In:Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish
Edited by Sara Zahler, Avizia Y. Long and Bret Linford
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 37] 2023
► pp. 82–109
Chapter 3Situational and contextual variation in the development of
Spanish apologies during short-term study abroad
Published online: 6 June 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.03dib
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.03dib
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of instruction
and micro-social factors (social distance and power) on learners’
production of L2 Spanish apologies during a 6-week immersion program
in Spain. It also explores whether learners are able to apply
semantic formulas learned for one speech act (apologies) to the
context of another (refusals). Thirty-one learners completed an oral
discourse completion task before and after study abroad. Results
show that learners approximate native-like norms for apologies after
study abroad and instruction, and that they are able to apply this
knowledge to the context of refusals. Learners also show differences
in apology formula usage across situations of varying social
distance and power. They are sensitive to situational differences in
both factors after study abroad.
Keywords: L2 pragmatics, Spanish, instructional pragmatics, study abroad, apologies, refusals
Article outline
- Introduction
- Previous literature
- Study abroad and pragmatics
- Instruction of pragmatics during study abroad
- Study abroad and variation
- Pragmatic variation
- Speech acts
- Apologies
- Refusals
- Summary of the gap
- Method
- Participants
- Instrument
- Procedure
- Instruction
- Coding and analysis
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
References
References (71)
Alcón-Soler, E. (2015). Pragmatic
learning and study abroad. Effects of instruction and length
of
stay. System, 48, 62–74.
Allen, H. (2010). Language
learning motivation during short-term study abroad: An
activity theory
perspective. Foreign Language
Annals, 48, 62–74.
Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental
considerations in language
testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2009). Conventional
expressions as a pragmalinguistic resource: Recognition and
production of conventional expressions in L2
pragmatics. Language
Learning, 59 (4), 755–795.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Bastos, T. (2011). Proficiency,
length of stay, and intensity of
interaction. Intercultural
Pragmatics, 8, 347–384.
Barron, A. (2003). Acquisition
in interlanguage pragmatics: Learning to do things with
words in a study abroad
context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bataller, R. (2010). Making
a request for service in Spanish: pragmatic development in
the study abroad
setting. Foreign Language
Annals, 43, 160–175.
Beebe, L. M., Takahashi, T., & Uliss-Weltz, R. (1990). Pragmatic
transfer in ESL
refusals. In R. Scarcella, E. Andersen, & D. Krashen (Eds.), On
the development of communicative competence in a second
language (pp. 55–73). Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Cross-cultural
pragmatics: Requests and
apologies. Ablex Pub.
Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests
and Apologies: A Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act
Realization Patterns
(CCSARP). Applied
Linguistics, 5, 196–213.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness:
Some universals in language
usage. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical
bases of communicative approaches to second language
teaching and testing. Applied
Linguistics, 1, 1–47.
Chen, X., Ye, L., & Zhang, Y. (1995). Chinese
refusal
behavior. In G. Kasper (Ed.), Pragmatics
of Chinese as native and target
language (pp. 119–164). University of Hawaii: Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Chodorowska-Pilch, M. (2019). ¿La
sobregeneralización de lo siento por los alumnos
angloparlantes?: Estudio
preliminar. Pragmática
Sociocultural/Sociocultural
Pragmatics, 7, 205–230.
Cohen, A., & Shively, R. (2007). Acquisition
of requests and apologies in Spanish and French: Impact of
study abroad and strategy-building
intervention. Modern Language
Journal, 91, 189–212.
Czerwionka, L., & Cuza, A. (2017). A
pragmatic analysis of L2 Spanish requests: Acquisition in
three situational contexts during short-term study
abroad. Intercultural
Pragmatics, 14, 391–419.
Dewaele, J.-M. (2002). Using
sociostylistic variants in advanced French IL: The case of
nous/on. In S. Foster-Cohen, T. Ruthenberg, & M. L. Poschen (Eds.), EuroSLA
Yearbook (pp. 205–226). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DiBartolomeo, M., Elias, V., & Jung, D. (2019). Investigating
the effects of pragmatic instruction: A comparison of L2
Spanish compliments and apologies during short-term study
abroad. Letrônica: Revista
Digital do Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras da
PUCRS, 12, 1–17.
Dietrich, R., Klein, W., & Noyau, C. (1995). The
acquisition of temporality in a second
language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2004). Interlanguage
refusals: Linguistic politeness and length of residence in
the target
community. Language
Learning, 54, 587–653.
(2006). Linguistic
politeness in Mexico: Refusal strategies among male speakers
of Mexican Spanish. Journal
of
Pragmatics, 38, 2158–2187.
(2007). Pragmatic
development in the Spanish as a FL classroom: A
cross-sectional study of learner
requests. Intercultural
Pragmatics, 4, 253–286.
(2008). Politeness
in Mexico and the United States: A contrastive study of the
realization and perception of
refusals. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2010). Intra-lingual
pragmatic variation in Mexico City and San Jose, Costa Rica:
A focus on regional differences in female
requests. Journal of
Pragmatics, 42, 2992–3011.
(2013). Refusing
in L2 Spanish: The effects of the context of learning during
a short-term study abroad
program. In O. Marti-Arnandiz & P. Salazar-Campillo (Eds.), Refusals
in instructional contexts and
beyond (pp. 147–173). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
(2014). Speech
act
sequences. In K. Schneider & A. Barron (Eds.), Handbook
of Pragmatics of
Discourse (pp. 323–352). Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
Félix-Brasdefer, J. C., & Hasler-Barker, M. (2015). Complimenting
in Spanish in a short-term study abroad
context. System, 48, 75–85.
Filimonova, V. (2015). Russian
and Spanish apologies: A contrastive pragmalinguistic
study. IULC Working
Papers, 15, 62–102.
García, C. (1992). Refusing
an invitation: a case study of Peruvian
style. Hispanic
Linguistics, 5, 207–243.
Geeslin, K. L., García-Amaya, L. G., Hasler-Barker, M., Henriksen, N. C., & Killam, (2012). Variability
in the L2 acquisition of perfective past time reference in
Spanish in an abroad immersion
setting. In K. L. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected
Proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics
Symposium (pp. 197–213). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Gomez R., T. C. (2008). A
description of the speech act of apologizing: An analysis of
the Colombian
speech (Doctoral
Dissertation). University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
Halenko, N., & Jones, C. (2017). Explicit
instruction of spoken requests: An examination of
pre-departure instruction and the study abroad
environment. System, 68, 26–37.
Henriksen, N., Geeslin, K. L., & Willis, E. W. (2010). The
development of L2 Spanish intonation during a study abroad
immersion program in León, Spain: Global contours and final
boundary movements. Studies
in Hispanic and Lusophone
Linguistics, 3, 113–162.
Hernández, T. (2016). Acquisition
of L2 Spanish requests in short-term study
abroad. Study Abroad Research
in Second Language Acquisition and International
Education, 1, 186–215.
(2018). Spanish
apologies development during short-term study
abroad. Studies in Second
Language Learning and
Teaching, 8, 599–620.
(2021). Explicit
instruction for the development of L2 Spanish pragmatic
ability during study
abroad. System, 96, 102395.
Hernández, T., & Boero, P. (2018a). Explicit
instruction for request strategy development during
short-term study
abroad. Journal of Spanish
Language
Teaching, 5, 35–49.
(2018b). Explicit
intervention for Spanish pragmatic development during
short-term study abroad: An examination of learner request
production and
cognition. Foreign Language
Annals, 51, 389–410.
Kanwit, M., Elias, V., & Clay, R. (2018). Acquiring
intensifier variation abroad: Exploring muy
and bien in Spain and
Mexico. Foreign Language
Annals, 51, 455–471.
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (2013). Acquiring
variation in future-time expression abroad in Valencia,
Spain, and Mérida,
Mexico. In J. Cabrelli-Amaro, G. Lord, A. de Prada Pérez & J. E. Aaron (Eds.), Selected
Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics
Symposium (pp. 206–221). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Knouse, S. M. (2012). The
acquisition of dialectal phonemes in a study abroad context:
The case of the Castilian
theta. Foreign Language
Annals, 45, 512–542.
Linford, B., Zahler, S., & Whatley, M. (2018). Acquisition,
study abroad, and individual differences: The case of
subject pronoun variation in L2
Spanish. Study Abroad
Research in Second Language Acquisition and International
Education, 3, 243–274.
Llanes, A. (2011). The
many faces of study abroad: An update on the research on L2
gains emerged during a study abroad
experience. International
Journal of
Multilingualism, 8, 189–215.
Márquez Reiter, R. (2000). Linguistic
politeness in Britain and Uruguay: A contrastive analysis of
requests and
apologies. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing.
Olshtain, E., & Cohen, A. D. (1983). Apology:
A speech act
set. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics
and language
acquisition (pp. 18–35). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Pérez-Vidal, C., & Shively, R. L. (2019). L2
pragmatic development in study abroad
settings. In N. Taguchi (Ed.), The
Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and
pragmatics (pp. 355–371). New York: Routledge.
Regan, V. (2004). The
relationship between the group and the individual and the
acquisition of native speaker variation patterns: A
preliminary
study. International Review
of Applied Linguistics in Language
Teaching, 42(4), 335–348.
Regan, V., Howard, M., & Lemée, I. (2009). The
acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in a study abroad
context. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Ren, W. (2013). The
effect of study abroad on the pragmatic development of the
internal modification of
refusals. Pragmatics, 23, 715–741.
Salgado-Robles, F. (2014). Variación
dialectal por aprendientes de español en un contexto de
inmersión en el extranjero: Un análisis cuantitativo del uso
leísta en el discurso oral y
escrito. Lenguas
Modernas, 43, 97–112.
Schneider, K. P., & Barron, A. (Eds.). (2008). Variational
pragmatics: A focus on regional varieties in pluricentric
languages. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2012). Interpersonal
politeness and
power. In R. Scollon, S. W. Scollon, & R. H. Jones (Eds.), Intercultural
communication: A discourse
approach (3rd
ed.) (pp. 45–68). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Shively, R. (2011). L2
Pragmatic development in Study abroad: a longitudinal study
of Spanish service
encounters. Journal of
Pragmatics, 43, 1818–1835.
Shively, R., & Cohen, A. (2008). Development
of Spanish requests and apologies during study
abroad. Íkala, Revista de
lenguaje y
cultura, 13, 57–118.
Siebold, K., & Busch, H. (2015). (No)
need for clarity: Facework in Spanish and German
refusals. Journal of
Pragmatics, 75, 53–68.
Stapleton, L. E. (2004). Variation
in the performance of speech acts in peninsular Spanish:
Apologies and
requests (Unpublished
doctoral
dissertation). Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Baton Rouge, LA.
Taguchi, N., Xiao, F., & Li, S. (2016). Effects
of intercultural competence and social contact on speech act
production in a Chinese study abroad
context. Modern Language
Journal, 100, 775–796.
Terkourafi, M. (2011). The
pragmatic variable: Toward a procedural
interpretation. Language in
Society, 40, 343–372.
van Compernolle, R. A., & Williams, L. (2012). Variationist
sociolinguistics, L2 sociopragmatic competence, and corpus
analysis of classroom-based synchronous computer-mediated
discourse. In C. Félix-Brasdefer & D. Koike (Eds.), Pragmatic
variation in first and second language contexts:
Methodological
issues (pp. 239–270). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
VonCanon, A. (2006). Just
saying ‘no’: Refusing requests in Spanish as a first and
second language (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
Wagner, L. (2000). Toward
a characterization of apologies in Mexican Spanish: The role
of gender in strategy selection and
performance. Revista de
Humanidades: Tecnológico de
Monterrey, 9, 37–53.
Wagner, L., & Roebuck, R. (2010). Apologizing
in Cuernavaca, Mexico and Panama City, Panama: A
cross-cultural comparison of positive-and
negative-politeness
strategies. Spanish in
Context, 7, 254–278.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
