The current study examines English-speaking learners of Spanish and their pragmatic development of request forms during a six-week immersion program in Madrid, Spain. Elicited production and intuition data were analyzed, focusing on personal deictic orientation, directness evidenced by clause type, and the use of "por favor"…

This study focuses on variation within a group of learners of Spanish (N = 253) who produced requests and complaints via a written discourse completion task. It examines the effects of learner and situational variables on production--the effect of proficiency and addressee-gender on speech-act choice and the effect of perception of imposition on…

Previous work in the field of interlanguage pragmatics suggests that learners of a second or foreign language benefit from metapragmatic instruction (e.g., Felix-Brasdefer 2008a; Kasper and Rose 2002; Koike and Pearson 2005). The most common approach taken in studies on instruction is to focus on a speech act and to develop a lesson that acts as a…

This article focuses on the teaching of pragmatics in the Spanish as a Foreign Language classroom and examines the role of grammar as a communicative resource. It also aims to highlight the importance of teaching pragmatics from beginning levels of language instruction, with the spotlight on speech acts at the discourse level. After the concept of…

Due to the recent shift in the linguistic pragmatics literature from the analysis of isolated speech acts to the focus on phenomena which affect the global meaning of a message, discourse markers (DMs) have become a frequent research topic. Despite their popularity, the evolution and development of these forms is often neglected in investigations…

Discusses the teaching of the semantics and syntax of a particular construction employed to quote questions indirectly in Spanish. Argues that questions in indirect speech are always introduced by "que" in Spanish and are interpreted as questions. Indirect questions not introduced by "que" are normally interpreted as assertions. (SED)

Discusses a model for pragmatics instruction in the Spanish foreign language classroom. The model helps activate universal pragmatic rules for communication. (Author/VWL)

Northern Andean Spanish (NAS) possesses a complex system of structures used in impositive speech. NAS speakers choose from several grammatical possibilities when asking their interlocutor to act. This article summarizes the grammatical possibilities and explains how the different forms are used to indicate different levels of politeness. (15…

The adverbial phrase "a lo mejor" (at best) does not take the subjunctive, although other adverbial expressions of possibility may be followed by either indicative or subjunctive. Examines statements co-occurring with "a lo mejor" from the viewpoint of statement and mood, taking into account communicative discourse function. The study shows that…

Reports a study of the correlation of linguistic variation with the variables of gender and context specificity in Brazilian Portuguese. The study focused on differences found in the expression of a particular directive by adult middle-class male and female speakers of the Carioca dialect of Rio de Janeiro. (SED)

Stresses the importance of "teacher talk" in the foreign language classroom. Recommendations include fitting the level of language to the learner, balancing practice of both lexicon and grammar, limiting redundancy, and suiting content of the language to each sentence's specific purpose. Examples of faulty teacher talk in Spanish are…