Information for Researchers
Structure and
content of these curricular materials
Our
self-accessed web-based modules include an introductory
awareness-raising unit and five
speech act modular units (apologies, compliments/responses to compliments,
refusals, requests, and thanks).
The introductory unit presents eight realistic
situations learners of Japanese are likely to encounter in
For general
use of Japanese:
§ Expected use of honorific
language, keigo, for someone older
and/or higher in status
§ Expected non-use of
honorific language or polite forms for someone of equal age and/or status
§ Combined use of
honorifics/polite forms and non-honorific bare forms for someone close who is
older and higher in status or someone distant who is equal or younger in age
and equal or lower in status
For Apologies:
§ Function of certain apology
expressions as expressions of thanks as well as apology
§ Use of formal apology expressions
appropriate for use with a higher-status interlocutor
§ Repetitious use of apology
expressions
§ Often-negative evaluation of
a lengthy excuse in Japanese
§ Appropriate excuse for
higher-status interlocutors
For Refusals:
§ Interpretation of an indirect
refusal
§ Appropriate response to a
refusal
For Thanks:
§ Repeating thanks as a common
thanking strategy
§ Thanking again for a
previous favor as a common thanking strategy
§ Interpretation of repeating
thanks as a politeness strategy, not an implied request
For Requests:
§ Appropriate reason for a
legitimate request
§ Use of downgrader preferred
(e.g., chotto, sukoshi)
§ Appropriate phrasing of
requests
For
Complaints:
§ Returning merchandize as an
unacceptable behavior
§ Politeness strategies at the
service counter and gender differences
§ Use of a conversation
opener/a signal for an upcoming request
For
Compliments:
§ Appropriate situations for
accepting compliments
§ Compliments about
possessions as opposed to abilities/performance
Components
of each of the five speech act units
(Quick
Guide to a Sample Unit):
1. Description of the
situation with contextual factors (e.g., age, status, level of acquaintance, intensity
of the act) and successful L2 sample interactions
The data in the materials provides detailed
contextual information in order to allow learners to analyze the impact of the
contextual factors on L2 linguistic strategies.
In the learners-as-researchers approach (e.g., “learner as an
ethnographer” Bardovi-Harlig 1996, Tanaka, 1997), learners are encouraged to
observe and analyze the function of contextual variables in pragmatic use of
the L2. Although this approach gives
learners a first-hand experience that can assist in developing skills in
dealing with natural language in authentic context, in many foreign language
settings learners’ obtaining sufficient speech samples is often
unrealistic. The data collection process
can be time-consuming and inefficient even in second language contexts, and
learners may not be proficient enough to collect data accurate enough for
pragmatic analysis (Judd, 1999). Instead
of having learners collect data individually, however, our units provide L2
linguistic samples and contextual information with an intention to raise
learners’ pragmatic awareness.
In teaching pragmatics the materials must reflect authentic L2 use. A majority of published textbooks including those using a notional/functional syllabus, are written based on the material developers’ intuition and thus may not be faithful to the way language is actually used. Thus, the materials must be carefully selected, modified, or created for L2 instruction (Judd, 1999). In the construction of our units, native-speaking informants were given contextual information and conducted role play, attempting to act as spontaneously as possible. This role play procedure also functioned to cross-check whether L2 pragmatic features reported in past research studies were actually present in the role play. If the pragmatic features are present, then validity of the research and the materials is enhanced. If the role play data lacked the predicted features, Ishihara used her judgment to decide whether the data could still be regarded as sufficiently authentic and are usable as L2 samples. In light of the spoken data, she also determined whether the research findings about certain L2 pragmatic features are credible and worthwhile teaching. Prior to data collection (recording of L2 samples), Ishihara had considered what varieties (e.g., gender, age, and regional varieties) of L2 pragmatic norms should be presented as models and recruit model speakers accordingly. We focused mostly on the language use among college students and young adults in the standard variety of Japanese.
2. Pragmatic awareness-raising tasks and
explicit feedback on L2 pragmatic norms
Assuming an English-speaking audience, the units
sometimes ask learners to engage in some reflection on their pragmatic use in
English (e.g., Rose, 1994). The units
include linguistic samples with a similar speech task performed between
different interlocutors (e.g., apologizing for failing to come to a meeting
with a professor versus with a close friend) or a different tasks for the same
interlocutor (e.g., borrowing a quarter versus $80 from a friend), and prompt
learners to compare and contrast pragmatic features in these situations. Such an approach is intended to foster
learners’ noticing and awareness of the ways in which pragmatic use of L1 and
L2 are similar and/or different and ways in which contextual factors affect L2
use (Kasper & Schmidt, 1996; Schmidt, 1993).
Although noticing does not necessarily guarantee L2 pragmatic
learning, it is a necessary condition, because mere exposure to the L2 is
unlikely to lead to learners’ noticing of pragmatic features and understanding
of general pragmatic norms (Kasper & Rose, 2002). Therefore, explicit teaching of pragmalinguistic
forms, functional meanings, and contextual features can be highly facilitative
of pragmatic learning. In the units,
learners are instructed to attend to L1 and L2 sociopragmatic norms or
pragmalinguistic forms, with the intention that they will ultimately come to an
awareness of how contextual factors are evaluated in the L2 culture and how
they affect L2 forms (Judd, 1999; Rose, 1994).
This approach is intended to bring learners to a realization of
different cultural norms in the L2 and the ways they are encoded in the
language.
3. Language-focused
(sociolinguistic/pragmalinguistic) exercises, and grammatical and lexical
information
Although grammatical knowledge alone does not ensure
that the learner will use it appropriately, grammatical knowledge is necessary
for certain L2 pragmatic production.
Bardovi-Harlig (1999, 2003) demonstrated that if learners rely on their
interlanguage grammar in speech act realizations, they may well produce
utterances that have features from this interlanguage grammar. For example, while native speakers of English
might use the past progressive to reject an academic advisor’s suggestion to
take a given course (“Oh, I was actually thinking of taking TESL 5723.”), the
nonnative without knowledge of that function of the past progressive might
say too directly, “No. I don’t want to
take that course. I want to take TESL
5723.”
4. Practice in producing output
Another component of the units was output practice
for enhancing productive L2 pragmatic skills.
Even if learners understand how contextual factors are typically
evaluated and how speakers’ intent is encoded pragmatically in the L2, we
cannot simply assume that learners are able to produce nativelike forms in a
pragmatically appropriate manner.
Pragmatically nativelike production of L2 sometimes requires complex
grammar and an excellent command of the language. Output opportunities are likely to contribute
to learners’ acquisition of the L2 in that they reinforce retention of the new
information and enhance fluency; the interactional nature of communicative
tasks (or even simulations like multiple-rejoinder DCT tasks) requires learners
to attend not only to their own utterance but also to their interlocutors and
respond appropriately in context (Kasper, 1997).
5. Self-evaluation and feedback
Provided that the ultimate goal of
teaching pragmatics is to instill in learners skills with which they can
improve their pragmatic ability autonomously, a pragmatics curriculum should
assist learners in developing metapragmatic awareness and strategies. In order for learners to be constantly making
and renewing hypotheses about L2 pragmatic use, they need to learn to monitor
and evaluate their own L2 pragmatic comprehension and production.
Metapragmatic reflection is likely to work to the learners’ advantage as they gain more nativelike pragmatic ability (Kasper & Rose, 2002). In the learners-as-researchers approach (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig, 1996; Tanaka, 1997), learners are to consciously analyze contextual factors and pragmatic norms and use of the L2 models. Taking this approach further, a pragmatic curriculum can also encourage learners’ reflection on their own L2 production and comprehension in terms of pragmatic appropriateness, just as researchers reflect on the pros and cons of their studies. In parallel to the pragmalinguistic/sociolinguistic instruction that draws learners’ attention to target grammatical features, instruction in pragmatics can encourage learners to be reflective of their own pragmatic use and comprehension.
However, we should note that learners probably need
varying levels of instructional guidance in learning to practice systematic
self-reflection with regard to both pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects
of the L2. In the units, learners are
given a rubric or checklist and are asked to compare their own production with
L2 models provided in order to self-evaluate key features of their own L2
pragmatic use. Considering learners’
individual differences in learning style preferences and learner
characteristics, this approach might require even more direction or feedback
from the teacher. In the classroom
setting, a teacher may wish to identify the most common misunderstandings on
the part of learners and emphasize more accurate interpretation of the L2
pragmatic norms. Learners might need
some pragmalinguistic scaffolding, such as a grammar or vocabulary explanation
or other related pragmatic information.
Teachers might give learners individual feedback about their L2 pragmatic
use and discuss more extended conversational routines. In the web-based units, after learners fill
in their responses and self-evaluation and sent them electronically, they are
able to see sample answers and analyses of the key L2 features.
6. Sociocultural information
With regard to the role of pragmatics in language
learning, learners may appreciate knowing cultural reasoning behind L2 use that
is different from that in their L1.
Richards and Schmidt (1983) and Meier (1999, 2003) called for an explanatory
approach to pragmatics in addition to a descriptive one (“explanatory
pragmatics,” Richards & Schmidt, 1983, p. ix). When learners encounter new L2 norms that
conflict with their already existing first-culture based values, they are
likely to feel resistant to the L2 norms (Di Vito, 1993). Thus, it may be beneficial to provide
learners an explicit explanation as to why L2 speakers conventionally use the
language as they do, why certain meaning is conveyed differently in the L2, and
how underlying L2 ideologies, shared cultural values, beliefs, morals, and
assumptions (i.e., subjective
culture, Meier, 2003) influence the pragmatic behavior of natives. Although objective culture (e.g., cultural
artifacts) has conventionally been incorporated into culture learning in the L2
education, subjective culture is central to pragmatics, informing pragmatic use
of language (Meier, 2003; Richards & Schmidt, 1983).
Richards and Schmidt contended that in order to teach learners to truly understand what L2 speakers mean, it is necessary to integrate an explanatory perspective in the teaching of L2 pragmatics. Although current L2 teaching tends to simply present target forms, expecting learners across the board to adopt them, learner interviews in a study by Ishihara (2003) revealed that learners were unwilling to accommodate to certain pragmatic norms (such as the use of honorific language in L2 Japanese) until they began to understand why native speakers use them, that is, the cultural reasoning behind the L2 use. Learners revealed that they came to understand the cultural assumptions behind the pragmatic L2 use gradually as they were exposed to the L2 culture or obtained native-speaking informants who would explain why they spoke the way that seemed democratic, unfair, or even discriminatory to the learners. Knowledge of subjective L2 culture is likely to benefit learners in understanding L2 pragmatic use, particularly when learners’ L1 use, beliefs and values are incompatible with those in the L2.
References
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