Situated Directives in Italian L2 Service-Learning Encounters Kristin Cardellio
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 3-31-2016 Situated Directives in Italian L2 Service-Learning Encounters Kristin Cardellio Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Linguistics Commons, and the Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons Scholar Commons Citation Cardellio, Kristin, "Situated Directives in Italian L2 Service-Learning Encounters" (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6070 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Situated Directives in Italian L2 Service-Learning Encounters by Kristin Cardellio A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Second Language Acquisition / Instructional Technology College of Arts & Sciences and College of Education University of South Florida Major Professor: Camilla Vásquez, Ph.D. James Perren, Ed.D. Adam Schwartz, Ph.D. Wei Zhu, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 10, 2016 Keywords: directives, Italian, pragmatics, relational work, service-learning, study abroad Copyright © 2016, Kristin Cardellio DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my father, Jesse J. Cardellio, D.O., who instilled in me a lifelong love of learning and the confidence to reach for the stars in whatever I do. I also dedicate this dissertation to my mother, Patricia Cardellio who has inspired me with her independent spirit, love of travel, and curiosity about other cultures. I would also like to dedicate this dissertation to my sister, Mimi Bradley, my lifelong confidante and best friend. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first and foremost offer my sincerest gratitude to my major professor Dr. Camilla Vásquez. Throughout the process of completing this degree, she has given me thoughtful guidance and direction while always allowing me the freedom to follow a path of my own design. The genuine care and respect she has for her students as well as her commitment to excellence in her work as a scholar are truly inspriring. I consider myself fortunate to have her as a mentor and friend over the past several years. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Perren, Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Zhu for their time and generosity. Each has contributed in a variety of ways to this dissertation and I have truly valued their input and enthusiastic support. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the staff and teachers at the institute in Italy for their immense generosity and support of my research. Without them this research would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the students and Italian community partners who courageously agreed to participate in this research. While pursuing my doctorate I have been fortunate to be surrounded by an extraordinary group of colleagues and close friends who have provided unending encouragement and love over the past seven years - especially Amy, Jane, Nance, Kristin, Laura, Sheila, Charm, Elaine, Barb, Isabel, Fayanne, Phyllis, Cheryl, Adie, Dave, Rich, Becky, MariCarmen, Ann, Beverley, Deb, LJ, Jules, JoJo, and my myoho sisters Deborah, Jenny, Tina and Nina. In addition, I would like to thank the University of South Florida for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship that helped to fund this research. i TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Study abroad ....................................................................................................................... 1 Pragmatic competence ........................................................................................................ 2 Service-learning .................................................................................................................. 5 Statement of the problem .................................................................................................. 11 Significance of the study ................................................................................................... 14 Importance of examining directives ..................................................................... 14 Importance of the Italian language context ........................................................... 16 Importance of the service-learning context ........................................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 19 Speech acts ........................................................................................................................ 20 Politeness theory and relational work ............................................................................... 22 Literature review ............................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ................................................................................................. 43 Research design ................................................................................................................ 45 Setting ............................................................................................................................... 50 The Institute .......................................................................................................... 50 Service-learning sites ............................................................................................ 52 Casa di Riposo .......................................................................................... 52 Horse Therapy Center ............................................................................... 52 Misericordia .............................................................................................. 53 Participants ........................................................................................................................ 54 L2 users ................................................................................................................. 54 Brad ........................................................................................................... 56 Maria ......................................................................................................... 56 Samantha ................................................................................................... 57 Local Italian speakers ........................................................................................... 57 Susanna ..................................................................................................... 58 Elsa ............................................................................................................ 58 Pietro ......................................................................................................... 58 Francesco .................................................................................................. 58 Data sources and collection procedures ............................................................................ 59 Audio recordings ................................................................................................... 59 Interviews .............................................................................................................. 60 ii Researcher notes ................................................................................................... 62 Data analysis ..................................................................................................................... 63 Institutional Review Board and participant consent ......................................................... 69 Role of the researcher ....................................................................................................... 70 Limitations and delimitations of the study ........................................................................ 75 Validity and reliability ...................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS ....................................................................................... 79 Casa di Riposo - Nursing home ........................................................................................ 81 Directives .............................................................................................................. 84 Misunderstanding .................................................................................................. 91 Relational work ..................................................................................................... 99 Horse Therapy Center ..................................................................................................... 104 Directives ...........................................................................................................