Conversational Implicature
DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 398 742
FL 024 044
AUTHOR
TITLE
Bouton, Lawrence F.
Can NNS Skill in Interpreting Implicature in American
English Be Improved through Explicit Instruction?--A
Pilot Study.
PUB DATE
NOTE
94
PUB TYPE
EDRS PRICE
DESCRIPTORS
IDENTIFIERS
23p.; In: Pragmatics and Language Learning. Monograph
Series, Volume 5, p89-109, 1994; see FL 014 038.
Reports
Research/Technical (143)
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
College Students; Comparative Analysis; *English
(Second Language); English for Academic Purposes;
Higher Education; Instructional Effectiveness;
Language Research; Linguistic Theory; *Listening
Comprehension; Longitudinal Studies; Native Speakers;
*North American English; *Pragmatics; Second Language
Learning; Skill Development
*Nonnative Speakers; University of Illinois Urbana
Champaign
ABSTRACT
An ongoing series of studies at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign concerning cross-cultural interpretation of implicature in conversation is discussed. Implicature is defined as the process of making inferences about the meaning of an utterance in the context in which it occurs. The studies focus on non-native speakers' (NNSs') interpretation of implicatures in American English.
The first two studies, in 1986-91 (n=436 NNSs) and 1990-93 (n=304
NNSs), found that NNSs can develop a high level of proficiency in interpreting implicatures if given enough time, and that the amount of time required depends on implicature type, formulaic or relatively non-formulaic. The third study (1993) with 14 international students in an academic English course investigated whether classroom instruction on specific rules and patterns of implicature could speed acquisition of interpreting skills. Results suggest that formal instruction can be effective when f6cused on the more formulaic implicatures, while the less formulaic forms were as resistant to formal instruction as they appeared to be, in earlier
ED 398 742
FL 024 044
AUTHOR
TITLE
Bouton, Lawrence F.
Can NNS Skill in Interpreting Implicature in American
English Be Improved through Explicit Instruction?--A
Pilot Study.
PUB DATE
NOTE
94
PUB TYPE
EDRS PRICE
DESCRIPTORS
IDENTIFIERS
23p.; In: Pragmatics and Language Learning. Monograph
Series, Volume 5, p89-109, 1994; see FL 014 038.
Reports
Research/Technical (143)
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
College Students; Comparative Analysis; *English
(Second Language); English for Academic Purposes;
Higher Education; Instructional Effectiveness;
Language Research; Linguistic Theory; *Listening
Comprehension; Longitudinal Studies; Native Speakers;
*North American English; *Pragmatics; Second Language
Learning; Skill Development
*Nonnative Speakers; University of Illinois Urbana
Champaign
ABSTRACT
An ongoing series of studies at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign concerning cross-cultural interpretation of implicature in conversation is discussed. Implicature is defined as the process of making inferences about the meaning of an utterance in the context in which it occurs. The studies focus on non-native speakers' (NNSs') interpretation of implicatures in American English.
The first two studies, in 1986-91 (n=436 NNSs) and 1990-93 (n=304
NNSs), found that NNSs can develop a high level of proficiency in interpreting implicatures if given enough time, and that the amount of time required depends on implicature type, formulaic or relatively non-formulaic. The third study (1993) with 14 international students in an academic English course investigated whether classroom instruction on specific rules and patterns of implicature could speed acquisition of interpreting skills. Results suggest that formal instruction can be effective when f6cused on the more formulaic implicatures, while the less formulaic forms were as resistant to formal instruction as they appeared to be, in earlier