The role of retrospective verbal report in L2 speech act research: Pragmatic variation in learner perception

Woodfield, Helen

doi:10.1075/impact.31.08woo

In:Pragmatic Variation in First and Second Language Contexts: Methodological issues
Edited by J. César Félix-Brasdefer and Dale Koike
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 31] 2012
► pp. 209–238

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Pragmatic variation in learner perception

The role of retrospective verbal report in L2 speech act research

Helen Woodfield | University of Bristol, U.K.

Published online: 12 September 2012

https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.31.08woo

The present study examines pragmatic variation in learner perception, exploring the role of retrospective verbal report (RVR) in L2 speech act research. RVRs consist of the verbalized thought processes of participants after completion of a task and aim to provide insights into the reasoning behind learners’ written or spoken behaviors during language production (Gass & Mackey 2000). The RVR data for the present study were elicited at the final stage of an eight-month longitudinal investigation of the speech act development of graduate learners at a UK higher education institution (Woodfield 2011). Results. of the study regarding the value of RVRs and learners’ metapragmatic awareness are discussed together with implications for employing such methodology in ILP research.

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