Suggestions
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Alicia Martínez-Flor
Abstract
Suggestions are acts in which the speaker asks the hearer to perform an action that will potentially benefit the hearer (Rintell, 1979). Despite this fact, they have been regarded as face-threatening acts, since the speaker is in some way intruding into the hearer’s world by performing an act that concerns what the latter should do (Brown & Levinson, 1987). For this reason, formulating pragmatically appropriate suggestions that do not result in impolite or rude behaviour may be especially difficult for second language learners whose contact with the target language is very limited. With that aim in mind, and based on previous studies on this speech act, this chapter proposes a pedagogical approach that ranges from awareness-raising to production activities.
Abstract
Suggestions are acts in which the speaker asks the hearer to perform an action that will potentially benefit the hearer (Rintell, 1979). Despite this fact, they have been regarded as face-threatening acts, since the speaker is in some way intruding into the hearer’s world by performing an act that concerns what the latter should do (Brown & Levinson, 1987). For this reason, formulating pragmatically appropriate suggestions that do not result in impolite or rude behaviour may be especially difficult for second language learners whose contact with the target language is very limited. With that aim in mind, and based on previous studies on this speech act, this chapter proposes a pedagogical approach that ranges from awareness-raising to production activities.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Preface xiii
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Section I. Theoretical groundings
- Pragmatics and speech act performance 3
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Section II. Empirical foundations
- The effect of individual-level variables on speech act performance 23
- Data collection methods in speech act performance 41
- Conversation analysis and speech act performance 57
- Culture and its effect on speech act performance 75
- Study abroad and its effect on speech act performance 91
- Speech act performance in workplace settings 109
- The effect of pragmatic instruction on speech act performance 127
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Section III. Methodological innovations
- Apologies 145
- Complaints 163
- Compliments and responses to compliments 179
- Disagreement 199
- Refusals 217
- Requests 237
- Suggestions 257
- Index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Preface xiii
-
Section I. Theoretical groundings
- Pragmatics and speech act performance 3
-
Section II. Empirical foundations
- The effect of individual-level variables on speech act performance 23
- Data collection methods in speech act performance 41
- Conversation analysis and speech act performance 57
- Culture and its effect on speech act performance 75
- Study abroad and its effect on speech act performance 91
- Speech act performance in workplace settings 109
- The effect of pragmatic instruction on speech act performance 127
-
Section III. Methodological innovations
- Apologies 145
- Complaints 163
- Compliments and responses to compliments 179
- Disagreement 199
- Refusals 217
- Requests 237
- Suggestions 257
- Index 275
