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Learning to interact in Spanish as a second language
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Lovejoy, Kelly G.. Learning to interact in Spanish as a second language. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3RX9DXQ

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TitleLearning to interact in Spanish as a second language
NameLovejoy, Kelly G. (author); Flores, Nydia (chair); Sanchez, Liliana (internal member); Stephens, Thomas M (internal member); Felix-Brasdefer, J Cesar (outside member); Rutgers University; Graduate School - New Brunswick
Date Created2015
Other Date2015-05 (degree)
SubjectSpanish, Second language acquisition, Language and languages--Study and teaching, Spanish language
Extent1 online resource (xi, 286 p. : ill.)
DescriptionArguments arise in the course of everyday interactions when one speaker disagrees with something that another speaker has said. The argument discourse of native speakers of a language has been investigated extensively (Muntigl and Turnbull, 1998; Pomerantz, 1984; Schiffrin, 1985). However, only a limited number of empirical studies have examined argument interactions produced by second language (L2) learners, and L2 Spanish in particular is under investigated (Beebe and Takahashi, 1989; Cordella, 1996; Salsbury and Bardovi-Harlig, 2000, 2001). This dissertation addresses the extent to which L2 Spanish learners are able to approximate native speakers in their argument discourse. It focuses on practices that are integral to one's ability to successfully negotiate arguments: linguistic mitigation and participation behaviors. In order to address this problem, conversational data were collected from 46 participants who completed two quasi-experimental protocols that were designed to elicit arguments: a prompted ranking conversation and a cooperative film narration. The analysis of the conversational data employed a mixed methods approach. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were triangulated with data generated by a metalinguistic protocol. The study revealed that L2 Spanish learners are able to fully participate in conversational arguments, employing a variety of mitigating devices, but that they are not entirely target-like. That is, the analyses revealed that the L2 learners are felicitous in their use of mitigation to downgrade negative statements, but they tend to use a single mitigating device redundantly, whereas the native speakers draw on a broad repertoire of linguistic forms to fulfill most mitigating functions. The significance of the study lies in advancing our knowledge of interlanguage pragmatics research by examining argument discourse in L2 Spanish, a problem that is largely under investigated. It sheds light on the patterns and tendencies that emerge among distinct L2 learner and native speaker groups in the context of arguments produced in a university-institutional setting.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Kelly G. Lovejoy
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3RX9DXQ
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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