scholarly journals The Impact of Raising Awareness of the Speech Act On Speaking Ability across Gender and Proficiency Level

HOW ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-111
Author(s):  
Kobra Ghayebi ◽  
Parisa Farrokh
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Awareness Raising ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Impact

The present study intended to investigate the possible effects of speech acts strategies on Iranian beginner and intermediate EFL learners’ speaking ability. The first step in conducting this research was the administration of QPT as the homogenizing tool. It was administered to 180 beginners and intermediate EFL learners. After analyzing the results, 80 males and females as starters and 80 males and females as intermediate subjects were chosen. Then, the beginner and intermediate EFL learners were randomly divided into control and experimental groups (including 40 beginner male and 40 female EFL learners in each class). Next, a pretest of speaking was administered to all the participants and the experimental groups received speech act role play as treatment. However, the researcher did not use any treatment of speech acts in control groups. After ten sessions, the posttest was administered to all participants. The findings suggested that awareness raising on speech acts resulted in a better speaking ability as compared to the simply traditional teaching of speaking for Iranian intermediate and beginner EFL learners. Additionally, intermediate EFL learners’ achievement in speaking was not in line with the beginner EFL learners’ achievement in the corresponding group. Finally, it was found that gender does not interact with awareness raising on speech acts in such a way as to produce a statistically significant effect on the beginner and intermediate EFL learners’ speaking ability.

scholarly journals The Impact of Different Output-based Task Repetition Conditions on Producing Speech Acts among Iranian Advanced EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa Etemadfar ◽  
Ehsan Namaziandost ◽  
Reza Banari
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Data Input ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Awareness Raising ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
The Impact

This examination inspected the effects of different output-based task reiteration conditions with respect to producing EFL students' speech acts. Three groups were incorporated into this investigation: (1) the explicit task-repetition (ETR) group, (2) the implicit task-repetition (ITR) group, and (3) the no-input task repetition (NTR) group. All the three groups occupied with the reiteration of output generation tasks. However, before the second execution of the task, the ETR, ITR, NTR groups received input combined with metapragmatic data, input combined with an awareness raising task, and no information separately. The outcomes demonstrated students' exhibition was factually huge from the pretest to the posttest in the ETR and ITR groups, however not in the NTR group. Besides, the analysis of contrasts over the groups in the posttest uncovered the predominance of the ETR over the ITR and NTR groups. The discoveries suggest that output-based task repetition with input can advance EFL students' speech act production.

scholarly journals Cross-Sectional Study of Refusal Speech Act Used by Iraqi Undergraduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-173
Author(s):  
Hutheifa Y. Turki ◽  
Juma’a Q. Hussein ◽  
Ahmed A. Al-Kubaisy
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
Refusal Strategies

This paper is conducted to investigate how Iraqi EFL learners refuse different speech acts across different proficiency levels. It aims to examine the most appropriate strategies used by 2nd year students of English as compared to those of 4th year when refusing their interlocutors' invitation, suggestion, and offer. WDCT questionnaire was used to collect data from 40 Iraqi undergraduate students of English: 20 2nd year and 20 4th year. Adopting Beebe et al.'s (1990) theory of refusal, data collected was analyzed quantitatively using statistical analysis. The findings revealed that the 2nd year students of English were more frequent in using direct refusals than their 4th year counterparts. This means the latter were more aware of using refusals politely than the former. On the other hand, the findings showed that 4th year students more frequent in their use of indirect refusal strategies that the 2nd year students. This indicates that the EFL learners of low proficiency level might not bridge the gap between the pragmalinguistic strategies and the grammatical form of the target language. This means that they were not pragmatically competent of the use of the appropriate pragmalinguistic strategies. This implies that the 2nd year students need to pay more attention to pragmatics and use their refusal strategies appropriately. Thus, the paper recommends conducting further research on the use of refusal speech act in Arabic and English.

scholarly journals Impact of Integrating Task-Based Learning and Functional Approach to Empower Learners’ Communicative Competence

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Tri Nguyen ◽  
Trang Xuan Phuong Dao
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

Enhancing EFL learners’ communicative competence is a time-taking process to reach certain levels of interacting with different communication participants. However, in the tertiary education in Vietnam, traditional teaching approach with the task-based learning does not thoroughly focus on the language use but on the strategies to perform the tasks. Hence, the functional approach has been applied to boost learners’ awareness of their language delivery thanks to communicative functions and notions. The new mode of teaching concentrates on what communication participants desire to convey and why they make use of those speech acts. This paper aimed to explore the impact of the integration of task-based learning and the functional approach, and learners’ perspective towards the implementation of such approach combination. With the application of the mixed method of qualitative and quantitative approaches, the data were collected via a pre-test and a post-test, survey, and 32 interviews with the participation of 100 students whose major is Business Administration at a university. The findings reveal that adding the functional approach to the existing teaching method could enhance students’ overall speaking competence, especially their fluency and discourse management. Additionally, the application of the functional approach received positive feedback from the learners.  

The impact of pragmatic consciousness-raising tasks on EFL learners’ speech act strategy use

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasoul Mohammad Hosseinpur ◽  
Reza Bagheri Nevisi
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Consciousness Raising ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Although there are growing attempts to equip learners with strategies in the ESL/EFL classroom, there has not been much effort to implement strategies to assist learners in the learning of speech acts (e.g., Cohen & Ishihara, 2005). This study investigated the impact and effectiveness of instruction on EFL learners’ use of speech act strategies. A group of 131 Iranian undergraduate students were instructed through deductive consciousness-raising (C-R), inductive C-R, and L1-based C-R tasks for seven weeks. The results obtained through Cohen and Ishihara’s (2005) speech act strategy inventory indicated that instruction had a significant impact on participants’ utilization of speech act strategies. It also came to light that the learners were generally receptive to deductive and L1-based pragmatic C-R tasks. The findings suggest that pragmatic C-R tasks and especially L1-based tasks are effective means for applying strategies to supporting learners in the acquisition of speech acts.

The interplay of oral corrective feedback and L2 willingness to communicate across proficiency levels

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882092896
Author(s):  
Mostafa Zare ◽  
Zohreh Gooniband Shooshtari ◽  
Alireza Jalilifar
Keyword(s):  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Feedback Type ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
High Preference ◽  
Oral Corrective Feedback ◽  
The Impact

This study aims to explore the impact of oral corrective feedback types on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ willingness to communicate across proficiency levels. It also investigates how EFL learners view different types of feedback in relation to their willingness to communicate. Sixty Iranian EFL learners were tracked in four proficiency levels. Initially, the participants filled in a questionnaire to measure their attitudes to oral CF and their willingness to communicate. Subsequent to the teachers’ employment of explicit correction, recasts, and prompts, the learners’ willingness to communicate was measured anew. A semi-structured interview was also conducted. The results revealed learners’ high preference for prompts. A two-way mixed between-within ANOVA demonstrated a significant effect for both oral corrective feedback and proficiency level on willingness to communicate. Furthermore, elicitative types of feedback were ranked as the most contributory feedback type to L2 willingness to communicate.

scholarly journals Formal and Informal Russian Invitation: Context and Politeness Strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 994-1013
Author(s):  
Gayane Rubenovna Vlasyan ◽  
Irina Vladimirovna Kozhukhova
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Invitation is a speech act which is perceived differently across cultures. Understanding the pragmatics of invitation requires knowledge of the notion of politeness and politeness strategies which comprise culture specific elements. Politeness is realized in various discourses, social contexts and speech acts. The purpose of the study is to identify politeness strategies in Russian invitation in formal and informal contexts in three age groups and see how they correspond to the understanding of politeness in Russian communicative culture. The empirical data for the study were obtained through discourse completion tests with 101 participants (issuers of the invitation) of different age and social status as well as through ethnographic observation. The research is based on Discourse Analysis and Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson 1987; Larina2009, 2015; Locher 2006, 2013; Leech 2014; Mills 2003, 2017; Sifianou 1992; Terkourafi &Kadar 2017; Watts 2003, among others). We used discourse analysis to analyze the impact of the social and cultural context on the performance of invitation, the descriptive method which was used to analyze the pragmatic functions of invitation, as well as contextual interpretation of this speech act and the method of quantitative data processing. The study revealed some differences between a formal and informal invitation concerning politeness strategies and linguistic means of its expression. It also showed that in Russian culture issuing an invitation is not perceived as a face threatening speech act; in the analysed social contexts the preference is given to direct invitation, and the inviter’s imposition, as a rule, is perceived positively. The results contribute to a better understanding of Russian politeness and communicative style and can be implemented in intercultural pragmatics, intercultural communication and SL teaching.

scholarly journals Effects of Task Repetition and EFL Proficiency on English Speech Act Production

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Hossein Ahmadi* ◽  
Farid Ghaemi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Potential Interaction ◽  
Instructional Condition ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
English Major ◽  
High Level

Interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) studies substantiate the teachability of some aspects of second language (L2) pragmatics. However, there are controversies over the most effective instructional methods. Therefore, following a comparison group design, the present study aims to investigate the relative efficacy of two conditions of output-production task repetition on high- and low-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ production of speech acts. The main effects of the instructional conditions, EFL proficiency level, and the potential interaction between them are examined. Two classes of English-major students take speech act lessons involving output-generation task repetition as follows: (1) the implicit task-repetition (ITR) group is provided with visually enhanced input plus a consciousness raising task before repeating the output-generation tasks, and (2) the explicit task-repetition (ETR) group is provided with input plus metapragmatic information before repeating the output-generation tasks. The learners’ speech act production is assessed through a written discourse completion test (WDCT) across a pretest and a posttest. The results demonstrate significant gains for both groups from the pretest to the posttest. Moreover, the ETR group significantly outperforms the ITR group in the posttest. Furthermore, EFL proficiency level is found to have a significant effect on learners’ speech act production, with high-level learners outperforming low-level learners. The results reveal no significant interaction between the effects of instructional condition and EFL proficiency level. Regarding pedagogical implications, the findings attest the efficacy of output-generation task repetition in L2 speech acts instruction, particularly when task repetition is coupled with explicit instruction.

scholarly journals A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF DA MODELS ON THE WRITING ABILITY AND ATTITUDE OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 38-51
Author(s):  
Jaleh Hassaskhah ◽  
Masoumeh Javan Haghparast
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Repeated Measure ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Testing Techniques ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact

The overall aim of this study was to advance understanding of the impact of the two main existing models of Dynamic Assessment (i.e. interventionist DA and interactionist DA) on the improvement of the writing abilities and attitudes of EFL learners. To have a viable conclusion, the study employed a quasi experimental research design in three pre-intermediate EFL classrooms, where each class functioned as both the experimental and the control groups. Then using the statistical procedure of repeated measure, the researchers obtained four sets of scores , the means of which were later calculated and compared in pairs (pair t-test) to see the development of students , if any, throughout the semester. Moreover, the learners’ attitude towards each of the models was assessed qualitatively after the term was over. This was done through thematic analysis techniques. Based on the results of the data analysis, it was found out that of the two main existing frameworks of DA, in spite of the common claims of their proponents, none can be given priority over the other. The only difference is the situations to which they can be applied. While interventionist DA is applicable in larger classes, interactionist DA can be best used with individual learners or in classes with fewer than four or five students. This study also indicated that learners feel more satisfied with DA than the traditional testing techniques in which their individual voices are not usually heard. Students, who used DA, liked writing activities more than before and stated that internalizing the rules and techniques got easier. Consequently, although the results obtained are susceptible to some context related limitations as well, which might threaten their full generalizability; this will not prevent us from refuting the impracticality of generalizing DA to all contexts and instead suggesting it as a valuable tool of assessment for all kinds of contexts.

scholarly journals Speech Acts across Cultures: A Comparative Study of Chinese and Pakistani Students’ Request and Politeness Strategies

sjesr ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Amina Shahzadi ◽  
Abdul Ghaffar Bhatti ◽  
Munir Khan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Request Strategies ◽  
Esl Learners

The examines are the different request strategies in English used by Pakistani and Chinese students according to social distance and power of interlocutors. Data comprises students from Pakistan and China enrolled in an undergraduate program at International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan. Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper's (1989) taxonomy of request strategies is taken as a theoretical framework to compare the request speech act patterns of Pakistani and Chinese students. This study analyzed the request speech act in terms of head act strategies used by participants. Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) categorized the request speech act into three request strategies i.e. direct, conventionally indirect, and non-conventional indirect strategies. The study identifies similarities between Pakistani ESL learners and Chinese EFL learners in making use of mood derivable as the preferred strategies for making requests in situations of different social distance, power, and familiarity between the interlocutors.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document