An Investigation into EFL Learners’ Perception towards L2 Pragmatic Instruction

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyekyeng Kim
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Positive Perception ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Regular Class ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
Sentence Patterns ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Pragmatic Instruction

The present study investigated EFL students’ perception toward the pragmatic instruction provided as a part of regular English curricula. A total of 52 university students from various majors participated in the study. The treatment was given for nine weeks during the regular class hours in terms of four speech acts, compliments, apologies, requests, and refusals, with the goal of enhancing the learners’ pragmatic awareness as well as pragmatic competence. A questionnaire and the learners’ reflection journals were adopted as data collection instruments, and an eclectic design was adopted to analyze their perception. Both the intermediate and low groups showed positive perception in terms of the four major categories—interest, usefulness, importance, and motivation, yet more than half of the learners from the low group found that learning L2 pragmatics was difficult due to the complexity and length of some of the sentence patterns of formulaic expressions. Further, there were significant differences between subjects regarding the category of difficulty for each speech act. Nevertheless, the learners expressed that pragmatic instruction facilitated their communication skills, enhanced their pragmatic awareness on intercultural differences, as well as instilled confidence in English interactions. These findings imply learners’ motivation and needs for learning L2 pragmatic features.

scholarly journals Promoting pragmatic awareness of Indonesian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners through teaching speech acts of oral and written complaints

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waliyadin Nuridin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Discourse Processing ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Processing Framework

<p>The lack of pragmatic competence could result in unexpected effects on the speakers; for example, the speakers are considered as rude and aggressive people. Accordingly, developing pragmatic competence for EFL learners should be a great concern. This article is aimed to fill in the needs of pragmatic teaching by providing examples of teaching practices that have successfully developed learners’ pragmatic competence. There are two tasks that have been designed and implemented by drawing on discourse processing framework proposed by Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) to achieve the production of both written and spoken discourses. The first task is on speaking, particularly on the speech act of oral complaints. The second task is on writing a letter of complaint. This article suggests that developing pragmatic awareness through the speech act of oral and written complaints is effective.<strong></strong></p>

scholarly journals An Overview on Explicit and Implicit instructions on Learners’ Pragmatic Awareness in Making Request in English

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Saeedeh Shokouhi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Implicit Instruction ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge

<p>One of the important part of the pragmatics studies in recent years is about the intercultural communication. EFL learners should know both grammatical competence and also sociolinguistic rules to use the language in an appropriate context. This review explores the effect of the explicit and implicit instruction on the learners’ attention in the production of the speech act of request. Pragmatics includes “the study of how speakers use and understand speech acts” (Richards and Schmidt 2002). Moreover, pragmatics plays a very important role in the production and perception of the language. That is why interlocutors should have enough pragmatic knowledge to produce and perceive the proper and intended speech acts based on context. Therefore, having pragmatic competence is one of the key factors in the process of communication. Pragmatic competence in foreign language contexts is defined as the knowledge of communicative action or speech acts, how to perform it, and the ability to utilize the language in proper ways based on the context or contextual factors (Kasper 1997; Kasper &amp; Roever 2005).</p>

scholarly journals DEVELOPING PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE OF INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS THROUGH TEACHING SPEECH ACTS OF ORAL AND WRITTEN COMPLAINTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Waliyadin Nuridin
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Discourse Processing ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Processing Framework

The lack of pragmatic competence could result in unexpected effects on the speakers; for example, the speakers are considered as rude and aggressive people. Accordingly, developing pragmatic competence for EFL learners should be a great concern. This article is aimed to fill in the needs of pragmatic teaching by providing examples of teaching practices that could be used to develop EFL learners’ pragmatic competence. There are two tasks that have been designed by drawing on discourse processing framework proposed by Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) to achieve the production of both written and spoken discourses. The first task is on speaking, particularly on the speech act of oral complaints. The second task is on writing a letter of complaint. This article suggests that developing pragmatic awareness through the speech act of oral and written complaints is desirable.

scholarly journals Pragmatic Competence of Iranian EFL Learners in the Light of Refusal Speech Act

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65
Author(s):  
Bibi Malihe Vamagh Shahi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Know How ◽  
Refusal Strategies ◽  
Pragmatic Instruction

In order to communicate accurately and fluently, learners need to know how to produce different speech acts inside and outside the classroom context. Refusal speech act is complicated, and performing refusals successfully needs a higher level of pragmatic competence (Eslami, 2010). This study is done in order to analyze refusal speech act and its responses among Iranian EFL learners. The participants of this study are 120 advanced Iranian EFL learners. These learners are provided with scenarios so that they are exposed to situations where they should both refuse and respond to refusals. The first phase of this paper includes the analysis of refusal strategies. The second phase of the paper deals with refusal responses. It was revealed that female participants are more inclined to use indirect strategies as related to refusals and male participants are more inclined to use direct strategies. For refusal responses, male learners used reinforcing micro functions while female learners used accepting micro functions more frequently. The results of this study contribute to pragmatic instruction in a way to help learners interpret and realize this speech act successfully. I will also investigate possible cross-cultural miscommunication, which its occurrence is also acknowledged in previous research studies (Shishavan & Sharifian, 2016).

Improving EFL learners' pragmatic awareness

2003 ◽  
Vol 141-142 ◽  
pp. 199-223
Author(s):  
Seran Doğançay-Aktuna
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Language Classrooms

This paper overviews the ways in which EFL learners' pragmatic awareness can be developed in language classrooms through focused instruction and practice. It argues that effective communication requires awareness of the conventions governing language use and attention to the characteristics of the context and the interlocutors, besides linguistic resources. The main claim is that even though some pragmatics data that is based on native speaker norms might not provide relevant models for learners of English as a foreign or international language, these learners still need to become aware of crosscultural variation in norms of language use and learn how to consider social and contextual factors surrounding effective communication. After defining pragmatic competence and transfer, the paper discusses possible ways for integrating pragmatic consciousness-raising into language teaching and the problems involved in this endeavour. It then describes a course designed to raise pragmatic awareness in advanced level EFL learners as part of their TEFL training program. The underlying principles, materials and sample activities of the course are presented and learners' reaction to the course is discussed.

The Effect of Using Video Games on EFL Learners' Acquisition of Speech Acts of Apology and Request

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahshid Shirazi ◽  
Seyyed Dariush Ahmadi ◽  
Ali Gholami Mehrdad
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Competence Test

This article presents a discussion about the inclusion of video game based pragmatic competence instruction as a facilitative tool to develop interlanguage pragmatic competence of Iranian EFL learners' acquisition of speech acts of apology and request. The question this article is intended to answer includes: whether using video game as a facilitative tool for developing interlanguage pragmatic competence have any effect on EFL learners’ acquisition of speech acts of apology and request or not. To answer this question, 40 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were selected via administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Following the Jianda Liu pragmatic competence test (2004) that made test of apology and request speech acts were administered as the pre-test before the targeted speech acts were instructed to them for 8 sessions. The post-test of apology and request speech acts were then administered and data were analyzed via calculating ANCOVA and Mann-Whitney U test. The results indicated that the video game-based instructed EFL classroom showed positive progress in acquisition of apology and request speech acts.

Learner background factors and learning of second language pragmatics

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Roever ◽  
Stanley Wang ◽  
Stephanie Brophy
Keyword(s):  
Poisson Regression ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Length Of Residence ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Background Factors ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Significant Factors

AbstractLearner background factors have been shown to affect learning of L2 pragmatics, which has been demonstrated especially for proficiency and length of residence. However, these factors have generally been investigated individually, not allowing conclusions as to their relative contributions. In this study, we use Poisson regression to investigate the effect of proficiency, length of residence, gender and multilingualism on learners' comprehension of implicature, recognition of routine formulae and production of speech acts in English. 229 ESL and EFL learners completed a web-based pragmatics test with 12 items per section. We found that only proficiency significantly affected implicature comprehension, length of residence and proficiency were significant factors in the recognition of routine formulae, and proficiency and gender significantly impacted speech act production. Although the effect of proficiency in our study is far greater than for any other background factor, we caution against overemphasizing its importance to learning of pragmatics overall.

scholarly journals Realisation of the Speech Act of Request, Suggestion and Apology by Libyan EFL Learners

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110503
Author(s):  
Abudalslam Alfghe ◽  
Behbood Mohammadzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Completion Test ◽  
Efl Students

This study investigates the three speech act strategies of request, suggestion and apology in Libyan Arab EFL undergraduate students (AREFLUS) and Amazigh EFL undergraduate students (AMEFLUS). It also examines their linguistic and pragmatic competence in these strategies. Two Libyan universities (Sebha and Zwara) are selected for the study, which includes 50 AREFLUS and 37 AMEFLUS participants. To investigate the students’ socio-pragmatic and pragma linguistic competence, two instruments are used: a questionnaire in the form of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and a rating scale. The results reveal numerous similarities between the Libyan Arab and Amazigh participants in performing all the speech act strategies of request, suggest and apology. However, some significant differences regarding gender are found among Libyan EFL students. Overall, both groups appear to be more competent in functioning than in structuring the three mentioned speech act strategies.

scholarly journals An Explicit/Implicit Lead to Producing Requests: Eliciting Learners’ Awareness or Soliciting Metapragmatic Knowledge

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Nasim Ariana ◽  
Masoumeh Ahmadi Shirazi ◽  
Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Nadoushani
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Implicit Affect ◽  
Direct Awareness ◽  
Awareness Raising ◽  
Request Strategies ◽  
Pragmatic Instruction

This study attempted to investigate the extent to which two types of pragmatic instruction -explicit versus implicit- affect learners’ knowledge in terms of their awareness and production of request strategies. Thirty students with the same level of proficiency were divided into two groups (explicit and implicit). They were exposed to listening excerpts taken from the book Tactics for Listening, with the focus on request making strategies. While the explicit group was equipped with direct awareness-raising tasks and written metapragmatic explanations on the use of appropriate requests, the implicit group was provided with a set of implicit awareness-raising tasks. Outcomes of the study demonstrate that pragmatic instruction of requesting improved learners’ awareness of both groups. Also an improvement of learners’ production of requests did take place in both groups after the interventional period. However, the explicit group outperformed the implicit one as far as production of request making was concerned.Keywords: Pragmatic competence, Speech acts, Requests, Explicit/Implicit pragmatic instruction

scholarly journals The Importance of the Request Strategies in the Iraqi EFL Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Nadhim Obaid Hussein ◽  
Intan Safinas Mohd Ariff Albakri
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Social Communications ◽  
Awareness Raising ◽  
Request Strategies ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
English Students

This paper explained English students’ pragmatics development, students’ pragmatics competence in chosen speech acts, request strategies that they used in gaining pragmatic ability. The paper was presented by a public syllabus lead that prioritizes the need for English learners to improve their ability to utilize request strategies successfully in academic and social communications. The study aimed to explain the significance of request strategies on developing EFL learners’ usage of the request in the classroom. Additionally, Many English learners fail to present pragmatic ability on how to understand request strategies by relating utterances to their meanings, knowing the intention of language users, and how request strategies are utilized in specific settings. There is growing material of researches on awareness-raising of the value of pragmatic competence and request strategies for EFL schoolroom teaching. However, researchers have pointed to concentrate on the traditional approaches rather than how English learners require or understand request strategies to develop the learners’ production of the request in the EFL schoolroom. Therefore, depending on the successful findings of previous studies, the study focused on the importance of strategies on developing students’ usage of the request. The request strategies and approaches of teaching English to these Iraqi students have been discussed in details of the current paper.

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