Cover not available

Article published In: Pragmatics
Vol. 35:2 (2025) ► pp.204–231

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

Modifying requests in a foreign language

A longitudinal study of Australian learners of Chinese

ORCiD logo with link | University of Tasmania
Published online: 21 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.22015.li
Abstract
This longitudinal study examines the pragmatic development of Australian learners of Chinese in their use of internal modifiers of requests over the course of a semester. An eight-situation DCT was used to collect data. A perception questionnaire and informal interviews were also used to aid the interpretation of the data. Results indicate that despite considerable pragmalinguistic development in some areas, learners’ overall use of Chinese internal modifiers still lagged far behind that of native speakers. Moreover, there was only a little evidence of situational variation. Hence this study suggests the precedence of pragmalinguistic over sociopragmatic development. The study adds to the small but growing body of research on pragmatic development in L2 Chinese.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Requests
    • 2.2Research on interlanguage pragmatic development
      • 2.2.1Cross-sectional studies
      • 2.2.2Longitudinal studies
    • 2.3Research on L1 and L2 Chinese requests
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Instruments
    • 3.3Data collection procedure
    • 3.4Data coding and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Pragmalinguistic development
      • 4.1.1Overall use of internal modifiers
      • 4.1.2Syntactic downgraders
      • 4.1.3Lexical/phrasal downgraders
    • 4.2Sociopragmatic development
      • 4.2.1Power
      • 4.2.2Rank of imposition
    • 4.3Judgement of appropriateness
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (33)
References
Achiba, Machiko. 2003. Learning to Request in a Second Language: A Study of Child Interlanguage Pragmatics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Al Masaeed, Khaled. 2017. “Interlanguage Pragmatic Development: Internal and External Modification in L2 Arabic Requests.” Foreign Language Annals 50 (4): 808–820. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bella, Spyridoula. 2012. “Pragmatic Development in a Foreign Language: A Study of Greek FL Requests.” Journal of Pragmatics 441: 1917–1947. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, Ellen. 1993. “Symbolic Representation and Attentional Control in Pragmatic Competence.” In Interlanguage Pragmatics, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, and Shoshana Blum-Kulka, 43–59. New York: Oxford University Press. 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.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, Rod. 1992. “Learning to Communicate in the Classroom: A Study of Two Language Learners’ Requests.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 14 (1): 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Faerch, Claus, and Gabriele Kasper. 1989. “Internal and External Modification in Interlanguage Request Realization.” In Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies, ed. by Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Juliane House, and Gabriele Kasper, 221–247. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, J. César. 2007. “Pragmatic Development in the Spanish as a FL Classroom: A Cross-Sectional Study of Learner Requests.” Intercultural Pragmatics 4 (2): 253–286. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Göy, Elif, Deniz Zeyrek, and Bahar Otcu. 2012. “Developmental Patterns in Internal Modification of Requests: A Quantitative Study on Turkish Learners of English.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, and Helen Woodfield, 51–86. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hassall, Tim. 2012. “Request Modification by Australian Learners of Indonesian.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, and Helen Woodfield, 203–242. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, Thomas. 1997. “The Development of Pragmatic Competence in an EFL Context.” PhD diss. Temple University.
Kasper, Gabriele. 1982. “Teaching-Induced Aspects of Interlanguage Discourse.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 4 (2): 99–113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kasper, Gabrielle, and Kenneth Rose. 2002. Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Cynthia. 2005. “Cross-Linguistic Study on the Linguistic Expressions of Cantonese and English Requests.” Pragmatics 15 (4): 295–422.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee-Wong, Song Mei. 1994. “Imperatives in Requests: Direct or Impolite – Observations from Chinese.” Pragmatics 4 (4): 491–515.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Shuai. 2014. “The Effects of Different Levels of Linguistic Proficiency on the Development of L2 Chinese Request Production during Study Abroad.” System 451: 103–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morkus, Nader. 2018. American Learners of Arabic as a Foreign Language: The Speech Act of Refusal in Egyptian Arabic. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ren, Wei. 2019. “Pragmatic Development of Chinese during Study Abroad: A Cross-Sectional Study of Learner Requests.” Journal of Pragmatics 1461: 137–149. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rose, Kenneth R. 2000. “An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of Interlanguage Pragmatic Development.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 22 (1): 27–67. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2009. “Interlanguage Development in Hong Kong, Phase 2.” Journal of Pragmatics 41 (11): 2345–2364. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savić, Milica. 2015. “‘Can I Very Please Borrow it?’: Request Development in Young Norwegian EFL Learners.” Intercultural Pragmatics 12 (4): 443–480. 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
Searle, John. 1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Yunwen, and Wei Ren. 2017. “Developing L2 Pragmatic Competence in Mandarin Chinese: Sequential Realization of Requests.” Foreign Language Annals 501: 433–457. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taguchi, Naoko. 2018. “Description and Explanation of Pragmatic Development: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods Research.” System 751: 23–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trosborg, Anne. 1995. Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints and Apologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wen, Xiaohong. 2014. “Pragmatic Development: An Exploratory Study of Requests by Learners of Chinese.” In Studies in Second Language Acquisition of Chinese, ed. by Zhaohong Han, 30–56. Bristol: Multilingual. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woodfield, Helen. 2012. “‘I Think Maybe I Want to Lend the Notes from You’: Development of Request Modification in Graduate Learners.” In Interlanguage Request Modification, ed. by Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis, and Helen Woodfield, 9–49. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Zhongwei. 2015. Contemporary Chinese. Beijing: Sinolingua.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Yanyin. 1995. “Strategies in Chinese Requesting.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as a Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 23–68. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Fakher Ajabshir, Zahra
2025. A Comparative Study of Teacher Feedback and Chatbot Feedback on Second Language Learners’ Pragmalinguistic and Sociopragmatic Competences. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction 41:16 ► pp. 9881 ff. DOI logo
Kádár, Dániel Z., Juliane House & Yilin Chai
2025. Chinese phrasal downgraders: a problem for L2 Learners?. Applied Linguistics Review DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 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