Whilst the field of Interlanguage Pragmatics has produced a rich and diverse literature which ‘takes more than the average persistence to stay on top of’ (Kasper & Rose, 2002, p. 1), one area that remains relatively under-researched is the acquisition of sociopragmatic variation or the ability to vary language output in a way that is congruent with the situation and/or the speakers' needs. With the aim of filling that gap, the current study explores the interplay between duration of study abroad (SA) and the development of sociopragmatic variation patterns whilst enacting the speech act of ‘asking for advice’ in three groups of highly-advanced non-native speakers of English. The study takes a cross-sectional, cross-linguistic approach focusing on primarily foreign language (FL) users of L2 English from 11 different L1 backgrounds.
With the aim of furthering understanding into the impact of SA on the development of sociopragmatic variation patterns, the study employs the novel paradigm of Loci of Learning – that is the study of the intensity and diversity of socially-constructed micro-learning spaces encountered by learners. This goes beyond measuring linguistic interaction in terms of ‘interactive’ or ‘non-interactive’ (Freed, 1990) to investigate how interactions can be qualitatively different irrespective of participants or physical location. Three loci have been identified: the conversational, institutional and media-based.