L2 Pragmatics in Computer-mediated Intercultural Interactions


The goal of this project was to explore computer-mediated interactions between L2 learners of German and English and expert speakers of the same languages as a site for the learning and teaching of L2 pragmatic competence. The project compiled a contrastive learner corpus of computer-mediated learner and expert speaker interactions in both email and chat on a wide variety of contemporary topics such as family life, politics, student life, personal hobbies and interests, and features films. The corpus contains language data from approximately 200 learners of both English and German participating in 2-month telecollaborative exchanges over a period of five data collection cycles.

Project Director 2002-2006: Julie A. Belz, The Pennsylvania State University
Research Assistant: Nina Vyatkina [now at Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Kansas]


Teaching and Learning Materials:

Vyatkina, N. & Johnson, K. E. (2008) Teaching German Modal Particles: A Corpus-based Approach. University Park, PA: CALPER Publications. [more information]

Articles:

Vyatkina, N., & Belz, J. A. (2006). A learner corpus-driven intervention for the development of L2 pragmatic competence. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, J.C. Felix-Brasdefer, & A. S. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (Vol. 11, pp. 315-357). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Manoa, National Foreign Language Resource Center.

Belz, J. A., & Thorne, S. L. (Eds). (2006). Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle.

Belz, J. A., & Vyatkina, N. (2005). Computer-mediated learner corpus research and the data-driven teaching of L2 pragmatic competence: The case of German modal particles (CALPER Working Paper Series, No. 4). The Pennsylvania State University, Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research. [CALPER DOWNLOAD]

Belz, J. A. (2005). Corpus-driven characterizations of pronominal da-compound use by learners and native speakers of German. Die Unterrichtspraxis, 38, 43-59.

Belz, J. A. , & Vyatkina, N. (2005). "Learner Corpus Analysis and the Development of L2 Pragmatic Competence in Networked Intercultural Language Study: The Case of German Modal Particles". The Canadian Modern Language Review/Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 62, 17-48.