Research Article
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The effects of instruction type on the pragmatic development of compliments and compliment responses in L2 English learners

Year 2023, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 20 - 42, 29.04.2023
https://doi.org/10.31464/jlere.1187150

Abstract

Despite the wide array of previous research in the area of interventional pragmatics studies, the question of what type of instruction best promotes learners’ pragmatic interlanguage development has yet to be explored. With the aim of exploring L2 English learners’ speech act behavior in complimenting and compliment responding, the present study sought to determine the relative effects of inductive and deductive instruction using structured input activities within the framework of Processing Instruction. To accomplish this goal, three intact classes of the same proficiency level were randomly assigned to inductive instruction, deductive instruction, and a control group with no instruction. Data were collected through a written Discourse Completion Task followed by a Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Compliments and a multiple-choice Metapragmatic Assessment Questionnaire for compliment responses administered using a pre-, post-, and delayed post-test design. Findings revealed that both experimental groups showed improvement compared to the control group; however, the effects of instructional treatment varied across test types.

References

  • Alcón Soler, E., & Martínez Flor, A. (2008). Pragmatics in foreign language contexts. In E. Alcón Soler & A. Martínez-Flor (Eds.), Investigating Pragmatics in Foreign Language Learning, Teaching and Testing (pp. 3–22). Multilingual Matters.
  • Alsuhaibani, Z. (2020). Developing EFL students’ pragmatic competence: The case of compliment responses. Language Teaching Research, 136216882091353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820913539
  • Aston, G. (1995). Say ‘thank you’: Some pragmatic constraints in conversational closings. Applied linguistics, 16(1), 57–86.
  • Baba, J. (1996). A study of interlanguage pragmatics: Compliment responses by learners of Japanese and English as a second language. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.
  • Bialystok, E. (1993). Symbolic representation and attentional control in pragmatic competence. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 43–59). Oxford University Press.
  • Billmyer, K. (1990). I really like your lifestyle: ESL learners learning how to compliment. Penn Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 6(2), 31–48.
  • Cheng, D. (2011). New insights on compliment responses: A comparison between native English speakers and Chinese L2 speakers. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(8), 2204–2214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.02.003
  • Cheng, D., & Liang, J. (2015). The effect of instruction on Chinese EFL learners’ compliment responses. TESOL International Journal, 10, 1–23.
  • Cohen, A., & Olshtain, E. (1994). Researching the Production of L2 Speech Acts. In E. E. Tarone, S. M. Gass, & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 167-180). Routledge.
  • Cyluk, A. (2013). Discourse completion task: Its validity and reliability in research projects on speech acts. Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies, 22(2), 100–111.
  • Decoo, W. (1996). The induction-deduction opposition: Ambiguities and complexities of the didactic reality. IRAL, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.1996.34.2.95
  • Ebadi, S., Pourzandi, M., (2015). The effects of explicit and implicit pragmatic instruction on the development of compliments and compliment responses. I-Manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching, 5(4), 13–26. https://doi.org/10.26634/jelt.5.4.3666
  • Ellis, R. (1997). SLA research and language teaching. Oxford University Press.
  • Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press.
  • Ellis, R. (2008). Explicit form-focused instruction and second language acquisition. In B. Spolsky & F. M. Hult (Eds.), The handbook of educational linguistics (pp. 437–455). Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Hasler-Barker, M. (2016). Effects of Metapragmatic Instruction on the Production of Compliments and Compliment Responses: Learner-Learner Role-Plays in the Foreign Language Classroom. In K. Baradovi-Harlig & J. C. Félix-Brasdefer (Eds.), Pragmatics and Language Learning, vol. 14 (pp. 125-152). Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center University of Hawai’i.
  • Holmes, J. (1988). Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand. Anthropological Linguistics, 28(4), 485–508.
  • Holmes, J. (1993). New Zealand women are good to talk to: An analysis of politeness strategies in interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 20(2), 91–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(93)90078-4
  • Ishihara, N. (2004). Exploring the immediate and delayed effects of formal instruction: Teaching giving and responding to compliments. Minne-WI TESOL 21, 37–70
  • Ishihara, N. (2010). Compliments and responses to compliments. Learning communication in context. In A. Martínez-Flor & E. Usó-Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance. Theoretical, methodological and empirical issues (pp. 179–198). John Benjamins.
  • Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2021). Learners’ pragmatics: Potential causes of divergence. In N. Ishihara & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where languages and culture meet (2nd ed.) (pp. 75–96). Longman.
  • Jeon, E. H., & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development: A meta-analysis. In J. M. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 165–211). John Benjamins.
  • Kasper, G. (1996). Introduction: Interlanguage pragmatics in SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100014856
  • Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (1999). Pragmatics and SLA. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 19, 81–104. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0267190599190056
  • Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmatic development in a second language. Blackwell.
  • Laughlin, V. T., Wain, J., & Schmidgall, J. (2015). Defining and operationalizing the construct of pragmatic competence: Review and recommendations: Defining and operationalizing the construct of pragmatic competence. ETS Research Report Series, 2015(1), 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12053
  • Manes, J. (1983). Compliments: A mirror of cultural values. In N. Wolfson and E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 82–95). Newbury House.
  • Manes, J., & Wolfson, N. (1981). The Compliment Formula, In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational Routine: Explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech (pp. 115–132). Mouton.
  • Plonsky, L., & Zhuang, J. (2019). A meta-analysis of second language pragmatics instruction. In N. Taguchi (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of SLA and pragmatics (pp. 287–307). Routledge.
  • Pomerantz, A. (1978). Compliment responses: Notes on the co-operation of multiple constraints. In J. Schenkein (Ed.), Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction (pp. 79–112). Academic Press.
  • Rose, K., & Kwai-fun, C. (2001). Inductive and deductive teaching of compliments and compliment responses. In K. Rose & G. Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in Language Teaching (Cambridge Applied Linguistics, pp. 145–170). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/CBO9781139524797.013
  • Schmidt, R. (1990). The Role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129–158.
  • Schmidt, R. (1993). Consciousness, learning and interlanguage pragmatics. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 21–42). Oxford University Press.
  • Smith, M. S. (1993). Input enhancement in instructed SLA: Theoretical bases. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15(2), 165–179. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100011943
  • Taguchi, N. (2010). Longitudinal studies in interlanguage pragmatics. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Pragmatics across Languages and Cultures (pp. 333–362). De Gruyter Mouton.
  • Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(1), 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444814000263
  • Takahashi, S. (2010). Assessing learnability in second language pragmatics. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Handbook of pragmatics: Volume VII (pp. 391–421). Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Takimoto, M. (2008a). The Effects of Various Kinds of Form-Focused Instruction on Learners’ Ability to Comprehend and Produce Polite Requests in English. TESL Canada Journal, 26(1).
  • Takimoto, M. (2008b). The effects of deductive and inductive instruction on the development of language learners’ pragmatic competence. Modern Language Journal, 92(3), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2008.00752.x
  • Takimoto, M. (2009). The effects of input-based tasks on the development of learners’ pragmatic proficiency. Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm049
  • Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Failure. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91–112. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/4.2.91
  • Vanpatten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction in second language acquisition. Ablex.
  • Wildner-Bassett, M. E. (1990). Coexistence discourse worlds: The development of pragmatic competence inside and outside the classroom. In A. VanPatten & J. F. Lee (Eds.), Second language acquisition/Foreign language learning (pp. 140–52). Multilingual Matters.
  • Wolfson, N. (1981). Compliments in cross-cultural perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 15, 117–112.
  • Wolfson, N. (1983). An empirically based analysis of complimenting behavior in American English. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 82–95). Newbury House.
  • Wolfson, N. (1989). The Social Dynamics of Native and Nonnative Variation in Complimenting Behavior. In M. R. Eisenstein (Ed.), The Dynamic Interlanguage. Topics in Language and Linguistics (pp. 219–236). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0900-8_14
Year 2023, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 20 - 42, 29.04.2023
https://doi.org/10.31464/jlere.1187150

Abstract

References

  • Alcón Soler, E., & Martínez Flor, A. (2008). Pragmatics in foreign language contexts. In E. Alcón Soler & A. Martínez-Flor (Eds.), Investigating Pragmatics in Foreign Language Learning, Teaching and Testing (pp. 3–22). Multilingual Matters.
  • Alsuhaibani, Z. (2020). Developing EFL students’ pragmatic competence: The case of compliment responses. Language Teaching Research, 136216882091353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820913539
  • Aston, G. (1995). Say ‘thank you’: Some pragmatic constraints in conversational closings. Applied linguistics, 16(1), 57–86.
  • Baba, J. (1996). A study of interlanguage pragmatics: Compliment responses by learners of Japanese and English as a second language. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.
  • Bialystok, E. (1993). Symbolic representation and attentional control in pragmatic competence. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 43–59). Oxford University Press.
  • Billmyer, K. (1990). I really like your lifestyle: ESL learners learning how to compliment. Penn Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 6(2), 31–48.
  • Cheng, D. (2011). New insights on compliment responses: A comparison between native English speakers and Chinese L2 speakers. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(8), 2204–2214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.02.003
  • Cheng, D., & Liang, J. (2015). The effect of instruction on Chinese EFL learners’ compliment responses. TESOL International Journal, 10, 1–23.
  • Cohen, A., & Olshtain, E. (1994). Researching the Production of L2 Speech Acts. In E. E. Tarone, S. M. Gass, & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 167-180). Routledge.
  • Cyluk, A. (2013). Discourse completion task: Its validity and reliability in research projects on speech acts. Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies, 22(2), 100–111.
  • Decoo, W. (1996). The induction-deduction opposition: Ambiguities and complexities of the didactic reality. IRAL, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.1996.34.2.95
  • Ebadi, S., Pourzandi, M., (2015). The effects of explicit and implicit pragmatic instruction on the development of compliments and compliment responses. I-Manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching, 5(4), 13–26. https://doi.org/10.26634/jelt.5.4.3666
  • Ellis, R. (1997). SLA research and language teaching. Oxford University Press.
  • Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press.
  • Ellis, R. (2008). Explicit form-focused instruction and second language acquisition. In B. Spolsky & F. M. Hult (Eds.), The handbook of educational linguistics (pp. 437–455). Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Hasler-Barker, M. (2016). Effects of Metapragmatic Instruction on the Production of Compliments and Compliment Responses: Learner-Learner Role-Plays in the Foreign Language Classroom. In K. Baradovi-Harlig & J. C. Félix-Brasdefer (Eds.), Pragmatics and Language Learning, vol. 14 (pp. 125-152). Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center University of Hawai’i.
  • Holmes, J. (1988). Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand. Anthropological Linguistics, 28(4), 485–508.
  • Holmes, J. (1993). New Zealand women are good to talk to: An analysis of politeness strategies in interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 20(2), 91–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(93)90078-4
  • Ishihara, N. (2004). Exploring the immediate and delayed effects of formal instruction: Teaching giving and responding to compliments. Minne-WI TESOL 21, 37–70
  • Ishihara, N. (2010). Compliments and responses to compliments. Learning communication in context. In A. Martínez-Flor & E. Usó-Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance. Theoretical, methodological and empirical issues (pp. 179–198). John Benjamins.
  • Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2021). Learners’ pragmatics: Potential causes of divergence. In N. Ishihara & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where languages and culture meet (2nd ed.) (pp. 75–96). Longman.
  • Jeon, E. H., & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development: A meta-analysis. In J. M. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 165–211). John Benjamins.
  • Kasper, G. (1996). Introduction: Interlanguage pragmatics in SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100014856
  • Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (1999). Pragmatics and SLA. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 19, 81–104. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0267190599190056
  • Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmatic development in a second language. Blackwell.
  • Laughlin, V. T., Wain, J., & Schmidgall, J. (2015). Defining and operationalizing the construct of pragmatic competence: Review and recommendations: Defining and operationalizing the construct of pragmatic competence. ETS Research Report Series, 2015(1), 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12053
  • Manes, J. (1983). Compliments: A mirror of cultural values. In N. Wolfson and E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 82–95). Newbury House.
  • Manes, J., & Wolfson, N. (1981). The Compliment Formula, In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational Routine: Explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech (pp. 115–132). Mouton.
  • Plonsky, L., & Zhuang, J. (2019). A meta-analysis of second language pragmatics instruction. In N. Taguchi (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of SLA and pragmatics (pp. 287–307). Routledge.
  • Pomerantz, A. (1978). Compliment responses: Notes on the co-operation of multiple constraints. In J. Schenkein (Ed.), Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction (pp. 79–112). Academic Press.
  • Rose, K., & Kwai-fun, C. (2001). Inductive and deductive teaching of compliments and compliment responses. In K. Rose & G. Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in Language Teaching (Cambridge Applied Linguistics, pp. 145–170). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/CBO9781139524797.013
  • Schmidt, R. (1990). The Role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129–158.
  • Schmidt, R. (1993). Consciousness, learning and interlanguage pragmatics. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 21–42). Oxford University Press.
  • Smith, M. S. (1993). Input enhancement in instructed SLA: Theoretical bases. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15(2), 165–179. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100011943
  • Taguchi, N. (2010). Longitudinal studies in interlanguage pragmatics. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Pragmatics across Languages and Cultures (pp. 333–362). De Gruyter Mouton.
  • Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(1), 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444814000263
  • Takahashi, S. (2010). Assessing learnability in second language pragmatics. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Handbook of pragmatics: Volume VII (pp. 391–421). Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Takimoto, M. (2008a). The Effects of Various Kinds of Form-Focused Instruction on Learners’ Ability to Comprehend and Produce Polite Requests in English. TESL Canada Journal, 26(1).
  • Takimoto, M. (2008b). The effects of deductive and inductive instruction on the development of language learners’ pragmatic competence. Modern Language Journal, 92(3), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2008.00752.x
  • Takimoto, M. (2009). The effects of input-based tasks on the development of learners’ pragmatic proficiency. Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm049
  • Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Failure. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91–112. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/4.2.91
  • Vanpatten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction in second language acquisition. Ablex.
  • Wildner-Bassett, M. E. (1990). Coexistence discourse worlds: The development of pragmatic competence inside and outside the classroom. In A. VanPatten & J. F. Lee (Eds.), Second language acquisition/Foreign language learning (pp. 140–52). Multilingual Matters.
  • Wolfson, N. (1981). Compliments in cross-cultural perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 15, 117–112.
  • Wolfson, N. (1983). An empirically based analysis of complimenting behavior in American English. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 82–95). Newbury House.
  • Wolfson, N. (1989). The Social Dynamics of Native and Nonnative Variation in Complimenting Behavior. In M. R. Eisenstein (Ed.), The Dynamic Interlanguage. Topics in Language and Linguistics (pp. 219–236). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0900-8_14
There are 46 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Other Fields of Education
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Burcu Gokgoz-kurt 0000-0001-7169-2890

Publication Date April 29, 2023
Submission Date October 10, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 9 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Gokgoz-kurt, B. (2023). The effects of instruction type on the pragmatic development of compliments and compliment responses in L2 English learners. Journal of Language Education and Research, 9(1), 20-42. https://doi.org/10.31464/jlere.1187150

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