategy preference and distribution across the three speech acts. Results revealed a complex relationship between proficiency, speech act type, pragmatic performance measure (e.g., appropriateness, speech rate), and ways that pragmatic changes are evaluated (e.g., developmental trajectory, amount of gain).

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.

Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández presents five articles that showcase current trends of study abroad research in second language (L2) pragmatics. The study abroad context has attracted a large number of empirical investigations in L2 pragmatics (for a review, see Pérez Vidal & Shively, 2019). The popularity of the study abroad context in pragmatics is understandable when we consider the nature of pragmatic competence. Pragmatic competence involves linguistic knowledge, sociocultural knowledge, and the ability to interact with others appropriately using these knowledge bases (Taguchi, 2017). As such, the study abroad context, which offers opportunities to observe cultural norms and to practice contextually appropriate language use, is a prime site for pragmatic development. In this commentary, I focus on three innovative aspects of study abroad pragmatics research that run across the five studies in this volume: (1) longitudinal research design, (2) technology-enhanced data collection methods, and (3) pre-departure instruction focusing on pragmatics. For each aspect, I present critical reflections and recommendations for future research.