Gratitude for compliance: A developmental study on the speech act of thanking

•Greek NSs performed gratitude by employing a variety of strategies.•L2 learners sometimes lagged far behind NSs in the performance of thanking.•The development of pragmatic competence does not always follow the grammatical one.•We argue for explicit sociopragmatic instruction in order to improve L2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lingua 2023-02, Vol.283, p.103469, Article 103469
Main Authors: Gkouma, Athanasia, Andria, Maria, Bella, Spyridoula
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Gratitude
Greek
L2 learners
Pragmatic development
Speech-acts
Thanking
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Summary:•Greek NSs performed gratitude by employing a variety of strategies.•L2 learners sometimes lagged far behind NSs in the performance of thanking.•The development of pragmatic competence does not always follow the grammatical one.•We argue for explicit sociopragmatic instruction in order to improve L2 pragmatic competence. This study investigates the production of the speech act of thanking by L2 learners of Greek from three different proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) and seeks to examine the effect of proficiency on the learners’ competence to express gratitude in symmetrical and asymmetrical situations. The quantitative analysis of the results indicates that no significant development is achieved with proficiency and that, irrespective of their proficiency, learners lag far behind native speakers in regard to expressing gratitude adequately and appropriately. It is maintained here that no aspect of pragmatic development should be taken for granted and that pedagogical intervention is indispensable for the learners’ development of pragmatic competence.
ISSN:0024-3841
1872-6135
DOI:10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103469