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People

J. César Félix-Brasdefer | Faculty

Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Second Language Studies
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
Review Editor of peer-reviewed journal Multilingua (Editor, Richard Watts)
ACTFL OPI Tester of Spanish with Full Certification

Office: Ballantine Hall 858
TEL: 855-9551
Email: cfelixbr

Webpage

Education

Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 2002
M.S. Georgetown University, 1998
M.A. University of Illinois at Chicago, 1996
Licenciatura, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, México, 1991

Specializations

• Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis
• Institutional Discourse and Service Encounters
• Prosody-Pragmatics Interface
• Pragmatic Variation in First and Second Language Contexts
• Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Pragmatics
• Instruction of Pragmatics, including Impoliteness, in Second Language Contexts
• Pragmatic Development in Study Abroad Contexts

Books and Edited Volumes

• Félix-Brasdefer, J. César. & Koike, Dale. (eds.). (2012). Pragmatic Variation in First and Second Language Contexts: Methodological Issues. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
  
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. César. (2008). Politeness in Mexico and the United States: A Contrastive Study of the Realization and Perception of Refusals. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  
• Bardovi-Harlig, K., Félix-Brasdefer, J.C., & Omar A. (2006) (Eds.). Pragmatics and Language Learning , Vol. 11. National Foreign Language Resource Center. University of Hawai’i at Manoa

Selected Publications

• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. & A. D. Cohen. (forthcoming/2012). Teaching pragmatics in the foreign language classroom: Grammar as a communicative resource. Hispania.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2012). Pragmatic variation by gender in market service encounters in Mexico. In J. C. Félix-Brasdefer & D. Koike (eds.), Pragmatic Variation in First and Second Language Contexts: Methodological Issues. Series: IMPACT. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2012). E-mail requests to faculty: E-politeness and internal modification. In M. Economidou-Kogetsidis & H. Woodfield (eds.), Interlanguage Request Modification (pp. 87-118). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. & M. Barker-Hasler. (2012). Compliments and compliment responses: From empirical evidence to pedagogical application. In Maria Leire Ruiz de Zarobe (Ed.), Speech Acts and Politeness across Languages and Cultures (pp. 241-273). Bern: Peter Lang.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (forthcoming/2012). Actos de habla (“Speech acts”). In S. de los Heros & M. Niño-Murcia (eds.). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2011). Cortesía, prosodia y variación pragmática en las peticiones de estudiantes universitarios mexicanos y dominicanos [“Politeness, prosody and pragmatic variation in requests from Mexican and Dominican college students”]. In C. García Fernández & Maria Elena Placencia (eds.). Iberoamericana.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2010). Intra-lingual pragmatic variation in Mexico City and San José, Costa Rica: A focus on regional differences in female requests. Journal of Pragmatics 42(11), 2992-3011.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2010). Data collection methods in speech act performance: DCTs, role plays, and verbal reports. In E. Usó Juán and A. Martínez-Flor (eds), Speech act performance: Theoretical, Empirical, and methodological issues (pp. 41-56). John Benjamins Publishing.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C., & Bardovi-Harlig, (2010). “I’m sorry. Can I think about it?” The negotiation of refusals in academic and non-academic contexts.In D. Tatsuki & N. Houck (Eds.), Pragmatics: Teaching Speech Acts. (pp. 163-180). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2009). Pragmatic variation across Spanish(es): Requesting in Mexican, Costa Rican, and Dominican Spanish. Intercultural Pragmatics, 6(4), 473-515.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2009). El estado de la cuestión sobre el discurso de la (des)cortesía y la imagen social en México: Perspectivas teóricas y metodológicas [State of the art on the discourse of (im)politeness and face in Mexico: Theoretical and methodological perspectives]. In L. Rodríguez Alfano (ed.), La (des)cortesía y la imagen social en México: Estudios semióticos-discursivos desde varios enfoques analíticos (pp. 15-45). Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, México.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2009). Dispreferred responses in interlanguage pragmatics: Refusal sequences in learner-native speaker interactions. Applied Language Learning, Vol. 19 (1-2), 1-27.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. & Lavin, E. (2009).
Grammar and turn expansion in second language conversations. In J. Collentine, M. García, B. Lafford, & F. Marcos Marín (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 53-67). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. (Available online).
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2008). Pedagogical intervention and the development of pragmatic competence in learning Spanish as a foreign language. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 16(1), 47-82.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2008). Perceptions of refusals to invitations: Exploring the minds of foreign language learners. Language Awareness,17(3), 195-211.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2008). Sociopragmatic variation: Dispreferred responses in Mexican and Dominican Spanish. Journal of Politeness Research, 4(1), 81-110.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2008). Teaching Spanish pragmatics in the classroom: Explicit instruction of mitigation. Hispania, 91(2), 477-492.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2008). Cuando estudie en el extranjero, voy a vivir con una familia hispana. ¿Qué necesito saber sobre la cortesía? [When I study abroad, I will live with a Hispanic family. What do I need to know about politeness?] (pp. 95-107). In J. Ewald and A. Edstrom (Eds.), El español a través de la lingüística: Preguntas y respuestas. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2007). Natural speech vs. elicited data: A comparison of natural and role play requests in Mexican Spanish./Spanish in Context,/ 4(2): 159-185
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2007). Pragmatic development in the Spanish as a FL classroom: A cross-sectional study of learner requests/. Intercultural Pragmatics/, 4:2: 253-286
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Speech act perception in interlanguage pragmatics: Exploring the minds of foreign language learners. /LAUD paper 652/. Duisburg/Essen: Linguistic Agency, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Linguistic politeness in Mexico: Refusal strategies among male speakers of Mexican Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics 38(12): 2158-2187.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Teaching the negotiation of multi-turn speech acts. Using conversation-analytic tools to teach pragmatics in the classroom. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, C. Félix-Brasdefer, & A. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and Language Learning, Vol. 11 (pp. 165-197). National Foreign Language Resource Center. University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). The acquisition of functional categories in early Spanish: Evidence from the strong continuity hypothesis. Indiana University on line Working Papers, Vol. 6 (pp. 1-33). Available on line at: https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/contents.cgi?which=6
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Pragmatic and textual functions of o sea: Evidence from MexicanSpanish. In T. Face & C. Klee (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 191-203). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Prpceedings Project. (Available on line at: http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/8/index.html)
• Greenslade, T. & Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Error correction and learner perceptions in L2 Spanish writing. Conference . In C. Klee & T. Face (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 7 th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp. 185-194). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Prpceedings Project. (Available on line at: http://www.lingref.com/cpp/casp/7/index.html)
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2005). Métodos de recolección de actos de habla: Peticiones en el discurso natural y simulado de hablantes mexicanos. In J. Murillo Medrano (ed.), Actas del II Coloquio Internacional del Programa EDICE (pp. 221-245). Estocolmo-Costa Rica: Programa EDICE-Universidad de Costa Rica. ISBN 91-974521-2-2, URN:NBN:se-2006-2. (Available on line at: http://www.edice.org/2coloquio/2coloquioEDICE.pdf)
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2005). Indirectness and politeness in Mexican Requests. In D. Eddington (ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 7th Hispanic Linguistic Symposium (pp. 66-78). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. Paper available on-line at http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/7/
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2004) Interlanguage Refusals: Linguistic Politeness and Length of Residence in the Target Community. Language Learning, 54(4), 587-653.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2004). La mitigación en el discurso oral de mexicanos y aprendices de español como lengua extranjera. In D. Bravo and A. Briz (Eds.), Pragmática sociocultural. Estudios sobre el discurso en cortesía en español (pp. 285-299). Spain: Ariel.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2003). Validity in data collection methods in pragmatics research. In P. Kempchinsky and C. E. Piñeros (Eds.), Theory, practice, and acquisition. Papers from the 6th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium and the 5th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese (pp. 239-257). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J.C. (2003) Declining an invitation: A Cross-Cultural Study of Pragmatic Strategies in Latin American Spanish and American English. Multilingua, 22(3): 225-255.

Book Reviews

• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2010). Variational Pragmatics: A focus on regional varieties in pluricentric languages. (Eds. K. Schneider & A. Barron, 2008). Review published in Multilingua 29, 119-123.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2010). Acknowledgments: Structure and Phraseology of Gratitude in PhD Dissertations. Review published in Journal of Pragmatics.
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2009). Learning how to request in an instructed language learning context. Linguistic Insights. Studies in Langauge and Communication. Vol. 68. Peter Lang AG. Year: 2008 (Published in the Linguist List).
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Spanish Pragmatics by Rosina Márquez-Reiter & María Elena Placencia (2005). Palgrave, Macmillan. Available in the Linguist List on line at http://cf.linguistlist.org/cfdocs/new-website/LL-WorkingDirs/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?SubID=66345
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2004). Gender and politeness by Sara Mills (2003). Cambridge University Press. http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-262.html
• Félix-Brasdefer, J. C. (with T. Greenslade). (2003). A workbook in everyday Spanish (2003) by E. Santamaría Iglesias. http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-1890.html
• J.C. Félix-Brasdefer (2003). Plazas. Spanish textbook for beginning Spanish. Review requested by Prentice Hall. (Book chapter)
  

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses

• Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics
• Spanish Phonetics
• Spanish Applied Linguistics
• Syntax-Pragmatics Interface
• Pragmatic Development in a Second Language

Graduate Courses

• Pragmatics
• Grammar and Social Interaction
• Conversation Analysis
• Cross-Cultural Pragmatics
• Research Methodology
• The Role of Instruction in Learning Second Language Pragmatics

Honors and Awards

• International Travel Grant, Indiana University (http://www.iub.edu), 2005 – Riva del Garda, Italy. Internacional Pragmatics Association (http://webhost.ua.ac.be/ipra/)
• International Travel Grant, Indiana University (http://www.iub.edu), 2004 - San José de Costa Rica. Programa EDICE (http://www.edice.org)
• Faculty Grant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2003 - Project: “Teaching of Pragmatics” (http://www.uncg.edu)
• Block Grant for Dissertation Research, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Minnesota, 2002 (http://www1.umn.edu/twincities)
• CARLA Fellow, Center for Advanced Research of Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota, 2000–2001 (http://www.carla.umn.edu)
• Student Council Representative, Faculty of Philophy and Letters, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Mexico, 1990-1991 (http://www.uatx.mx)

Current Research Projects

• The pragmatics of service encounters
• Pragmatic variation across varieties of Spanish and English
• Pragmatics and prosody
• (Im)polite Behavior, Facework, and Power