Speaker
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
The findings indicate that Japanese language textbooks tend to present service encounters as simplified, scripted exchanges that emphasize grammatical politeness and orderly turn-taking. In contrast, authentic interactional data reveal more dynamic, relational communication. Service encounters unfold through progressive sequences shaped by context, familiarity, and embodied interaction. Speakers shift speech levels, use backchanneling and phatic expressions, and employ humor and teasing to build rapport. Speech acts often serve multiple functions simultaneously, managing transactional, relational, and affective goals. While some textbooks include role-play activities to promote pedagogical practice, many dialogues still omit the relational and identity work that characterizes authentic interaction.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
This study compares representations of service encounters in Japanese language textbooks with authentic interaction drawn from media and naturally occurring conversation. The research addresses two questions:
(1) How do representations of everyday speech acts in Japanese language textbooks differ from those observed in authentic interactional data?
(2) What implications do these differences have for the teaching of pragmatics and communicative competence in Japanese language education?
Abstract section 1: Relevance
This study highlights the gap between how Japanese interaction is represented in language textbooks and how it occurs in authentic communication. Research in L2 pragmatics shows that explicit attention to pragmatic features and exposure to authentic language use are essential for developing learners’ communicative competence (Rose & Kasper, 2001; Taguchi, 2011, 2015). However, textbook dialogues often simplify interactional routines and omit relational and affective aspects of real talk (Gilmore, 2011). By comparing textbook examples with authentic interactional data, this study demonstrates how everyday Japanese communication involves progressivity, affective alignment, and multifunctional speech acts rarely represented in pedagogical materials.
Abstract section 5: References
Gilmore, A. (2011). “I prefer not text”: Developing Japanese learners’ communicative competence with authentic materials. Language Learning, 61(3), 786–819. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00634.x
Haugh, M., Kádár, D. Z., & Terkourafi, M. (Eds.). (2021). The Cambridge handbook of sociopragmatics. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108954105
Rose, K. R., & Kasper, G. (Eds.). (2001). Pragmatics in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Taguchi, N. (2011). Teaching pragmatics: Trends and issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 289–310. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190511000018
Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(1), 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444814000263
Abstract section 3: Content/method
This study adopts a qualitative, comparative sociopragmatic approach (Haugh et al., 2021), comparing service encounter dialogues in widely used Japanese language textbooks with authentic interactional data from recorded conversations in bars and izakayas, scenes from the drama Shinya Shokudō, and YouTube videos. The analysis examines short interactional sequences (e.g., greetings, ordering), focusing on pragmatic features such as progressivity, affective stance, multifunctionality, and identity construction to show how these are simplified or omitted in textbook representations.
| Title | From Script to Interaction: Japanese Service Encounters |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | College and university education |