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- Volume 3, Issue 1, 2021
Applied Pragmatics - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2021
Volume 3, Issue 1, 2021
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Topic management and opportunities for learning in an advanced Francophone Cultures class
Author(s): Rémi A. van Compernollepp.: 1–25 (25)More LessDrawing on conversation analysis and its extension to classroom discourse studies, this article examines the ways in which topic is managed and opportunities for learning are created in an advanced US university-level Francophone Cultures class. In the analysis, topic is treated as an ongoing interactional achievement rather than a stable “subject” of conversation. A single-case analysis is presented to show how topic is accomplished between the teacher and her students in relation to preference organization and epistemic stance. Specifically, the analysis demonstrates how a prototypical three-turn Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) sequence is elaborated over multiple turns that expand the teacher’s explicitly announced topic to include a side sequence addressing a metalinguistic problem and a disagreement between two students that results in an expansion of the topic beyond the teacher’s agenda. In the discussion, the results are synthesized in relation to how opportunities for learning emerge in the comanagement of topics. Implications for research and pedagogy are also offered.
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Codeswitching between Modern Standard and Colloquial Arabic as L2 sociolinguistic competence
Author(s): Lama Nassifpp.: 26–50 (25)More LessMultidialectal use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Colloquial Arabic (CA) has become standard practice among Arabic speakers. Therefore, a question facing Arabic instructors and curriculum planners is what methods to adopt to raise learners’ awareness of this sociolinguistic reality. Some programs introduce MSA and one variety of CA from the beginning of Arabic instruction. However, the question of how learners who receive multidialectal training use MSA and CA simultaneously in their speech productions and how their MSA–CA use evolves over their years of Arabic study remains under-researched. The current study addressed these questions by studying the speech productions of 51 second language (L2) Arabic learners enrolled in three years of Arabic instruction. The data show that the participants consistently code-switched between MSA and CA, and seemed to conform to sociocultural norms designating MSA as more formal and CA as more personal and intimate. As learners’ proficiency levels increased, a wider range of sociolinguistic functions was observed. The study reinforces the importance of L2 Arabic curricula decisions that embrace the multidialectal use of Arabic in the L2 Arabic classroom and asserts learners’ ability to use MSA and CA simultaneously.
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Assessing L2 learners’ pragmatic ability in problem-solving situations at English-medium university
Author(s): Naoki Ikedapp.: 51–83 (33)More LessThis paper discusses the oral pragmatic ability of current and prospective university students (international students) in an English-speaking country by examining how they are differentiated in the assessed levels of this target ability. A total of 67 students, all of whom were second language (L2) speakers of English, completed a set of oral discourse production tasks simulating interpersonal settings encountered at university. Their task performances were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results show a substantial gap between the highest performing university students and the prospective students in terms of their measured pragmatic ability. However, some university students scored quite poorly and were actually outperformed by a certain number of prospective students who were preparing to satisfy the English language requirements for university admission. These findings suggest that being a university student is not necessarily an indicator of having sufficiently developed pragmatic ability to participate in interpersonal settings in an academic environment. The findings shed light on the importance of providing students learning and assessment opportunities for pragmatics so they can gain greater awareness of their own developing pragmatic ability in an English-medium university.
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Teaching communication strategies in China
Author(s): Danni Xiapp.: 84–106 (23)More LessSince English is now used as a Lingua Franca (ELF), it is important to explore how English learners may be trained to employ multiple Communication Strategies (CSs) to achieve mutual understanding, particularly in ELF contexts. This study explores which CSs were taught in recent years in China and how the teaching content is presented in domestic textbooks from an ELF perspective. Ten college English textbooks that were published in the past five years (2014–2019) were selected and evaluated based on an adapted framework of CSs. The findings revealed a notable inclination toward certain types of macro-strategies and were not systematically mapped out. Moreover, an initial effort in manifesting “cultural diversity” was observed but failed to construct intercultural contexts. Knowledge explanation as well as student-oriented exercises were found to be conducive in consolidating learners’ acquisition of forms. However, the function and context of the target CSs were neglected. Furthermore, an absence of sociocultural pragmatic concern resulted in a discrepancy between explicit knowledge explanation and context-based practice. Accordingly, this study suggests implications for both textbook writers and instructors in practice.
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Learning pragmatics through tasks
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