The Development of Requests by L2 Learners of Modern Standard Arabic: A Longitudinal and Cross‐Sectional Study. (4th December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Al‐Gahtani, Saad; Roever, Carsten
• Is Part Of: Foreign language annals. Volume 48:Number 4(2015:Winter)
• Page Start: 570
• Page End: 583
• Publication Date: 2015-12-04
• Subjects: interlanguage pragmatics -- second language acquisition -- speech acts; Languages, Modern -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 418.0071
• DOI: 10.1111/flan.12157
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0015-718X

Abstract

Abstract: This study examined the development of requests made by second language (L2) learners of Modern Standard Arabic at four levels of L2 ability. The study used longitudinal and cross‐sectional data collection to investigate how learners' performance of requests developed over a five‐month period and differed as a function of ability level. The results indicated U‐shaped development, with learners initially decreasing their use of direct requests and increasing their use of indirect requests as their overall language ability increased. However, at higher ability levels, learners approximated native speaker norms by reverting to direct requests. This developmental pattern demonstrated the constraining effect of learners' sociopragmatic competence on their pragmalinguistic performance. In addition, the findings highlighted the nonuniversality of developmental stages proposed by Kasper and Rose (2002), showing that developmental trajectories differ between languages with a preference for indirect requests (such as English and Greek) and those with a preference for direct requests (such as Arabic).