Understanding Learners’ Creative English Expressions: A Pragmatic Study in Kampung Inggris

Abstract

This study investigates the English conversations of second-language learners in Kampung Inggris, Pare, Kediri. It aims to identify learners’ unique English utterances, describe their semantic meanings (literal meanings) and pragmatic interpretations (intended meanings), and examine their structural characteristics. A qualitative research design was employed, using participant observation and semi-structured interviews to collect data.   The findings revealed that learners frequently produced unique English utterances in the form of phrases and sentences during daily interactions. These utterances differed from those commonly used by native speakers and often deviated from Standard English grammar. The identified grammatical features included errors in pronoun agreement, verb grouping, question formation, comparative degree, adjective order, word choice, addition of unnecessary forms of *to be*, and omission of auxiliary verbs. Although many utterances successfully conveyed communicative intentions, some created ambiguity in interaction.   The study concludes that these unique utterances resulted from learners’ tendency to simplify English through word-for-word translation from their first language without fully considering contextual appropriateness in the target language. This tendency was influenced by both interlingual interference and intralingual factors, reflecting the learners’ ongoing interlanguage development in the process of second-language acquisition.