Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners: (328 Pragmatics & Beyond New Series)

This is the first edited collection focusing exclusively on how second language users interpret and engage with the processes of email writing. With chapters written by an international array of scholars, the present volume is dedicated to furthering the study of the growing field of L2 email pragmatics and addresses a range of interesting topics that have so far received comparatively scant attention. Utilising both elicited and naturally-occurring data, the research in this volume takes the reader from a consideration of learners’ pragmatic development as reflected in email writing, and their perceptions of the email medium, to relational practices in various email functions and in a variety of academic contexts. As a whole, the contributions incorporate research with learners from a range of proficiency levels, language and cultural backgrounds, and employ varied research designs in order to examine different email speech acts. The book provides valuable new insights into the dynamic and complex interplay between cultural, interlanguage, pedagogical, and medium-specific factors shaping L2 email discourse, and it is undoubtedly an important reference and resource for researchers, graduate students and experienced language teachers.

Review :
As email communication has become a critical part of our everyday professional and personal lives, Economidou-Kogetsidis, Savić and Halenko’s book on email performance is a timely addition to the field. Compiling studies from diverse countries and cultures (e.g., China, Greece, Germany, Norway, UK), the book presents valuable insights about culture and language-specific conventions of email communication, as well as challenges that L2 speakers might face when learning those conventions in their target language. This is a must read for anyone interested in pragmatics in digitally-mediated communication. This is an innovative volume of impressive scope that addresses an increasingly important topic in L2 pragmatics – the enactment of communicative and relational practices through the medium of email. Taking a view of email as a culturally and contextually shaped phenomenon, this volume’s attention to issues of production, perception, and development makes it an indispensable resource for researchers and teachers interested in email pragmatics. The main strengths of the book lie in its clear, engaging style and well-edited structure that make complicated concepts accessible through the use of comparison and the abundance of examples. The volume is also reader-friendly in that it approaches its subject matter from a straightforward and common-sense point of view. The solid methodology and in-depth analyses the studies in the volume adopt will certainly generate an extensive readership among graduate students, researchers, and frontline teachers in disciplines that focus on pragmatics, college writing and ESL or EFL teaching in general.