Acquisition And Development In Interlanguage Pragmatics: An Analysis Of Requests By Chinese Learners Of English

This study tends to examine how pragmatic abilities are acquired in a second language by analyzing requests made by Chinese learners of English. Two groups of non-English major students are examined on how they perform requests in everyday situations compared with a group of English native speakers. The data were collected by means of multiple choices. Results showed that both the two learner groups and the native speaker group favor the same request type: query preparatory. However, learner subjects used a different modal verb to perform their requests, used Want statements and hint statements more than the native speakers do, and used elided imperatives less often. But in comparison with the first learner group, the subjects in the second learner group used more Performative or Goal statements, less Want statements and less query preparatory of availability, while the hint statements remain its place. The findings emphasize the potential importance of pragmatic transfer, of the effect of formal instruction, and of learners' concern for clarity. The findings also show that with the improvement of linguistic proficiency, learners are able to modify their requests externally but often fail to modify them internally. The study also supports the claim of Bialystok that the main task for adult learners of L2 pragmatics is to gain control over knowledge rather than knowledge itself. It advances certain pedagogical implications in the aspects of instruction, chunk learning, attitudes to L2 pragmatic norms, and learner subjectivity.