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PRAGMATIC COMPREHENSION IN LEARNER‐NATIVE SPEAKER DISCOURSE
Author(s) -
Kasper Gabriele
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00349.x
Subject(s) - comprehension , linguistics , psychology , frame (networking) , flexibility (engineering) , context (archaeology) , discourse analysis , computer science , telecommunications , paleontology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , biology
The paper reports on an exploratory study on FL learners’comprehension of speech acts and discourse functions, referred to as pragmatic comprehension. On the basis of a frame‐theoretical approach, some theoretical assumptions and empirical findings about L1 pragmatic comprehension are discussed. These are used as a framework for analyzing two types of learners’pragmatic misunderstandings: their failure to distinguish between phatic talk and referential talk, and their failure to identify the intended illocutionary force of indirect speech acts. The data analysis indicates that the learners (a) rely too heavily on bottom‐up processing, (b) do not make sufficient use of illocutionary force indicating devices, (c) have problems in activating frames relevant in the given context, and (d) have too little flexibility for frame shift if incoming data are incompatible with a currently active higher‐order frame. Some implications for FL teaching are suggested.