Is the Use of Okay Really OK? : Pragmalinguistic Failure in L2 Learners’ Production of Okay

Is the Use of Okay Really OK? : Pragmalinguistic Failure in L2 Learners’ Production of Okay

  This study attempts to investigate the production of okay by Korean EFL learners, with special attention to pragmatic deviation. To this end, data were collected from university students, using a discourse completion task. The results showed that the learners’ problems with the production of okay were pragmalinguistic in nature, exhibiting deviations from actual patterns of native speakers: They produced okay in situations where native speakers prefer the speech acts of thanking, apologizing, sympathizing, hesitating, soothing, and leave-taking. This study also revealed that there is a hierarchy of naturalness in learners’ production of okay, indicating that some are more appropriate than others in terms of politeness and formality. On the basis of the results, pedagogical implications are provided, and suggestions are made for enhancing learners’ pragmatic competence.