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Dissertation Information for Kris Coburn Holtman

NAME:
- Kris Coburn Holtman

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- French Language and Literature

SCHOOL:
- Indiana University (USA) (2005)

ADVISORS:
- Albert Valdman

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Samuel Gyasi Obeng
- Julie Auger
- Barbara Vance

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: Complimenting by second language learners of French

Abstract: This research investigates the acquisition of the speech act of complimenting in French. Speech acts are very important in being able to communicate in any language, and yet often second language learners are not able to perform this vital aspect of communication. The result is often cross-cultural miscommunications and cultural stereotyping. The goal of this research is to determine to what extent, if any, learners acquire the ability to produce this speech act both in writing and speaking. To this end, adult learners from three different levels of proficiency are observed using a cross-sectional approach.

Two types of data were collected at Indiana University from a total of 56 participants. These were a written discourse completion task (DCT) and an oral "show-and-tell". Three primary research questions are addressed: (1) How do adult American learners of French give compliments both verbally and nonverbally? What are the syntactic patterns and lexical items they employ? (2) Are there differences in the complimenting behavior of these learners correlating with their level of proficiency in French? If so, what are these differences? (3) To what extent, if any, do learners of French demonstrate pragmatic transfer in the speech act of complimenting?

Results that learners perform differently in writing and speaking in all of these areas. Additionally, differences based on the learners' level of proficiency were observed. As for transfer effects with respect to the syntactic structure of compliments, given the baseline data results in English and French, only positive transfer could potentially be observed since these two languages are syntactically similar with respect to the majority of the compliments produced. However, even positive transfer could not be clearly identified since transfer could not be distinguished from learning.

This study contributes significantly to the field of interlanguage pragmatics given that it includes "true" beginners, which is a first in the field. It also explores an as yet relatively novel topic, the acquisition of the speech act of complimenting. Additionally, it examines nonverbal aspects of pragmatic behavior. Finally, it adds to the small, yet growing, body of knowledge on speech acts in French.

MPACT Scores for Kris Coburn Holtman

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-10-05 11:54:36

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