Measuring Second Language Pragmatic Competence : A Psycholinguistic Perspective

Taking a psycholinguistic perspective, this book investigates how second language (L2) learners’ pragmatic abilities in English can be measured. It complements and extends earlier work on the testing of implicit and explicit grammar. The authors present a set of tests they developed using both well-established methods of measuring pragmatic knowledge (e.g. a Metapragmatic Knowledge Test and role plays) and more original tests (e.g. an Irony Test and an Elicited Imitation Test). They explain the development of the tests and report the results of their work with native speakers of English and Chinese and Japanese L2 learners. A confirmatory factor analysis lends support to the theoretical basis of the tests. The authors also report studies that explored the use of the tests to investigate L2 linguistic proficiency, study abroad and formal instruction. In concluding, they consider the strengths and limitations of the tests and propose some directions for future research.

Rod Ellis is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of the University of Auckland, New Zealand and currently holds the position of Distinguished Research Professor of Curtin University, Australia. He is a leading scholar in the field of applied linguistics and is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. His work has won several awards including the Kenneth W. Mildenberger and Duke of Edinburgh book prizes.

Carsten Roever is Professor in Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include language testing, second language acquisition and pragmatics with a particular focus on learning and assessment of interactional competence in a second language. 

Natsuko Shintani is Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Language Studies, Kansai University, Japan. Her research interests encompass the roles of explicit instruction in language learning, second language writing and task-based language teaching.

Yan Zhu is Associate Professor at the College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, China. Her research focuses on curriculum innovation, task-based language teaching and teacher education.