SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This chapter approaches modality from a developmental perspective in the context of second language acquisition. Specifically, it reports the results of a study that examined the development of modal expressions among five students who studied in Japan for one academic year. The study compared the students’ use of modal expressions in oral interviews before and after their study-abroad experience. The recent advancement of foreign/second language pragmatics research sheds some light on how second language learners acquire pragmatic competence, that is, the knowledge/ability necessary for using a target language appropriately (Kasper and Blum-Kulka 1993, Barron 2003). Many of these studies employ a method that elicits the performance of speech acts such as request and apology in constructed role-play situations. However, since the main focus of these studies is on general pragmatic competence, only a peripheral attention is paid to modality.