eCite Digital Repository
Requests made by Australian learners of Chinese as a foreign language
Citation
Li, W and Jiang, W, Requests made by Australian learners of Chinese as a foreign language, Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10, (1) pp. 23-34. ISSN 1798-4769 (2019) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2019 ACADEMY PUBLICATION
DOI: doi:10.17507/jltr.1001.03
Abstract
This study examines how Australian learners of Chinese make requests as compared to those made by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Data were collected through a written production questionnaire comprising six situations. Results showed that learners and native speakers shared a preference for conventional indirectness. However, they favoured different strategy types in the realizations of requests. Moreover, native speakers tended to adjust their selection of request strategies according to social variables such as relative power, social distance, and rank of imposition, whereas learners displayed little sensitivity to social variables in the selection of request strategies. This study also provides some evidence of pragmatic development. Learners’ use of directness decreased but their use of conventional indirectness increased with increased proficiency. Moreover, learners’ acquisition of pragmalinguistic competence seemed to outperform their sociopragmatic competence. This study adds to the small body of research on requests by learners of Chinese as a foreign language. It highlights the importance of the inclusion of pragmatics in foreign language teaching.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | interlanguage pragmatics, pragmatic competence, requests, Chinese |
Research Division: | Language, Communication and Culture |
Research Group: | Linguistics |
Research Field: | Discourse and pragmatics |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Communication |
Objective Field: | Languages and linguistics |
UTAS Author: | Li, W (Dr Lucy Li) |
ID Code: | 143181 |
Year Published: | 2019 |
Deposited By: | Global Cultures and Languages |
Deposited On: | 2021-03-03 |
Last Modified: | 2021-08-27 |
Downloads: | 0 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page