Skip to main content

Interfaces between a discourse completion test and a conversation analysis-informed test of L2 pragmatic competence

  • Chapter
Assessing Second Language Pragmatics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics ((PADLL))

Abstract

Second-language pragmatics testing (SLPT) is a relatively new subfield of language assessment (Hudson, Detmer, & Brown, 1995), having a basis in speech act theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) and roots in cross-cultural pragmatics (e.g., Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989), and interlanguage pragmatics (Færch & Kasper, 1989). Current speech act-based SLPT practices, however, evince certain problems in validation. To gain a perspective on these problems, a select review of L2 pragmatics-testing studies follows. (The reader may wish to refer to Kasper & Rose 2002 for an in-depth review of the literature on speech-act research.)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Atkinson, J. M., & Heritage, J. (eds.) (1984). Structures of Social Action: Studies in conversation analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bachman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. (1981). A multitrait-multimethod investigation into the construct validity of six tests of speaking and reading. In A. S. Palmer, P. J. M. [de] Groot, & G. A. Trosper (eds.), The Construct Validation of Tests of Communicative Competence including Proceedings of a Colloquium at TESOL ‘79, Boston, February 27–28, 1979 (pp. 149–165). Washington, DC: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bachman, L. F., & Savignon, S. J. (1986). The evaluation of communicative language proficiency: A critique of the ACTFL Oral Interview. The Modern Language Journal, 70: 380–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beebe, L., Takahashi, T., & Uliss-Weltz, R. (1990). Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In R. C. Scarcella, E. Anderson, & S. C. Krashen (eds.), Developing Communicative Competence in a Second Language (pp. 55–73). New York: Newbury House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (eds.) (1989). Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1986). Too many words: Length of utterance and pragmatic failure. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 8: 47–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. D. (2001). Pragmatics tests: Different purposes, different tests. In K. R. Rose & G. Kasper (eds.), Pragmatics in Language Teaching (pp. 301–325). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., & Levinson, S. D. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. T., & Fiske, D. W. (1959). Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 56: 81–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapelle, C. (1999). Validity in language assessment. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 19: 252–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Færch, C., & Kasper, G. (1989). Internal and external modification in interlanguage request realization. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House & G. Kasper (eds.), Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Requests and apologies (pp. 221–247). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golato, A. (2003). Studying compliment responses: A comparison of DCTs and recordings of naturally occurring talk. Applied Linguistics, 24: 90–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hancher, M. (1979). The classification of cooperative illocutionary acts. Language in Society, 8: 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, T., Detmer, E., & Brown, J.D. (1995). Developing Prototypic Measures of Crosscultural Pragmatics. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M., & Tyler, A. (1998). Re-analyzing the OPI: How much does it look like natural conversation? In R. Young & A.W. He (eds.), Talking and Testing: Discourse approaches to the assessment of oral proficiency (pp. 27–51). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kasper, G. (2006). Speech acts in interaction: Towards discursive pragmatics. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, C. Félix-Brasdefer, & A. Omar (eds.), Pragmatics and Language Learning, Vol. 11 (pp. 281–314). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasper, G. & Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunnan, A. J. (1992). An investigation of a criterion referenced test using G-theory, and factor and cluster analyses. Language Testing, 9: 30–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mey, J. L. (2001). Pragmatics: An introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, A. S., & [de] Groot, P. J. M. (1981). An introduction. In A. S. Palmer, P. J. M. Groot, & G. A. Trosper (eds.), The Construct Validation of Tests of Communicative Competence (pp. 1–11). Washington, DC: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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. 57–101). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomerantz, A. (1984). Agreeing and disagreeing with assessments: Some features of preferred/dispreferred turn shapes. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 79–112). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. W. (1983). Conversational analysis. In J. C. Richards & R. W. Schmidt (eds.), Language and Communication (pp. 117–154). London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, K. R. (1992a). Speech acts and questionnaires: The effect of hearer response. Journal of Pragmatics, 17: 49–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50: 696–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schegloff, E. A. (2007). Sequence Organization in Interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech Acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, F. S. (2007). A conversation-analytic hermeneutic rating protocol to assess L2 oral pragmatic competence. Language Testing, 24(2): 155–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, F. S. (2009). A conversation analysis-informed test of L2 aural pragmatic comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 43(1): 29–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, J. (1979). The perception of deference in English and Spanish. In C.A. Yorio, K. Perkins, & J. Schachter (eds.), On TESOL ‘79 (pp. 288–96). Washington, DC: TESOL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamashita, S. O. (1996). Six Measures of JSL Pragmatics. (Technical Report # 14). Honolulu: Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center, University of Hawai’i at Mänoa.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2013 F. Scott Walters

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Walters, F.S. (2013). Interfaces between a discourse completion test and a conversation analysis-informed test of L2 pragmatic competence. In: Ross, S.J., Kasper, G. (eds) Assessing Second Language Pragmatics. Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137003522_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics