Chapter 1. Sociolinguistic competence and the acquisition of speaking

Publication Date

March 2018

Document Type

Contribution to a Book

Publication Title

Speaking in a Second Language

Editor

Rosa Alonso Alonso

DOI

10.1075/aals.17.01gee

First Page

1

Last Page

25

Abstract

In face-to-face spoken interactions, language learners must construct a meaningful message consistent with the L2 grammar, articulate it comprehensibly, and manage the aspects of oral communication that reflect speaker identity, interlocutor identities, and the characteristics of the interactional context. A lack of sociolinguistic competence can lead to a failure to convey formality, politeness, solidarity, friendship, and group membership, and this will negatively affect the communicative outcome. The current chapter examines the social and situational information one conveys through linguistic variants in speech, offering a state-of-the-art account of empirical research, including a discussion of pressing issues in the field, such as the roles of lexical frequency, geographic variation, and language attitudes, as well as the pedagogical implications of this research.

Comments

SJSU users: use the following link to login and access the ebook via the SJSU library catalog.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS