This study, undertaken within the field of interlanguage pragmatics, investigates the kinds of pragmatic failures observed among tertiary level foreign learners of Japanese and also seeks to find reasons to help explain the occurrence of these failures. The focus of the study is on the data generated from a role play where a student has to borrow a book from their Japanese teacher. The primary role play is performed by nine beginner level learners of Japanese studying at an Australian university, but the role play is also performed by ten Japanese native speakers in order to determine what is normative for native speakers in this situation. Unlike previous studies in this area, this research collects kinesic non-verbal data in addition to linguistic data. The data is analysed using Thomas's (1983) concept of pragmatic failure, and Brown and Levinson's (1978, 1987) politeness theory. The study also considers whether Japanese native speakers evenly evaluate the role play performances of the Japanese learners. Despite difficulties in the application of these linguistic theories to beginner level learners, a number of sociopragmatic failures and one pragmalinguistic failure are observed in the role play performances of the Japanese learners. These are partially explained by a lack of instruction, nervousness in performing the role play and the learners' limited proficiency in the Japanese language. Inconsistencies are also observed in the way that JNS participants evaluate the role play performances of the JFL learners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/280531 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Fukuda-Oddie, Mayumi, School of Modern Language Studies, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Modern Language Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Mayumi Fukuda-Oddie, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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