The interface between proficiency and pragmatics: A study on compliment responses

Athenea Botey Riaza; Júlia Barón; Alicia Martínez-Flor

doi:10.58859/rael.v23i1.592

Authors

Athenea Botey Riaza University of Barcelona
Júlia Barón University of Barcelona
Alicia Martínez-Flor University of Jaume I

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58859/rael.v23i1.592

Keywords:

L2 pragmatic awareness; proficiency; compliment responses; EFL; audio-visual input

Abstract

This study investigates the interface between second language pragmatics and proficiency by focusing on pragmatic awareness of compliment responses (CRs). The participants were Spanish learners of English as a foreign language. Their perceptive pragmatic knowledge was tested via a pragmatic awareness video elicitation task where they had to rate the appropriateness of 15 CRs from 1 (inappropriate) to 6 (very appropriate). Learners were divided into high and low proficiency groups according to their vocabulary sizes to check in what ways their responses to the task differed. Their ratings were then compared to a native speaker benchmark to obtain a sameness score and results indicate a moderate inverse correlation between proficiency level and near-nativeness. Findings suggest that the first language plays an important role in pragmatic awareness and that proficiency alone is not a determinative factor to acquire pragmatic knowledge, as there are other factors that may influence pragmatic development.

Author Biographies

Athenea Botey Riaza, University of Barcelona

Athenea Botey-Riaza is an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Education at the University of Barcelona, where she is a doctoral candidate at the Cognitive Science and Language programme. Her interests lie in the field of second language acquisition, particularly interlanguage pragmatics.

Júlia Barón, University of Barcelona

Júlia Barón is a Serra Húnter Fellow in the Department of Modern Languages and English Studies at the University of Barcelona. Moreover, she is currently the Chair of the International Association for Teaching Pragmatics (ITAP). Her research interests include interlanguage pragmatics, task-based language teaching and young language learning. She has published in Language Teaching Research, System, Journal of Pragmatics, Pragmatics, RESLA, among many others. She has co-edited L2 Pragmatics in Action: Teachers, learners and the teaching-learning interaction process (John Benjamins, 2023), and is the co-author of Pragmatics in language teaching: From research to practice (Routledge, 2024.)

Alicia Martínez-Flor, University of Jaume I

Alicia Martínez-Flor is a Lecturer of English Applied Linguistics at Universitat Jaume I. Her main research interests include interlanguage pragmatics and instructional pragmatics. Her publications have appeared in international journals such as System and Language Teaching Research. She has co-edited Pragmatics in foreign language learning, teaching and testing (Multilingual Matters, 2008), Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical and methodological issues (John Benjamins, 2010) and L2 Pragmatics in action: Teachers, learners and the teaching-learning interaction process (John Benjamins, 2023).