The present study centers on interlanguage and cross-cultural pragmatics. It investigates semantic formulas (SF) in the speech act of greeting as performed by Russian EFL learners. In particular, it compares the non-native speakers' (NNS) and native speakers' (NS) production of SF in terms of number, frequency, and content. A Free Discourse Completion Test (FDCT) containing 16 situational prompts elicited greetings by the English NNSs and NSs. The results demonstrate significant differences in NS and NNS production in terms of number, frequency, and content of greetings strategies, namely, greetings proper, phatic questions and phrases, address terms, and situational greetings. The differences result from negative pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic transfer, lack of appropriate linguistic means, attitude towards the FDCT, and induced instruction. Important pedagogical implications for pragmatic instruction are discussed. The results contribute to a better understanding of how EFL learners greet and respond to greetings. They also shed light on the discussion of L2 learners' pragmatic competence and appropriateness.
In this article, we present lessons learned through the use of Collaborative Autoethnography (CA), a qualitative research method where two international faculty members use their stories constructed from the year-long participation in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) at a midwestern university in the US. The FLC aimed at providing a safe shared space where international faculty and graduate students discussed the struggles, challenges, and joys of their 'international-ness'. The autoethnographic reflection illustrates how participation in a FLC has helped them to mediate their initial worries and dilemma of being international faculty (Galina) and reconceptualize teaching (Henny) in a productive way. Additionally, the study demonstrates how reflecting on one's experience through autoethnography helps them to draw tangible lessons connecting their participation in FLC to their individual teaching contexts and personal struggle in performing a viable teacher identity. The article ends with pedagogical implications on how future FLCs can be better structured to meet the needs of international faculty.
Of increasing interest in cross-linguistic variation in academic discourse is the way in which writers use first-person pronouns (FPPs) to promote their agency. While research has shown that language specific socio-cultural, rhetorical and lexico-grammatical factors impact levels of self-concealment vs. self-promotion, less attention has been paid to the ways in which translated texts are sensitive to these discoursal traditions. We address this gap by analyzing frequency, rhetorical use, and grammatical form of FPPs in a corpus of research article (RA) abstracts in biology written by Russian and international researchers in two peer-reviewed bilingual journals. Three subcorpora were analyzed: (i) L1 Russian abstracts; (ii) the same abstracts translated into English; (iii) abstracts by international biologists in English from the same journals. The FPP tokens were identified and their frequency, rhetorical use, and forms were compared. The results show significant differences between the corpora which supports previous findings on cross-cultural variation in authorial presence in research genres. The results also suggest that the translation not only transfers L1 linguistic code but also adds a stronger emphasis on author agency. Implications for translating RAs into English as an exercise in linguistic, cognitive, and pragmatic equivalence as well as for accommodating discourse conventions of English as a lingua franca of science are explored.
In the current conditions of globalization and the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF), the notions of pragmatic competence and appropriateness as well as pragmatic failure become of paramount importance to the language learners and instructors. The current article discusses these questions through an approximate replication of Jaworski's (1994) study of pragmatic failure in responses to English greetings by Polish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. The need for the replication arises from the lack of studies addressing pragmatic failure of EFL learners and the need to approach pragmatic behaviour of EFL learners in the conditions of ELF. The replication duplicates the methods of data collection and analysis of the original study but alters the native language (L1) of the participants and expands the study through the analysis of responses and the ratings. The data consists of Russian EFL learners' responses to the "How are you?" greeting question in the examination context. The results showed that Russian EFL learners achieve pragmatical success: the majority of the responses was rated as appropriate by the English native speakers. It is concluded that the original study's concern with teaching pragmatics should be applied and investigated in greater details focusing on ELF. Additionally, the notions of pragmatic competence and pragmatic failure need to be reevaluated and applied in the context of ELF.
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