Language Learning Motivation And L2 Pragmatic Competence

This book provides comprehensive investigation of the effect of motivation on L2 learners’ pragmatic learning, which has been discussed for a long time but remains under-explored. This study examines whether and to what extent learners’ levels of motivation influence their pragmatic awareness, comprehension and production in an EFL context. It presents an original study that not only enriches our knowledge of the feasibility of modern technology in collecting large-scale data related to pragmatic competence but also eminently connects L2 pragmatics more closely with mainstream second language acquisition research by focusing on the role of motivation in pragmatic learning. This book will be of great value to researchers and postgraduates interested in second language acquisition, especially those who work on L2 pragmatics and individual variation among learners.

"This volume features cutting-edge research on L2 pragmatics from a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches. It offers fresh perspectives on standard topics such as the use and learning of speech acts and the pragmatic meanings of linguistic resources, and the effect of planned intervention on pragmatic development in language instruction. The chapters also document researchers' increasing attention to different forms of computer-mediated communication as environments for using and developing L2 pragmatic competence, and of conversation analysis as an approach to different aspects of interaction in a variety of settings."--Publisher's website (nflrc.hawaii.edu/).

This is the first edited volume dedicated to both teachers and learners of second/foreign language (L2) pragmatics. It comprises a collection of studies that explore how teachers background and practices, and individual learners differences contribute to the teaching and learning of L2 pragmatics. Also included are chapters that present pedagogical approaches that bring teachers and learners together in action in the classroom setting. Written by an international team of experts, the volume examines the most relevant topics on instructional pragmatics in a variety of language contexts, including Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United States, and Vietnam. This global perspective represents a key contribution in the current increasingly multilingual and multicultural society. Taken together, the findings presented have diverse research and pedagogical implications, and provide new directions to explore L2 pragmatic competence. This innovative book will be a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students, as well as for language teachers and course developers.

The first book-length collection of studies on the assessment of pragmatic competencies in a second or foreign language. Grounded in theoretical perspectives on communicative and interactional competencies, it examines the reception and production of speech acts through a variety of assessment methods and quantitative and qualitative analyses.

Motivation is a key aspect of second language learning. There is no doubt that abstract models are basic to gain theoretical insights into motivation; however, teachers and researchers demand comprehensible explanations for motivation that can help them to improve their everyday teaching and research. The aim of this book is to provide both theoretical insights and practical suggestions to improve motivation in the classroom. With this in mind, the book is divided into two sections: the first part includes innovative ideas regarding language learning motivation, whereas the second is focused on the relationship between different approaches to foreign language learning – such as EFL (English as a foreign language), CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) or immersion – and motivation. Both sections have an emphasis on pedagogical implications that are rooted in both theoretical and empirical work.

Inside Reading Second Edition is a five-level academic reading series that develops students’ reading skills and teaches key academic vocabulary from the Academic Word List.

This study reports on an investigation designed to, in some way, meet the need for acquistition research in L2 pragmatics - in particular in the form of longitudinal studies - and also to meet the need for research into the acquisition of L2 pragmatic competence in German. Specifically, it concerns a longitudinal study in which the development of the L2 pragmatic competence of a group of 32 Irish learners of German is investigated over ten months spent studying in the target speech community, Germany. The study is anchored in the field of interlanguage pragmatics, and the approach taken is speech-act based - interest focusing on productions of requests, offers and refusals of offers. The study also draws on research from discourse analysis in the investigation of offer-refusal of offer exchanges. The objective of this study was to record any developments - whether towards or away form the L2 norm - in the L2 pragmatic competence of the current group of learners over time spent in the target community.

With contributions by leading European, North American and Asian scholars, this volume offers a comprehensive anthology of conceptual and empirical papers describing the latest developments in L2 motivation research that involves the reframing of motivation in the context of contemporary notions of self and identity.