Pragmatic Rating of L2 Refusal: Criteria of Native and Non-native English Teachers

Many studies have shed light on rater criteria for assessing the performance of language skills (e.g., Eckes, 2005). However, the interface between rater assess- ment and interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) has remained largely unnoticed. To address this interface, this study explored the ratings native (NES) and nonnative English speaking (NNES) teachers assigned to second language (L2) refusal pro- duction and the criteria they applied in their ratings. To this end, 50 NES and 50 NNES teachers participated in rating L2 refusal production of EFL learners that included responses to a 6-item written discourse completion task. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative analysis showed that na- tive teachers applied 11 criteria and nonnative teachers applied 6 criteria in their pragmatic ratings. Reasoning/explanation was the leading criterion in teacher assessment among native raters, whereas politeness was the main criterion for nonnative ratings. Quantitative analysis documented variation in the frequency of drawing on rating criteria and significant differences in ratings, with NNES teachers being more lenient and divergent in their ratings. The results suggest there is a gap between NES and NNES teachers in terms of rating criteria, strictness, and convergence in rating.

Download Full-text

A Descriptive Analysis of Disagreement Strategies: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

International Journal of Linguistics ◽

10.5296/ijl.v8i5.10254 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 126

Author(s):

Atieh Farashaiyan ◽

Paramasivam Muthusamy

Keyword(s):

Social Power ◽

Speech Act ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Power Distance ◽

Written Discourse ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Situational Variables ◽

Completion Task ◽

Contextual Understanding ◽

Pragmatic Knowledge

The purpose of this research was to describe the L2 pragmatic knowledge of Iranian EFL learners by producing the speech act of disagreement in English in different situations. One hundred and twenty Iranian EFL learners took part in this study. The required data were accumulated through a Written Discourse Completion Task (WDCT). The results showed that most participants tended to make use of more indirect strategies (44.85%) to disagree with another speaker’s statement either with higher or lower power or within different social distance. The respondents’ most frequent strategy use refers to counterclaims with 44.8%. On the other hand, challenges with 8.8% and Irrelevancy of claims with 3.2% were respectively among the least frequent strategies used in all situations. The results showed that learners almost utilized the same strategies in different disagreement situations with the same frequency. Therefore, it indicates that they did not notice the situational variables of social power, distance and imposition to vary their choice of strategy. In other words, they did not have the contextual understanding of the mentioned factors. Therefore, the results can suggest that the learners lack sufficient pragmatic knowledge in performing the studied speech act. The implication of this study is for Iranian language instructors, materials writers and curriculum developers.

Download Full-text

PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE OF THE YEMENI EFL LEARNERS

European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies ◽

10.46827/ejlll.v5i3.281 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Ahmed Qasem H. Al-Khadhmi ◽

Mirza M. B. ◽

Abdullah Ali Al-Eryani

Keyword(s):

Speech Act ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Analytic Approach ◽

Pragmatic Competence ◽

Written Discourse ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Completion Task ◽

Native Speakers Of English ◽

Refusal Strategies ◽

Loading Scheme

The present study aimed at investigating the pragmatic competence of the Yemeni Non-Native Speakers of English (YNNSs) through examining their performance in the speech act of refusals. The study followed the qualitative comparative analytic approach. For the purpose of attaining the required data for this study, forty (YNNSs) and forty American Native Speakers (ANSs) of English were involved. The questionnaire used for collecting data from the participants was a written Discourse Completion Task (DCT), which was developed by Beebe et el. (1990), employed for collecting the data related to the use of refusal strategies by the two groups of participants in English. The data collected from DCT was analyzed by using a loading scheme adapted from Beebe et al. (1990). This study revealed that the Yemeni NNSs were not pragmatically competent enough in English. In spite of the similarity between the two groups in their use of refusal strategies, the differences between them were more apparent. The total number of strategies used by the American NSs was almost double those used by the Yemeni NNSs in all refusal situations. This study recommends that instructors should design contextualized, task-based, oral activities and integrating the intercultural aspects of language into ELT textbooks. Article visualizations:<img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0895/a.php" alt="Hit counter" />

Download Full-text

Interlanguage Pragmatics of Non-Institutional Criticism: A Study of Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

Journal of the College of languages ◽

10.36586/jcl.2.2020.0.42.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (42) ◽

pp. 1-26

Author(s):

Nassier A. G. Al-Zubaidi ◽

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Interlanguage Pragmatics ◽

Contextual Variables ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Pragmatic Transfer ◽

Completion Task ◽

Native Speakers Of English ◽

Context Of Learning ◽

Strategy Types ◽

Pragmatic Knowledge

Criticism is inherently impolite and a face-threatening act generally leading to conflicts among interlocutors. It is equally challenging for both native and non-native speakers, and needs pre-planning before performing it. The current research examines the production of non-institutional criticism by Iraqi EFL university learners and American native speakers. More specifically, it explores to what extent Iraqi EFL learners and American native speakers vary in (i) performing criticism, (ii) mitigating criticism, and (iii) their pragmatic choices according to the contextual variables of power and distance. To collect data, a discourse-completion task was used to elicit written data from 20 Iraqi EFL learners and 20 American native speakers. Findings revealed that though both groups regularly used all strategy types, Iraqi EFL learners criticized differently from American speakers. When expressing criticism, Iraqi learners tended to be indirect whereas American speakers tended to be direct. In mitigating their criticism, Iraqi learners were significantly different from American speakers in their use of internal and external modifiers. Furthermore, both groups substantially varied their pragmatic choices according to context. The differences in their pragmatic performance could be attributed to a number of interplaying factors such as EFL learners’ limited linguistic and pragmatic knowledge, the context of learning and L1 pragmatic transfer. Finally, a number of conclusions and pedagogical implications are presented.

Download Full-text

Effects of pragmatic instruction on EFL teenagers’ apologetic email writing: Comprehension, production, and cognitive processes

IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching ◽

10.1515/iral-2019-0116 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Ming-Fang Lin ◽

Yu-Fang Wang

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processes ◽

Explicit Instruction ◽

Eighth Graders ◽

Choice Test ◽

Future Research ◽

Multiple Choice Test ◽

Verbal Reports ◽

Written Discourse ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Completion Task

AbstractThis study examined the effects of explicit instruction on EFL learners’ apologetic email writing in terms of comprehension, production, and cognitive processes in pragmatic performance. Participants were 30 Taiwanese EFL eighth graders who received a 10-week pragmatic training on email apologies. Research instruments were a multiple-choice test (MCT), a written discourse completion task (WDCT), and retrospective verbal reports (RVRs). The results showed that the participants obtained higher scores in the MCTs after the instruction, illustrating the facilitative effects on the learners’ comprehension of email writing. As for the production, the learners made overall progress in email writing in the posttest. Regarding the cognitive processes, analysis of the RVRs revealed that after the treatment, the learners’ pragmalinguistic awareness was promoted in their paying more attention to pragmalinguistic features and planning their email writing according to the email moves more frequently. The findings were discussed with implications for pedagogy and future research.

Download Full-text

A Study of Gratitude Strategies of Indonesian EFL Students

Jurnal Bahasa Inggris Terapan ◽

10.35313/jbit.v1i1.1291 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Yani Adyawardhani

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Development Stage ◽

Small Scale ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Positive Feeling ◽

Completion Task ◽

Efl Students ◽

General Data ◽

English Speaking ◽

One Year

This study is a small scale study investigating the gratitude strategies used by Indonesian EFL learners in responding to certain situations. The aim of the study is to find out the gratitude strategies used by EFL learners and the pattern of the strategy in responding to each of the different situations. Data were taken using a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) questionnaire from twelve students of English department and five teachers who have had the experience of living in English speaking countries for more than one year. The study revealed that the students’ pragmatics use of the English language is in the development stage, and that thanking is the most extensive strategy in respond to all situations that necessitate the use of gratitude. The use of apology in some situations hints that there is some influence in the form of cultural transfer from L1. The pattern of strategy in response to specific situations is not much different from those to general data on the strategy; repayment and positive feeling strategies are the most used in situation where high indebtedness is present. Keywords: Inter-language pragmatics, gratitude strategies, Indonesian EFL learners

Download Full-text

Analysing Gender Effect on the Speech Act of Suggestion: A Pilot Study

Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies ◽

10.36941/ajis-2020-0062 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 62

Author(s):

Mushtaq A. Sharqawi ◽

Elizabeth M. Anthony

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Large Scale ◽

Speech Act ◽

Small Scale ◽

Validity And Reliability ◽

Written Discourse ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Completion Task ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

Box Method

This is a pilot study on analyzing the effect of gender on the speech act of suggestion. It introduces preliminary analyses of whether gender affects the use of suggestion strategies produced and recognized by Iraqi EFL learners. The strategies are dealt with from three perspectives: structural, directness, and politeness. The purpose of this small-scale study is twofold, (1) to explore if there is a relationship between gender and suggestions and (2) to check the validity and reliability and thus the workability of the instruments in question to a large-scale study. To this end, the study sampled voluntarily, on an equal base, 10 male and 10 female fourth-year undergraduates using a name-in-box method. The study used two quantitative-based instruments to elicit suggestions: Written Discourse Completion Task (WDCT) and Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Task (MDCT). Each of which consisted of 12 situations approximating real-like interactions. The corpus was statistically analyzed via SPSS and yielded that gender affected the use of structural and directness strategies of suggestions, but it had no effect on the politeness strategies. Results along with the feedback of the raters, who were chosen to rate the situations, have both proven that the instruments in question are valid and reliable to work on relevant further studies.

Download Full-text

Pragmatic instruction in L2-Russian

Instructed Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1558/isla.39864 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 62-95

Author(s):

Daniele Artoni ◽

Valentina Benigni ◽

Elena Nuzzo

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Speech Acts ◽

Control Group ◽

Written Discourse ◽

Instructional Treatment ◽

Completion Task ◽

Positive Effect ◽

Experimental Group ◽

National Corpus ◽

Pragmatic Instruction

Over the last three decades, a growing number of studies have investigated the effects of instruction on the acquisition of pragmatic features in L2. The bulk of this research has focused mainly on the teaching of English as a second/foreign language. However, instructional pragmatic studies in L2-Russian are lacking. The main purpose of our study is to contribute towards filling this gap by analysing the effects of pragmatic instruction on the acquisition of two speech acts by Italian learners of Russian. Furthermore, we aim to explore whether the Multimodal Russian Corpus (MURCO), a multimedia subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus, can be an effective tool for teaching speech acts in L2-Russian. Our research was composed of one experimental group (n = 18) and one control group (n = 11); each was composed of two intact classes of Italian university students at an intermediate level of L2-Russian, who were pre- and post-tested using a written discourse completion task. The experimental group was subjected to a programme of pragmatic instruction – eight thirty-minute MURCO-based lessons devoted to requests and advice, while the control group was taught according to the standard syllabus, that is, with no pragmatic instruction. The results revealed that the use of the target pragmatic features varied significantly in the experimental group, but not in the control group, thus showing a general positive effect of the instructional treatment based on the MURCO corpus. However, some limitations were identified with regard to the usability of this tool by teachers and learners.

Download Full-text

The Students’ Attitudes towards the NESTs versus NNESTs and their Impacts on the Students’ Motivations to Learn English Language at KAU

Arab World English Journal ◽

10.24093/awej/th.280 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-35

Author(s):

Haneen Saad Al Muabdi

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Mixed Method ◽

English Language ◽

Efl Learners ◽

King Abdulaziz University ◽

English Speaking ◽

Native English Speaking ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Native English Speaking Teachers ◽

The Impact

Motivation is one of the crucial aspects of second language acquisition. Students’ motivation can be influenced by their teachers. The present study aims to investigate the impact of the two types of teachers on EFL learners’ motivations to learn English. These are NESTs (Native English-speaking teachers) and NNESTs (native English-speaking teachers). Hence, it examines learners’ attitudes and perceptions towards the two types of teachers. This study employed a mixed method by distributing a questionnaire contains quantitative and qualitative tools. It consists of twenty items of Likert scales and two open-ended questions. The present study subjects are 31 female students at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The results of the study demonstrate that learners have a positive attitude toward NESTs and NNESTs. Despite that, the tendency to learn with NNESTs is higher than NESTs. The findings also show that both types of teachers motivate students to learn English. Moreover, it suggests that the methodology and teachers’ personalities are more important than the teachers’ nativeness.

Download Full-text