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Article published In: Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 5:2 (2020) ► pp.230–257

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Teaching and learning about Spanish L2 compliments in short-term study abroad

 | Illinois State University
Published online: 7 October 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.18004.mir
Abstract
The case for pragmatics instruction in second language (L2) learning has been evidenced by empirical research, although investigations within the context of study abroad are more limited. The objective of this article is to detail the impact of a pedagogical intervention which included explicit teaching and ethnographic field work on the learning of Spanish compliments and compliment responses during a four-week study abroad program. Despite their restricted exposure to the target language community, the 20 participants in the study demonstrated approximation to native norms in their complimenting behavior. These results support the positive benefits of exploiting exposure to the TL community to aid pragmatics instruction in the classroom.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Pragmatics development in SA contexts
    • 2.2Instructional pragmatics in SA contexts
    • 2.3English and Spanish compliments and compliment responses
    • 2.4Research questions
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants and SA context
    • 3.2Data collection instruments and procedures
    • 3.3Pedagogical intervention
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
References (71)
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