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Development of pragmatic awareness during study abroad

A focus on pragmatic markers

ORCiD logo with link | University of Liverpool
 | Complutense University of Madrid
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Liverpool.

Published online: 18 August 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24057.mag
Abstract
Pragmatic markers (PMs) have been defined as linguistic constructions typical of spoken language which help interaction (D’Arcy, Alexandra. 2017. Discourse-Pragmatic Variation in Context: Eight Hundred Years of LIKE. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Previous study abroad (SA) research (Magliacane, Annarita. 2020. “Erasmus Students in an Irish Study Abroad Context: A Longitudinal Analysis on the Use of ‘Well’ and ‘Like’.” Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 51: 89–117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) shows that contact with the local community can enhance PM production. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to how SA students recognize PMs and how aware they are of PM use. This aspect of pragmatic development is crucial given that awareness is a necessary step for any pragmatic production to occur (Sánchez-Hernández, Ariadna, and Eva Alcón-Soler. 2019. “Pragmatic Gains in the Study Abroad Context: Learners’ Experiences and Recognition of Pragmatic Routines.” Journal of Pragmatics 1461: 54–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Against this background, this study analyzes longitudinally changes in PM awareness by eighteen Chinese students enrolled in English-speaking universities. The participants completed a pre- and a post-test version of the PM awareness test (Magliacane, Annarita, and Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández. 2024. “Pragmatic Marker Awareness Test.” Questionnaire from Development of Pragmatic Awareness During Study Abroad: A Focus on Pragmatic Markers [Text/Materials]. University of York: IRIS Database. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), developed for the purpose of the study. The results revealed that, while abroad, participants increased their metapragmatic awareness of PMs, which contributed to their L2 pragmatic awareness development.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research background
    • 2.1Development of pragmatic awareness during study abroad
    • 2.2The use of pragmatic markers by L2 users
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Data collection
      • 3.2.1The test
      • 3.2.2Semi-structured interviews
    • 3.3Data coding
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Pragmatic recognition
    • 4.2Metapragmatic awareness
    • 4.3Development of L2 pragmatic awareness
      • 4.3.1Longitudinal differences in PM recognition scores
      • 4.3.2Longitudinal differences in metapragmatic awareness
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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