Interlanguage pragmatics: an investigation of pragmatic transfer in responses to English tag questions by l1 Thai learners

Abstract

The research investigated pragmatic transfer in responses to English tag questions by L1 Thai learners based on the theory of interlanguage pragmatics, specifically pragmatic transfer (Kasper & Blum-Kulka, 1993). There were two participant groups: a native control group and two experimental groups. The control group consisted of three native English speakers formulating the baseline data. The experimental groups were categorized according to their English proficiency levels: the intermediate and the advanced groups, with 16 participants in the learners’ group. An oral discourse completion task and a written discourse completion task (Blum-Kulka, 1982) were employed to elicit the participants’ responses to English affirmative and negative tag questions in two modalities, speaking and writing. The major findings cast light on the L1 Thai learners’ problems in responding to English negative tag questions, rather than positive ones, as a result of their strong reliance on the Thai pragmatic norm. The results also showed that pragmatic transfer, which resulted from different linguistic patterns of responses to English tag questions and responses to Thai tag questions, was evidently found in both advanced and intermediate L1 Thai learners of English in both modalities. However, the responses to English tag questions by the intermediate group was less native-like than the advanced group’s responses and manifested a higher degree of pragmatic transfer than the advanced groups’ responses. Concerning pragmatic transfer in the two modalities, the responses to English negative tag questions in writing manifested a greater degree of pragmatic transfer than those in speaking. It is assumed that L1 Thai learners produced more native-like responses to English tag questions in oral production, rather than in written production. The findings of this research are expected to elucidate the performance of the L1 Thai learners’ responses to English tag questions in both modalities and their dependence on L1 Thai pragmatic norm in responding English tag questions. This study yielded some pedagogical implications in that English language teachers in Thailand should focus more on differentiating responses to English negative tag questions from those to English affirmative tag questions.