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THE PRODUCTION OF REQUESTS BY CATALAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH: SITUATIONAL ANDPROFICIENCY LEVEL EFFECTSAuthor(s): Montserrat Prez i ParentReviewed work(s):

Source: Atlantis, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Diciembre 2002), pp. 147-168Published by: AEDEAN: Asociacin espaola de estudios anglo-americanosStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41055076 .

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THE PRODUCTION OF REQUESTS BY CATALANLEARNERS OF ENGLISH: SITUATIONAL ANDPROFICIENCY LEVEL EFFECTSMontserrat rez ParentTheUniversityfReading

The paperexamines he nterlanguageehaviour f Catalan earners f English(CAT) at three ifferentevels ofproficiencyIL-A, IL-B, IL-C), focusingn theway theymakerequests n the second language.The data compriserequestrealisationsnder ix differentituationets,collectedbymeans of a discoursecompletionaskdesignedo achieve ystematicariation f the wo social factors:social distanceSD) anddominance.While he verall istributionlong he cale of ndirectnessollows imilar atternsforboth heCAT and GB groups,he pecific roportionsnthechoicesbetweenthemore irect nd ess direct trategiesependingn the ituationet are culture-specific. ocial distance nd dominance re found o be significantlyssociatedwith ifferencesnstrategyhoice nthe ases in which equest trategyroductionfrom he L groups iffersromhat f native peakers, pecificallySD, x>y,andx


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148 Montserrat rez i Parentlanguage nd culture.n particular,heyhave to findout what s possibleandappropriatencarryingutSAs ina secondanguageL2).There remany ifferentasks nvolved nacquiring ragmatic nowledgenan L2. Theyrange romearning ew SA categorieso learning owprinciplesfpoliteness perate n thetarget ulture,s well as learning ewproceduresndmeans of SA realisation.Whichof thesetasksrequires ew learning orNNSsdepends argelyn thedistance etween he ultures amiliaro the earner nd thetargetanguagendculture.The present tudy s an attempto investigateL realisation f the SA ofrequesting yCatalan earners fEnglish t three ifferentroficiencyevels. SAcategoriesnd their istributionaybe of ittlemportancenthe ase of these wolanguages nd culturess they re bothWestern.1n fact,t is expected hatbothlanguageswill make available to thespeaker he same rangeof strategies orconveying equests.However, imilaritymaynot always automaticallymplyfacilitation,nthe ameway s difficultyoes not lways ollow n from ifference.2. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY OF REQUESTS ANDINTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATICS2.1. nterlanguage ragmatics

InterlanguageragmaticsILP) belongs o two differentisciplines, othofwhich re interdisciplinary.s a branch f second anguage cquisition esearch,ILP is one of severalspecialisationsn interlanguagetudies, ontrasting ithinterlanguage honology,morphology,yntax, nd semantics.As a subsetofpragmatics,LP figuress a sociolinguistic,sycholinguistic,rsimply inguisticenterprise,ependingn how one defines hescopeof "pragmatics"KasperandBlum-Kulka993).Theperspectivenpragmaticsdopted y Kasper nd Blum-Kulka1993),andwhich s sharednthis tudy,s an action-theoreticalne,viewing ragmaticss thestudy fpeople's omprehensionndproductionf inguisticctionncontext.LPhasconsequentlyeendefined arrowlys the tudy f non-nativepeakers' se andacquisition f linguisticctionpatterns,.e. speechacts, in a second language(Kasper1989;Kasper ndDahl1991;Kasper ndBlum-Kulka993;Kasper1996).ILP has derived tstheoreticalnd empirical oundationrom eneral ndespecially ross-culturalragmaticse.g. Blum-Kulkat al. (1989). For the mostpart, t has focused n illocutionaryndpolitenessuccessful ommunication,ssituational,ocial, nd inguisticnowledge ust epresentor uccess.

1Muchbigger ulturalndtypological ifferencesould be expectedfcomparing Western ulturesuch s Catalan o a non-Westernne uch s Chinese.AZCJWfrlS X1V2 (2002)

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TheProductionfRequests yCatalan earnersfEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 149

2.2.Speechacts and illocutionary eaningWhen peakers erformtterancesncontext,hey ccomplishwothings:1)interactionalcts and 2) speech cts Ellis 1984).The formermpose tructurendiscourse y ensuringhat ne utteranceeads smoothlyo another. peechactsconstitutettemptsy languageusers to performpecific ctions, n particularinterpersonalunctionsuch s compliments,pologies, equestsrcomplaints.The focus f this tudys on onespecific llocutionaryct within hegeneralclass of directives:equests. equests avebeendefined s attemptsn thepart f aspeakeroget hehearer operformr tostopperformingomekind factionEllis1994).Thus, hey repre-eventcts, ntendedo affect hehearer's ehaviour. hisdefinitions intended o excluderequests or nformationndpermission, hichdiffer rom heotherypes frequest oals inthat hey re aimed olely t verbalgoods Blum-Kulka,anet ndGherson985).As stated ySearle 1976),a requestan be more r ess direct. ydirectnessis meant hedegree o which he peaker'sllocutionaryntents apparentrom helocution. ccordingo Blum-Kulkand House 1989),three eneral egrees an bedistinguished o represent universallyvalid scale of indirectness,whereindirectnesss defined s a measure f llocutionaryransparency.Themoredirecta given request trategyype, he shorter he inferentialathto therequestiveinterpretation;uch requestan then e saidto be more llocutionarilyransparent"(p. 133). These three levels are direct,conventionally ndirect, ndnon-conventionallyndirect.With hedirect equests,he llocutionaryorces indicatedintheutterancey grammatical,exicalor semanticmeans; onventionallyndirectrequests xpress he llocution ia fixed inguisticonventionsstablishednthespeech ommunity;ndnon-conventionallyndirectequests equire he ddresseetocomputehe llocution romhe nteractionfthe ocution ithtscontext. hesecriteriare used toclassifynstances frequests rom ifferentanguagesnto heright equest ategory.3. REQUEST DATA COLLECTION: DESIGN ANDMETHODOLOGY3.1.SubjectsA total f 72 subjects ivided nto our roups ookpartnthis tudy: groupofNSs ofEnglishGB), andthree roups fCatalan earners fEnglishs a foreignlanguage (CAT). The NSs (N=36) were undergraduatetudents t SalfordUniversityManchester, K). The Catalan earners f Englishweredivided ntothree roups ccordingo theirevelofproficiencyntheEnglishanguage.2 roupsIL-A and IL-B wereundergraduateniversitytudentsearning nglish t theServeid'IdiomesModerns f theUniversittutnoma eBarcelonaUAB), Spain.2As the tudyxamines ragmaticehaviour fCatalan earnersntheCatalan ducationalystem,hosesubjectswho hadspent year r more nthe nvironmentf the argetanguage nd culture ereruledout.

WlXJWfnSXW2 2002)



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1 0 Montserrat rez i ParentGroup L-A (N=10) had an intermediateevel ofproficiency,hile L-B (N=14)had an advanced evel.Group L-C (N=12) were econdyear tudents fEnglishPhilologyt theUAB (Spain) and their evel ofEnglishwas that f theCambridgeProficiencyxam.

By choosing niversitytudentss thetarget opulation,t was assumed hattheirducational ackgroundouldbe comparable,s all groups f students ouldhave had to pass some exams beforebeingadmittedo university.t was alsoexpected hat heir amiliarityith he situationsn thequestionnaires ould besimilar.This wouldprovide omparabilityf thegroups o that he differencesdetected ould not be attributedo variables ther han hosebeingstudied.Allstudentswere given a background urveyto ensure that groups were ashomogeneouss possible.3.2. Thequestionnaires3.2.1.TheDiscourseCompletionasks

Despite the limitations hat some authorshave pointedout for discoursecompletionasks, DCT was used nthis tudy ecause twas consideredo be aneffective eansofgathering large mount f dataquickly ndcreatingn initialclassificationf semanticormulasndstrategieshat ccur nnaturalpeech.Otheradvantages f themethod recontrollinghecontextualariablesmportantothestudy,swellas effectivelyomparinghe trategiessedbyNSs and earnersfthesame anguage. heDCT as a data licitingechniques still sedbymany inguists.Recently, u's (1999) study f theinterlanguageequestbehaviour f ChineselearnersfAmericannglishlsouseddata ollected ia a DCT.Two versions f an openendedDCT withnohearer esponseone originallyconstructedn English, nd itsCatalantranslation- ere used. The instructionsincludedn explicit eferenceo thepossibilityfopting ut, nd allowed ubjectsto answernas many tterancess they onsidered erenecessaryn the pacethatwasprovided.3No dialoguewas used,but scenario escribinghe ituation hich pecifiesthesetting,hefamiliarityetween heparticipantssocial distance), heir tatusrelative oeach otherdominance),heirex,and sometimesheir pproximategeand ob. This was followed ya prompto ensure he licitationf a request,atherthan descriptionfone,wasproduced. hiskind fquestionnairellowedfor hedifferencesntheproficiencyevel f he ubjectso showup.There retwelve uchsituationsn thequestionnaire,hich eflectverydaylifeof studentsna Westernniversity.his numberrovides or wo nstancesfeachof thesixpossible ombinationsf thevariables, hat s, social distance nd

socialdominance.t was expectedhat n individual's ainrequesttrategyouldbe basically imilar crosssituations ith he same combinationf distance nd3The Appendixpresents uch instructionsnd an example ofa situationfor ach language.wrcjwfns xiv2002)



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The ProductionfRequests yCatalan earnersfEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 151dominance, utthat ncludingwo situations or ach variable ombination ouldobtainmore eliable ata ndprovide fuller icturef the ubjects' ehaviour.hesituations erebasedon situationssed nprevioustudies o as tovalidate hem.4

By dominancewe meanthepowerof the peaker verthe hearer n a givenrolerelationship.hus,a situationnwhich lecturers speaking o a studentsconsideredo bespeaker ominantx>y),but tatus quals x=y) ifthe xchangestakingplace betweentwo students. ocial distance between nterlocutorssconsidered o be low -SD) formembers f a nuclear amily,riendsndrelatives,andhigh +SD) for trangers.ocial distances a binary-valuedariable {+SD}and {-SD}), while ocial dominance as three ossiblevalues:speaker ominant(x>y),hearerominantx


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1 2 Montserratrez ParentFigure -1summarisesraphicallyhedistributionfstrategyypes longthe

scale of ndirectnessnthe wo anguage roups f NSs examined GB andCAT-,andTable4-1 providesxamples or achrequest trategyor oth heCAT and GBgroupss foundnthe ubjects' esponsesotheDCTs.REQUEST CATALAN ENGLISHSTRATEGY1Mood- Ei tio,neteja a cuina uevas ser u Clean thebloody itchen.SI GB10)derivable: els teus mies uiho vanembrutar . Do youmnd? eave me alone (S2avuivenen ns miesmeus sopar. GB24) Put outyour aggrandad.S 12 No s li acut esmillor erfer? eixi GB1 )demolestar-me.S2 BIO)2 Performatives:3 Hedged Li pregaria ueem deixes Excuseme,but oyourealise his sperformatives: tranquil-la.om'agradaa seva a noparkingrea. 'm going o havecompanyia.S2 A4) toaskyoutomoveyour ar. S6 GB Pregaria ue treguessisl cotxe ^4)d'aqu a queno espot parcar.S6 Excuseme, his sa noparkingreaA4) I'mgoing o have to ask to move Li voliapreguntari lipueentregar yur ehicle-S6 GB25>el treballmes ard, onesm'ha gutimpossible.S7 A7)4 Locution- Perdoni,er quno espot parcar. Excuseme Madambutyou've arkedderivable: Hauria de canviar l cotxe e Hoc. your ar n noparkingoneyou'll(S6 C9) have tomoveyour ar. S6 GB 32) PerdonaMarta, er ree ue Haveyou gotchange or fivehauriesde presentarl treball na pound ote?S 11GB1 )setmanabans. S8 A3)5 Scopestating: Marta,m apmolt egreu anviar I'vegojsomefriendsomingverla datade la tevapresentado,er and needyou o clean hekitchennecessito uela facis na etmana as it syourmess,wouldyoumind?abans. S8 C5) (S GB26) Marta,m'agradaria ueavancessis Excuseme,doyoumind? don't

la tevapresentacina etmana know ou, nd 'd rather oudidn'tperqu a bper ompletares meves bothermethank ou. S2 GB2)classes, tfaria es? S8 B7)6 Suggestory Pauper que not'acostes la barra Whydon'tyougiveyourectureformula: demanes ues erveses? ago o. week arlier?S8 GB1 )(S10A2) Avi,nopots umarqu.Perqu nosuits ra l'apagues, aras ! S 12I Cl) |performativesere lsofound or nglish:/ masking outo hut p" BlumKulka t al. 1989:279).AUexamples retaken rom hedata obtained ymeansof theDCT questionnaires.he lettersndnumbersn brackets ndicate he following: + number enotes ituationin thiscase situationl="kitchen");abbreviationstandfor language group A=IL-A, B=IL-B, C=IL-C, GB=English,CAT=Catalan); and thefinalnumber enotes nformantumber2 = informantumber wo in theresearcher'satafiles).XlXJWtltSXX1V2 (2J0Q2)



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The ProductionfRequests yCatalan earners fEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 1 37 Query- EscoltaJoan, odriesnetejara cuina Please couldyou get hismesspreparatory: siusplau?La vas deixarmolt ruta cleared p my riendsrecomingahir mb a festa avuivenen ns soon. SI GB11amies sopar.SI A9) Listenmate 'mreally ot nterested, Li importara eixar-menpau, s couldyou ustfindomeone lse toquetinemolta ressa.S2 A6) annoy.S2 GB23) Quevas anar classe ahir? mpots Can I lend borrow]our otes romdeixar lsapunts? ra e'ls orno, lastweek's lassplease, s I was offvaig fer otocopies,racies.S3 sick. S3 GB1A5]8 Strong int: La setmanaassadanovaigpoder Is thereny oomnyour ar? S4

venir classe.No tens aselsapunts GB7)aqu? S3 B13) Isn't t bout imewegotgoing?S4 Hola,em sembla ueviviu lmateix GB 23)carreruejo. No tindreu ocpermen el cotxe uan orneu?S4 A8) # Excusememadam' * vou awarethat ou're arkedna "noparking" Enaquno espot parcar,enyora! area? S6 GB7)(S6 A5) Can'tyou ee the ign?This s astrict oparkingrea ndunless oumoveyour ar,you'll et parkingticket.S6GB31)9 Mildhint: Ei,ara no tine emps, ale? S2 A5) Grandad.ook atthe igns. 'm ureonyour ensionhe ast hing ou Tinepressa no tine emps er need 5QF df (gl2 GB 29)parlar. du. S2 A9) F (gl2 29) Look, 'm orryut 'vegot ogo, 'min rush,araa.S2 GB1) I'm orry,'vegot ogoandwashmyhair.S2 GB9Table4-1: Request trategiesorCAT ndGBasfoundn theDCTs.The results howthatGB speakersreslightlyessdirect hanCAT speakers:less than 0% oftheGB requestsrephraseds impositivesdirect),more han 0%arephrased s conventionallyndirect,nd 19% as nonconventionallyndirect.ntheCAT requests,direct mpositives onstitute3.42%, conventional ndirectstrategies0.37%, andnonconventionallyndirectnes only14.25%. Statisticalanalysis ychi-squareDF = 3, p>0.05),7 hough,hows hat here s no significantdifferenceetween hedistributionf trategyypesnthe wo anguage roups.4.1. The IL groups

Figures -2 to4-5 show ituationalndwithin roup ariationor achlevelofdirectness.nthesefigures,hehorizontalxisdepicts he ituationets, nd theverticalxis shows hepercentagefuse ofeachdirectnessevel.Thevaluesfor heGB andCAT groups replottednthediagramsndconnectedlonghorizontal7Statisticalestswere arriedutusing heMinitab 1.2 forWindows tatisticsackage.

flUWtSXX1V22002)



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154 Montserrat rez i Parentlines. norder odistinguishhe L values fromhese, heformerredisplayed ymeans fbars.4,LI. Opting ut trategyLow levels ofopting ut of situationsnwhich hespeakers ina dominantposition ver hehearersituationet4) might e anticipated.eing na positionfdominance ver hehearer,he peaker oes not ose facewhenmaking requestothehearer.

Figure -2:Useof he ptingut trategyn the ix ituationets or ll language roups.The fact hat he ame behaviours foundn theopposite ominance ituation(situationet3) is more ontraryoexpectations.till, tcan be explainedfwe takeinto ccount he nature f the situations.n S5 information,hich s one of thesituations hatmakeup situation et 3 (+SD x


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The Production fRequests byCatalan LearnersofEnglish: Situational nd Proficiency evel 155closestto GB in situation et 4. The fact hat earnerswith hehigherevel ofproficiencyretheones whoare furtherwayfrom heresults roduced ytheGBgroupmaybedue to thefact hat, aving higherevelofproficiencyntheforeignlanguage, ubjectsn the L-C groupmightmonitorheir roductioness.8 he sameeffectsfound,o a lesser xtent,nthe onventionallyndirecttrategy.

Figure -3: Useof he irecttrategynthe ix ituationets or ll language roups.Thehighestevelsof directnessredisplayednthe wox>y situationssets4and6),which nclude he olice, nd ecturerituations.hese situationsxert ighobligationn the ddressee nd are more ikelyo bemetbycompliance. hus, heygranthe peaker strong ightocarryuttherequest, hichmay ccount or hehighuse of the direct trategy. ouse (1986: 50-1) (quoted in Kasper (1989)describes hesekinds fsituationss standard. hesestandoutgainst on-standardsituations,hich re characterisedya "relativelyowobligation or he ddresseeto comply nd equally ow rights n thepartof therequester,husresultingngreater ifficultyn performingherequest". he ride andlift ituationsset 3),wouldfallunder hedescriptionfnon-standard.he interactionnthese ituationsis not rranged y ocialcontract,s wouldbethe ase of standardituationsuch sthe oliceman,ndsettinghe ocialparameterssmore pen onegotiation.his sreflectednthedata:as Figure -3 andFigure -4show, ituationet3 displays helowestevelsof directnessndthehighestevels f occurrencefthe onventionallyindirecttrategy.

8 Monitoring is a learning strategy.Although some learning strategies have been shown to be moreevident n advanced learners Ellis 1994: 555), more informationbout thestudents'background such asthe type of tuitiontheyhave received) would be needed to be able to compare withinthe groups andestablishgeneralisations bout their evels ofmonitoring.JVJW&7SXIV2 2002)



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1 6 Montserrat rez i Parent4.1.3.Conventionallyndirecttrategy

Theconventionallyndirecttrategys theoneinwhich here s less variationbetween hegroups. his s the ategorynwhichGB and CAT differess, nd alsotheoneinwhich he hreeL groups rovidemorehomogenousnswers, othwitheach other nd with he NSs groups.This could be related o the fact hat hisstrategys themost sedby ll language roups,ndthe netheyremost onfidentusine.Thisfact s corroboratednthe iteratureseesection .4below).

Figure -4: Useof he onventionallyndirecttrategynthe ix ituationets or ll language roups.

Figure -5: Useof henonconventionallyndirecttrategynthe ix ituationets or ll languagegroups.AZCJWI2SXX1V2 (2002)



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The ProductionfRequests yCatalan earners fEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 1574.1.4.Nonconventionallyndirecttrategy

The use of thenonconventionallyndirecttrategy,r hints, hows somevariation etweenheGB and CAT groups. his variations also reflectednthe Lgroups.L-A do not eem o bevery ond f hintsnd, nfact,hey id notproduceanyfor ituationets 1, 4, and 6. IL-C seems to be thegroupwhich,forthisstrategy,estresembles ative peaker erformance.lthoughhey o notreach heGB levels f useof thenonconventionallyndirecttrategyor ituationets5 and6,theyt eastproduce higher umber f hints han he ther roupsnd are closer oGB levels han o those ftheCATgroup.In theparticularase of thenonconventionallyndirecttrategy,hen, s thelearners'inguistic bility ncreases, o does theirpragmatic ompetencen theforeignanguage,nd thus heir esponseso theDCT are closer o thoseproducedbyNSs. This is particularlyo in situation ets3, 4, and6. A likely xplanationmight e that earners t lower evelsofproficiencyave notacquired dequatesociopragmaticndpragmalinguisticbilities o use non-conventionalndirectnessat discretionYu 1999), and, instead,resort o the relatively asily learntconventionallyndirectormsnmakingheirequests.4.2.Socialdistance

Social distance, r morespecificallySD, seems to have an effect n thesubjects'choice of request trategy.While there s no statisticallyignificantdifferenceetween he choice ofrequest trategiesor ll language roups nthe+SD situationssituationets2, 3, and4), the SD situations1,5, and6) giveastatisticallyighlyignificantesultp-value 0.000).4.2.L +SD

Figure -6: Choice frequesttrategyer anguage roupn+SD situations.As can be seeninFigure -6,therequest trategiessedbyall the anguagegroups refairlyimilar,with heconventionallyndirecttrategy eing he mostjvraw&tsXXW22002)



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1 8 Montserrat rez i Parentused,followed ythedirect nd thenonconventionallyndirecttrategies.here reveryow levelsofopting utand, s already ointed ut nsection .1.1,these reall due to thex=y situations.t seems, then, hat n situationsn which socialdistances high, hat s insituationsn which heres no familiarityetween heinterlocutors,ll languagegroups greeon the use of theconventionallyndirectstrategynalmost 0%ofthe ases.4.2.2. SD

Figure -7,though,howsa differenticture.n the SD situations,here slessagreementetween hegroups, hich s shown ythehigh evelofsignificanceobtainednthe hi-squarenalysisp-value 0.000).

Figure -7:Choice frequesttrategyer anguage roupn SD situations.TheGB and CAT groups o notdifferignificantlyn their hoiceofrequeststrategy. oreover,ndcontraryo expectation,heresults btained or he SDsituationsrevery imilar othoseobtained or he+SD situationseportednthepreviousection. trendowards reaterirectnessasanticipatedith n increaseinfamiliarity,nd thisdid nottakeplace.The direct trategys usedin36% and34% of the +SD situationsby groupsGB and CAT respectively,nd theconventionallyndirectnein50% and49%. Similarly,n -SD situationshedirectstrategys usedin31% and 26% of theoccasions ndtheconventionallyndirectstrategys used n50%and52%of he ccasions espectively.The IL groups,hough,o showdifferencesnbehaviour, ith heuse of thedirect trategyythethree roups eing ndirectlyroportionalo their se oftheconventionallyndirecttrategy.hus, L-A uses fewdirect equests27%) andmanymore onventionallyndirectnes 63%). IL-B usesa slightlyigher umberofdirect equests34%) and thus lowernumberfconventionallyndirectequests(59%). Finally,L-C uses the direct trategy ost 49%) and theconventionallyindirecttrategyeast 44%), showing completelyeverseendencyo theuse ofthe L-A group ndindeed o all otheranguage roups. or -SD situationshen,wrawtnsxxiVji 2002)



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The Production fRequests byCatalan Learners ofEnglish: Situational nd Proficiency evel 1 9when here s familiarityetween heparticipantsnthe ituation,roupsL-A andIL-B do not seem comfortablenough sing he direct trategynd resort o theconventionallyndirect ne evenmore thanNSs of bothEnglishand Catalan.Probably, helowerproficiency roupsdo not assess the social distance f thesituationorrectlynd, ven fthere sfamiliarityetweenhe peakers,hefact hattheyreproducing requestna foreignanguagewhich straditionallyescribed othem s beingmorepolite n itsrequestforms han heirnative anguage, heyproducemore ndirect orms.L-C, on theother and, ses thedirecttrategy orebut otoofar nduse t nevenhigherevels hanNSs.4.3.Dominance

When ooking tdominance,he tatisticalesults, hen ll request trategiesareincluded,re notreliable nough. his s becausethe ow levels ofopting utcause toomany ells to haveexpectedounts f essthan .0 and, nthe ase of thex>y variable,3 cells give expectedcounts of less than 1.0, whichprobablyinvalidateshe hi-squarepproximation.s a result, second tatisticalnalysis fthedatawas carried ut nwhich heopting ut trategyas omitted. hisanalysisgives more accurateresults nd, in the case of x>y and x


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JWLWCnS XXIy

Figure -9: Choice frequesttrategyer anguage roupnx>ysituations.Whenthespeaker s in a higher osition hanthehearer, hepicture hatemergess very imilar othat fthe SD situationscompare igure -7 toFigure4-9 above) and indeedthe statisticalnalysisof thedata also gives outhighlysignificantesultstthe0.01 level p-value 0.000). Indownwardpeech Blum-Kulka1985) i.e. x>ysituationsn which equestsre madebypeople ndowedwithpowern a given ole),directness ouldbe expectedo be thenorm.However, nddespite hehigher ominance osition fthe peaker,heGB and CAT groups onotmakemoreuseof thedirecttrategyhan hey o inthex=ysituations.he ILgroups, n the otherhand,do use thedirect trategy ore,with L-C beingthegroup hat ses tthemost. histendencysreversedor he onventionallyndirectstrategy,s it is IL-A whouses it themost nd IL-C the east. L-B uses bothstrategiesn almosthe amepercentage.

As far s the ptingut trategysconcerned,espite oth roups fNSs usingopting ut n someof thecases,and theCAT group pting utmore han heGBgroup, NSs hardly sethis trategy.nfact,herereonly nstancesfopting utforL-A. IL-C is,again, hegroup fNNSswhich scloser o GB performance.4. 3. x


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The ProductionfRequests yCatalan earnersfEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 161

Figure4-10: hoice frequest trategyer anguage roupnx


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1 2 Montserrat rez i Parentlevel: nover55%ofcases, hey hose he onventionallyndirecttrategy.ll othergroups ptfor lternativeslightly ore ften,eflectinghe ocial constraintsf thesituationalontexts.

Figure -11:Culturaltratificationf trategyypesor ll situationsnd all language roups.All language roups ary heir irectnesseveldependingn the ituationet.Thus,higher irectnessevels re chosen yallgroupsnsituationet2 (+SD, x=y),while thenonconventionallyndirect trategys the mostpopularstrategynsituationet 5 (-SD, xy,andx


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The ProductionfRequests yCatalan earners fEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 163pragmalinguisticbilities o use nonconventionalndirectness,o instead esortedothe elativelyasy earntonventionallyndirectormsnmakingheirequests.The fact hat heyuse conventionallyndirect ormsmore han he otherLgroups,speciallynfamiliarndequalstatusituations, aybe due to thefact hatspeakers ntend o achieve theirrequestivegoal withbotheffectivenessndpoliteness. neffectiveequests one forwhich hehearer ecogniseshe peaker'sintent. he easier t s forhearers o understandhat hey rebeing equestedo dosomething,ndthe asier t s for hem o understandhat hey resupposed odo,themore uccessful hespeakerhas beenin issuing n effectivendtransparentrequest.

To achieve requestive oals with maximum ffectivenessnd politeness,speakersmustmatch erbal nowledgef theirvailablepragmalinguisticepertoirewith n appraisal f themostrelevant ituationalactors.f,however,he evel oflinguisticndpragmalinguisticroficiencynthe argetanguages restrictedas isthe ase with L-A subjects-, heymayresort o a familiarndeasyform such asconventionallyndirecttrategies-ven fthis s not hemost ffectivetrategyouse inthat ituation. ll groups eelmore onfidentsing hese trategies,hich sshownbythefact hat hey re the mostused. The lack of confidencen theirproductiont the owerproficiencyevels s also shownbytheir igherevels ofopting ut, omparedo L-C.Theymayuse theoptingut trategys anavoidancestrategyo as not to produce request n a situationn whichthey ack theappropriateocabularyoproduce requestdequateothe ituationalactors.I have also shownhow thesubjects'pragmaticompetencen theforeignlanguage ncreasesnturnwith heiringuisticbility. his s shown ntheuse ofnonconventionallyndirectequests. hegroupwith hehigherevel ofproficiencyprovidedloser nswerso theGB group.L-C,though, as thegroup hat ifferedthe most fromGB in thecase of direct equests.On thisoccasion,thehigherconfidencentheir erformancef thisgroupmayhave ed them oovershoothetargetanguage orms.5.CONCLUSIONSThe purposeof thispiece of researchwas to considerthe variation nrequestingehaviournfivedifferentanguage roups:wogroups f NSs -GB andCAT- andthree roups fCatalan earners fEnglishs a second anguage IL-A,IL-B, andIL-C. Morespecifically,he imof the tudywas todeterminehetherandto what xtentL realisationf the A ofrequestingyCatalan earners ifferedfrom equestrealisation n theirnative anguageand fromEnglish, hetargetlanguage,t three ifferentevelsofproficiency.atawas collected ymeans f awrittenCT administeredoa total f 72 subjects.tconsisted ftwelve ituationsgroupednto ix situationetsallowingfor ll thepossiblecombinationsf thevariables nder tudy:ocialdistancenddominance. rom he ubjects' esponsestotheDCT, only hemainrequesttrategyas codedandanalysed. hisstudy id

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1 4 Montserrat rez i Parentnot ook at the ength f therequests roduced,he use ofpolitenessmarkers,rexternalnd nternal odificationfrequests.The firstssue hat oncerneds was therange frequesttrategiesvailable neach anguage. s expected,he hreemain equestealisationtrategiesdentifiednprevioustudiesdirect,onventionallyndirectndnonconventionallyndirect-realso found n the CAT data.Moreover, he data provide n identical angeofsubcategoriesithin he hreemaindirectnessevels:noexamples fperformativeswerefound or itherfthe wo anguage roups, hile ll otherubcategoriesererepresented.In general, here re no bigdifferencesetween hedistributionf strategytypesfor he GB and CAT groups.AlthoughGB speakersuse direct trategiesslightlyessthanCAT speakers,hedifferences not s great s might ave beenexpected nd is certainly otstatisticallyignificant.hereare, though, omedifferencesnthe pecific roportionsnthechoiceofstrategies ependingn thesituationet.For ituationet4 (+SD x>y) for xample,heCAT speakershoose ouse moredirect han ndirecttrategies, hereas he GB group howsthe reversetendency.heIL groups lsodifferntheir ehaviournthis articularituationet.IL-A rely, s they o most fthetime hroughouthedata,on theconventionallyindirect trategy. earners annotconstruct ative-typeiscourseunless theypossessthe inguistic eans o do so (Ellis 1994).This, ogether ith he fact hatrequest trategies ith an and could (conventionallyndirect)retaughtt theinitial tagesof English anguage ourse,possibly ccountfor hefact hat hisstrategysused omuch ythe owerevel tudents.L-Bbehaves imilarlyoCAT,while IL-C are closer to GB performanceshowing theirhigher evel ofpragmalinguisticophistication).L-B's results ould be attributedo transferromthe peakers' I. AlthoughL-A couldhave beenexpected o showsometransferfrom heirLI as well, as Ellis (1994) pointsout, learnershave to develop asatisfactoryevel of linguistic ompetence efore ransferf complicatedLIstrategiesnd routinesecomespossible. t is for his eason hatL-B is thegroupwhichhows closerbehaviourotheCATgroup hanL-A. Situationalariationsrelated othe ontextxternaleaturesHouse 1986)of the ituationsntheDCT,namely ocial distance nddominance.Morespecifically,SD, andx>y andx


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The ProductionfRequests yCatalan earners fEnglish: ituationalndProficiencyevel 165proficiency aycause overconfidencen the earners nd lead them o overshoottargetanguage ormsnoccasions, s it s the ase of theuse of direct equests ygroupL-C. The fact hat here re learners hoseL2 proficiencys advanced utarestillpragmaticallynsuccessfuls themost ompellingvidence hatnstructioninpragmaticssnecessary.

Kasper arguesthatpragmatic ompetence s such cannot be taught, s"competences a type fknowledgehat earnersossess,develop, cquire, se orlose" (1997: 1). However, he adds that, n second anguage eaching, earningopportunitiesanbe arrangednsuch a waythat hey enefit hedevelopmentfpragmatic ompetencen L2. She gives evidence from ifferenttudieswhichsupportshe view thatpragmatic bility an indeedbe systematicallyevelopedthrough lanned lassroom ctivities. he provides list of useful ctivities orpragmatic evelopmenthich he classifiesccordingo whetherhey re aimed t(a) raising tudents' ragmaticwarenesse.g. observation,ociopragmatic,ndpragmalinguisticasks),or (b) offeringpportunitiesor ommunicativeractice(referentialndinterpersonalommunicationasks).10mplementingome of theselearningctivitiesntheforeignanguage lassroom anhelp tudentsecomemoreeffectivend uccessfulommunicatorsnL2.Finally,t has to be borne nmind hat onclusions bout earners' ragmaticcompetenceasedon their licited erformanceanonly e tentatives responseso

questionnaires aynotbe representativefactual anguage se. Further esearchshould e done ookingtnaturallyccurringatafromearnersndperhaps oinglongitudinaltudy o find ut about he cquisitionnddevelopmentfpragmaticcompetencena foreignanguage.

10See Kasper 1997) for more etailed escriptionf all these asks nd howthey an be implementedin he anguagelassroom.

REFERENCESBlum-Kulka, hoshana1985: "Themultifunctionalityfdisocoursemarkers: hecase ofrequests".heoreticalinguistics2: 213-29., BrendaDanet, nd RimonaGherson 985: "The anguage frequestingnIsraelisociety". anguageand Social Situation. d. J Forgas.New York:Springererlag. 13-39.and JulianeHouse 1989: "Cross-culturalnd situationalvariation nrequestingehaviour". ross-culturalragmatics:Requests ndApologies.Eds. Shoshana lum-Kulka,uliane ouseandGabriele asper.Norwood, J:Ablex.123-54.,Juliane ouse, ndGabrieleKasper, ds. 1989:Cross-Culturalragmatics:RequestsndApologies. orwood, J:Ablex.

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1 6 Montserratrez ParentEllis, Rod 1994: The Studyof SecondLanguage Acquisition.Oxford:Oxford

Universityress.Fraser,Bruce, and William Nolen 1981: "The association of deferencewithlinguisticorm".nternationalournal ftheSociology f Language27: 93-109.House,Juliane 986: "Cross-culturalragmaticsnd foreignanguage eaching".Probleme ndPerspektivenerSprachlerhrforschung.ds.K.R. Bausch,F.G.KningsndR.Kogelheide. ningstein:criptor.81-95.Kasper,Gabriele 1981:Pragmatische speckten der nterimsprache.bingen:Gunter arr.1989: "Variation n interlanguagepeechact realisation".Variation nSecondLanguageAcquisition. olume : Discourse ndPragmatics. ds. S.Gass,C. Madden,D. Prestonnd L. Selinker. levedon:Multilingual attersLtd.and MereteDahl 1991: "Researchmethodsn interlanguageragmatics".Studies nSecond anguageAcquisition3:215-247.and SoshanaBlum-Kulka,ds. 1993: nterlanguageragmatics. ewYork:Oxford niversityress.1996: "Introduction:nterlanguageragmaticsnSLA". Studies n Second

LanguageAcquisition8: 145-48.1997: "Can pragmatic ompetence e taught?"NFLRC Net Work #6.Second Language Teachingand Curriculum enter. WWW Document]Retrievedan 6,1998from ttp://www.lll.hawaii.edu/nflc/NetWorks/NWG/.Rintell, llen 1979: "Getting our peechact together:hepragmaticbility fsecondanguageearners".WorkingapersonBilingualism7: 97-106.Searle,John . 1976:"The classificationf llocutionarycts".Language nSociety5: 1-24.Yu, Ming-chui 999: "Universalisticndculture-specificerspectivesn variationin the cquisitionfpragmaticompetencen a second anguag"e. ragmatics9:281-312.

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The Production fRequests byCatalan Learners ofEnglish: Situational nd Proficiency evel 167

APPENDIXQuestionnairenEnglisho becompletedy heNSs ofEnglish.Age: Sex: tick he ppropriateox) male femaleMotherongueifnotEnglish):Universitytudies:InstructionsTwelve ituationsre described elow.Please read hedescriptionf eachsituationandwrite ownwhatyouwould ay ifanything)nthat ituationnthequotationmarks" ") as ifyouwere peaking. ayas much r as little s youwish you mayalso choose osaynothing.You are notgoing o be given "mark" nyour esponses. here re no right rwrongnswers,nd ometimes ore han neanswermighteappropriate.It is importanthatyouunderstandhe ituationully.fthere s something oudonotunderstand,sk yourteacher nd he will explain t to you. Thankyou forparticipatingnthis tudy!Situations9. Martyns playingennis t theCollegetennisourts ne afternoonith friend.Unfortunately,e is usta beginnernd is notvery ood.At onepoint uringhegame,he accidentallyits he ball overthe fence nto henext ourtwhere omechildrenreplaying. e needs heballback. magine ouare Shane. Whatdoyousayto one of the hildrenlayingnthenext ourt oget hemogivetheball backtoyou?

QuestionnairenCatalan o becompletedy heNSs ofCatalan.Nivell: Professor/a:Llibre e text: Edat: Sexe:Llenguamaterna:Quantsnys aqueestudiesngles?Per ue aprens ngles?Has esttmai GranBretanyaenalgn ltre asdeparla nglesa?Encas derespostafirmativalapreguntanterior,urantuant emps?

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168 Montserratrez ParentEstudis niversitaris:InstructionsA continuacis descriuen otze ituacions. i etpiau, legeix a descripcie cadasituaci escriu,en ctala, el que tu diries si s que diriesalguna cosa) encadascuna 'ellesdins 'espaique se'tdona.Potsescriure ant tanpoccomvulguis-fins tot ots ptar erno dir es.s importantue entenguis ompletamenta situaci. i hiha algunacosa que noentens e la situaci,emana-m'ho.Gracies er atevaparticipadonaquest studi!Situacions9. En Mart est jugant a tennisa les instal-lacions el SAF amb un amie.Desgraciadament,nMiquels unprincipiantno ensap gaire.En un moment eljoc, llanca a pilota ccidentalmenter obre a reixa l'envia la pistadel costat nhiha uns nensugant. magina ue ets enMiquel.Que dius als nensde la pistadelcostat erqu ttorninapilota?ii

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