Teaching conversational implicature to adult language learners

Abstract

Despite the widely-held belief that second/foreign language acquisition takes place more effortlessly in the early age, this paper aims to research the impact of the age factor in this process and to find out what adjustments need to be made in the teaching environment in order to optimize the second/foreign language acquisition for adult learners of English. The paper will address the topic of teaching particularized conversational implicature through the activity attached, because it gives a real example of what it means to know all the words of what one hears, but not to be prepared to respond in a socially acceptable manner. The aim of this paper is to equip adult learners with the linguistic formula “Not + very + positive adjective” that will help them overcome awkward situations that inhibit their engagement in communication, on the one hand, and, on the other, to prompt teachers to consider factors such as motivation, self-confidence and fixed-mindset that may considerably change the desired outcomes.

Keywords

• conversational implicature
• efl learning
• adults
• discourse completion tasks