Covert pragmatic transfer: Intercultural pragmatics among Korean learners of English as a second language

Abstract

The present study centers on cross-cultural interlanguage pragmatics. It aims to investigate the nature and conditions of pragmatic transfer among Korean learners of English as a second language. This study examines the speech act of responding to compliments in American English and Korean focusing on pragmatic transfer. A newly designed methodology, the Conversational role-play was used to elicit spontaneous and authentic compliment responses from three groups of participants: native speakers of American English, native speakers of Korean, and Korean learners of English as a second language. A background questionnaire and a retrospective interview were additionally administered to triangulate the data. The findings show no clear evidence of negative pragmatic transfer despite the marked difference between the compliment response patterns of two targeting languages. However, an interesting and distinctive usage of combination strategies was identified among Korean ESL learners, which suggested a new standpoint of pragmatic transfer. With the covertly transferred Korean cultural norms, Korean ESL learners made a successful attempt to demonstrate the culturally and linguistically appropriate compliment response in their target language interactions and not to disobey their native cultural norms. This new angle was named as 'Covert pragmatic transfer'. Moreover, the retrospective interviews revealed several influential factors that affect the occurrence of pragmatic transfer, such as target language proficiency, exposure to target language input, and consciousness of the speech act. Finally, on the basis of the conditions of pragmatic transfer identified, some important pedagogical implications regarding teaching pragmatics in language classrooms are also discussed.