Learner Corpus Analysis and the Development of L2 Pragmatic Competence in Networked Inter-cultural Language Study: The Case of German Modal Particles

Abstract

This article reports on a corpus-based, developmental pedagogical intervention for the teaching of German modal particles (MPs) in which learners examined their own emerging MP use as well as that of their native-speaking keypals in the context of electronically mediated, projectbased collaboration. Individual learner development was traced microgenetically over a period of nine weeks using Telekorp, a bilingual learner corpus with a built-in control corpus. The current study contributes to the teaching of second language (L2) pragmatics with respect to the authenticity of the interactions, the corpus-enabled nature of the intervention, the developmental scope of the data, and the potential for 'hyper-noticing' in Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education. Résumé : Cette étude porte sur l'analyse faite à partir du corpus d'une intervention pédagogique conçue pour l'enseignement des particules de modalité (PM) en langue allemande. Dans le cadre d'une collaboration électronique autour d'un projet de classe, les apprenants ont examiné leur propre emploi des PM ainsi que celui de leurs correspondants, locuteurs natifs. Le développement respectif des apprenants a été établi de façon microgénétique sur une période de neuf semaines à l'aide de Telekorp, un corpus bilingue d'apprenants associé à un corpus natif témoin. La présente étude contribue à l'enseignement de la pragmatique d'une langue seconde relativement à l'authenticité des interactions, à l'utilisation d'un corpus comme outil d'intervention, à l'analyse du développement chez les apprenants et au potentiel offert pour favoriser l'hyper-noticing dans l'éducation interculturelle des langues secondes à travers l'Internet. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx © 2005 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 62, 1 (September/septembre), 17-48 18 Belz and Vyatkina © 2005 The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 62, 1 (September/septembre)

Exchanging Second Language Messages Online: Developing an Intercultural Communicative Competence?

“…The collaboration had a positive effect on students' writing. A similar result was reported by Belz (2004) regarding the use of da-compounds, and by Belz and Vyatkina (2005) regarding the use of modal particles in German. These two studies tracked the usage of da-compounds and modal particles, respectively, over the duration of an exchange between students of German at an American university and students of English at a German university.…”

Request Modification in Synchronous Computer‐Mediated Communication: The Role of Focused Instruction

“…Indeed, in a recent synthesis of the effect of instruction on pragmatic development, Taguchi (2015b) reported "significant gains in L2 learners' knowledge and use of learned pragmatic forms" (p. 11) in all 31 of the articles she reviewed, although the results were less straightforward in studies with multiple pragmatic foci. Research on instructional intervention has investigated both L2 pragmatic comprehension and production, revealing instruction to be beneficial for a variety of learning targets, including suggestions (Koike & Pearson, 2005;Martínez-Flor & Fukuya, 2005), hedging strategies (Wishnoff, 2000), implicature (Bouton, 1988(Bouton, , 1994Kubota, 1995), modality markers (Belz & Vyatkina, 2005Cunningham & Vyatkina, 2012), and pragmatic fluency (House, 1996).…”

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The pairing of telecollaboration and focused instruction can lead to measurable gains in second language learners' pragmatic competence (Belz & Vyatkina, 2005Vyatkina & Belz, 2006). This article examines speech act production in telecollaborative exchange, focusing on the requesting behavior of American learners of German for professional purposes as they interacted with German-speaking professionals in Germany via synchronous Web conferences.

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The Effects of Input‐Based Practice on Pragmatic Development of Requests in L2 Chinese

“…In this regard, previous instructional ILP studies, with a majority targeting L2 English, have shown that a wide range of pragmatic features are teachable. These pragmatic features include various speech acts (e.g., Codina-Espurz, 2008;Fukuya & Clark, 2001;Martínez-Flor, 2008;Martínez-Flor & Fukuya, 2005;Pearson, 2006;Tateyama, 2009), discourse markers (Ishida, 2007;Kakegawa, 2009), routines (e.g., House, 1996), hedging devices (e.g., Wishnoff, 2000), modal particles (e.g., Belz & Vyatkina, 2005;Vyatkina & Belz, 2006), overall discourse characteristics (e.g., Liddicoat & Crozet, 2001;Lyster, 1994), and pragmatic comprehension skills (e.g., Bouton, 1994;Kubota, 1995). In addition, instructed learners generally outperformed uninstructed counterparts (e.g., Billymer, 1990;Da Silver, 2002;Lyster, 1994;Yoshimi, 2001; for review, see Kasper, 1997Kasper, , 2001Kasper & Roever, 2005;Kasper & Rose, 2002).…”