Abstract
The aim of the present study is to analyze how learners of English as a foreign language with no instruction on pragmatics develop their grammatical and pragmatic competence from beginner to more advanced levels. The participants (N = 144) carried out an open role-play where requests and responses to such requests were required. A seven-point scale was used to assess grammatical competence in a different way to previous studies, which generally equate grammar with proficiency levels. The study describes the interface between the acquisition of grammar items and the development of pragmatic competence. The results show that as the learners become more grammatically competent, they tend to use more elaborate requests and responses and more pragmatically appropriate utterances. Further evidence is, therefore, provided to the parallel development of grammar and pragmatics in a context that has received little attention so far. The findings will also be discussed in relation to the EFL classroom.
Resumen
El objetivo de este estudio es el análisis de cómo los aprendices de inglés como lengua extranjera sin instrucción en pragmática desarrollan su competencia gramatical y pragmática desde los niveles iniciales a niveles más avanzados. Los participantes (N = 144) llevaron a cabo un juego de rol abierto (open role-play) en el que se requerían preguntas y respuestas a esas mismas preguntas. Se usó una escala de 7 medidas para valorar la competencia gramatical de una forma diferente a estudios previos, los cuales suelen equiparar competencia gramatical a niveles de proficiencia. Este estudio describe la interface entre la adquisición de ciertos aspectos gramaticales y el desarrollo de la competencia pragmática. Los resultados muestran que los aprendices utilizan preguntas y respuestas más elaboradas y unidades pragmáticamente más apropiadas a medida que van adquiriendo mayor competencia gramatical. Aportamos pues otra evidencia más del desarrollo en paralelo de la gramática y la pragmática en un contexto que hasta ahora ha recibido poca atención. Este resultado será comentado en relación a la clase de inglés como lengua extranjera.
Zusammenfassung
Das Ziel dieser Studie ist die Analyse wieso die Anfänger von EAF ohne Ausbildung in Pragmatik, ihre grammatische und pragmatische Kompetenz von anfängliche bis zu höheren Ebenen entwickeln. Die Teilnehmer (N = 144) führten ein offenes “role-play” wo die Fragen und die Antworten auf diese gleichen Fragen erfordert waren. Eine Skala von sieben Massnahmen wurde verwendet, um die grammatikale Kompetenz in einer anderen Weise zu früheren Studien zu beurteilen, die gewöhnlicherweise grammatikale Kompetenz zu Fortgeschrittene Stände (Proficiency levels) gleichsetzen.Diese Studie beschreibt die Interface zwischen die Akquisition von grammatische Elemente und die Entwicklung der pragmatischen Kompetenz. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Lernende verwenden verarbeitete Fragen und Antworten und auch besser geeignete pragmatische Einheiten wenn sie mehr grammatische Kompetenz erhalten. Wir können eine weitere Evidenz beibringen in der parallelen Entwicklung der Grammatik und Pragmatik in einem Kontext der bisher nur wenig Aufmerksamkeit erhalten hat. Dieses Ergebniss wird inmBezug auf die EAF diskutiert.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge support through grants FFI2010–21478 and 2014SGR1089 to the GRAL research group (Language Acquisition Research Group, www.ub.edu/GRAL) of which they are full members. Our deepest gratitude goes to Leo McPartland, partial-time research assistant to GRAL, for his invaluable help with linguistic corrections and formatting, to Ferran Carrascosa for his advice on statistics, and to Carmen Muñoz, for her comments and suggestions on the first version of this paper. We are also extremely grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and their insightful comments for improvement; any mistakes remain our own.
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