The sociocultural ontogenesis of international students’ use of pragmatic strategies in ELF academic communication: Two contrasting case studies

Previous empirical studies have demonstrated that speakers of English as a lingua franca (ELF) display flexible use various pragmatic strategies (PSs) to support effective communication. However, date few investigated PSs usage from the perspective individual ELF speakers. Supported by Vygotskian Sociocultural ontogenetic view on pragmatics, this paper offers two qualitative case exploring first-year international students they navigated ELF-mediated group-work in multilingual classroom at an internationalized university. Research questions include: a. what did employ facilitate group-work? b. how might students' enactments relate their experiences using beyond classroom? Analyses discourse data revealed distinct patterns usage: One participant's was proactive-oriented types and function, whereas for other these tended be oriented toward remedying current communicative problems. Further analysis interview suggests differences between deployment academic interactions may mediated contrasting prior ELF-related perceptions immediate context. These findings indicate significant variation speakers' behaviors during negotiations point sociocultural-historical origins competence. • users spoken interactions. Pragmatic exhibits given Individual influenced differentiated with ELF. Communicative histories are relevant interpretation practices.