This volume offers a comprehensive overview of Japanese interlanguage pragmatics studies over the past two decades. It consists of 13 chapters, starting with Taguchi’s introduction, followed by Yoshimi’s historical review of Japanese interlanguage pragmatics studies, and concluding with Mori’s critique of the studies included in the book. The remaining 10 chapters are research papers. Ishida examines the effects of instruction of Japanese polite and plain forms on beginning-level learners and finds that instruction is effective in raising learners’ awareness and use of these forms. Ikeda compares first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) use of honorific expressions in making requests by email and by telephone and finds effects of task characteristics. Ishihara and Tarone offer interpretive accounts of how adoption or rejection of L2 pragmatic norms affects advanced learners’ linguistic choices in making requests and refusals, responding to a compliment, and using honorific expressions. Tateyama reports the effects of instruction in teaching refusal strategies. Shimizu compares Japanese-as-a-foreign-language (JFL) and Japanese-as-a-second-language (JSL) learners’ responses to compliments using oral discourse completion tests (DCTs), showing excessive use of denial by JFL learners as compared to JSL learners, who exhibit more native-like behavior. Kawate-Mierzejewska analyzes refusal sequences in naturalistic telephone conversation data and shows that highly advanced JSL learners’ refusal organization and strategies are less conventionalized than those of native speakers. Hagiwara, through a DCT study, reports on intermediate learners’ difficulty in comprehending formulaic expressions as opposed to literal or nonliteral nonformulaic expressions. Taguchi employs a computerized listening test to examine JFL learners’ comprehension of indirect speech styles and shows that proficiency is the key factor in successful comprehension. Utashiro and Kawai find a combination of computerized lessons and conventional classroom instruction effective. Kakegawa investigates the effectiveness of instruction of Japanese sentence-final particles over 12 weeks and shows an expanded use of these particles in terms of frequency and range of use; however, the gain in accuracy is moderate.
The strength of this volume lies in its extensive coverage of topics and multiplicity of research designs, showing a panoramic view of Japanese interlanguage pragmatics research. The studies in this book cover speech styles, speech acts, interactional particles, back-channeling, learner subjectivity toward pragmatic norms, and instruction of various pragmatic features. The data come from a variety of sources, such as naturalistic conversation data, oral elicitation tasks, DCTs, computerized tests, email exchanges, interviews, and retrospective verbal reports. The mode of conversation may be face-to-face, or through email or telephone, and both production and comprehension are examined. Cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs are employed as well as both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The extensive coverage and review of previous research in each chapter should be useful for investigators and graduate students interested in interlanguage pragmatics research.
Although the book contains many interesting chapters, some of the experimental studies were not conducted appropriately. This is especially true for method comparison studies. One of the important considerations in any experimental study is the control of intervening factors, but not all of the authors were sufficiently attentive to this potential problem. As a result, some studies did not control for participating instructors, researcher expectancy, time spent on instruction of the target structure, or measuring instruments. At least one of the studies does not have a control group and the explanation for this lack is neither scientific nor valid. Moreover, some authors discuss interaction effects when statistically significant differences are not found, and they fail to mention whether differences between means had even reached a level of significance. Most of these studies report a positive effect of instruction, but the results are not reliable because of these problems. Moreover, showing pragmatic development alone is trivial, in that almost all of the method comparison studies report a significant improvement in the target structures irrespective of the nature of these structures but not necessarily of other structures. To show the effectiveness of instruction, it is essential to show that nontargeted items included in the comparison or control groups are acquired equally well by the experimental group. Another somewhat problematic aspect is a rather noticeable number of typographical errors. For example, Tateyama refers to three appendixes that are not actually included in the book.
Despite these limitations, the book contains a number of insightful chapters and provides comprehensive analyses of a wide area of Japanese interlanguage pragmatics studies.
