The effect of L2 English proficiency on request, advice and apology of L1 Turkish-L2 English learners

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 297 - 306, 05.01.2017

Gulumser Efeoglu Senturk

https://doi.org/10.24289/ijsser.270674

Abstract

Since Bachman and Palmer (1996) and Canale
and Swain (1980) introduction of “pragmatic competence” in the field of L2
acquisition, its relation to other factors interacting with it has attracted
attention of a number of researchers. The present study aims to explore the
intertangled relation between two competences (namely pragmatic and structural)
in three distinct areas such as request, advice and apology in L2 context. For
the purposes of the current study, two data collection tools are employed. The
first one is English Language Proficiency Test while the second is a discourse
completion task. The latter consists of three subsections and each subsection
involves four cases each of which targets exchanges between interlocutors with
equal statues. The findings suggest that even though two distinct proficiency
groups differ for some cases like requests, L2 proficiency is not a
comprehensive indicator of L2 pragmatic competence development on its own.

Keywords

pragmatic competence, L2 proficiency, request, apology

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