NOTAR E APRENDER: O PAPEL DA INSTRUÇÃO EXPLÍCITA NA AQUISIÇÃO DA PRAGMÁTICA DA L2

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the role played by explicit instruction on L2 pragmatic acquisition. The main objective of the present study is to find out whether high-proficient students of English are able to recognize pragmatic violations and make appropriate requests in English. Besides that, this study investigates the role played by the student s attention in situations that require pragmatic production and perception. Seventeen English students, from Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL), were divided into two groups according to their proficiency: experimental and control. In order to find out the role played by explicit instruction on L2 pragmatics, only the experimental group received special classes based on L2 pragmatics. To reach the objective of this work, two tests were applied in two different moments, called as preand post-test. The analysis, carried out through the comparison of students performances in both tests and different moments, indicates that the instruction enabled the development of perception on pragmatic violations. Moreover, it led the students to make more appropriate requests in the post-test. Thus, the explicit instruction on L2 pragmatics caused the student to draw their attention to the pragmatic aspect of the input as well as to the context that involves the communicative act