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영어

Taking an intercultural approach, this study investigates the L2 speech act of complaint produced by Korean L2 learners and the effect of L2 proficiency by comparing complaint speech act produced by Korean L2 learners of English with native speakers’ act. Thirty-two subjects participated in the study and were divided into three groups: one consisting of native English speakers and two groups of Korean L2 learners of different English proficiency levels. The effect of L2 proficiency on the complaint speech act was examined accordingly. The data were collected using a discourse completion task. A questionnaire containing six complaint situations were given to the subjects. Their responses were coded using the taxonomy of complaint proposed by Oshtain and Weinbach(1987). The results show that there are some discrepancies between native speakers and Korean L2 learners in making complaints and L2 proficiency influenced the overall production of complaints. The findings suggest the cultural background and L1 effects on the production of complaints by Korean L2 learners of English.