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An Exploratory Study Into Interlanguage Pragmatics of Requests: A Game of Persuasion ESL ELL

Author(s):
Yang, Hui-Chun; Zapata-Rivera, Diego
Publication Year:
2009
Report Number:
RR-09-13
Source:
ETS Research Report
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
28
Subject/Key Words:
Interlanguage Pragmatics, Gaming, Speech Acts, English as a Second Language (ESL), English Language Learners (ELL)

Abstract

Students explore contextually and socially appropriate request strategies while the system scores each attempt, assigns points, and provides formative and summative feedback. This paper presents (a) related research on instruments that have been used in the area of interlanguage pragmatics (i.e., by request), (b) our assessment-based gaming environment, and (c) reports on results from a study aimed at exploring usability aspects of the game and usage of request strategies employed by 30 English language learners (ELLs) who completed 10 written interactive request tasks with and without the presence of a pedagogical agent.

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