Since the emergence of the concept of communicative competence, the language teaching field has focused on teaching appropriate language use in addition to general linguistic elements. Speech act studies have contributed to providing appropriate models for second and foreign language learners. In this paper, the effort toward the creation and use…

A study examined internal structure of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT), a technique used to elicit data in sociolinguistic research, and effects of systematic modification to its situational prompt on subject response. The DCT is a questionnaire containing situations, briefly described, designed to elicit a particular speech act. Subjects read…

This study examines the speech act sequence of introductions among native speakers of American English from a wide variety of occupations, educational backgrounds, and role relationships. Specifically, the focus of the study is on the sequencing of other-introductions; namely, in an introduction that involves at least three participants, who gets…

In this study, the performance of apologies among 20 non-native speakers (NNSs) of English and 20 native speakers (NSs) of English was examined. Two questions were addressed: How did NNSs' apologies compare with NSs' in identical situations? What relationship existed between the performance of apologies by NNSs and Test of English as a Foreign…

This paper describes the communicative function of language in a monolingual public school kindergarten. The study was based on observations of classroom communication and interviews with the teacher. The paper describes the speech of students and the teacher during different segments of the school day, and presents an analysis of 290 speech acts…

This paper discusses miscommunication in speech acts, speech act research, and applications in the classroom. A new model of speech acts proposed by Celce-Murcia, Dornyei, and Thurrell is discussed. The distinguishing feature of this model is that the pivotal center is discourse competence. Discourse competence interacts with the three subfields…

The first part of this paper reviews previous literature on speech acts, compliments, and compliment responses. Previous research shows that the same speech act is very likely to be realized quite differently across cultures. The second part of the paper examines the compliment responses of Korean females in English interactions and in Korean…

This study examined the ways in which adult, Korean, English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners performed the "request" speech act, with particular attention to deviations caused by negative transfer. An oral discourse completion test with six request situations was given to three groups of learners; situations varied in terms of the…

The goal of Working papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL) is to present works in progress by students and professors on topics ranging from speech act analysis and classroom discourse to language planning and second language acquisition. Papers offered are generally based on research carried out for courses offered in the language in education…

This paper explores what is meant by "thinking" in a target language. Factors that determine both unplanned and planned use of more than one language for thinking are discussed, and empirical data from a mini-survey and from personal language learning and language using experiences are presented. The role of target-language thinking in improving…

Papers in this volume include the following: "Addressing Contextual Issues Relevant to Language Teaching in South Africa": Implications for Policy and Practice" (J. Keith Chick); "A Comparative Study of Compliment Responses: Korean Females in Korean Interactions and in English Interactions" (Chung-hye Han); "Can You…

This journal issue presents works in progress by students and professors on topics ranging from speech act analysis and classroom discourse to language planning and second language acquisition. Papers are generally based on research carried out for courses offered in the Language in Education Division of the Graduate School of Education at the…

Three papers written by graduate students on educational linguistics are included. These papers represent works in progress by students and professors on topics ranging from speech act analysis and classroom discourse to language planning and second language acquisition. The papers are generally based on research carried out for courses offered in…

A study investigated differences in the speech styles used in making requests among five native speakers of Japanese (JJ), five American learners of Japanese (AJ), and Americans speaking English (AE) and their implications for intercultural communication. All subjects were adults. Data were elicited in role-plays of a scenario including the…

Five papers on applied linguistics in educational contexts are presented. "What Can Second Language Learners Learn from Each Other? Only Their Researcher Knows for Sure" (Teresa Pica, Felicia Lincoln-Porter, Diana Paninos, Julian Linnell) presents further research on interaction and negotiation among language learners.…