An analysis on EAP learners' pragmatic production: a focus on request forms

Abstract

The present study focuses on the effect of instruction in the use of request linguistic realisations by 160 female learners of English as a foreign language. All participants were engaged in an English for Academic Purposes course. Data were collected by means of a pre-test and post-test distributed before and after a training period that lasted one semester. Learners' performance denoted the positive effects of explicit instruction in the use of request strategies, thus coinciding with findings from previous studies (Tateyama et al., 1997). Results from the present study also lead to further research in settings where English is learnt as a foreign language and where learners lack the chances to be exposed to authentic pragmatic input