l2 pragmatics: politeness in french efl classrooms

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LEARNING TO TEACH SECOND LANGUAGE PRAGMATICS: POLITENESS IN FRENCH EFL CLASSROOMS TESOL France Colloquium Paris 19/11/16 SHONA WHYTE AISHA SIDDIQA

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LEARNING TO TEACH SECOND LANGUAGE PRAGMATICS: POLITENESS IN FRENCH EFL CLASSROOMS

TESOL France Colloquium Paris 19/11/16

SHONA WHYTE AISHA SIDDIQA

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LEARNING TO TEACH SECOND LANGUAGE PRAGMATICS: POLITENESS IN FRENCH EFL CLASSROOMS

UMR7320 BASES, CORPUS, LANGAGE. UNIVERSITÉ NICE SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS.

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LEARNING TO MAKE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH

The acquisition of politeness strategies by young EFL learners in France: An exploratory study of interlanguage pragmatic development

Doctoral thesisJM Merle, S Whyte

LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION SECOND LANGUAGE INTERACTION

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TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Introduction to classroom EFL research

Master MEEF anglaisAcadémie de Nice

Aims of presentationThemes: Teacher Training and Development &Young Adult Learners

Interlanguage pragmatics is considered one of the major communicative skills. However it has been rarely a focus in traditional classrooms that focus on lexico-grammatical functions, and second language (L2) speakers often fail to approximate native-like norms. The present study focused on supporting EFL teachers in the teaching of interlanguage pragmatics in secondary schools, with a particular emphasis on requests.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. BACKGROUND

2. DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT

3. TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE

4. SAMPLE TEACHING MATERIALS

5. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

workshopactivities

What is pragmatics?

✤ “how-to-say-what-to-whom-when” (Bardovi-Harlig, 2013)

✤ “the study of language from the point of view of users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction and the effects their use of language has on other participants in the act of communication” (Crystal, 1997)

a. in a secondary school class

b. in a lecturer’s office

c. at university

d. in a plane, before take-off

e. in the audience of a school concert

f. in a car park

g. in an office

h. on a footpath

Contexts for requests1. It’d be cool if you could move up

one.

2. Get us a pie, mate.

3. If you could just grab a copy of that for a moment.

4. I was wondering if I could have, um, 3 weeks annual leave?

5. Would it be OK if I handed my assignment in next Monday?

6. Could you just pop that up there for me?

7. Do you wanna move over ?Yates, 2008

Cross-cultural (mis)communication

✤ Do you have a bag? Beebe & Takahashi (1989)

✤ Japanese waiter in New York sushi bar asked female American customer if she had a bag (information question vs warning, illocutionary force)

✤ study of L2 pragmatics, interlanguage pragmatic development

Researching L2 pragmatics

1. Are there universals of language underlying cross-linguistic variation? If so, do they play a role in interlanguage pragmatics?

2. How can approximation to target language norms be measured?

3. Does the L1 influence the learning of a second language?

4. Is pragmatic development in a second language similar to first language learning?

5. Does type of input make a difference?

6. Does instruction make a difference?

7. Do motivation and attitudes make a difference?

8. Does personality play a role?

9. Does formulaic speech play a role?

10. What mechanisms drive development from stage to stage?

–Kasper & Rose, 2002

WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. BACKGROUND

2. DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT

3. TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE

4. SAMPLE TEACHING MATERIALS

5. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Research studyThe use and acquisition of politeness strategies among EFL learners in France: An exploratory study of interlanguage pragmatic development

What is a request?A request is a directive speech act whose illocutionary purpose is to get the hearer to do something in circumstances in which it is not obvious that he/she will perform the action in the normal course of events (Searle, 1969).

Req

ues

t

Alerter

Head act Request perspective

Internal Modification

Request Strategy

Supportive Move

Head act: Request Strategies

Direct requests

Conventionally indirect requests

Non-conventionally

indirect requests

• Speak up please.

• Repeat please.

• Madam, can I go to the board?

• Can I have a paper please?

• I don’t have the paper.

Request modification

Alerter

Lexical modification

Supportive moves

• Title or role: miss/madam

• First name: Sara/Loic

• Lexical or phrasal downgraders: please, a little

•Can you give me some money please? I forgot my money at home. Thank you.

Doctoral research project: Research questions

1.How well are French learners of English able to

formulate requests?

2.Is there any evidence of development over time?

3.What kind of input do the classroom learners get

in France?

4.What opportunities do they have for production?

Do they use these opportunities? Do they

create others?

MethodologyNaturalistic + Experimental data

1. Classroom filming

2. Cartoon oral production task (COPT)

3. Role plays

4. Teacher interviews

5. Textbook analysis

Cartoon oral production task

• Design of the studyCross-sectional

• Participants 3 levels of learners

Level Name of class

School year Approximateage (years)

1 6eme First year of middle school

11-12

2 3eme Last year of middle school

14-15

3 Terminale Last year of high school

17-18

Methodology

LevelNumber

of classes

Hours of class recorded

(3 hours per teacher)

Total number of learners

Mean number of learners per class

1 5 15 131 26

2 3 9 73 24

3 5 15 104 20

Total 13 39 308

Can I come to the board

please?

can I have the test please because I

need the questions

Have you règle, please?

Participants: Classroom filming

Level Sessions(N)

Participants (N) Age (years)

1 5 107 11-12

2 3 69 14-15

3 5 67 17-18

Total 13 243

Can you give me one paper?

Excuse me, can I please borrow a piece of paper?

Participants: COPT

It's possible: to have, a paper for me please?

Role play participants

Level Participants (N) Age (years)

Level 1 18 11-12

Level 2 10 14-15

Level 3 13 17-18

Total 41

§ Participant: #00:00:00-1# Sorry miss I, I was talking with Arthur and, can you show again the video?

§ Interlocutor:#00:00:06-7# Okay in the normal situation, yes. This is a test I told you this was a test and I told you that our time was limited. So I'm sorry, no. If you can't answer the questions, whose responsibility is that?

§ Participant#00:00:17-8# It's my respon/ responsibility but, I would like to, to look the video.

§ Interlocutor #00:00:25-1# Yeah I understand…..

Development of request strategies

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

COPT

Direct

Conventionally Indirect

Non-conventionally indirect

Request strategy

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Role plays

DirectConventionally indirectNon-conventionally indirect

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Authentic Requests

Direct

Conventionally Indirect

Non-conventionally indirect

Give me a paper

Can you give me a

paper?Do you have a paper?

Development of modifier use

Request modifications

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

COPT

Alerters

Internal modification

Supportive moves

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

350%

400%

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Role plays

Alerters

Lexical downgraders

Supportive moves

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Authentic requests

Alerters

Lexical and phrasal downgrader

Supportive moves

Miss, excuse

me

Please, a little

because I didn’t….,thank you

What our research suggests so far

• Learners make different choices regarding request strategies and modifiers depending on task type

• in cartoon production and role-plays, learners use a range of moves and more modifiers

• in naturally occurring classroom contexts, their request behaviour is more restricted

• Learners do develop in request behaviour over time: older, more proficient learners are able to make more indirect requests

• BUT the learners’ range of request strategies, modifiers and modals remains quite limited

what are the implications for teaching pragmatics?

WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. BACKGROUND

2. DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT

3. TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE

4. SAMPLE TEACHING MATERIALS

5. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Masters in Teaching English

master MEEF anglais (ESPE Nice)

modules in English studies and education

first year: introduction to classroom research

Masters in Teaching English

master MEEF anglais (ESPE Nice)

M1 => CAPES preparation (university/ESPE)

M2 => part-time teaching (collège-lycée), part-time study (university/ESPE)

Masters in Teaching English

modules:

English literature/culture, teaching English

general education studies, teaching practice,

classroom research

Masters in Teaching English

first year: introduction to classroom research

school placement: observation and supervised practice (2 x 2 weeks, November and May)

collecting and analysing classroom data

second year: 9h EFL teaching (collège-lycée)

2.5 days’ teacher education

research project + report (mémoire professionnel)

collecting and analysing classroom data

Participants

class of fifteen M1 student-teachers

4 student-teachers in 3 classes (stagiaires)

3 mentor teachers (tutrices)

17 learners in 3 focus groups (élèves)

Teacher education input

14 hours: school placement, introduction to classroom research

raising awareness of IL pragmatics

sample teaching activities

data collection procedures

analysing learner language making polite requests

Classroom study

student-teachers

planned and delivered lessons on making appropriate requests in English

received feedback from school tutors

analysed classroom data

presented findings to peers

teaching requests

Data

3 groups of student-teachers

Jenny, 3ème

Megan, 2nde

Aude & Faiza, 1ère

teaching requests

WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. BACKGROUND

2. DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT

3. TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE

4. SAMPLE TEACHING MATERIALS

5. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

video extracts

Watch and listen to three extracts from TV series

Note down any requests you hear

Compare with neighbour

video extractsRead transcripts as you watch again

Underline requests

What parts of requests or strategies can you identify?

How do a) interlocutor status and b) level of imposition affect requests?

How are modals used in requests?

Joey: I can't believe what I'm hearing here.

Phoebe: (sings) I can't believe what I'm hearing here...

Monica: What? I-I said you had a-

Phoebe: (sings) What I said you had...

Monica: (to Phoebe) Would you stop?

Phoebe: Oh, was I doing it again?

All: Yes!

Monica: I said that you had a nice butt, it's just not a great butt.

Joey: Oh, you wouldn't know a great butt if it came up and bit ya.

Ross: There's an image.

Rachel: (walks up with a pot of coffee) Would anybody like more coffee?

Chandler: Did you make it, or are you just serving it?

Rachel: I'm just serving it.

All: Yeah. Yeah, I'll have a cup of coffee.

Chandler: Kids, new dream... I'm in Las Vegas.

Customer: (To Rachel) Ahh, miss?   More coffee?

Rachel: Ugh. (To another customer that's leaving.) Excuse me, could you give this to that guy over there? (Hands him the coffee pot.) Go ahead. (He does so.) Thank you. (To the gang.) Sorry.  Okay, Las Vegas.

Chandler: Okay, so, I'm in Las Vegas... I'm Liza Minelli-

Joey: I can't believe what I'm hearing here.

Phoebe: (sings) I can't believe what I'm hearing here...

Monica: What? I-I said you had a-

Phoebe: (sings) What I said you had...

Monica: (to Phoebe) Would you stop?

Phoebe: Oh, was I doing it again?

All: Yes!

Monica: I said that you had a nice butt, it's just not a great butt.

Joey: Oh, you wouldn't know a great butt if it came up and bit ya.

Ross: There's an image.

Rachel: (walks up with a pot of coffee) Would anybody like more coffee?

Chandler: Did you make it, or are you just serving it?

Rachel: I'm just serving it.

All: Yeah. Yeah, I'll have a cup of coffee.

Chandler: Kids, new dream... I'm in Las Vegas.

Customer: (To Rachel) Ahh, miss?   More coffee?

Rachel: Ugh. (To another customer that's leaving.) Excuse me, could you give this to that guy over there? (Hands him the coffee pot.) Go ahead. (He does so.) Thank you. (To the gang.) Sorry.  Okay, Las Vegas.

Chandler: Okay, so, I'm in Las Vegas... I'm Liza Minelli-

Jake: Good job.

[indistinct chatter] Thanks. Bye. See you.

Jake: Harry, hey, that was... That was something.

Harry: I never got an A+ before.

Jake: Well, congratulations.

Harry: Can I ask you a question?

Jake: Yeah.

Harry: I'm going for a promotion. Can you write a letter to the principal?

Jake: Only if you promise to give me a raise as soon as you're running this place.

Harry: Yeah.

Jake: All right, see you.

Jake: Good job.

[indistinct chatter] Thanks. Bye. See you.

Jake: Harry, hey, that was... That was something.

Harry: I never got an A+ before.

Jake: Well, congratulations.

Harry: Can I ask you a question?

Jake: Yeah.

Harry: I'm going for a promotion. Can you write a letter to the principal?

Jake: Only if you promise to give me a raise as soon as you're running this place.

Harry: Yeah.

Jake: All right, see you.

THOMAS And they're off.MRS HUGHES No rest for the wicked.MRS PATMORE Lady Mary. Are the tea trays ready?ANNA All ready, Mrs Patmore, if the water’s boiled. Could you give us a hand to take the other two up?MISS O'BRIEN I've got Her Ladyship's to carry.GWEN I'll help.MRS HUGHES Back door.--MR CARSON The papers at last. William.WILLIAM You're late.PAPERBOY Yeah. I--I know, but--WILLIAM But what?PAPERBOY You'll see.

THOMAS And they're off.MRS HUGHES No rest for the wicked.MRS PATMORE Lady Mary. Are the tea trays ready?ANNA All ready, Mrs Patmore, if the water’s boiled. Could you give us a hand to take the other two up? MISS O'BRIEN I've got Her Ladyship's to carry.GWEN I'll help.MRS HUGHES Back door.--MR CARSON The papers at last. William.WILLIAM You're late.PAPERBOY Yeah. I--I know, but--WILLIAM But what?PAPERBOY You'll see.

MR CARSON Do The Times first. He only reads that at breakfast, and The Sketch for Her Ladyship. You can manage the others later if need be. --

DAISY Why are the papers ironed?MRS PATMORE What's it to you?MISS O'BRIEN To dry the ink, silly. We won't want His Lordship's hands as black as yours.

WILLIAM Mr Carson, I think you ought to see this.--MRS HUGHES I can't make myself believe it.MRS PATMORE Me neither.THOMAS His Lordship's dressed.MRS PATMORE William! Will you stop talking and take this kedgeree up, and mind the burners are still lit.WILLIAM Yes, Mrs Patmore.THOMAS Is it really true?WILLIAM Afraid so.MRS PATMORE Nothing in life is sure.

MR CARSON Do The Times first. He only reads that at breakfast, and The Sketch for Her Ladyship. You can manage the others later if need be. --

DAISY Why are the papers ironed?MRS PATMORE What's it to you?MISS O'BRIEN To dry the ink, silly. We won't want His Lordship's hands as black as yours.

WILLIAM Mr Carson, I think you ought to see this. --MRS HUGHES I can't make myself believe it.MRS PATMORE Me neither.THOMAS His Lordship's dressed.MRS PATMORE William! Will you stop talking and take this kedgeree up, and mind the burners are still lit.WILLIAM Yes, Mrs Patmore.THOMAS Is it really true?WILLIAM Afraid so.MRS PATMORE Nothing in life is sure.

ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM Is Her Ladyship awake?MISS O'BRIEN Yes, Milord. I'm just going to take in her breakfast.ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM Thank you.--ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM May I come in?CORA, COUNTESS OF GRANTHAM Isn't this terrible?

ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM Is Her Ladyship awake?MISS O'BRIEN Yes, Milord. I'm just going to take in her breakfast.ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM Thank you.--ROBERT, EARL OF GRANTHAM May I come in?CORA, COUNTESS OF GRANTHAM Isn't this terrible?

pedagogical strategy

awareness-raising or noticing activities

presenting naturalistic samples in context (TV series with subtitles/transcripts)

focus on meaning before form

drawing attention to features of context and use of language

WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. BACKGROUND

2. DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT

3. TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE

4. SAMPLE TEACHING MATERIALS

5. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Lesson 1: StructureJenny (3ème) : awareness raising activity 50 minutes

1. watch video extracts of series Fresh off the Boat with short whole-class discussion

2. identify requests from transcripts

3. find alternatives to can I/can you with different interlocutors

4. establish when each expression is appropriate (explicit sociopragmatic teaching)

Lesson 1: Student teacher feedbackChoice of videos

Jenny: “I really first I was more worried about the videos. I knew my tutor was working on immigration and I thought about this TV series about this Asian family that I watch. So I just played the first episode and from the start there were requests so I was just “Oh yes, I can just take some parts and make them watch it and see how it goes.”

Lesson 1: Student teacher feedback

Unexpected lack of response

Jenny: I don’t know why, I mean when I showed them the video, I don’t know if they didn’t understand what I was asking or if it was that they didn’t understand the video or, they didn’t want to do it, so I don’t know.

Lesson 1: Learner feedbackComprehension difficulties

Pupil 1 : “…quand vous dites une phrase en anglais et il y a personne qui répond ni rien, enfin la prof d'anglais elle fait ça elle nous dit une phrase en anglais, quand elle voit qu'il y a un blanc qu'il y a personne qui dit rien, eh ben elle répète la même mais en français

Jenny: il faut me dire ça quand vous comprenez ça dès fois il y a trop d'anglais

Pupil 2: Sinon elle la reformule avec des leçons qu'on a déjà faites, et du coup vu que ces leçons on a déjà faites ça il y a tout se rentre dans la tête, du coup ça nous fait réapprendre toutes les autres leçons.

Lesson 1: Tutor feedbackJenny’s Tutor: So I would have stopped. They would have had asked me questions about what was that , how do you say un camion?

I might have asked them what kind of truck is it why is there a truck? How do you say: ils déménagent?

Then we would have watched it again and this time that’s what I love about that, everything is you know unlocked, and so easier and they would have understood.

Lesson 2: Aude and Faiza Structure of the lesson:

• brainstorm requests

• watch extracts from TV series

• analyse transcripts (who is talking to whom)

• focus on modals

Lesson 2: Student teacher feedbackFaiza: It was a discovery for us and for them as well....it was out of the usual framework. Because as an English teacher, you have to define specific plans with specific objectives. And, we didn’t do that, for, this lesson actually, based on requests. We didn’t keep in mind the objective, like linguistic objective or cultural objectives.… So it was very blurry because we didn’t know where to start ....because it was so new for us.

Aude: I think they might have realised that we were not expecting ONE answer. There was no, you know the right one and the wrong one. So that makes it more pleasant, altogether.

Lesson 2: Learner feedbackPupil A: The film is good. Interesting

Pupil B: I think, in classes we work more on the grammar, grammar than the than the expression...there is more participation now than the (pause)

Researcher: the usual classes

Pupil B: Yes.

Lesson 2: Tutor feedbackAude and Faiza’s tutor: "They all managed to say things what they don’t say, in class. And I was amazed at the reactions of some who are considered as so-called low achievers and they could react spontaneously. So this I found this very interesting……. And, they all looked you know keen and involved in the activity. And they were attentive. They did listen, not only to the teachers, and the people present, but also to each other."

Lesson 3: Examples of production activity

The teacher used research cartoons to elicit learner responses before explicit instruction

Pupil 1: Can I have a sheet of paper please?

Pupil 2: Can you give me some money. I forgot mine at home.

Pupil 3: Can you explain this, exercise?

Pupil 4: Can you report the nex/ the test after, week.

Lesson 3: Analysis phaseMeghan: So what do you notice? In the way you’re making, the requests.

Pupil 1: It’s always the same verb.

Meghan: Yes. Do you think there is other way to make requests?

Pupil 2: Is it possible to?

Teacher:Yes

Teacher: Any other?

Pupil 3: May I go to

Lesson 3: Production activity

Production after explicit instruction

Pupil 4: “is it possible to explain me this exercise please?” Or “Do/ do you think that you’ve time to teach me this exercise please?"

Pupil 5: “it is possible to report the test the next week. I’m sorry but is it possible?”

Pupil 3: I’m sorry but, could you lend me some money please?

Including pragmatics in syllabusAude and Faiza's Tutor: I just wondered about the AIM of the lesson itself. Uh as far as pragmatics is concerned, no problem. But, in the syllabus or in, you know the type of documents or units that we study with the students, how can we relate it, to some unit, for example? That may be, could be, a possible drawback if I may say. It sounds to me a very specific grammatical point or aspect of the language. Now how can we relate it, to the rest of the unit? Or current events? Or maybe we need to add some more follow up work. As the student asked me, what about some more grammatical exercises on modals?

Mismatch between secondary EFL expectations and IL pragmatic goals• usual focus on grammar and

culture in collège/lycée EFL•PPP approach based on grammar point •translates/subtitles/explains/UNLOCKS target language extract •sets as a lesson to memorise for subsequence reuse

• materials are selected on the basis of themes (fitting cultural objectives) rather than language used

• pragmatics instruction seeks to trigger IL development via •rich input •noticing of particular aspects of language

• pragmatics instruction assumes that similar pragmatic functions can be accomplished through a range of grammatical structures (and should not be treated as grammatical rules)

WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. BACKGROUND

2. DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT

3. TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE

4. SAMPLE TEACHING MATERIALS

5. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

6. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

conclusions and implications

clear patterns in IL pragmatic development indicate need for pedagogical intervention

awareness-raising or noticing activities are relatively easy to design and implement

production activities seem harder for novice teachers

questions about integration of pragmatics instruction in wider teaching programmes

Take-awayslinks to cartoon production prompts

links to other request lessons

links to other pragmatics teaching materials

further reading …

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Shona [email protected]

efl.unice.fr@whyshona

Aisha [email protected]