The Language Teacher
02 - 2001
Requests by Japanese Learners of English: Where We Are and the Road Ahead
Eton Churchill
Kyoto Nishi High School
Pragmatics Special Interest Group was founded in 1999 specifically to address issues of pragmatics and cross/intercultural communication in language teaching. Among the JALT members who had attended the 1993 IPRA conference held in Kobe and had since that time become active in pragmatics research in Japan, there was a consensus that JALT needed a SIG that was dedicated to the exchange of ideas on pragmatics, language and human communication. Communication among SIG members is facilitated through our own eGroup <pragmatics@egroups.com> and newsletter (three times a year) that will soon be available on the Internet. The newsletter endeavors to meet the needs of three distinct populations: (a) those who are interested in cross-cultural pragmatics but new to the field, (b) those familiar with basic concepts in pragmatics and want to keep up with current research, and (c) those who are actively engaged in research and the teaching of pragmatics and are looking for a forum or networking opportunity with similar professionals.
The one article selected to represent Pragmatics SIG in this special issue of TLT is especially relevant to language teaching; it is by Eton Churchill and it surveys the current research into the ways that learners produce requests in English. He summarizes the findings based on cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using a variety of data collection methods available for this research (role-plays, DCTs, MCQ, etc.). Worthy of note to language teachers is the fact that much of this research has been done at the tertiary level with intermediate to advanced proficiency learners but that research on the pragmatic competence of younger or less generally proficient learners has been neglected. This area, like the previously mentioned pragmatics-focused performance assessments, is ripe for research that will help teachers make even better pedagogical choices.
Characteristic of much of the work on interlanguage pragmatics, the investigation of request realizations by Japanese learners of English has focused on language use by learners at the tertiary level with intermediate to advanced proficiency (although see Churchill, 1999; Kawamura & Sato, 1996; Kite, 1999). Furthermore, the studies have either been single-moment or cross-sectional (see Rose, 1999, for a discussion of the difference between cross-sectional, single-moment, and longitudinal studies), and data has commonly been elicited using a Role-Play, a DCT, a MCQ or some other production questionnaire.
This body of research has allowed for some tentative proposals on an order of acquisition (Hill, 1997; Takahashi & Dufon, 1989), on the interaction of proficiency and transfer (Hill, 1997; Takahashi, 1996), on learner sensitivity to situational factors (Fukushima, 1990; Iyanaga, Sakikawa & Matsumura, in press; Kawamura & Sato, 1996; Kitao, 1990; Kite, 1999; Sasaki, 1998; Tanaka, 1988; Tanaka & Kawade, 1982) and on method effect (Rose, 1992; Rose & Ono, 1992; Sasaki, 1998). Recently, work has also been conducted on the question of reliability and validity of six important data elicitation techniques (Enochs & Yamashitake-Strain, 1999).
One of the most robust findings is that learners across several levels of proficiency are capable of perceiving differences in situational factors (Kawamura & Sato, 1996; Kitao, 1990; Iyanaga, et al., in press; Tanaka & Kawade, 1982). However, they vary in their ability to exhibit this knowledge on measurements, which require production (RPs and DCTs). Lower-level learners fail to demonstrate systematic variation in their request strategies, while learners at more advanced levels of proficiency perform according to the distance-politeness hypothesis and use more conventionally indirect strategies (Fukushima, 1990; Kawamura & Sato, 1996; Hill, 1997; Sasaki, 1998; Takahashi & Dufon, 1989; Tanaka, 1988;
One of the most robust findings is that learners across several levels of proficiency are capable of perceiving differences in situational factors (Kawamura & Sato, 1996; Kitao, 1990; Iyanaga, et al., in press; Tanaka & Kawade, 1982). However, they vary in their ability to exhibit this knowledge on measurements, which require production (RPs and DCTs). Lower-level learners fail to demonstrate systematic variation in their request strategies, while learners at more advanced levels of proficiency perform according to the distance-politeness hypothesis and use more conventionally indirect strategies (Fukushima, 1990; Kawamura & Sato, 1996; Hill, 1997; Sasaki, 1998; Takahashi & Dufon, 1989; Tanaka, 1988; Tanaka & Kawade, 1982). The more advanced learners also use more supportive moves, which has led Rose (1998) to suggest that there may be a developmental threshold for supportive moves. Despite these differences, even the most advanced learners fail to demonstrate the full range of strategies and forms used by native speakers. While there appears to be a developmental trend from direct to conventionally indirect strategies with an increase in supportive moves, these single-moment and cross-sectional studies do not address how this development may occur.
With regard to transfer, several proposals have been put forth, but evidence supporting a linear relationship with proficiency is lacking. Takahashi and Beebe (1987) first proposed that L2 proficiency positively correlated with pragmatic transfer, but their findings did not support this hypothesis. Takahashi (1996) also found no effect for proficiency on transfer in her study of EFL learners as both low and high proficiency learners relied on some L1 based strategies. Rather, the transfer of indirect strategies appeared to interact with perceptions of degree of imposition of the request. At higher levels of proficiency, Hill (1997) found negative transfer of some indirect strategies. This is a finding that Iyanaga, et al. (in press) support by claiming that Want Statements such as "I want you to correct this letter," which are considered direct in English, may actually be transferred from an indirect strategy in the L1 where the sentence final particle ga indicates that the requester is intentionally omitting the Head Act to mitigate the imposition, as in "kono tegami o kouseishite itadakitai n desu ga. . . ." On the other hand, Churchill (1999) has provided evidence that transfer of strong hints in the form of the negative (e.g. "I don't have this print") occur at very low levels of proficiency. Thus, it appears that the relationship between transfer and proficiency is not simply linear as Takahashi and Beebe first proposed. Rather, with pragmatic transfer, it may be more appropriate to gather evidence on when specific kinds of transfer occur and to compare these findings with concurrent changes in grammatical competence. Such an approach might suggest the need for data collected longitudinally that could be compared with concurrent data on learner request realizations in their L1. Having data in both languages would allow the researcher to make definitive claims as to when transfer was occurring with which linguistic feature for the learners in question.
We are gaining a better understanding of how our current data collection techniques are affecting the data we obtain (see Rose, 1994; Rose & Ono, 1995 for a comparison of MCQs and DCTs; and Sasaki, 1998 for a discussion of RPs and production questionnaires). Also, important work has been done on the validity and reliability of several measures (Self-Assessment Test, Listening Lab Production Test, Open DCT, Multiple Choice DCT, role-play Self-Assessment Test, and Role-Play Test) (Enochs & Yamashitake-Strain, 1999). Furthermore, additional elicitation techniques (e.g. Cartoon Oral Production Test) have been developed to facilitate work with learners at lower-levels of proficiency (Rose, 1998). However, studies of Japanese pragmatic competence in the area of requests have yet to respond to the growing demand for studies that directly address pragmatic development and its interaction with pragmalinguistic awareness, grammatical competence and the learning environment (Kasper & Rose, 1999; Rose, 1998; and Bardovi-Harlig, in press). This evolving research agenda requires that we come to a more thorough understanding of how our elicitation instruments (DCTs, RPs, Production Questionnaires, etc.) affect our findings and that we investigate alternative approaches (longitudinal and ethnographic investigations) to the study of speech act realization by Japanese learners of English.
Two alternative research approaches are currently being undertaken in Japan. Kite (1999) is conducting a longitudinal repeated measures study using the Cartoon Oral Production Test (COPT) with grade school participants. Kite is supplementing her quantitative data with learner, teacher, and parent interviews, class observations, and the collection of materials, to provide an ethnographic perspective. Churchill (1999) is obtaining learner request realizations in context using notebook data (Beebe, 1994) in a naturalistic approach. Preliminary findings of this longitudinal study support the developmental trend found through the cross-sectional studies mentioned above and further suggest that the transition from direct to conventionally indirect strategies may occur as a result of combining formulaic modal forms with imperative structures. To address the call in the field of interlanguage pragmatics for studies that directly address the question of development and its interaction with grammatical competence and the learning environment, more studies involving a repeated measures design, an ethnographic approach and longitudinal collection of data are needed. The members of the Pragmatics SIG are ideally situated to conduct such research.
References
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (in press). Exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: A research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
Beebe, L. (1994, March). Notebook data on power and the power of notebook data. Paper presented at TESOL Conference '94, Baltimore, MD.
Churchill, E. (1999, September). Pragmatic development in L2 request strategies by lower level learners. Paper presented at SLRF 1999, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Enochs, K., & Yamashitake-Strain, S. (1999). Evaluating six measures of EFL learners' pragmatic competence. JALT Journal, 21,1, 29-50.
Fukushima, S. (1990). Offers and requests: Performance by Japanese learners of English. World Englishes, 9(3), 317-325.
Hill, T. (1997). Pragmatic development in Japanese learners: A study of requestive directness level. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University Japan, Tokyo.
Iyanaga, K., Sakikawa, Y., & Matsumura, Y. (2000). Request realization patterns of Japanese EFL learners: The effects of degree of imposition on the request patterns of intermediate and pre-intermediate learners. Temple University Japan Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 16, 41-68.
Kasper, G., & Rose, K. (1999). Pragmatics and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 19, 81-104.
Kawamura, Y., & Sato, K. (1996). The acquisition of request realization in EFL learners. JACET, 1, 69-86.
Kitao, K. (1990). A study of Japanese and American perceptions of politeness in requests. Doshisha Studies in English, 50, 178-210.
Kite, Y. (1999, December). Requests by Japanese learners of English in an immersion context. Paper presented at the 6th National Conference on the Japanese Association for Asian Englishes, St. Andrew's University, Japan.
Rose, K. (1994). On the validity of discourse completion tests in non-western contexts. Applied Linguistics, 15(1), 1-14.
Rose, K. (1998). An exploratory cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development. Unpublished manuscript.
Rose, K., & Ono, R. (1995). Eliciting speech act data in Japanese: The effect of questionnaire type. Language Learning, 45(2), 191-223.
Sasaki, M. (1998). Investigating EFL students' production of speech acts: A comparison of production questionnaires and role plays. Journal of Pragmatics, 30, 457-484.
Takahashi, S. (1996). Pragmatic transferability. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 189-223.
Takahashi, T., & Beebe, L. (1987). The development of pragmatic competence by Japanese learners of English. JALT Journal, 8, 31-155.
Takahashi, S., & Dufon, M. (1989). Cross-linguistic influence in indirectness: The case of English directives performed by native Japanese speakers. Unpublished manuscript, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu.
Tanaka, N. (1988). Politeness: Some problems for Japanese Speakers of English. JALT Journal, 9 (2), 81-102.
Tanaka, S., & Kawade, S. (1982). Politeness strategies and second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 5, 18-33.
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