Alison Mackey

Jonathan Culpeper

Naoko Taguchi

Second Language Pragmatics: From Theory to Research aims to reinvigorate this field, pointing the way forward to new methodologies that can drive, or be driven by, new theoretical developments. With a unique combination of leading international expertise in general pragmatics, L2 pragmatics, and research methodology, the authors describe in detail the methods, including the most recent techniques, by which pragmatics of all types can be pursued in L2 contexts. This volume argues that L2 pragmatics research needs to expand from its initial base by drawing from a wider range of sources, such as Corpus Linguistics and Psycholinguistics. Clear, accessible, and practical, Second Language Pragmatics will be valuable to novice and seasoned researchers alike in second language pragmatics, general pragmatics, and second language acquisition courses.

From Theory to Research

Second Language Pragmatics

In the process of second language acquisition, the ability to interact effectively is critical. But what does it mean to be interactively competent? This book addresses this question by presenting research on the development of interactional competence among learners of Japanese as a second language. Qualitative data collected on learners studying abroad in Japan is evaluated to explain changes in their interactional competence and provides specific insights into the learning of Japanese. The situated analysis of multiple data sets generates meaningful interpretations of the development of interactional competence in the development of interactional competence and the learner-specific factors that shape developmental trajectories. Moreover, the context of the research provides insights into the types of learning resources and experiences that study abroad provides to assist learners’ in their progress towards becoming a competent speaker in the target community.

Developing Interactional Competence in a Japanese Study Abroad Context

Carsten Roever

Taguchi and Roever present the latest developments in second language pragmatics research, combining acquisitional and sociolinguistic perspectives. They cover theories of pragmatics learning and research methods in investigating pragmatics, linking these with findings on the acquisition of second language pragmatics and with practice in teaching and assessing pragmatics. Discussing pragmatics in the context of multilingual societies and diverse contexts of use, they offer a broad perspective on this growing area. “Written by two leading authorities, Second Language Pragmatics offers a comprehensive review of pragmatics as an object of second language learning, instruction and assessment. The book masterfully lays out the advances made over three decades, showing in welcome descriptive detail how the field has benefited from the diverse theoretical perspectives and empirical traditions that define it today. Taguchi and Roever extend a persuasive invitation to further research on second language pragmatics as a multilingual, multicultural, and multicontextual enterprise.” Gabriele Kasper, Professor of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Naoko Taguchi is Associate Professor in the Modern Language Department at Carnegie Mellon University, USA Carsten Roever is Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, Australia Oxford Applied Linguistics Series Advisers: Anne Burns and Diane Larsen-Freeman

In the disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA), the study of pragmatic competence has been driven by several fundamental questions such as: What does it mean to become pragmatically competent in a second language (L2)? This book explores these key issues in Japanese as a second/foreign language.

Pragmatic Competence

This book describes second language learners? development of pragmatic competence - the appropriate language use in a social context. It reveals patterns of development across different aspects of pragmatic abilities measured over one year and presents rich descriptions of participants? experiences and the individual characteristics that shaped their developmental trajectories.

Context, Individual Differences and Pragmatic Competence

In the disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA), the study of pragmatic competence has been driven by several fundamental questions: What does it mean to become pragmatically competent in a second language (L2)? How can we examine pragmatic competence to make inference of its development among L2 learners? In what ways do research findings inform teaching and assessment of pragmatic competence? This book explores these key issues in Japanese as a second/foreign language. The book has three sections. The first section offers a general overview and historical sketch of the study of Japanese pragmatics and its influence on Japanese pedagogy and curriculum. The overview chapter is followed by eight empirical findings, each dealing with phenomena that are significant in Japanese pragmatics. They target selected features of Japanese pragmatics and investigate the learners' use of them as an indicator of their pragmatic competence. The target pragmatic features are wide-ranging, among them honorifics, speech style, sentence final particles, speech acts of various types, and indirect expressions. Each study explicitly prompts the connection between pragmalinguistics (linguistic forms available to perform language functions) and sociopragmatics (norms that determine appropriate use of the forms) in Japanese. By documenting the understanding and use of them among learners of Japanese spanning multiple levels and time durations, this book offers insight about the nature and development of pragmatic competence, as well as implications for the learning and teaching of Japanese pragmatics. The last section presents a critical reflection on the eight empirical papers and prompts a discussion of the practice of Japanese pragmatics research.

Pragmatic competence plays a key role in the era of globalization where communication across cultural boundaries is an everyday phenomenon. The ability to use language in a socially appropriate manner is critical, as lack of it may lead to cross-cultural miscommunication or cultural stereotyping. This book describes second language learners’ development of pragmatic competence. It proposes an original theoretical framework combining a pragmatics and psycholinguistics approach, and uses a variety of research instruments, both quantitative and qualitative, to describe pragmatic development over one year. Situated in a bilingual university in Japan, the study reveals patterns of change across different pragmatic abilities among Japanese learners of English. The book offers implications for SLA theories, the teaching and assessment of pragmatic competence, and intercultural communication.

Naoko Taguchi

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