Teaching L2 Spanish Sociopragmatics Through Concepts: A Classroom-Based Study

• Published in: The Modern language journal (Boulder, Colo.) Vol. 100; no. 1; pp. 341 - 361
• Main Authors: VAN COMPERNOLLE, RÉMI A., GOMEZ-LAICH, MARIA PIA, WEBER, ASHLEY
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: College instruction; College Students; Concept Formation; concept-based instruction; Grammar; Higher education; instructional pragmatics; Knowledge Level; Language; Language acquisition; Language Skills; Linguistics; Morphology (Languages); Nonnative languages; Pragmatics; Preening; Pronouns; Second Language Instruction; Second language learning; second language pragmatics; second person pronouns; Social distance; Social Influences; sociocultural theory; Sociolinguistics; Spanish; Spanish as a second language instruction; Spanish language; Surveys; Syntax; Teaching Methods; United States (Northeast); Verbs; World language instruction; United States > US
• ISSN: 0026-7902; 1540-4781
• DOI: 10.1111/modl.12318

This study explores the teaching of second language (L2) Spanish sociopragmatics through concept-based pragmatics instruction (van Compernolle, 2014). The concepts of self-presentation, social distance, and power were the focus of a pedagogical enrichment program in 2 sections of a beginning-level Spanish class at a northeastern U.S. university. The concepts were illustrated by the Spanish second person pronoun system (i.e., tú vs. usted). The analysis centers on preenrichment and postenrichment performances on 3 tasks: (a) a language awareness survey, (b) an appropriateness judgment task, and (c) a written discourse completion task. Results show positive gains in conceptual sociopragmatic knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge when making pragmalinguistic choices. However, morphosyntactic accuracy in performance appears to lag behind conceptual knowledge.