Session 3D

The present study examines second language (L2) learners' development of pragmatic competence during short-term study abroad (STSA) programs. Since STSA programs – that is, those lasting two months or less (Martinsen, 2011) – are becoming increasingly more popular (IEE, 2020), the need to investigate their effectiveness seems urgent. Moreover, research exploring L2 pragmatic development in the study abroad context has revealed mixed findings, since different individual trajectories have been observed, which are determined by different factors such as intensity of interaction, background culture, or sociocultural adaptation (Sánchez-Hernández, 2018; Taguchi, 2011). Therefore, the question still remains as to whether mere exposure to the target language context is enough to develop the ability to use the L2 adequately to the context. To address this concern, the present study examines the development of L2 pragmatic competence - operationalized as speech act production - during a STSA program. Additionally, it explores the effects of cross-cultural sensitivity and intensity of interaction on the reported pragmatic gains. 
It is a longitudinal study that employed a mixed-method approach. Nineteen US college students participating in a short-term study abroad program in Spain completed a pre-test and a post-test version of the revised Inventory of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity (ICCS, Mahon & Cushner, 2014), and of a free discourse-completion task that measured their ability to produce compliments and responses to compliments in Peninsular Spanish. Quantitative data were complemented with qualitative information from guided weekly journal entries reflecting on different aspects pertaining to their experience with foreigners, and with a post-abroad questionnaire with open-ended questions about their intensity of interaction and their pragmatic awareness.
The results revealed that the STSA program afforded gains in L2 pragmatic skills. Students improved the appropriateness of their compliments and of their invitations, although gains were not observed in two of the six invitations situations included in the test - one involving an invitation to a birthday party and one about an invitation to spend a weekend in a nearby town. Moreover, these gains were determined by intensity of interaction with native speakers of Spanish, but they were not related to cross-cultural sensitivity. All together, these findings shed light on the nature of short-term study abroad programs, providing data relevant for program planning decisions and for preparation of students going abroad.


REFERENCES
IEE (International Education Exchange) 2020. Open Doors 2020: Report on International Educational Exchange. New York, NY: IEE.
Mahon, J. and Cushner, K. (2014) Revising and updating the inventory of cross-cultural sensitivity, Intercultural Education, 25(6): 484-496 
Martinsen, R. (2011). Predicting changes in cultural sensitivity among students of Spanish during short-term study abroad. Hispania, 94: 121–141.
Sánchez-Hernández, A. (2018). A mixed-methods study of the impact of sociocultural adaptation on development of pragmatic production. System 75. 93-105
Taguchi, N. (2012). Context, individual differences, and pragmatic competence. New York/Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

BackgroundFeedback inevitably involves students' cognitive processes and plays a pivotal role in the promotion of self-regulated learning (Butler & Winnie, 1995). Teacher feedback is thus likely to be essential not only in improving motivation but also promoting or accelerating language acquisition (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Although studies have analyzed different types of corrective feedback (Nassaji & Kartchava, 2017), empirical investigations of the relationship between feedback and self-regulated learning (Zimmerman, 2013) in foreign language environments remain scarce. The present paper aims to explore potential mechanisms for how learners interpret teacher feedback and translate the information into action for self-regulated learning.
MethodsThis mixed-method study investigated different types of oral feedback. Questionnaire surveys with closed and open-ended questions were administered to 112 first-year high school students. Surveys recorded students' retrospection on different types of feedback received in lower secondary school, and their perspectives on these feedback types in their current learning at high school. Six months later, the same students answered a survey examining the gap between ideal and real experiences of feedback. Students proficiency was controlled using pre-post standardized tests. 
ResultsLongitudinal path modeling indicated that proficiency predicted students' recognition of different types of feedback in both junior high school and high school. Students preferred motivational praise, and spurned pushes for self-correction. At the same time, a greater discrepancy in students' preferred and actual feedback had a small predictive relationship with their English proficiency scores, indicating a stronger role for self-correction over praise. Students' open responses indicated similarly indicated a recognition of the role of self-correction, with some students increasing awareness of their mistakes, improving in self-confidence, and feeling a sense of achievement at having self-corrected. 
ImplicationsThe study indicates that students' positive prior experiences and achievement learning outcomes may underlie perceptions of their learning. The reciprocal role of proficiency and positive learning experience may help to explain a positive perception cycle and increasing self-regulation and autonomous learning. More importantly, pushing students toward self-correction indicates a small but statistically significant effect on achievement. Students further recognize the importance of this type of feedback for their learning, reporting improvements in self-regulatory functioning. Findings indicate that self-correction as a form of oral feedback can have a meaningful role in the language learning process.


References:Butler, D. L., & Winne, P. H. (1995). Feedback and self-regulated learning: A theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245–281. http://doi.org/10.3102/00346543065003245
Hattie, J. A. C., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. http://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
Nassaji, H. & Kartchava, E. (2017). Corrective Feedback in Second Language Teaching and Learning Research, Theory, Applications, Implications. Routledge.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2013). From cognitive modeling to self-regulation: A social cognitive career path. Educational Psychologist, 48(3), 135–147. http://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2013.794676

Although Heritage Language (HL) speakers acquire their HL as their native language in childhood, their linguistic performance shows high heterogeneity as compared to the baseline, i.e., the language spoken in the country of origin or the language spoken by 1st-generation immigrants who are dominant in this language (Montrul, 2016; Polinsky, 2018). Despite the rapid development of HL research, the sphere of pragmatics remained neglected (but Dubinina, 2021; Xiao-Desai, 2019).
The current study sought innovation by investigating speech acts of requesting and apologizing in HL-English speakers (n=20), L2-English speakers dominant in L1-Hebrew (n=20, hereafter L2-ENG), and L1-English speakers (n=20, hereafter L1-ENG) in the English language. 
The discourse-pragmatic task consisted of 18 scenarios eliciting requests and apologies. The participants were asked to say out-loud what they would have said if they had been one of the participants in the actual situation. The scenarios manipulated 'social status' (i.e. the relative level of respect, honor, and deference) and 'social distance' (i.e. the level of familiarity between the participants). The participants' requests were analyzed for the choice of the syntactic structure (Interrogative / Imperative / Declarative / Mixed), the use of modals, and the use of 'please'. Their apologies were analyzed for expressions of apology, number of propositions added (i.e. offering explanation, taking responsibility, offering repair or compensation, and promising forbearance), and the use of intensifications.
The results indicated that L2-ENG speakers dominant in Hebrew transferred pragmatic strategies from Hebrew to English. The results for HL-English speakers showed that in some cases their strategies paired up with a baseline group, while in other cases they developed a unique hybrid linguistic style reflecting the strategies available in Hebrew and English. HL-English speakers paired up with the L1-ENG on the usage of modals and 'please' in requests, and with the L2-ENG on the usage of intensifications in apologies. The findings for requests showed that while L2-ENG preferred to use the declarative structure and L1-ENG the interrogative one, HL-English speakers resorted to a mixed strategy containing both structures. The findings for apologies showed that while L2-ENG preferred the use of apology expressions and L1-ENG preferred the use of propositions, HL-English speakers preferred a strategy containing both apology expressions and propositions. 
The current study contributes to the understanding of the functions of requests and apologies from a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective, and adds to the growing body of work concerning politeness and speech acts in monolingual and bilingual speakers.


References
Dubinina, I. (2021). Pragmatics in Heritage Languages. In Montrul, S. and Polinsky, M. (Eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics (pp. 728-757). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Montrul, S. (2016). The acquisition of heritage languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Polinsky, M. (2018). Heritage languages and their speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Xiao-Desai, Y. (2019). Heritage Learner Pragmatics. The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics, 462-478.

As frequent as disagreement is to everyday conversation, this speech act is rarely present in the foreign/second/other language (L2) classrooms. Disagreement is a complex, multidirectional, and multifunctional act that is mostly, but not always negative, and can be used to strengthen relationships (Sifianou, 2012). It is extremely important to know how to disagree in an appropriate way to create and maintain relationships, however, language learners (LLs) in a classroom almost never have the opportunity to disagree with the teacher, and disagreement with peers is framed as part of interactional activities without the interactional work needed in real life. Technology, and in particular social networks, can provide a space for students to practice this speech act in an authentic manner by engaging in interaction with other speakers of the language remotely (e.g., Dutceac Segesten et al., 2020; Langlotz & Locher, 2012; Shum & Lee, 2013). 
This study investigates how disagreement developed in the language of beginner learners of Spanish in the U.S. engaged in interaction with other speakers of Spanish through social media. Data from 3 different groups of beginner Spanish learners following the same language curriculum (which did not include any pragmatic teaching) was collected. Group 1 engaged in Facebook interaction among themselves, Group 2 engage in Facebook with native speakers, and Group 3, the Control group, engaged individually in other technology-mediated activities. Data was collected through a pre and post DCT (discourse completion test) to assess quantitatively (length and amount of disagreement) and qualitatively (pragmatic strategies used) gains in the development of their ability to produce disagreement. In addition, longitudinal data (6 weeks) of the interaction between the LLs and Spanish speakers discussing a variety of provocative topics and situations was investigated using sequential analysis to identify the learners' and expert speakers' use of disagreement and to explore whether there was any development on the LLs' use of disagreement. The presentation will discuss the results, which show a clear difference between the groups that participated in Facebook and the control group and will address the large variety of patterns of development and pragmatic strategies used. Finally, pedagogical choices to enhance the learning of this speech act through social media will be suggested and discussed.
References cited:
Cordella, M. (1996). Confrontational style in arguments: Pragmatics and teaching outlook. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 9, 148–162. 
Dutceac Segesten, A., Bossetta, M., Holmberg, N., & Niehorster, D. (2020). The cueing power of comments on social media: How disagreement in Facebook comments affects user engagement with news. Information, Communication & Society, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1850836
Langlotz, A., & Locher, M. A. (2012). Ways of communicating emotional stance in online disagreements. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(12), 1591–1606. 
Sifianou, M. (2012). Disagreements, face and politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(12), 1554–1564. 
Shum, W., & Lee, C. (2013). (Im)politeness and disagreement in two Hong Kong Internet discussion forums. Journal of Pragmatics, 50(1), 52–83.