scholarly journals The Effects of L2 Proficiency on Pragmatic Comprehension and Learner Strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Hsuan-Yu Tai ◽  
Yuan-Shan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Pragmatic Comprehension

The present study aimed to examine the effect of proficiency on the pragmatic comprehension of speech acts, implicatures, and routines, as well as the way learners of different proficiency levels employ strategies when comprehending a pragmatic task. Thirty-three high-proficiency and forty-one low-proficiency Chinese learners of English completed a multiple-choice discourse completion task (MDCT). Of the participants, six were selected from the two proficiency groups to perform verbal retrospections to probe their strategy use in the MDCT task. The quantitative results showed that the high-proficiency group performed significantly better than the low-proficiency group on speech acts, implicatures, and routines. In addition, the analyses of verbal reports identified eight major strategies the learners used while performing the task, including sociopragmatics, hearer’s response, relevance, keyword/key phrase, life experience/world knowledge, amount of information, intuition, and multiple strategies. The high-proficiency group showed a significant use of multiple strategies, life experience/world knowledge, amount of information and relevance. The low-proficiency group, on the other hand, indicated a significant use of intuition. Close examination further revealed that the high-proficiency group showed more flexibility in strategy use, thus leading to more accurate performance. Conversely, the low-proficiency group did not vary their strategy use, which normally led to incorrect responses on the task. Finally, the study closes by providing pedagogical implications for language teachers as to how strategy instruction can be implemented in L2 pragmatics classrooms.

Exploring strong and weak EFL readers’ strategy use after a reading strategy and extensive reading instructional intervention

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying-Chun Shih ◽  
Barry Lee Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
English Language ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Junior College ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Strategy Training ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Language Class

Abstract After 16 weeks of extensive reading and reading strategy instruction in an English as a Foreign Language class (n = 52) at a junior college in Taiwan, three weak and three strong second language readers were recruited to investigate reading strategy use. Strategies were inferred from verbal reports gained through a think aloud methodology as participants read a text equivalent to those encountered during regular classroom instruction. Results indicated strong readers used more global strategies than weak readers. Strong readers had a more diverse reading strategy repertoire while weak readers tended to lean towards the use of a single strategy. In addition, strong readers tended to combine strategies. These and other results are discussed in terms of the translation-based reading instruction currently dominating Taiwanese secondary school classrooms. Suggestions are also provided on how classroom English teachers should implement reading strategy training in the English language classroom.

scholarly journals Strategy Instruction and Transfer in the EFL Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Najar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Learning Instruction ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

This study examines the generalizability of research in the areas of instruction; learning; and transfer of learning to the role these play in the area of the use of strategic competencies in foreign language contexts (FLC). While previous studies have tended towards a focus on learner variables, this study includes the conditions of applicability with a task that can impact learning and transfer as well. The contributions of both variables, learner and task, were investigated through note-taking strategy instruction and transfer, to ascertain the effect on reading comprehension of textual materials in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. Learning was measured as a precursor to transfer. In order to investigate the role of instruction and transfer in the transfer of strategy use, a mixed design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches for design and analysis was used. Findings suggest that the relationship between instruction and transfer as represented by strategy use and task performance is a multidimensional one, and that there are implications for language learning instruction in the foreign language classroom.

scholarly journals The Effect of IELTS Listening Strategy Use on the Reduction of IELTS Listening Test Anxiety and on IELTS Listening Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 1025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Reza Nemat Tabrizi ◽  
Mahnaz Ranjbar
Keyword(s):  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Listening Test ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

The study investigates the impact of IELTS listening strategy use on the reduction of listening test anxiety and on the listening performance of the IELTS test takers in light of the data of 80 participants on the pretest and post-test IELTS listening along with the participants' score on pre-anxiety and post anxiety scale. So, drawing on the instruments including a proficiency test, pre/post-test, anxiety questionnaire, materials for strategy instruction, the participants were randomly divided into two groups: Control Group and Experimental Group, each including 40 participants. As per the procedure, after tackling their pre-listening performance and pre-anxiety score, one group was treated with IELTS-Listening related strategies and the other group was not treated, but both were administered listening test. The results of the study indicated that those treated with IELTS strategy outperformed ( t (78) = 4.57, p = .000, r = .460 ) those receiving no listening-related strategy. Furthermore, the results of a t-test run on the post-test of the groups anxiety arrived at a statistically significant difference (t (78) = 5.77, p = .000, r = .547), representing that the control group outperformed the experimental group. Also, Pearson Correlation done for finding out a potential relationship between anxiety and listening performance indicated a negative and weak to moderate relationship ((r (78) = -.26, p = .020). The pedagogical implications of the study are in detailed argued.

scholarly journals Improving Language Learning Strategies and Performance of Pre-Service Language Teachers Through a CALLA-TBLT Model

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Eugenia Guapacha Chamorro ◽  
Luis Humberto Benavidez Paz
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
English Language ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
And Performance

This paper reports an action-research study on language learning strategies in tertiary education at a Colombian university. The study aimed at improving the English language performance and language learning strategies use of 33 first-year pre-service language teachers by combining elements from two models: the cognitive academic language learning approach and task-based language teaching. Data were gathered through surveys, a focus group, students’ and teachers’ journals, language tests, and documentary analysis. Results evidenced that the students improved in speaking, writing, grammar, vocabulary and in their language learning strategies repertoire. As a conclusion, explicit strategy instruction in the proposed model resulted in a proper combination to improve learners’ language learning strategies and performance. 

Influence of Reading-Comprehension Strategy Information on Children's Achievement Outcomes

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale H. Schunk ◽  
Jo Mary Rice
Keyword(s):  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Strategy Training ◽  
Comprehension Instruction ◽  
Comprehension Strategy ◽  
Children's Achievement ◽  
Remedial Readers ◽  
Achievement Outcomes ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Main Ideas

Two experiments investigated the effects of sources of strategy information on children's acquisition and transfer of reading outcomes and strategy use. Children with reading-skill deficiencies received comprehension instruction on main ideas. In Experiment 1, some students were taught a comprehension strategy, while others received strategy instruction and strategy-value feedback linking strategy use with improved performance; controls received comprehension instruction without the strategy. In Experiment 2, children were taught the comprehension strategy or received instruction without strategy training; they were then given comprehension instruction on details. Some children were taught how to modify the strategy; others did not employ the strategy on details. Children who received strategy-value feedback (Experiment 1) and strategy-modification instruction (Experiment 2) demonstrated the highest self-efficacy, skill, strategy use, and transfer. These results support the idea that remedial readers benefit from information about strategy usefulness.

scholarly journals An exploratory study of the interlanguage pragmatic comprehension of young learners of English

Pragmatics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Lee
Keyword(s):  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Indirect Speech ◽  
Young Learners ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Indirect Speech Acts ◽  
Pragmatic Comprehension ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Indirect Speech Act

This paper describes the developmental pattern of the interlanguage pragmatic comprehension of young learners of English based on their performance in a multiple-choice comprehension exercise consisting of five direct and indirect speech acts (requesting, apology, refusal, compliment and complaint) in contextualised dialogues, supplemented with information on their processing strategies as elicited from their verbal protocols. The findings contribute to the literature on the interlanguage developmental pragmatics of young learners, an area on which research literature is scarce. Three groups of seven-, nine- and twelve year-old Cantonese learners of English participated. The overall mean comprehension scores of the three groups increased steadily, but the difference in the scores across groups was only statistically significant between the seven- and nine-year-olds. All of the learners performed well in the comprehension of direct speech acts, but the seven- and nine-year-old learners encountered problems in comprehending indirect speech acts, particularly indirect refusals, compliments and complaints. Their performance and processing strategies provide some evidence for the development of direct and indirect speech act comprehension in learning a second language - from relying on literal meaning or the semantic congruence between meaning and expression to other strategies, such as speaker intention and contextual clues, as they transit from early to middle childhood.

scholarly journals AL-KHUDHU' 'ALA MABDA`I AT-TA`ADDUBI FI ISTIRATIJIYYATI AT-TAWASHULI LADAI AL-MU'ALLIMAH ATSNA`A TA'LIMI AL-LUHGAH AL-'ARABIYYAH FI MA'HAD "AL-MUNAWWARAH" BI JOMBANG

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Lailatul Qomariyah ◽  
Akhmad Sauqi Ahya
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Boarding School ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Declarative Sentence ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Interactive Model ◽  
Teaching Learning

This research examines the obediencepoliteness strategies in the teaching learning process.The study focuses on obediencepoliteness strategies in the teaching learning process of Arabic class at Islamic Boarding School in Al Munawaroh. This research is conducted by qualitative case approach. The data of this research is the speech acts of teacher. The data collected is taken from recording observation and interview and is analyzed by interactive model analysis.The findings consist of the obediencepoliteness strategies in the teaching learning process of Arabic class at Islamic Boarding School in Al Munawaroh with two strategies. A direct strategy is used to express functions of: commanding with fiil amar, advising with isim fiil amar "لابد"  dan "عليك", forbidding with لاالناهية+فعل مضارع. A indirect strategy is used to express functions of: commanding with declarative sentence, and forbidding with imperative sentence. With this study, it is expected that The foreign language teachers prefer to use direct strategies rather than indirectly to make meaningful learning.تناول هذا البحث موضوع الخضوع على مبدأ التأدب في استراتيجية التواصل لدى المعلمة أثناء تعليم اللغة العربية. ويستهدف هذا البحث الكشف عن استراتيجية التواصل لدى المعلمة الخضوع على مبدأ التأدب في معهد "المنورة. والمدخل في هذا البحث هو المدخل النوعي بدراسة الحالة المتعددة. والبيانات لهذا البحث هي الأفعال الكلامية لدى المعلمة. وجمعتها الباحثة من ملاحظة بالتوثيق والمقابلة. وحللتها بطريقة الطراز التفاعلي (Interactive Model). والنتائج لهذا البحث هي: 1)الخضوع على مبدأ التأدب في استراتيجية التواصل لدى المعلمة في التفاعل الصفي أثناء تعليم اللغة العربية هو استراتيجية مباشرة وغير مباشرة. واستخدام الاستراتيجية المباشرة بثلاث وظائف وهي: (أ) الأمر بصيغة فعل الأمر، (ب) النصيحة بصيغة اسم فعل الأمر "لابد" و "عليك"، (ج) النهي بصيغة لا الناهية+فعل مضارع؛ واستخدام استراتيجية غير مباشرة لها بوظيفتين (أ) الأمر بصيغة الخبر؛ (ب) النهي بصيغة فعل الأمر. ومن أهم توصيات الدراسة هي لابد للمعلم أن يستخدم استراتيجية مباشرة وغير مباشرة موافقة بسياق التعليمية. إن معلمي اللغة الأجنبية يفضلون أسلوب التوجيه المباشر من الأسلوب غير المباشر لجعل هذه العملية التعليمية التعليم ذي المعنى.

Speech Act Functions

1987 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 43-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efurosibina Adegbija
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Background Information ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
English Usage ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Relevant Factors

This paper examines samples of spoken data with a view to elucidating the problem of the performing of speech acts in a Second language context of English usage. The encoding and decoding of speech acts, the author shows, involve a network of cognitive processes in which the linguistic competence of the participants, their world knowledge, their psychological state, and their knowledge of socially and culturally relevant factors of the situation are accessed, activated, and put to work in the process of inferring the meaning and the speech act function of utterances; a process which is essentially one of semantic and pragmatic decision-making. For communication to succeed, participants in the communicative event must share mutual factual background information and be able to activate this when it proves relevant to the discourse at hand. Incompetence in the use of the target language may lead to the performance of an unintended speech act and the decoder's misinterpretation. Therefore, speakers of English in a Second language or multilingual context should make allowance for unintended speech acts, and should be particularly sensitive to the total context of communication.

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