This paper presents a study exploring the impact of concept-based instruction of requests with two intact classes of young learners of English (aged 12–13) in a Norwegian primary school. Based on sociocultural theory, the instruction aimed to promote agentive language use by focusing on two main dimensions: firstly, introducing scientific concepts and language resources related to the pragmalinguistic dimension, i.e. internal and external modification strategies to increase the learners' pragmalinguistic repertoire; secondly, presenting the sociopragmatic dimension, such as the situation, familiarity, and interlocutor age. In this study, learners’ internalisation of pragmalinguistic resources, displayed through increased variation in language use, is viewed as a prerequisite for agency. The learners’ request production was tested through a video-prompted oral discourse completion test (VODCT) in a pre-, post- and delayed post-test. The results reveal an increased variation and use of modal verbs and supportive moves following the instruction. In addition, their distribution varied depending on the interlocutor's age and familiarity. The learners also started using downgraders introduced during instruction. However, except for please, downgraders were not commonly used, which suggests that these require further scholarly attention. Overall, the young learners’ pragmalinguistic development displayed in the present study reveals a potential for teaching pragmatics through concept-based approaches.

本文介绍了一项研究，探讨基于概念的请求教学对挪威小学两个完整班级的年轻英语学习者（12-13 岁）的影响。该教学以社会文化理论为基础，旨在通过关注两个主要维度来促进智能语言的使用：首先，引入与语用语言维度相关的科学概念和语言资源，即内部和外部修改策略，以增加学习者的语用语言能力；其次，呈现社会语用维度，例如情境、熟悉程度和对话者年龄。在这项研究中，学习者对语用语言资源的内化，表现为语言使用的变化增加，被视为能动性的先决条件。学习者的请求产生通过视频提示的口头话语完成测试（VODCT）在前、后和延迟后测试中进行测试。结果显示，在指令之后，情态动词和支持性动作的变化和使用增加了。此外，它们的分布因对话者的年龄和熟悉程度而异。学习者也开始使用在教学中介绍的降级者。然而，除了拜托，降级者并不常用，这表明这些需要进一步的学术关注。总体而言，本研究中显示的年轻学习者语用学发展揭示了通过基于概念的方法教授语用学的潜力。