Pragmatic competence plays a key role in the era of globalization where communication across cultural boundaries is an everyday phenomenon. The ability to use language in a socially appropriate manner is critical, as lack of it may lead to cross-cultural miscommunication or cultural stereotyping. This book describes second language learners’ development of pragmatic competence. It proposes an original theoretical framework combining a pragmatics and psycholinguistics approach, and uses a variety of research instruments, both quantitative and qualitative, to describe pragmatic development over one year. Situated in a bilingual university in Japan, the study reveals patterns of change across different pragmatic abilities among Japanese learners of English. The book offers implications for SLA theories, the teaching and assessment of pragmatic competence, and intercultural communication.

"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/).

The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Individual Differences provides a thorough, in-depth discussion of the theory, research, and pedagogy pertaining to the role individual difference (ID) factors play in second language acquisition (SLA). It goes beyond the traditional repertoire and includes 32 chapters covering a full spectrum of topics on learners’ cognitive, conative, affective, and demographic/sociocultural variation. The volume examines IDs from two perspectives: one is how each ID variable is associated with learning behaviors, processes, and outcomes; the other is how each domain of SLA, such as vocabulary or reading, is affected by clusters of ID variables. The volume also includes a section on the common methods used in ID research, including data elicitation instruments such as surveys, interviews, and psychometric testing, as well as methods of data analysis such as structural equation modeling. The book is a must-read for any second language researcher or applied linguist interested in investigating the effects of IDs on language learning, and for any educator interested in taking account of learners’ individual differences to maximize the effects of second language instruction.

This volume offers the first book-length treatment of second and foreign language learners' acquisition of pragmatics. It provides an up-to-date account of research findings and covers such central topics as the theoretical and empirical approaches to L2 pragmatic development, the relationship of pragmatic and grammatical development, the role of different learning contexts, the effect of instruction, and individual differences. Comprehensive discussion of developmental interlanguage pragmatics, presenting an up-to-date account of research findings Key source for researchers and graduate students working in applied linguistics, second language studies, pragmatics, discourse, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics

The present volume, edited by Patricia Salazar-Campillo and Victòria Codina-Espurz, is a timely contribution to the field of interlanguage pragmatics. The nine chapters presented here expand the scope of research to date by including different contexts (i.e., formal instruction, stay-abroad, and online) and age groups which have received less attention (for example, young learners and adolescents). Whereas the speech act of requesting is the one that has been most explored in the field of interlanguage pragmatics, as attested by several chapters in the present volume, disagreements and directives are also tackled. This book embraces research addressing both elicited and naturally-occurring data in studies which deal with pragmatic use, development, and awareness.

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 Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics is a comprehensive critical survey of the field of L2 pragmatics, collecting a number of chapters that highlight the key theories, methods, pedagogies, and research findings throughout its development over the last four decades. Demonstrating the ways in which pragmatics has long served as a lens through which to examine patterns of L2 development, the volume is divided into six parts which reflect the field’s structure and evolution: • Constructs and units of analysis • Theoretical approaches • Methodological approaches • Pedagogical approaches • Contexts and individual considerations • L2 pragmatics in the global era The handbook has a particular focus on covering not only traditional topics in the field, such as constructs of pragmatic competence (e.g., speech acts, implicature), teaching and assessment, and pragmatics learning in a study abroad program, but also emerging areas of study, including interactional pragmatics, intercultural pragmatics, usage-based approaches, corpus linguistics, and psycholinguistic experimentation. Each chapter introduces the topic and follows with a description of its theoretical underpinnings, an overview of existing literature, appraisal of current practice, concluding with a discussion of future directions for research and key readings. The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics is an essential resource for those with an interest in second language acquisition, pragmatics, and language teaching.

This book addresses the topic of interactional competence in the area of learning Japanese as a second language. It presents data collected from learners studying abroad in Japan to explain developments in their interactional competence as found in their use of speech styles and co-construction of an utterance.

In the disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA), the study of pragmatic competence has been driven by several fundamental questions such as: What does it mean to become pragmatically competent in a second language (L2)? This book explores these key issues in Japanese as a second/foreign language.