The acquisition of pragmatic competence in L2
Annual ReAL2 study days at the University of Côte d’Azur, Saint Jean d’Angély campus
Event website: https://pragl2.sciencesconf.org
October 20-21, 2022
Call for posted papers
The acquisition of a second language (L2) requires the development of numerous skills: lexical, syntactic, phonological, pragmatic, among others. Following the study days on phonology (2018 in Nantes) and on the lexicon (2019 in Lyon), the 2022 edition of the study days of the Second Language Acquisition Network (RéAL2) will be devoted to research that focuses on pragmatic competence in L2. These study days aim to bring together L2 researchers on French territory to take stock of recent research in this area.
For these study days, we adopt a broad conception of what is pragmatic competence. At the start of research in interlanguage pragmatics, researchers mainly questioned the production and/or comprehension of speech acts in L2 (e.g. Bardovi-Harlig, 1999; Blum-Kulka et al., 1989), with the aim of such studies generally being to better understand how speakers learn to do things – in the sense perform speech acts – in their new language (see Félix-Brasdefer & Shively, 2021, for recent examples). Some of this work focuses on the acquisition of the linguistic means available in the L2 for the accomplishment of a speech act (form-function mappings, or pragmalinguistic knowledge), and were able to show, for example, that learners tend to underuse conventional phraseological expressions associated with speech acts in their L2 (e.g. Bardovi-Harlig, 2009; Warga, 2005). Other research emphasizes the social conventions that govern the choices made among different linguistic means (socio-pragmatic knowledge), which revealed, among other things, that learners often demonstrate pragmatic conservatism (van Compernolle, 2015, p. 61). More recently, the target of certain studies goes beyond the framework of an analysis based on the speech act. According to Barron (2019, p. 43), if the vision of pragmatic competence “has long been limited to the individual alone”, researchers working on L2 pragmatics increasingly recognize that pragmatic competence is deployed in interaction. The result is that many researchers situate their object of study in interaction, being interested in the acquisition of new practices in the organization of discourse (e.g. Morgenstern et al., 2013; Pekarek Doehler, 2018) or even in an intercultural perspective (intercultural pragmatics, McConachy, 2019). For the RéAL2 study days in Nice, we encourage proposals for displayed communications on a variety of objects of study in L2 pragmatics and based on different theoretical and methodological approaches.
The study days will be organized around two plenary conferences and several invited communications. The plenary speakers are:
- Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig (Indiana University)
- Simona Pekarek Doehler (University of Neuchâtel)
During these days, significant time slots will be devoted to posted communications. We particularly encourage proposals from young researchers (masters, doctoral students and young researchers in post). These communications may address any aspect of L2 pragmatic competence, including:
- Pragmatic competence and the learning context
- The crossover between pragmatics and other linguistic components (lexicon, morphosyntax, phonology, etc.)
- Pragmatic competence in different populations (e.g. heritage learners, attriters)
- Pragmatic competence from a multimodal point of view (e.g. sign language, use of co-verbal gestures)
- Teaching pragmatic skills, including CALL approaches
Indicative bibliography
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1999). Exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: A research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. Language Learning, 49(4), 677-713.
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2009). Conventional expressions as a pragmalinguistic resource: Recognition and production of conventional expressions in L2 pragmatics. Language Learning, 59, 755-795.
Barron, A. (2019). Pragmatic development and stay abroad. Journal of Pragmatics, 146, 43-53.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J. & Kasper, G. (Eds.) (1989). Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Ablex.
Félix-Brasdefer, J. C., & Shively, R. L. (Eds.) (2021). New directions in second language pragmatics. Gruyter sheep.
McConachy, T. (2019). L2 pragmatics as ‘intercultural pragmatics’: Probing sociopragmatic aspects of pragmatic awareness. Journal of Pragmatics, 151, 167-176.
Morgenstern, A., Leroy, M. & Caët S. (2013). Self- and other-repairs in child-adult interaction at
the intersection of pragmatic abilities and language acquisition. Journal of Pragmatics, 56,
151–167. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2012.06.017
Pekarek Doehler, S. (2018). Elaborations on L2 interactional competence: The development of L2 grammar-for-interaction. Classroom Discourse, 9(1), 3-24.
van Compernolle, R. A. (2015). Native and non-native perceptions of appropriateness in the French second-person pronoun system. Journal of French Language Studies, 25, 45–64. doi:10.1017/s0959269513000471
Warga, M. (2005). I would be very grateful: Formulaic vs. creatively produced speech in learners’ request closings. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8, 67-93.
Calendar
- March 18, 2022 Broadcast of the call for papers
- June 24, 2022 Deadline for submission of poster proposals (to: pragmaticL2@gmail.com)
- Early July 2022Notification of acceptance to participants
- September 5, 2022 Provisional program released
Organizers: Amanda Edmonds & Shona Whyte