Cognition, Language Contact, and the Development of Pragmatic Comprehension in a Study‐Abroad Context

Abstract

This study examined two issues: (a) whether there are gains in accurate and speedy comprehension of second language (L2) pragmatic meaning over time and (b) whether the gains are associated with cognitive processing ability and the amount of language contact in an L2 environment. Forty-four college students in a US institution completed three measures three times over a 4-month period: (a) the pragmatic listening test that measured the ability to comprehend implied speaker intentions, (b) the lexical access test that measured ability to make speedy semantic judgment, and (c) the language contact survey that examined the amount of time learners spent in L2 outside the class. The learners' pragmatic comprehension was analyzed for accuracy (the scores on the pragmatic listening test) and comprehension speed (the average time taken to answer items correctly). Results showed that the learners made significant improvement on comprehension speed but not on accuracy of comprehension. Lexical access speed was significantly correlated with comprehension speed but not with accuracy. The amount of speaking and reading outside class that the students reported on the language contact survey significantly correlated with the gains in comprehension speed but not with accuracy of comprehension.Cognition, Language Contact, and Pragmatic Comprehension is defined as the ability to convey one's intention appropriately and to interpret another's intention, explicitly or implicitly stated, in a communicative situation (Thomas, 1995). Within the construct of pragmatic competence, this study examined the development of the ability to comprehend speakers' intentions conveyed in nonliteral, indirect utterances. The study addressed two questions: (a) whether there are gains in accurate, speedy comprehension of implied meaning over a period of 4 months and (b) whether the gains are related to cognitive processing ability and the amount of language contact outside the class in a study-abroad context.

Relationship between Cultural Intelligence and Pragmatic Comprehension

“…In another study, Taguchi (2008) explored the effect of cognitive processing ability and target language contact on the development of speedy and accurate comprehension of implied meaning over a period of 4-month educational sojourn. Participants in the study consisted of 44 Japanese students of English in a college in the United States.…”

“…Taguchi, 2007;Taguchi, 2011), study-abroad experience (e.g. Taguchi, 2008;Taguchi, 2011), attitude toward target language culture (e.g. Rafieyan et al, 2013a), and cultural distance (e.g.…”

“…Taguchi, 2007;Taguchi, 2008), target language contact (e.g. Taguchi, 2008), language proficiency level (e.g. Taguchi, 2007;Taguchi, 2011), study-abroad experience (e.g.…”

“…The types of individual difference variables investigated in the studies consist of cognitive processing ability (e.g. Taguchi, 2007;Taguchi, 2008), target language contact (e.g. Taguchi, 2008), language proficiency level (e.g.…”

“…The questionnaire consisted of 20 items with four subscales: meta-cognitive cultural intelligence (items 1-4), cognitive cultural intelligence (items 5-10), motivational cultural intelligence (items [11][12][13][14][15], and behavioral cultural intelligence (items [16][17][18][19][20]. The items on the questionnaire were based on a 7-point likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree with values 1 to 7 assigned to them respectively (Rafieyan et al, 2013b).…”