Construction of a Multi-information Site Related to English Learners' Pragmatic Competence

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This Kaken project was concerned with facilitating English learners' pragmatic competence, and it aimed at constructing a questionnaire-based data collection website and an academic website to release research outcomes of this study. According to these objectives, the following studies have been conducted:Year 2004: The data collection website was constructed. This site allows ordinary computer users to create any types of questionnaires according to their research purposes. The obtained responses are simultaneously processed, and the results of descriptive analyses are shown on the site automatically. Research preparation for the second year was also done in 2004.Year 2005: Using the data collection site, the researchers conducted the following five studies: 1) Pragmatic effects of English utterances in different types of NS and NNS interactions; 2) Perception of English by EFL learners in different learning contexts; 3) Utterance processes in speech acts of 'request' and 'complaint'; … More 4) Production of an English textbook to "Talk about Hiroshima"; and 5) Pedagogical application of the developed website in English classes and other related classes.Year 2006: The final year was mainly for data analyses, presentations of research outcomes at several academic conferences, and publications of papers, and a website for an online presentation of the research outcomes was also constructed. The main outcomes of studies 1 to 3 above include the following: 1) L2 learners were more sensitive to pragmatic problems than grammatical problems, and the influence of learning contexts is likely to be a stronger factor than L2 learners' English proficiency; 2) there were large differences among English learners of different nationalities in terms of their motivations and their beliefs regarding English teaching policies; 3) there were noticeable differences in strategy selections among native English speakers and Japanese English learners, and subtle pragmatic manipulations of English utterances were difficult for the Japanese learners. Less