Conference Papers
L2 Cantonese Chinese request strategies of Pakistani preschoolers in Hong Kong
- L2 Cantonese Chinese request strategies of Pakistani preschoolers in Hong Kong
- The 13th International Pragmatics Conference: Narrative pragmatics: Culture, cognition, context (2013: India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India)
-
- Hong Kong
-
- 1997.7 onwards
-
- Pre-Primary Education
- Request is a prominent daily life speech act which a speaker manipulates appropriate linguistic forms to make a hearer perform an action to fulfill the speaker’s needs. Variations in the use of request forms will normally reflect a speaker’s pragmatic competence; i.e. language and culture. Research findings by Rose (2000 & 2009), Achiba (2003), Dewart and Summers (1995) and Ellis (1992) have pointed out that request forms used by young children provide a lot of important information about the pragmatic development of young children in their L1 and/or L2 learning. Previous research on pragmatics has concentrated on the learning of English or other European languages as a second language by adult learners. Not much has been known about pragmatic development among young children learning a second language. As a result of internationalization and global mobility of people, it is getting common that some children start learning a second language in early years for schooling adaptation in the host country. In recent years in Hong Kong, the lack of research evidence in inter-language pragmatics, with special regard to child language (i.e. Cantonese as L2) development, has made it difficult for policy-makers and educators to make decision on the Chinese language (as L2) education instruction and intervention for education equity of ethnic minority children studying in mainstream schools. This paper aims at examining (i) the relationship between L2 Cantonese pragmatic knowledge (language proficiency and cultural knowledge) and Pakistani preschoolers’ expression of Cantonese request strategies; (ii) the relationship between Pakistani parents’ Cantonese proficiency and their children’s Cantonese request strategies; (iii) the difference in the ability of using Cantonese request strategies by Pakistani preschoolers at different grade levels in kindergarten; i.e. K1, K2 and K3. All discussions in the paper are based on findings from an on-going research project which is cross-sectional in nature. Data are collected twice in one year from Pakistani children attending Cantonese medium mainstream kindergartens at K1, K2 and K3 grade levels. Data on preschoolers’ Cantonese request strategies are elicited through role-play between the interviewer and subjects by using toys. Cantonese proficiency of Pakistani parents’ is measured by self-assessment and is collected by questionnaire. The coding of request data is based on and adapted from Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper’s (1989) classification of requests in their Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP).
- Paper presented at the 13th International Pragmatics Conference: Narrative pragmatics: Culture, cognition, context, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India.
-
- English
- Conference Papers
- https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/c2977ce7
- 2017-11-13
Recent Conference Papers
Conceptualizing and contextualizing innovation for educational change: Exploring the relationship between innovation, leadership, and capacity buildingConference Papers
Sharing of inter- and intra-school ARTS-/ SPORTS-STEM experiential learning activities: Reflections on leadership and ethical issuesConference Papers
Teacher education, agency, and change in a postcolonial Hong Kong: Forms, drivers, and influencesConference Papers
香港小學華語課堂的跨語言實踐研究Conference Papers
華語教育中的跨語言實踐:香港各類中文課程及所面對的挑戰與機遇Conference Papers
華語教育中的跨語言實踐:香港中學課堂一瞥Conference Papers
Researching L2 learner investment: Using techno-reflective narrative interviews in EFL and ESL contextsConference Papers
Cultivating multicultural awareness in Hong Kong: Pre-service teachers' perception on cultural differences in classroomsConference Papers