@article {9681,
	title = {Pragmatic development in a foreign language: A study of Greek FL requests},
	journal = {Journal of Pragmatics},
	volume = {44},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {1917-1947},
	abstract = {<span>This study investigates developmental patterns in the requestive behavior of foreign language learners of Greek. Drawing data from a DCT it attempts to explore the head acts and external/internal modification devices that learners of three different proficiency levels (lower intermediate, intermediate and advanced) employ when performing requests in one formal (+P, +D) and two informal (-P, -D) situations. The results suggest that although several aspects of the learners{\textquoteright} pragmatic competence develop with increasing proficiency, even the advanced learners{\textquoteright} performance lags far behind native speakers in several respects. Furthermore, it is shown that these learners{\textquoteright} behaviors lend considerable support to both the developmental stages of pragmatic competence acknowledged in the relevant literature (0125 and 0005) and to Bialystok{\textquoteright}s model regarding the acquisition of pragmatic competence. What is more, it lends a great deal of cross-linguistic validity to earlier finding regarding the development of requests in the interlanguage of FL learners.</span>},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378216612002287},
	author = {Spyridoula Bella}
}
