‘You could win Masterchef with this soup. Can I get some more?’ Request production and the impact of instruction on young EFL learners

Abstract

This paper presents a study exploring the impact of concept-based instruction of requests with two intact classes of young learners of English (aged 12–13) in a Norwegian primary school. Based on sociocultural theory, the instruction aimed to promote agentive language use by focusing on two main dimensions: firstly, introducing scientific concepts and language resources related to the pragmalinguistic dimension, i.e. internal and external modification strategies to increase the learners' pragmalinguistic repertoire; secondly, presenting the sociopragmatic dimension, such as the situation, familiarity, and interlocutor age. In this study, learners’ internalisation of pragmalinguistic resources, displayed through increased variation in language use, is viewed as a prerequisite for agency. The learners’ request production was tested through a video-prompted oral discourse completion test (VODCT) in a pre-, post- and delayed post-test. The results reveal an increased variation and use of modal verbs and supportive moves following the instruction. In addition, their distribution varied depending on the interlocutor's age and familiarity. The learners also started using downgraders introduced during instruction. However, except for please, downgraders were not commonly used, which suggests that these require further scholarly attention. Overall, the young learners’ pragmalinguistic development displayed in the present study reveals a potential for teaching pragmatics through concept-based approaches.