Chapter 12. Development of pragmatic routines by Japanese learners in a study abroad context

要旨

This study investigates the extent to which a group of Japanese learners of English (JEs) developed pragmatic routines during a one-semester study visit in the U.S., with a focus on the factors that facilitated or impeded the development. Sixteen JEs completed a multimedia elicitation task (MET), which contains 24 scenarios, pre- and post-study abroad, together with 18 native speakers of English (NEs), who provided baseline data. It was found that the JEs developed only a few routines related to thanking. Further analysis revealed that the main impeding factors were dependence on familiar expressions, transfer from the first language, syntactic complexity, and sociopragmatic dissonance, as well as insufficient input and output opportunities. The findings imply that exposure to the target language for one semester alone is insufficient for the development of pragmatic routines.

主題