The effect of task choice on refusal speech act performance among Chinese EFL learners: A tripartite analysis of pragmatic knowledge, processing, and interaction

This study investigates the effect of task choice for Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) on pragmatic performance in producing, processing, and negotiating refusal speech acts during interactive role-plays involving refusals to requests and invitations. Task choice was manipulated by varying the degree of cognitive autonomy support provided in generating the content of refusals, resulting in two distinct task conditions. In the ‘non-constraint’ condition, learners independently brainstormed refusal content, whereas in the ‘constraint’ condition, they formulated refusals following predetermined scripts provided by the researcher. Refusal performance was analysed across three dimensions: pragmatic knowledge, processing, and interaction. The findings reveal that task choice exerted a mixed effect on these dimensions. In the non-constraint tasks, learners displayed a relatively limited pragmatic knowledge repertoire, which limited their ability to employ external modifiers to mitigate the face-threatening nature of refusals. Moreover, their pragmatic processing speed in producing refusals was slower in these tasks, suggesting that the brainstorming process imposed higher cognitive demands. Despite these challenges, non-constraint tasks facilitated learners’ ability to effectively manage the sequencing of refusal exchanges during negotiations. Learners engaged in these tasks were more likely to extend negotiation rounds and delay refusals, thus maintaining politeness and working toward mutually satisfactory outcomes. These findings offer pedagogical insights for designing second language (L2) pragmatic tasks that foster cognitive autonomy and encourage learner-centered approaches to teaching L2 pragmatics.