In Search of Reliable Methods for Data Collection in Interlanguage Pragmatics Research

Kusevska, Marija and Ivanovska, Biljana (2017) In Search of Reliable Methods for Data Collection in Interlanguage Pragmatics Research. Proceedings of ICERI2017 Conference 16th-18th November 2017, Seville, Spain. pp. 1895-1904. ISSN ISBN: 978-84-697-6957-7

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Abstract

The goal of this paper is to discuss several methods of data collection for interlanguage pragmatics
studies. The paper was motivated by the process of data collection for the project “The role of explicit
instruction in developing pragmatic competence in learning English and German as foreign languages”
carried out at Goce Delcev University, Stip, Republic of Macedonia. Data for the project were collected
by Discourse completion tasks (DCTs) and role plays, supplemented by verbal reports. DCTs and role
plays are considered the most common means for data collection in interlanguage pragmatics. The
advantages of these instruments are that different variables can be controlled and that a considerable
amount of data can be easily collected. However, their validity and reliability have often been
investigated, evaluated and compared to naturalistic data.
In this paper we examine the similarities and differences between the data collected through DCTs
and role plays. In particular, we focus on the speech act of complaining. The research questions that
we pose are as follows:
1 How is the learner speech act production in DCT responses different from role plays?
2 What are the differences due to?
3 How can we collect naturalistic data for interlanguage pragmatics?
In our paper we first review some studies on data collection instruments in interlanguage pragmatics.
Then we describe our instruments, compare the results obtained by them and discuss the benefits of
each instrument. In the end we explore some possibilities for collecting naturalistic data, such as use
of language corpora and technology, naturalistic observation in class, inclusion of native speakers,
and so on.
Keywords: Interlanguage pragmatics, complaints, DCT, role play, naturalistic data.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Humanities > Languages and literature
Divisions: Faculty of Philology
Depositing User: Marija Kusevska
Date Deposited: 13 Dec 2017 13:48
Last Modified: 13 Dec 2017 13:48
URI: https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/id/eprint/18640

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