The Production of Speech Acts by EFL Learners

TLDR

Speech act realizations are well documented for native speakers, yet the underlying processes of nonnative speakers’ utterances remain largely undocumented. This study investigates how advanced nonnative speakers assess, plan, and produce speech act utterances. Fifteen advanced English learners role‑played six speech‑act scenarios (two apologies, two complaints, two requests) with a native speaker, and their retrospective verbal reports were analyzed for processing strategies. The findings reveal that learners often performed only a general assessment without detailed vocabulary or grammar planning, thought in multiple languages, employed diverse search strategies, and paid little attention to grammar or pronunciation, indicating three distinct styles—metacognizers, avoiders, and pragmatists.

Abstract

Descriptions are now available of the speech act realizations of native speakers in given situations and of expected deviations from these patterns in the speech of nonnative speakers. Still largely lacking is a description of the processes involved in the production of these speech act utterances. This paper reports a study describing ways in which nonnative speakers assess, plan, and execute such utterances. The subjects, 15 advanced English foreign language learners, were given six speech act situations (two apologies, two complaints, and two requests) in which they were to role play along with a native speaker. Retrospective verbal report protocols were analyzed with regard to processing strategies in speech act formulation. The study found that in executing speech act behavior, half of the time respondents conducted only a general assessment of the utterances called for in the situation without planning specific vocabulary and grammatical structures, often thought in two languages and sometimes in three when planning and executing speech act utterances, utilized a series of different strategies in searching for language forms, and did not attend much to grammar or pronunciation. In an effort to characterize the speech production of the respondents in the study, three different styles seemed to appear: metacognizers, avoiders, and pragmatists.