Kansai University:

Theory of Method: Reflections on Research Methodology in Pragmatics

Date: Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 Time: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Speaker: Gabriele Kasper, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Description:
Commensurate with the objects and problems of investigation in interlanguage pragmatics, research methods in this domain are highly diverse and have attracted a good deal of attention as research objects in their own right. Roughly, methods studies can be categorized into those with a technical purpose and those with a theoretical orientation. Most research methodological studies in pragmatics have been of the technical kind, aiming to repair shortcomings in current practices or establishing empirically whether particular formats of data collection and analysis are better than others. Very clearly, there is a continued need for this line of research. The other, less often practiced form of methods study examines the epistemological and theoretical premises on which particular methods are built, often implicitly rather than explicitly. This talk falls into the second category. Taking discourse completion as an example, the metatheoretical underpinnings of this widely used method of data collection will be scrutinized and contrasted with an alternative approach that respecifies speech act pragmatics as a discursive practice. It will be recommended that researchers in (interlanguage) pragmatics adopt a reflexive stance by paying closer attention to the fit between pragmatic theory and the deployed research methods.
Gabriele Kasper is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Organization: Kansai University

Cost: free

Venue: Kansai University, Shobunkan Room 502, 3-3-35 Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka

Location: Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

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Website: www.kansai-u.ac.jp/English/index-e.htm