Beyond strategy choice: A reply to Al-Gahtani and Roever

Al-Gahtani and Roever (2012) [Proficiency and Sequential Organisation of L2 Requests, Applied Linguistics, 33/1, 42-65] analyse L2 request development in a radical way by focusing on sequence organization. This article applies their approach to an earlier finding, which had been inadequately described within a traditional speech act framework, namely, that lower proficiency L2 learners often make requests by means of apparent hints. Al-Gahtani and Roever's (2012) method of analysis provides a much neater description of that finding about hints and reveals that lower proficiency learners participate less actively in request sequences. This review demonstrates the value of Al-Gahtani and Roever's approach for examining L2 pragmatic development.