Comprehension and Production of L2 Pragmatic Competence: A Review of L2 Pragmatic Development (Published)
This paper overviews the empirical research on comprehension and production of L2 Pragmatic Competence in terms of methodology. It first discusses two major types of studies in L2 pragmatics, namely longitudinal study and cross-sectional study, the focus of the two kinds of studies as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages. Then it mainly describes cross-sectional studies in the past 20 years in terms of in terms of research content and findings, dividing the research into two categories: comprehension and production of L2 pragmatic competence. Finally, two primary methods of data collection adopted in these two categories are reviewed.
Keywords: L2 pragmatics, cross-sectional study, pragmatic competence
Analysing the Saudi EFL Advanced Learners’ Refusal Strategies: A Pragmalinguistic Perspective (Published)
The present study examines the realization of the refusal of invitations made by advanced Saudi learners in the UK in comparison with British native speakers. The refusal speech act is examined in terms of the influence of the L1 culture levels of social distance and social power. The conceptual framework is based on (1) Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory of politeness; (2) Classification of refusal speech act by Beebe, Takahashi and Uliss-Weltz (1990), Tseng (1999) and (3) Cai and Wang (2013). Data were collected through a 6-situation role play. The response strategies were adopted from Beebe, Takahashi and Uliss-Weltz (1990) and Tseng (1999) in two parts of direct and indirect responses. The data were analysed by one-way analysis of variance ANOVA. Saudi participants in the UK significantly differed from their counterparts in the KSA in using refusal strategies, and they were significantly similar to British participants in using refusal strategies.
Keywords: L1 negative transfer, Saudi advanced learners, contextual variables., cross-sectional study, interlanguage pragmatics, politeness, pragmalinguistics