Individual differences and development of speech act production

This  study  examined  the  effects  of  individual  difference  (ID)  factors  on  changing  pragmatic abilities  among  L2  learners  of  English.  Participants  were  48  Japanese  EFL  students  in  an English-medium  university  in  Japan.  They  completed  a  pragmatic  speaking  test  (k=12)  that assessed  their  ability  to  produce  two  speech  acts:  requests  and  opinions,  in  high-  and  low-imposition  situations.  The  measure  was  given  three  times  during  one  academic  year.  Speech acts  were  evaluated  for  appropriateness  and  fluency.  Three  ID  factors  (proficiency,  orientation towards English study, and lexical access skill) were measured, and their effects on changes in appropriateness and fluency of speech act production were assessed. Results revealed significant effects  of  individual  factors  on  pragmatic  change,  but  the  effects  appeared  differently  between appropriateness and fluency.

Individual differences and development of speech act production Keywords:

Pragmatics , individual differences , longitudinal study