Cross-Cultural Pragmatics and Foreign Language Learning

Cross-Cultural Pragmatics and Foreign Language Learning provides a new ground-breaking approach to the study of second language learning through the lens of cross-cultural pragmatics. Cross-cultural pragmatics involves the use of contrastive linguistic research, supported by a variety of methodologies such as surveys, interviews and discourse completion tests. A key strength of the speech act-centred interactional framework proposed is that it allows the reader to understand difficulties faced by foreign language learners through pragmatic evidence. An important advantage of this approach is that it consistently avoids ideological pre-assumptions and related overgeneralisations. The book presents the framework in a highly accessible and reader-friendly way and illustrates how to put this framework to use with a number of case studies. The authors are internationally leading experts of pragmatics and applied linguistics whose work is a must-read for both academics and students focusing on applied linguistics and second language learnings.

Author Biography

Hamburg University Dániel Z. Kádár is Qihang Chair Professor and Director of the Center for Pragmatic Research at Dalian University of Foreign Languages, China. He is also Research Professor at the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Hungary and Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Maribor. He is an ordinary member of Academia Europaea (MAE.), and he also has a higher doctorate (D.Litt.) in pragmatics (2015) and Ph.D. in linguistics (2006). His areas of research involve cross-cultural, intercultural and L2 pragmatics; linguistic (im)politeness and interactional ritual; language and politics; and historical and modern Chinese language. He has published many books with internationally leading publishers, and research papers in high-impact journals. He is author of Relational Rituals and Communication: Ritual Interaction in Groups (2013), Politeness, Impoliteness and Ritual – Maintaining the Moral Order in Interpersonal Interaction (2017), and co-author of Understanding Politeness (with Michael Haugh, 2013) and Intercultural Politeness – Managing Relationships across Cultures (with Helen Spencer-Oatey, 2020). His most recent book is Cross-Cultural Pragmatics (with Juliane House, 2021). He is co-editor of Cross-cultural pragmatics – A Cross-Disciplinary Journal.