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The purpose of this study was to investigate Chinese University students' ability to recognize irony. To this end, we developed a test that included literal and ironic items and focused on the students' ability to identify which of the items were ironic. 112 first- and second-year Chinese university students completed the test, a C-test as a measure of language proficiency, and a language experience questionnaire. 24 native speakers completed the irony test and C-test to provide a baseline for comparison. Results showed that the learners' scores were markedly lower than the NS's on the ironic items but not on literal items. Both learners and NSs had difficulty with the positive irony items. The learners' response times were also markedly slower than the NSs. There were significant but relatively weak correlations between the learners' irony scores and their proficiency and the amount of time they had spent in an English-speaking country. Overall, the results of the study confirm the findings of previous studies, namely that irony is a late acquired aspect of L2 pragmatic competence. We concluded that unlike NSs, even those learners with advanced language proficiency rely on explicit processing strategies to detect irony and propose explicit instruction is needed to help learners acquire the ability to recognize irony.

Employing a CA-inspired methodological approach, this study investigates L2 learners' interactional competence for dyadic interaction via text chat. Fiftythree dyads of Japanese learners of English at three proficiency levels (high, mid, and low) participated in this study, where they worked on three discussion tasks in L2 English. The data were 97 participant-generated task closings, which were analyzed in terms of linguistic repertoire and sequence organizations of terminal exchanges between participants in a dyad, and summonsanswer sequences between participants and the researcher. The data showed that the participants recurrently implemented a sequence of soliciting and providing an agreement on the idea for task accomplishment to signal a forthcoming closing of task talk. The findings indicated that more proficient learners produced more extended sequences in conducting closing rituals. Some highproficiency learners explicitly mentioned, or interacted with, the researcher, a third party, to initiate task closing or reformulate crossed messages in closing the talk. These findings provide insights into online L2 interactional competence in text-based CMC media.

This article presents a review of research that has investigated ways of measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language (L2), focusing on grammar. It begins by defining implicit and...

This study examined the development of requests made by second language (L2) learners of Modern Standard Arabic at four levels of L2 ability. The study used longitudinal and cross-sectional data collection to investigate how learners' performance of requests developed over a five-month period and differed as a function of ability level. The results indicated U-shaped development, with learners initially decreasing their use of direct requests and increasing their use of indirect requests as their overall language ability increased. However, at higher ability levels, learners approximated native speaker norms by reverting to direct requests. This developmental pattern demonstrated the constraining effect of learners' sociopragmatic competence on their pragmalinguistic performance. In addition, the findings highlighted the nonuniversality of developmental stages proposed by Kasper and Rose (2002), showing that developmental trajectories differ between languages with a preference for indirect requests (such as English and Greek) and those with a preference for direct requests (such as Arabic).

ESL learners can find it challenging to use English in a way that is pragmatically appropriate to the situation and interlocutor. In this article, we explore the impact of increased proficiency on learners’ pragmatic performance. ESL learners in Australia at four proficiency levels completed three role plays, and we analysed how the learners formulated their requests. We found that the expansion of learners’ linguistic repertoire with increased proficiency also led to a wider variety of request formats. Where beginner learners used imperatives and ‘want-statements’, lower-intermediate learners added the modal ‘can’, upper-intermediate learners introduced ‘could’, and advanced learners used more complex expressions. Despite their improvement, learners showed little sensitivity to the social situation. We suggest ways of facilitating learners’ pragmatic development through instruction.

The ability to participate in extended interactions is an important aspect of second language proficiency but has not been much investigated. In this study, we focus on how a group of low-proficiency learners managed extended conversations in role plays involving requests. We compared them with intermediate- and advanced-level learners and found that low-proficiency learners are less likely to delay their request and less likely to use explanations or accounts preceding the request. However, the atypical structure of their requests seems to signal to the interlocutor a need to take a more collaborative role in the interaction and suggest possible explanations and accounts for the learner to confirm. This demonstration of the expected sequential organization of requests raises possibilities for classroom instruction, especially if coupled with metapragmatic awareness raising.

Routine formulae are highly frequent, situationally bound chunks that are beneficial to L2 learners? pragmatic performance. These formulae are usually more easily acquired in the target language setting but they are to some extent also learnable in foreign language classrooms. This study investigates the effect of different lengths of residence abroad on the recognition of situational routine formulae. A total of 262 ESL and EFL learners completed a test battery which included assessment of receptive knowledge of routines. Learners with even short-term residence of two months had increased knowledge of routines, and further residence led to further improvement in knowledge in this area. Even EFL learners without residence knew some routine formulae but knowledge of routines was independent of general proficiency. Learners in the L2 setting get routines �for free� through exposure to contextualized L2 discourse, but which specific routines are acquired depends on the interactional settings in which learners communicate.

LanguEdge™ Courseware is a software tool that is designed to help teachers of English as a second language (ESL) build and assess the communicative skills of their students. The purpose of this study was to generate information to help LanguEdge Courseware users understand better the meaning (or validity) of the assessment scores bases on the LanguEdge Courseware. Specifically, the objective was to describe, for each of the four sections of the LanguEdge assessment, relevant characteristics of test takers at various test score levels. To accomplish this objective, we gathered data that represent two different perspectives—those of instructors and those of students themselves. Approximately 3,000 students each took one of two parallel forms of the LanguEdge assessment at domestic and international testing sites. Participants also completed a number of self-assessment questions about their English language skills. In addition, for some study participants, instructors rated selected language skills. LanguEdge test scores related moderately (correlations mostly in the .30s and .40s) with student self-assessments. Of the four LanguEdge tests, Listening exhibited the strongest relationships to self-assessments; Speaking, the next strongest; Reading, the next; and Writing, the least. The correlations of faculty ratings with each of the LanguEdge section test scores were generally in the .40s, with some reaching the .50s. The correlations between the various student self-assessment scales and faculty ratings were modest, mostly in the .30s. These correlations suggest that students and faculty had different perspectives on students' English language skills.