Role of The NL Sociopragmatic Patterns In The Interlanguage of Second Lang. Learners

According to the research I have studied so far, I could say that someone’s native language (NL) has a strong influence over his/her second or foreign language learning. It is rather unusual to see teachers touching the topic of pragmatics when teaching a second/foreign language which I find intrinsically linked to the student’s adaptation and understanding of the target language and its culture. For a student to achieve a mastery level of an L2 it is important that he/she is able to properly communicate and effectively use the target language without incurring in constant grammatical mistakes, lacking communicative skills or having a narrow amount of vocabulary; however, it is just as important that the student does not violate social and cultural norms that belong to the target language when using the L2.

Learners of a foreign language are in disadvantage over second language learners because they are not immersed in the culture of the target language and have more difficulty acquiring the social characteristics and therefore pragmatic strategies of the language. Second language learners are in constant interaction with the target language and have higher possibilities to adopt the pragmatic characteristics of the L2; however, it is important to see how much they acquire and how much do they transfer from their native language. In some instances learners fail to understand the pragmatic strategies needed according to the culture and may incur in impoliteness and face threatening acts towards native speakers. It is also necessary for learners to understand the different types of politeness strategies and the cultural perceptions of negative and positive politeness that the L2 culture may have.

Societies differ in traditions and values as well as linguistic preferences. Some cultures use more negative politeness strategies because they consider them to help them maintain a higher distance among hearer and speaker and therefore be considered as politer; whereas, other cultures consider close social relationships as an important factor and tend to behave less formally, hence they use more positive politeness strategies. These should affect the way a second language learner perceives the language and the strategies chosen according to the particular context and social norms.

Gender and age also play an important role in second language learning because there are generational changes deriving from the development of a language, as well as societal roles that determine the type of communicative language used by females or males. There are significant differences among Eastern and Western cultures and it goes as far as linguistic rituals. Some of the research has concluded that males and females interact differently and therefore use different pragmatic strategies when performing the speech acts of apology, refusals, request or thanking. In some societies like the Jordanian we are able to notice that males and females use different apology speech acts strategies that are linked to their roles in society and expectations from them in their culture.

Another pattern that influences the linguistic production from language learners are the semantic and syntactic structures of the native language. A L2 learner tends to compare the native language with the target language and try to apply as many linguistic rules as possible in order to have a clearer understanding the L2; however; this could be counterproductive because in some instances the semantic patterns differ greatly which would lead the learner to use wrong foundations. In the case of pragmatics, second language learners tend to imitate the behavior of the target culture and adopt some of the norms; nevertheless, it will never be the at the same level as a native speaker because some of the contexts may only occur once which would leave the learner in an unfamiliar situation.

According to Chang (200, proficiency level of the second or foreign language learner has its implicatures in the amount of pragmatic transference that occurs from L1 to L2; also, there are two types of negative pragmatic transfer where the learner assumes that L1 and L2 are identical in their structure or when the learner perceives L2 context to be equal to L1 even though they could differ from one another. It is very important for the learner to understand that the speech patterns from their native language could be entirely different than the ones from the language that is been learnt; otherwise this may lead to cultural misunderstandings, misjudgments and dishonesty.

Languages that have specific characteristics, both linguistically and culturally attached to each other, represent a higher level of challenge for learners. For instance, American second or foreign language learners of Korean or Chinese encounter an honorific language whose grammatical and pragmatic bases are different than English. According to the context and the hearer or speaker, the pragmatic strategies used in the speech act differ greatly. It is not the same for Koreans or Chinese native speakers to address a person who is younger or older than them because the linguistic structured would have to include an honorific verb or word; for language learners, the lack of understanding of this rule would result in a violation of the social norms which would mean that the speech act would be consider as an act of impoliteness by the non native speaker.

The role of native language sociopragmatic patterns, in second or foreign language learners, should be low in comparison to the acquisition of pragmatic references from the L2 that the learner should grasp. It is important that language learners understand how primordial it is to be aware of the pragmatic differences there may be with the culture from the target language and the social norms that are important for the L2 culture. Language learners should avoid pragmatic transference because it may lead to misconceptions and misuse of the language in a social context. There should be further support of the study of pragmalinguistics for language learners because it is not only important for them to accurately use the language but also appropriately use it according to the situation.


Chang, Y. (n.d.). How to say no: an analysis of cross-cultural difference and pragmatic transfer . Retrieved December 8, 2010, from


Linguisic and Pragmatic Analysis of Peruvian Speakers

Linguisic and Pragmatic Analysis of the Expression: “cuente conmigo” by peruvian speakers

Language is the most important way of communication that members of a society share. Languages have gone through many changes because of interactions amongst different cultures, the influence of non-native speakers on languages and the generational changing of the linguistic needs of the speakers. All of these have allowed for English, Spanish, French and other languages to evolve in their semantic and syntactic linguistic forms which have influenced the pragmatic forms that speakers use. Regardless of the speaker giving explicit information or leaving room for an implicature drawn by the hearer, there are always linguistic foundations that are intrinsic of each group of people and cultures and that its speakers are able to understand through their pragmatic knowledge.

Expressions, slangs, dialects and idioms are examples of linguistic tools that are conveyed within a specific civilization or that belong to a particular group of people. Among Latin-American countries there is a vast blend of different usage of the language; even though Spanish is spoken in almost every country, the pragmatic usage differs greatly from one country to another and sometimes even within the same country. There are some regions where colloquial Spanish and its linguistic forms have been maintained whereas other areas have adopted characteristics from neighborhood countries. The flux of commerce in some areas and the interaction of different type of speakers in those have taken Spanish to a level where speakers from a particular area may use a tone, vocabulary and grammatical forms that are different than the ones used in other regions which affects the pragmatic formulas used by them.

In countries like Peru it is very different the common language used in rural areas than the one used in urban zones; mainly because some people live in parts that have been less accessible for foreigners and immigrants which have sheltered them from the natural evolution of the language. In the Andes the influence of external linguistic characteristics has been minimal and the isolation of the area has allowed for the language to preserve its traditional forms, pragmatic formulas and formal expressions. Moreover, the cultural differences in speech acts in a same language community bring social implications that could complicate the interaction among speakers and lead to politeness issues between them as well.

Different studies have been made to analyze the assertive, directive, commissive and expressive speech acts in different languages such as Japanese, English, Korean, Spanish, Italian which has shed light on the understanding of how a society communicates and expresses among them. Many of the studies have shown that the differences among speakers of a same language lead to conflicts and misunderstanding and that this comes from the variations of pragmatic formulas that people coming from various social, cultural and educational backgrounds may use. Another finding has been that the lack of importance of pragmatics in the language learning environment has resulted on the correct usage of the semantic and syntactic formulas but the inappropriate usage of the language in a particular social or cultural context.

In an article written by Garcia (2009) we are able to understand how Peruvian males and females Spanish speakers express emotion, pain and sympathy and what feedback this may generate from the hearer’s side. The purpose was to analyze the way middle class males and females express sympathy and what type of pragmatic strategies they use to maintain the ‘face’ of the hearer. The study was compared to previous ones that used Brown and Levinson’s model of politeness and Scollon and Scollon’s model of deference and solidarity politeness. The study showed that the speech act of sympathy and the politeness formulas used by males differed greatly from those used by females; in addition, they expressions were dependent of the socio-economic level and the power and distance range among the speaker and the hearer.

As a result, in the act of request males showed to be more authoritative, deferent and distant while females demonstrated solidarity, familiarity and sympathy towards the hearer which would prove that pragmatic use of the language not only vary among cultures but also between genders. However, both groups used negative politeness when addressing the hearer which supports the distance among speakers and the respect towards the independence of the other; in addition, negative politeness cares about the ‘face’ of the hearer and preserving a polite but not familiar relationship between speaker and hearer.

The experiment included 10 males and females between the ages of 20 to 62 years old and ranging from various levels of education and occupation but from same social class. The study was based on a role-play scenario where the participants had to express the closest reaction or expression they would have in different sympathetic situations. The participants were asked to improvise a conversation, while they were recorded for data analysis purposes, which demonstrated that different pragmatic strategies are used according to the behavioral expectation of the group that is in the context. The participants played the role of a widow who just found out the death of her husband and of a co-worker who approaches her to show sympathy.

There were many pragmatic strategies used by the speaker to show sympathy and solidarity towards the hearer, including claiming in group membership, offering comfort, providing explanations, giving advice, requesting information, offering cooperation, praising the deceased or the addressed, giving preparators, providing business information and expressing disbelief, grief, sympathy or empathy. The participants respected the association principles of involvement, empathy and respect and the equity principles of cost-benefit, fairness-reciprocity and autonomy-control. In the experiment it was demonstrated that although some of the implicatures drawn by the hearer were not pleasing or considered appropriate, they were permitted behavior within the culture and considered part of pragmatic strategies used to in that particular society.

In the experiment the interlocutors showed respectability for the identity and face of the addresses which is a way of seeking to use socially accepted pragmatic formulas. Criticism is seen as a manifestation of the speaker’s belonging to the social group in the context which also shows that the speaker wants to maintain their “face” and that they are sensitive about the negative effects it may have from the hearer’s side. The different pragmatic strategies used by Peruvians were geared towards enhancing the interlocutor’s and speaker’s identity face by using a ‘positive social value’, also the speaker’s respectability face by protecting the way people perceive his/her comments and finally the interlocutor’s respectability face by offering them their self-positive values such as good name or role in the community.

The interlocutor’s responses were not subject of analysis but they were used to evaluate the context and utterances given by the speaker. The interlocutor confirmed the interaction with the speaker had a relational goal and that the comments made by the speaker showed a sincere concern for her well-being. The results of the experiment showed that males emphasized respect and empathy while females combined empathy and involvement in their expression of sympathy. The strategies used by the speaker demonstrated that his/her communication goal is to preserve relationships and consolidate a personal involvement with the hearer because of the importance of cultural ‘relatedness’.

Additionally, the analysis proved that for Peruvian speakers, even when there is a power differential and social distance with the hearer, the goal is to respect the equity and association principles and protect the interlocutor’s face above all. Although in some cases the speakers preferred to give advice, criticize the deceased or business information, violating the autonomy-control principle, these responses were seen as permitted behavior because the speaker did not fail to establish, enhance or maintain in-group relationships and the culture favors personal involvement. Furthermore, we understand the differences in pragmatic strategies used by males and females whose goals were dissimilar but both achieved to establish a bond with the interlocutor.

The study was very interesting and gave a different perspective on how gender could mark a difference in communication. Is fair to conclude that the type of society influences the roles males and females play in a conversation and the expected social behavior that is consider accepted from each of them. Where women tend to play a more nurturing role and embrace personal involvement with the community, it is more likely that their responses were charged with solidarity and empathy; whereas man that come from a society that favors machismo and authoritative behavior tend to respond less opened towards emotional acts and demonstrate respect and objectivity in a personal situation.


Garcia, C. (2009). “Cuente conmigo: The expression of sympathy by Peruvian Spanish speakers .” Journal of Pragmatics. pp: 1-18. Print. Project MUSE Database.


Huang, Y. (2006). Speech Acts. Pragmatics (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics) (pp. 93-131). New York: Oxford University Press, USA.

Analysis of Pre-School In Three Cultures

The development and availability of technology, as well as other resources, has made the world a smaller place. We can live in different cities, countries, even continents, and still be able to interact and communicate with each other. All of this has created an awareness about the differences that as citizen of the world we have. Now, we are more informed about other cultures, languages, living styles, traditions and social interactions that may differ from our own; also, we are more interested in understanding how other people think and by which standards do they abide for their everyday issues.

In the video “Pre-School In Three Cultures”, we see a regular day in the life of infants and preschoolers attending three different daycares and schools. The pre-schools are located in Japan, China and The United States. All three have their own educational approach and vision of behavioral interventions, and as we see in the video they are respectful with their cultural background as well as the current political situation they live in. In the video, we see behaviorists and constructivist techniques, a variety of teaching methods and diverse learning topics that are linked to the culture that surrounds them.

Constructivism is a theory that has its roots in Jean Piaget’s developmental and cognitive stage approach and Lev Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspective. Is a theory that holds as a foundation the importance of children being able to learn and play according to their abilities as well as their cultural background and environment. In this theory, the role of the teacher is that of a facilitator, where through guidance and support students will go from learning to transferring of the knowledge. Constructivists teachers encourage students to build and reflect on their own learning; they also use techniques where students are able to be active and involved in the subject, and use their prior knowledge to understand new topics better. Teachers like to place students in groups so they can learn from each other, receive additional support from their own peers, see other perspectives and points of view, and put in different contexts the things learnt.

In the video “Pre-School In Three Cultures” we see two schools that have some constructivist techniques: Komatsudani in Kyoto, Japan and St. Timothy in Hawaii, USA. Personally, I believe St. Timothy is the most constructivist of the schools presented in the video; although at Komatsudani students are allowed to be independent and responsible for their actions, the unstructured and without guidance activities reflect little of the practices that constructivism stands for. St. Timothy is a pre-school that cares for children ages 2 to elementary, from 8 am to 6 pm; it has a student ratio of 12 to 1 and a broad ethnic diversity because of its location and military bases surroundings. Due to the many kidnappings and terrorists attacks, the school places importance on security and parents are asked to sign an attendance as well as a visitation log; additionally, they have gates around the school and people checking on students when they are in the playground area.

One of the reasons why I chose St. Timothy is because they encouraged students to put their actions and thoughts into words, as well as explain and describe what they see and want; these constructivist practices help students to develop their own thinking and improve their linguistic abilities. In the video, we see many moments where the teacher asks a particular student to use words to communicate what they think in a better way; in addition, during activities the teacher uses this practice when students are unable to fully explain what they mean or do not give enough details when responding to a question. Using this technique, allows students to correct themselves and think about how to express their ideas and opinions.

Another reason why I chose St. Timothy was the way the classroom was set up. At St. Timothy, students are able to pick from a variety of sections and activities during what they call “Learning Center Time”; also, they are responsible for their own learning during this period and challenged to practice their artistic, logical-mathematical and writing abilities. Through guided discovery, teachers are able to be a support for the students at the same time that they provide tools for them to be independent and selective with the activities they choose; all of which boosts the students’ confidence, helps them become more aware about their interests and enhance their abilities. As a constructivist technique, students not only have fun by doing what they like but they are also able to explore different options and place knowledge into settings; this ultimately, enables them to transfer concepts easier and go from the classroom to the practice in a much faster and accurate manner.

At St. Timothy there are a lot of constructivist techniques. Cooperative learning activities are one of those and also another reason why I chose this school as the most constructivist one. Some of the group activities include pretend play which is used not only as a way to relate the topics but also to put in context the things learnt; nevertheless, this mechanism is far more useful that only in the educational setting. In the video a clear example is “The Home” section, where students choose a role like being the father, mother or baby; there we see how kids perceive many of the decisions taken at their home and the responses their parents have to their positive or negative behavior.

Since children between ages 2 and 6 use pretend play as a mechanism to cope with family issues and work on their social interaction, teachers use it to provide a space and opportunity for the students who need to deal with discipline, peer and cultural situations. Through cooperative learning, students are able to develop a broader sense of the world and the differences among people, they are also exposed to different perspectives and even opposite points of view which enables them to be more objective and respectful of other people’s opinions and cultural background.

Behaviorism is another learning theory. This theory is based on the importance of behavior and the actions that change it. To behaviorists there is no learning unless there is a change in behavior, meaning change in the actions and responses the students give; in addition, they firmly believe the role of the teacher is that of a leader, who instructs students and clearly states what they need to learn. In a behaviorist classroom, most of the activities students do revolve around practice and memorization; furthermore, the importance of discipline and attention as well as to keep focus on the teacher throughout the lessons. Some of the common behaviorists strategies to memorize the material are the use of mnemonics, repetition and rehearsal. Another behaviorist approach is the use of toys, points or candy as a reward method to keep students motivated as well as the use of reinforces and punishers when it comes to discipline and learning issues.

In the video “Pre-School In Three Cultures” we see another school who showed a more behaviorist style that the ones mentioned before. The name of the school is Dong-Feng and is located in South West, China and to my opinion is the most behaviorist of the three pre-schools showed in the video. Dong-Feng is a boarding school for children ages 3 to 6, these kids get the chance to go home on Wednesday and on the weekends; nevertheless, Dong-Feng also offers day school from 8 am to 6 pm to children who are picked up by their parents. Due to China’s high birth rate, parents are asked to have not more than one child, so most students do not have brothers or sisters to share with. The children at Dong-Feng are health inspected when arriving to school, they are also asked to go to the bathroom at the same time than the other classmates, and expected to maintain everything very neat and organized on their desks.

The main reason why I chose Dong-Feng as the behaviorist school it was because of the structured activities done during school time. In the video we see the students working with wooden blocks. In this activity, the children are asked to follow the instructions give in the box as well as to use the example shown when placing the blocks on the right spaces; moreover, they are reminded of the need for the materials to be aligned and in complete order, as well as kept on one side of the desk when not utilizing them. All of these, demonstrates the discipline and structure typical of a behaviorist classroom where the teacher’s instructions are the main focus of the students and the activities leave little room for independent thinking. An activity, such as wooden blocks, may have not more than one correct answer; this shows how the teacher holds the control over the work done by the students and how they are not given space for creativeness during it.

Another reason why I chose Dong-Feng was because of the reward system they demonstrated; for example, when the students finished their activities the teachers rewarded them by letting them to go outside and play. Rewards are use by behaviorists to reinforce an action or response from students; this behaviorist practice concentrates on the student’s motivation only increasing by external sources, such as praise, items, points, or in this case the opportunity to do something fun like playing. To behaviorists the use of reinforces as well as punishers allows desired or undesired responses to increase and decrease as necessary; also, they help teachers be able to predict future student’s behavior and have some control over it.

At Dong-Feng, activities such as lunch and play are closely monitored by teachers. Students are told not to talk when eating as this does not let them concentrate on what their doing; also, when playing, students have to follow the teacher’s lead, and instead of having some independent play, they are grouped with other kids and taught songs that they have to sing along to. Another activity where students have to follow exact instructions is when going to the bathroom; the children are taken by groups to a common restroom where they do their necessities at the same time than the other classmates, which according to administrators at Dong-Feng, helps students regulate their body to those of their classmates. As we can see the behaviorists theory is intrinsically linked to the curriculum and practices of the school, and students are encouraged to be disciplined, obedient, follow instructions and be at the same level to their other classmates.

I would personally apply many of the strategies seeing in the video, specially those used in the schools in Japan and United States. My content area will be foreign languages and I can see myself in a culturally and linguistically diverse classroom where students coming from different backgrounds work together in an effective learning environment. I think that encouraging students to be respectful and discipline as they do at Dong-Feng is a good thing; nevertheless, children need to understand the reasons of why appropriate behavior is necessary in the environment they are in; personally, I think that talking to students help them to become aware of their own thoughts and more responsible for their actions. I felt that at Dong-Feng, teachers lacked explaining and advising the students about the learning activities as well as about their behavior, which takes from children the opportunity to be independent and curious learners.

I strongly agree with some of the strategies demonstrated by the teachers at St. Timothy and Komatsudani. For instance, when the teacher at St. Timothy asked a misbehaving child to organize his play area and he refused to, she took him aside and placed in time out; this practice allowed the student to have a space to reflect and think about his actions, and correct them by his own means; more importantly, we saw how there is no need of yelling or mistreatment in order to have a child behave properly and follow instructions. At Komatsudani, a teacher encouraged a child to help another one who was misbehaving; even thought I believe teacher interventions are necessary, I also think that this method gives students space to become more empathic to other people’s feelings and situations as well as to form their own opinion about the world and about how people’s actions can affect one another.

One of things that I was impressed with, was the teaching method used at St. Timothy. I really liked the idea of introducing a topic with a story, showing pictures and using vocabulary related to the theme like he teacher did with the vegetable soup topic. Another thing they did was going from the learning to the practice; when choosing, chopping and mixing the actual ingredients for the soup, students were given a chance to practice their knowledge and transfer the concepts from the classroom to the kitchen, which allowed students to apply what they had learnt. I would use this very frequently because in order to learn a language students most be able to me immerse in it, they should also be given the opportunity to put things to practice and use different settings to practice what they learn; moreover, this will help those students who come from different countries and are not fluent in English yet, because they will use their senses to understand the concepts taught.

I can honestly say that this video was very insightful. It gave me the opportunity to observe other cultures and their way of teaching as well as the way of handling behavioral issues; in addition, I saw some techniques that were of my liking as well as others that I do not agree with but still gave me a broader view of how other methods work. In overall, I take with me many of the teaching strategies such as using prior knowledge, putting things in context, provide different settings for students to apply the knowledge and give students enough tools and examples to take topics outside of the classroom; furthermore, I saw first hand how important it is to handle behavioral issues calmly but firmly and how always we should explain to students what we want them to learn along with how we expect them to behave.



A Look at ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Freire

To many, Paulo Freire has changed their lives and perceptions on freedom and has brought a fresh perspective on personal liberation and acceptance of different conditions than those placed on them. As I read the book many questions arose in my head, one of them being about my own life and what has oppressed me so far; indeed, I live in a “free” country and have rights, but how true is this in real life?

In many ways my education was oppressive. I studied in a Catholic Roman private school were only females were allowed and most of the teachers were either women or nuns; in fact, probably the only male around us was the priest who gave our mass every Wednesday morning. My education was very rich and I had the opportunity to learn from philosophy to crafts, nevertheless, the freedom I had as a student was very minimal. Students’ opinions were not appreciated, diversity among ways of thinking and understanding information was considered unimportant and challenging teachers’ views was seen as disrespectful.

However, I now see my past learning experience as a model to be judge and use or dismiss according to the results provided. Currently, I have had the chance to diversify and have found very liberating to be able to change my studies and expand my knowledge; moreover, it has been a huge change from strict and disciplinary typo of schooling to one where open minded views and the possibility of self-choosing it’s the standard.

According to Paulo Freire: “Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information”(Freire, P. 79). This is a statement I deeply agree with. As educators, we should strive for excellence and students’ love for learning but most of all make sure they can find concepts and discover on their own; personally, I believe the best lesson we can give our students is to always search for different possibilities and to put everything in context which would motivate them to investigate and find answers by themselves, as well as use their knowledge in different areas.

By following Freire’s ideas, I think that we can give a new perspective to those students who have lived in an environment where their ideas and dreams have not being supported or have been considered impossible. To my opinion, an educational revolution is needed in our current society due to the fact that our students are placing more importance on the profit they could gain from their studies and not in the knowledge they could gather from them. I think that the diverse demographics we have in the United States is a huge reason why is so difficult for some to have a more homogenous view on educational needs; nevertheless, all human beings deserve the opportunity to fulfill their own expectations and cultural differences should not get in the way of progress.

Is my personal belief, that oppression is coming from the pressure society is placing of students to get into fields that have more financial results than those that they consider important. In a society where consumption and acquisition of things have become the standard, is very difficult to place educational goals as a priority; moreover, it becomes into the path to follow and creates a distance between the student and the learning. Students should impose their desires over the economical possibilities a certain type of study may give him/her; through this, they will be achieving the inner freedom they need in order to become successful for themselves and find happiness in their knowledge.


Freire, Paulo (1973). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: The Seabury Press.