Development of Spanish requests and apologies during study abroad
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.2683Palavras-chave:
second language acquisition, pragmatics, requests, apologies, study abroadResumo
The present study analyzed the requests and apologies of 67 U.S. American study abroad students before and after spending one semester in a Spanish-speaking country. Ratings of students' pragmatic appropriateness by Spanish native speakers indicated that, overall, students improved their request and apology performance over the course of the semester. An analysis of students' request and apology strategy use, both pre- and post-study abroad, found that in certain ways students shifted their behavior to more closely resemble that of Spanish native-speaker baseline data, but that in some cases, they also remained or moved away from native-speaker norms. Another objective of the study was to examine the possible associations between students' background characteristics, contact with Spanish, and gains in intercultural sensitivity with gains over time in rated request and apology performance. Of these variables, only two of the language contact variables yielded statistically significant results. This study contributes to our understanding of second language pragmatic development and the influence of individual characteristics and environmental factors.
Recibido: 14-12-2007 / Aceptado: 07-08-2008
How to reference this article:
Shively, R. L. & Cohen, A. D. (2008). Development of Spanish requests and apologies during study abroad. Íkala. 13(2), pp.57-118.
Downloads
Referências
Achiba, M. (2003). Learning to request in a second language: Child interlanguage pragmatics. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Barron, A. (2003). Acquisition in interlanguage pragmatics. Learning how to do things with words in a study abroad context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Barron,A. (2007). 'Ah no honestly we're okay:''Learning to upgrade in a study abroad context. Intercultural Pragmatics 4, 129—166.
Bennett, M. J. (1993). Toward ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience (2nd ed.) (pp. 2171). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
Billmyer, K., & Varghese, M. (2000). Investigating instrument-based pragmatic variability: effects of enhancing discourse completion tests.
Applied Linguistics, 21, 517-552
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., and Kasper, G. (Eds.). (1989). Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Bouton, L. F. (1999). Developing nonnative speaker skills in interpreting conversational implicatures in English: Explicit teaching can ease the process (pp. 47-70). In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in second language teaching and learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Churchill, E., & DuFon, M. (2006). Evolving threads in study abroad research. In Margaret DuFon and Eton Churchill (Eds.), Language learners in study abroad contexts (pp. 1-27). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Cohen, A. D., & Shively, R. L. (2007). Acquisition of requests and apologies in Spanish and French: Impact of study abroad and strategy-building intervention. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 189-212.
Díaz-Campos, M. (2004). Context of learning in the acquisition of Spanish second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 249-274.
Dings, A. (2006). Native/non-native speaker interaction and the co-construction of interactional competence. Paper presented at Second
Language Research Forum (October 6-8, Seattle, WA).
Dittmar, N., & Terborg, H. (1991). Modality and second language learning. In T. Huebner & C. A. Ferguson (Eds.), Crosscurrents in second language acquisition and linguistic theories (pp. 347—384). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
DuFon, M. (1999). The acquisition of linguistic politeness in Indonesian by sojourners in naturalistic interactions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai'i.
Ellis, R. (1992). Learning to communicate in the classroom: Astudy of two learners'requests. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14, 1-23.
Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2004). Interlanguage refusals: Linguistic politeness and length of residence in the target community. Language Learning, 54, 587-653.
Felix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2007). Pragmatic development in the Spanish as a FL classroom: A cross-sectional study of learner requests. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4, 253-286.
Freed, B. F., Dewey, D. P., Segalowitz, N., & Halter, R. (2004). The language contact profile. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 349-356
Freed, B. F., Segalowitz, N., & Dewey, D. P. (2004). Context of learning and second language fluency in French: Comparing regular classroom, study abroad, and intensive domestic immersion programs. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 275-302.
Golato, A. (2003). Studying compliment responses: A comparison of DCTs and recordings of naturally occurring talk. Applied Linguistics, 24, 90-121.
Gómez, T. (2008). Descripción del acto de habla de la disculpa: Un análisis del habla colombiana. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Hartford, B. S., & Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1992). Experimental and observational data in the study of interlanguage pragmatics. In L. Bouton & Y. Kachru (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (Vol. 3, pp. 33—52). Urbana: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Hammer, M. R., Bennett, M. J., & Wiseman, R. (2003). Measuring intercultural sensitivity: The Intercultural Development Inventory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27, 421-443.
Hoffman-Hicks, S. (1999). The longitudinal development of French foreign language pragmatic competence: Evidence from study abroad. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University.
Holmes, J. (1991). Review of cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Language in Society, 20, 119—126.
Iino, M. (1996). 'Excellent foreigner!': Gaijinization of Japanese language and culture in contact situations: An ethnographic study of dinner table conversations between Japanese host families and American students. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Isabelli-García, C. L. (2006). Study abroad social networks, motivation and attitudes: Implications for second language acquisition. In M. D uFon & E. Churchill (Eds.), Language learners in study abroad contexts. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Ishihara, N. (2005). Exercising agency: L2 speakers' resistance to L2 pragmatic norms in authentic L2 use. Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Bloomington, Indiana.
Ishihara, N. (2005). Exercising agency: L2 speakers' resistance to L2 pragmatic norms in authentic L2 use. Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Bloomington, Indiana.
Johnston, B., Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (1998). Effects of rejoinders in production questionnaires. Applied Linguistics, 19, 157—182.
Kasper, G. (1997). Can pragmatic competence be taught? NFLRC Network #6, University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center. http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/NetWorks/NW06/
Kasper, G., & Rose, K. (2002). Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Kim, I. (2000). Relationship of onset age of ESL acquisition and extent of informal input to appropriateness and nativeness in performing four speech acts in English: A study of native Korean adult speakers of ESL. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York University.
Kinginger, C., & Belz, J. (2005). Socio-cultural perspectives on pragmatic development in foreign language learning: Microgenetic case studies from telecollaboration and residence abroad. Intercultural Pragmatics, 2, 369-421.
Kline, R. R. (1993). The social practice of literacy in a program of study abroad. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Kondo, S. (1997). The development of pragmatic competence by Japanese learners of English: Longitudinal study on interlanguage apologies. Sophia Linguistica, 41, 265-284.
Lafford, B. A. (1995). Getting into, through and out of a survival situation: A comparison of communicative strategies used by students studying
Spanish-abroad and 'at home'. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 97-121). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Maeshiba, N., Yoshinaga, N., Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (1996). Transfer and proficiency in interlanguage apologizing. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures. Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 155–187). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Márquez Reiter, R. (2000). Linguistic Politeness in Britain and Uruguay: A Contrastive Study of Requests and Apologies. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins.
Márquez Reiter, R. (2002). A contrastive study of conventional indirectness in Spanish: Evidence from Peninsular and Uruguayan Spanish. Pragmatics, 12, 135—151.
Marriott, H. (1995). The acquisition of politeness patterns by exchange students in Japan. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 197-224). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Matsumura, S. (2001). Learning the rules for offering advice:Aquantitative approach to second language socialization. Language Learning, 51, 635-679.
Mir, M. (1993). Direct requests can also be polite. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Champaign, Illinois.
Olshtain, E., & Blum-Kulka, S. (1985). Degree of approximation: Nonnative reactions to native speech act behavior. In S. M. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 303-325). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Owen, J. (2002). Interlanguage pragmatics in Russian: A study of the effects of study abroad and proficiency levels on request strategies. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Bryn Mawr College.
Paige, R. M. (2003a). The intercultural development inventory: Acritical review of the research literature. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 6, 53-61.
Paige, R. M. (2003b). Editorial. In R. M. Paige (Guest Ed.). Special issue on intercultural development. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27, 383-385.
Paige, R. M. (2004). Instrumentation in intercultural training. In D. Landis, J. M. Bennett, & M. J. Bennett (Eds), Handbook of intercultural training (3rd. ed., pp. 85-128). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Polanyi, L. (1995). Language learning and living abroad: stories from the field. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 271-291). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Rodríguez, S. (2001). The perception of requests in Spanish by instructed learners of Spanish in the second- and foreign-language contexts: A longitudinal study of acquisition patterns. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University
Rose, K. (1994). On the validity of discourse completion tests in non-western contexts. Applied Linguistics, 15, 1-14.
Rose, K. (2000). An exploratory cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 27—67.
Rose, K., & Kasper, G. (Eds.). (2001). Pragmatics in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sabaté i Dalmau, M., & Curell i Gotor, H. (2007). From ''Sorry very much'' to ''I'm ever so sorry:'' Acquisitional patterns in L2 apologies by Catalan learners of English. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4, 287-315.
Scarcella, R. (1979). On speaking politely in a second language. In C. A. Yorio, K. Perkins, & J. Schachter (Eds.), On TESOL '79: The learner in focus (pp. 275–287). Washington, DC: TESOL.
Schauer, G. A. (2004). May you speaker louder maybe? Interlanguage pragmatic development in requests. In S. H. Foster-Cohen, M. Sharwood
Smith, A. Sorace, & M. Ota (Eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook No. 4 (pp. 253-273). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Schauer, G. A. (2007). Finding the right words in the study abroad context: The development of German learners' use of external modifiers in English. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4, 193-220.
Shively, R. L. (2008). Politeness and social interaction in study abroad: Service encounters in L2 Spanish. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Siegal, M. (1994). Looking east: Learning Japanese as a second language and the interaction of race, gender, and social context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Siegal, M. (1995). Individual differences and study abroad: Women learning Japanese in Japan. In B. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in the study abroad context (pp. 225-245). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Trosborg, A. (1987). Apology strategies in native/non-native speakers of English. Journal of Pragmatics, 11, 147—167.
Trosborg, A. (1995). Interlanguage pragmatics: Requests, complaints, apologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Vande Berg, M. (2004). Guest editor. Special issue on study abroad research. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 253-276.
Warga, M., & Schölmberger, U. (2007). The acquisition of French apologetic behavior in a study abroad context. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4, 221-251.
