Problematising Discourse Completion Tasks: Voices from Verbal Report

Abstract

Written discourse completion tasks (WDCTs) have frequently been employed in pragmatics research as a key research instrument in eliciting the production of speech acts by second language learners while studies incorporating verbal report have provided evidence of the processes involved in second language speech act production. This study responds to the call to include native speakers in verbal protocol research and focuses on the paired concurrent verbal report of six English native speakers, elicited in conjunction with their responses to 18 WDCTs eliciting English requests. The study aimed to identify the focus of participants’ attention while on task and employed content analysis to identify themes emerging from the participants’ verbal protocols. Findings from the analysis suggest that participants’ attention may be directed to perceived deficiencies in the elicitation instrument, reflecting criticisms in the research literature relating to the design and authenticity of WDCTs. Secondly, the study found that participants may respond to these deficiencies by recreating the task within an authentic speech event. In providing a respondent perspective on the research methodology, the study highlights implications for the design and employment of WDCTs in eliciting speech acts in second language acquisition research.

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