Explicit Instruction of Formulaic Expressions and Second Language Pragmatic Competence: A Collective Case Study

Formulaic expressions often carry a strong sense of social contract and perform specific pragmatic purposes (Bardovi-Harlig, 2012) and therefore play a crucial role in developing L2 pragmatic competence. The present study investigated whether and how the explicit instruction of refusal and thanking formulaic expressions can foster acquisition and retention of these expressions and help L2 learners in developing their pragmatic competence and overcoming challenges they face while performing these speech acts. The results imply that explicit instruction of such expressions and semantic formulas can increase learners’ understanding of the complex phenomenon of formulaicity and help their spoken language become more pragmatically appropriate, more grammatically accurate, more fluent, concise and confident. Explicit instruction also helps L2 learners to overcome the challenges they may face while performing refusal and thanking speech acts.