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Issues in Applied Linguistics

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Por favor, ¿Puedo tener una Coca-cola, por favor? L2 Development of Internal Mitigation in Requests

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of internal mitigating devices in requests by a group of second language (L2) learners studying abroad in Spain. The method of data collection was a role-play in which the learners interacted with a Spanish native speaker in two service-encounter request scenarios. The same role-plays were repeated at the end of the study abroad period. A group of Spanish native speakers (NSs) also performed the same role-play task once and their data served as a baseline against which to compare the L2 learners’ performance. The results of this study show that the L2 learners reduced their use of the politeness marker por favor “please” and started using other devices more frequently by the end of their study abroad experience; however, in comparison with the NS group, the range and quantity of their internal devices continued to be much lower.

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