Cover not available

Article published In: Pragmatics
Vol. 28:2 (2018) ► pp.217–252

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Pragmatic development in the instructed context

A longitudinal investigation of L2 email requests

 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 7 May 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.00007.ngu
Abstract
This article reports an eight-month investigation into the long-term impact of explicit instruction on the learnability of different aspects of email requests by a group of Vietnamese university students. Two intact classes were randomly assigned to the treatment (N = 13) and control conditions (N = 19). Over a four-week period, the treatment group received six hours of instruction which comprised consciousness-raising, meta-pragmatic explanation, repeated output practice and teacher feedback. The control group, on the other hand, only followed the usual syllabus. Results of the study indicate that the treatment group obtained significantly greater pre-to-posttest gains than the control group, and that their improvement was retained by the time of the eight-month delayed post-test. Despite the learners’ overall progress, however, it was also found that different aspects of their performance appeared to respond differently to instruction. The article supports the need for instruction of email politeness and discusses implications for future pedagogy and research.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Pragmatics of email requests in student-faculty communication
    • 2.2The role of instruction in developing L2 pragmatic competence
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Instructional intervention
    • 3.3Data collection procedure
    • 3.4Scoring procedure
  • 4.Findings and discussion
    • 4.1Research question 1
    • 4.2Research question 2
      • 4.2.1Opening sequences
      • 4.2.2Closing sequences
      • 4.2.3Request strategies
      • 4.2.4Supportive moves
      • 4.2.5Aggravators
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (60)
References
Akikawa, Kumiko, and Noriko Ishihara. 2010. “’Please Write a Recommendation Letter’: Teaching to Write Email Requests to Faculty.” In Pragmatics: Teaching Speech Acts, ed. by Donna Tatsuki, and Noel Houck, 47–66. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alcón-Soler, Eva. 2005. “Does Instruction Work for Learning Pragmatics in the EFL Context?” System 33 (3): 417–435. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. “Mitigating Email Requests in Teenagers’ First and Second Language Academic Cyber-Consultation.” Multilingua 32 (6): 779–799. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “Pragmatic Learning and Study Abroad: Effects of Instruction and Length of Stay.” System 481: 62–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Al-Ali, Mohammed Nahar, and Meera B. Sahawneh. 2008. “An Investigation into the Generic Features of English Requestive E-mail Messages.” LSP & Professional Communication 8 (2): 40–64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen. 2010. “Exploring the Pragmatics of Interlanguage Pragmatics: Definition by Design.” In Pragmatics Across Languages and Cultures, ed. by Anna Trosborg, 219–260. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barron, Naomi S. 1998. “Letters by Phone or Speech by Other Means: The Linguistics of E-mail.” Language and Communication 18 (2): 133–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beebe, Leslie M., and Martha C. Cummings. 1985. “Speech Act Performance: A Function of the Data Collection Procedure?” Paper presented at the TESOL convention, New York, 5–14.
Biesenbach-Lucas, Sigrun. 2006. “Making Requests in E-mail: Do Cyber-Consultations Entail Directness? Toward Conventions in a New Medium.” In Pragmatics and Language Learning, vol. 111, ed. by Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig, César J. Felix Brasdefer, and Alwiya S. Omar, 81–107. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “Students Writing E-mails to Faculty: An Examination of E-Politeness among Native and Non-Native Speakers of English.” Language Learning and Technology 11 (2): 59–81.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Little Words that Could Impact one’s Impression on Others: Greetings and Closings in Institutional Emails.” In Little Words: Their History, Phonology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, and Acquisition, ed. by Ronald P. Leow, Héctor Campos, and Donna Lardiere, 183–195. Washington: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bjorge, Anne K. 2007. “Power Distance in English Lingua Franca E-mail Communication.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics 17 (1): 60–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, and Elite Olshtain. 1984. “Requests and Apologies: A Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns.” Applied Linguistics 51: 196–213. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, Juliane House, and Gabriele Kasper (eds). 1989. Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bou-Franch, Patricia. 2006. “Solidarity and Deference in Spanish Computer-Mediated Communication: A Discourse-Pragmatic Analysis of Students’ Emails to Lecturers.” In Ways into Discourse, ed. by Patricia Bou-Franch, 61–79. Granada: Comares.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. “Openings and Closings in Spanish Email Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 431: 1772–1785. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Byram, Michael, Bella Gribkova, and Hugh Starkey. 2002. Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching: A Practical Introduction for Teachers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Language Policy Division.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, Yu-Ying, and Yi-Ping Hsu. 1998. “Requests on Email: A Cross-Cultural Communication.” RELC Journal 29 (2): 121–151. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Chi-Fen Emily. “Making E-mail Requests to Professors: Taiwanese vs. American Students.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics , St. Louis, USA, February 2001.
. 2006. “The Development of E-mail Literacy: From Writing to Peers to Writing to Authority Figures.” Language Learning and Technology 10 (2): 35–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Yuan-shan. 2015. “Developing Chinese EFL Learners’ Email Literacy through Requests to Faculty.” Journal of Pragmatics 131–149. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Yuan-shan, Der-Hwa V. Rau, and Gerald Rau (eds.). 2016. Email Discourse Among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca. Singapore: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Economidou-Kogetsidis, Maria. 2011. “‘Please Answer Me as Soon as Possible’: Pragmatic Failure in Non-Native Speakers’ E-mail Requests to Faculty. ” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (13): 3193–3215. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eslami, Zohreh R. 2013. “Online Communication and Students’ Pragmatic Choices in English.” Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 9 (1): 71–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Felix-Brasdefer, César. 2012. “Email Requests to Faculty: E-Politeness and Internal Modification.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, and Helen Woodfield, 87–118. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ford, Shawn. 2006. “The Use of Pragmatics in E-mail Requests Made by Second Language Learners of English.” Studies in Language Sciences 51: 143–162.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Formentelli, Maicol. 2009. “Address Strategies in a British Academic Setting.” Pragmatics 19 (2): 179–196. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halenko, Nicola, and Jones Christian. 2011. “Teaching Pragmatic Awareness of Spoken Requests to Chinese EAP Learners in the UK. Is Explicit Instruction Effective?” System 39 (1): 240–250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hardford, Beverly S., and Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig. 1996. “At Your Earliest Convenience’’: A Study of Written Student Requests to Faculty.” In Pragmatics and Language Learning, vol. 71, ed. by Lawrence Bouton, 55–69. Urbana-Campaign: Division of English as an International Language. University of Illinois.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hassall, Tim. 2001. “Modifying Requests in a Second Language.” International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 391: 259–283. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hofstede, Geert. 2001. Culture’s Consequences. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jeon, Eun Hee, and Tadayoshi Kaya. 2006. “Effects of L2 Instruction on Interlanguage Pragmatic Development: A Meta-Analysis.” In Synthesizing Research on Language Learning and Teaching, ed. by John Norris, and Lourdes Ortega, 165–211. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kankaanranta, Anne. 2006. “‘Hej Seppo, Could You Pls Comment on this!’: Internal Email Communication in Lingua Franca English in a Multinational Company.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Jyvaskyla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krulatz, Anna, and Koeun Park. 2015. “Fostering Pragmatic Competence: Strategies and Materials for Email Writing.” In Tri-TESOL Transcending Boundaries and Interweaving Perspectives Conference Proceedings, ed. by Joe Dobson, and Martha Savage, 34–46. Washington: WATESOL.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Wan-jing, and Yuan-shan Chen. 2016. “Politeness and Effectiveness of English Email Requests: Taiwanese Professors’ Perspectives.” In Email Discourse Among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca, ed. by Yuan-shan Chen, Der-Hwa V. Rau, and Gerald Rau, 91–111. Singapore: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McKay, Sandra. 2002. Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. “Toward an Appropriate EIL Pedagogy: Re-examining Common ELT Assumptions.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics 13 (1): 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martínez-Flor, Alicia. 2008. “The Effects of an Inductive-Deductive Teaching Approach to Develop Learners’ Use of Request Modifiers in the EFL Classroom.” In Learning How to Request in an Instructed Language Learning Context, ed. by Eva Álcon, 191–225. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nguyen, Thi Thuy Minh. 2008a. “Modifying L2 Criticisms: How Learners Do It?” Journal of Pragmatics 40 (4): 768–791. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008b. “Criticizing in an L2: Pragmatic Strategies used by Vietnamese EFL Learners.” Intercultural Pragmatics 5 (1): 41–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nguyen, Thi Thuy Minh, and Gia Anh Le Ho. 2013. “Requests and Politeness in Vietnamese as a Native Language.” Pragmatics 23 (4): 685–714. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nguyen, Thi Thuy Minh, Thi Thanh Ha Do, Tuan Anh Nguyen, and Thi Thanh Thuy Pham. 2015. “Teaching Email Requests in the Academic Context: A Focus on the Role of Corrective Feedback.” Language Awareness 24 (2): 169–195. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nguyen, Thi Thuy Minh, Thi Thanh Ha Do, Thi Thanh Thuy Pham, and Tuan Anh Nguyen. 2017. “The Effectiveness of Corrective Feedback for the Acquisition of L2 Pragmatics: An Eight Month Investigation”. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. Advance online publication. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pham, Thi Hong Nhung. 2008. “Vietnamese Politeness in Vietnamese-Anglo Cultural Interactions.” Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Queensland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rau, Der-Hwa, and Gerald Rau. 2016. “Negotiating Personal Relationship through Email Terms of Address.” In In Email Discourse Among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca, ed. by Yuan-shan Chen, Der-Hwa V. Rau, and Gerald Rau, 11–36. Singapore: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Safont, Maria P. 2003. “Instructional Effects on the Use of Request Acts Modification Devices by EFL Learners.” In Pragmatic Competence and Foreign Language Teaching, ed. by Alicia Martínez-Flor, Esther Usó-Juan, and Ana Fernández-Guerra, 211–232. Castello: Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schauer, Gila. 2009. Interlanguage Pragmatic Development: The Study Abroad Context. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, Helen. 2000. “Rapport Management: A Framework for Analysis.” In Culturally Speaking, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–46. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, Richard W. 1990. “The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning.” Applied Linguistics 11 (2): 129–158. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taguchi, Naoko. 2011. “Teaching Pragmatics: Trends and Issues.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 311: 289–310. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “Instructed Pragmatics at a Glance: Where Instructional Studies Were, Are, and Should Be Going.” State-of-the-art article. Language Teaching 481: 1–50. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takahashi, Satomi. 2001. “The Role of Input Enhancement in Developing Interlanguage Pragmatic Competence.” In Pragmatics in Language Teaching, ed. by Kenneth Rose, and Gabriele Kasper, 171–199. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “Noticing in Task Performance and Learning Outcomes: A Qualitative Analysis of Instructional Effects in Interlanguage Pragmatics. System 31: 437–461. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takimoto, Masahiro. 2006. “The Effects of Explicit Feedback on the Development of Pragmatic Proficiency.” Language Teaching Research 101: 393–417. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Exploring the Effects of Input-based Treatment and Test on the Development of Learners’ Pragmatic Proficiency.” Journal of Pragmatics 411: 1029–1046. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vu, Thi Thanh Huong. 1997. “Politeness in Modern Vietnamese. A Sociolinguistic Study of a Hanoi Speech Community.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yuan, Yi. 2001. “An Inquiry into Empirical Pragmatics Data-Gathering Methods: Written DCTs, Field Notes and Natural Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2): 271–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhu, Wuhan. 2012. “Polite Requestive Strategies in Emails: An Investigation of Pragmatic Competence of Chinese EFL Learners.” RELC Journal 43 (2): 217–238. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (22)

Cited by 22 other publications

Lai, Su & Maria Economidou‐Kogetsidis
2025. The Effects of Strategy Instruction on Chinese EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Awareness and Pragmatic Motivation. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 35:3 ► pp. 1547 ff. DOI logo
López-Serrano, Sonia
2025. Integrating L2 pragmatics into the curriculum: design, implementation, and EFL students’ and teachers’ perceptions of a self-access web-based module on email requests to faculty. Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas 20 ► pp. 56 ff. DOI logo
Morady Moghaddam, Mostafa & Neil Murray
2024. Beyond pleasantries: University teachers’ responses to students’ favor-asking in asynchronous online communication. Language Teaching Research DOI logo
Nicholas, Allan, John Blake, Jeremy Perkins & Maxim Mozgovoy
2024. Evaluating the effectiveness of a computerised dynamic assessment of L2 English email requests. Computer Assisted Language Learning ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Youn, Soo Jung
2024. Mixed methods research in L2 pragmatics. Applied Pragmatics 6:2 ► pp. 182 ff. DOI logo
Jung, Jookyoung & Xuehua Fu
2023. The impact of pragmalinguistic support on video-conferenced collaborative suggestion-giving task. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 61:3 ► pp. 1083 ff. DOI logo
Martínez-Flor, Alicia, Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández & Júlia Barón
2023. L2 pragmatics in action. In L2 Pragmatics in Action [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 58], ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Case, Rod E. & Matthew Nall
2022. Negative Pragmatic Transfer. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Haider, Iftikhar & Hamed Zandi
2022. In my professor’s eyes: Faculty and perceived impoliteness in student emails. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 18:1 ► pp. 197 ff. DOI logo
Sánchez-Hernández, Ariadna & Júlia Barón
2022. Teaching second language pragmatics in the current era of globalization: An introduction. Language Teaching Research 26:2 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo
Sánchez-Hernández, Ariadna & Alicia Martínez-Flor
2022. Teaching the pragmatics of English as an international language: A focus on pragmatic markers. Language Teaching Research 26:2 ► pp. 256 ff. DOI logo
Economidou-Kogetsidis, Maria, Helen Woodfield & Christine Savvidou
2021. Non-native EFL teachers’ email productionand perceptions of e-(im)politeness. Journal of Politeness Research 17:2 ► pp. 155 ff. DOI logo
Halenko, Nicola, Milica Savić & Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis
2021. Second language email pragmatics. In Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 328], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Halenko, Nicola & Lisa Winder
2021. Experts and novices. In Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 328], ► pp. 101 ff. DOI logo
Halenko, Nicola & Lisa Winder
2022. Openings and closings in institutionally-situated email requests. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 7:1 ► pp. 54 ff. DOI logo
Nguyen, Thi Thuy Minh & Thi Thanh Thuy Pham
2021. L2 emails of complaints. In Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 328], ► pp. 41 ff. DOI logo
Usó-Juan, Esther
2021. Long-term instructional effects on learners’ use of email request modifiers. In Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 328], ► pp. 71 ff. DOI logo
Usó-Juan, Esther
2022. Exploring the role of strategy instruction on learners’ ability to write authentic email requests to faculty. Language Teaching Research 26:2 ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo
Barón, Júlia, M. Luz Celaya & Mayya Levkina
2020. Learning pragmatics through tasks. Applied Pragmatics 2:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
González-Lloret, Marta
2019. Technology and L2 Pragmatics Learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 39 ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
González-Lloret, Marta
2024. Technology-enhanced pragmatic instruction. Applied Pragmatics 6:2 ► pp. 131 ff. DOI logo
Minh, Nguyen Thi Thuy, Do Thi Thanh Ha, Pham Thi Thanh Thuy & Nguyen Tuan Anh
2019. The effects of corrective feedback with and without revision on enhancing L2 pragmatic performance. Applied Pragmatics 1:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 november 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue