Pragmatic failure in English email writing
What is it about?
Writing emails in English is an important skill for L2 English learners, yet the pragmatics aspect of email writing can be challenging. We created a corpus of learner emails, manually annotated for specific instances of perceived pragmatic failure. We found high frequencies of pragmatic failure in all aspects of the email writing, with participants struggling to adapt their language choices to differing social contexts.
Why is it important?
L2 English learners can find the pragmatic aspect of communication challenging, especially in EFL contexts. At the same time, pragmatics instruction can be less common in the language learning classroom than other aspects, such as grammar or vocabulary. A first step in addressing learner challenges, therefore, is to focus on pragmatics and identify what aspects of email writing learners find particularly problematic. Using this information, tools and targeted instructional materials to help learners can be created.