L2 (IM)POLITENESS IN THE SYNCHRONOUS CHAT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEARNERS

Abstract

Participation in interactive games, especially those in immersive environments, is often employed in learning contexts to stochastically develop L2 learners’ language ability. However, typical measures of language ability often do not reflect pragmatic competencies. This study juxtaposes two elementary school ESL learners’ language ability, and facility with the media, with their politeness measures. Data was collected from out-of-school gameplay chat in a virtual environment designed for elementary school learners. Results suggest learners can express pragmatic miscues to interlocutors in the lean media of synchronous chat