scholarly journals Keeping it Real: Vietnamese-English Pragmatic Representations in EFL Textbook

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Thi Mai Thi Tran ◽  
Aiden Yeh
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Social Encounters ◽  
English Textbooks

For non-native English learners to successfully manage authentic intercultural and international communication, their pragmatic competence should be considered as fundamental as their linguistic capacity (Bachman, 1990). As the foundation for developing language skills, English textbooks provide EFL learners with preliminary exposure to real-life situated pragmatic interactions. However, there is limited empirical research on the authenticity and appropriateness of the pragmatic representations in Vietnamese EFL textbooks at present. To fill in the gap, this paper provides a content analysis designed to quantitatively and qualitatively investigate a cross-culturally written textbook used for secondary EFL learners in Vietnamese context. It aimed to examine (1) types and distribution of speech acts the textbook covered, (2) meta-pragmatic information accompanying the linguistic realizations of those speech acts, and (3) appropriateness and authenticity of such pragmatic representations in relation to Vietnamese social context. The results revealed a variety of speech acts introduced in the contents but also highlighted their problematic distribution and sequence. Despite their occurrences, the linguistic patterns to achieve the speech acts were limited and accompanied by decontextualized and oversimplified meta-pragmatic information. From a Vietnamese cultural perspective, the attempts to reflect Vietnamese conventions of daily communication were spotted but the inappropriateness of the linguistic choices in the real social interactions was also indisputable. Therefore, some pedagogical implications were suggested to further improve the EFL textbook, reflecting the authentic social encounters rather than disseminating the textbook writers’ prescribed fictitious responses.

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.

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.

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>

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 The Impact of Socio-Pragmatic Instruction on the Performance of Iraqi EFL Learners in the Compliment Response Strategies

لارك ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (13) ◽  
pp. 368-390
Author(s):  
Mazin Jasim Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Communication Breakdown ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Impact

        The  purpose of the present study is to examine the impact of  the instruction  in the English sociopragmatic  awareness among  Iraqi EFL learners in the speech act of complimenting responses . It is well-known that sociopragmatic aspects of  language use vary across different languages and cultures .Such aspects map out  the socio-cultural norms and conventions as well as the strategies that underlie the pragmatic performance of different language speakers in a variety of target language situations . Being a teacher for more than ten years in an Iraqi university , the researcher  has  noticed that Iraqi EFL learners entertain a low ability to communicate effectively in responding to the speech act of complimenting , despite the fact that many of them have a perfect dominion of the target language grammar rules . However, it seems that L2 teachers often overlook pragmatics, which constitutes a crucial element of language ability of L2 learners   ; this might be attributed to the difficulty of its teaching . The resulting lack of pragmatic competence of L2 learners can lead to pragmatic failure  and , more importantly , to a complete communication breakdown . It is hypothesized   that Iraqi EFL learners are not proficient in responding appropriately to compliments  when put in real-life situations due to their inadequate  pragmatic competence .Hence , it is very necessary to provide them with socio-cultural  knowledge incorporated  into the EFL classroom if we are aiming at fruitful communication .The second hypothesis states that socio-cultural knowledge plays a significant role in enhancing Iraqi EFL learners' performance in responding to compliments in English appropriately .The present study has shown that Iraqi EFL learners perform  significantly different forms of compliment responses  from those produced by native speakers of English in terms of quality . The results reached at validate the hypothesis put forward , and call for the importance  of  instructing Iraqi EFL learners concerning socio-cultural norms and conventions of L2 they are studying .                                                                              

scholarly journals Analysing the Pragmatic Content in the Conversation Sections in Indonesian ELT Textbooks

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Eka Siswantara ◽  
Kamisah Ariffin
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Core Part

Pragmatic competence is a core part of communicative competence and has become the main focus of teaching and learning process in today’s English language teaching. Thus, it is pivotal to have more of pragmatic materials in English textbooks since they are the major references used in the classroom. This study examined the conversation section in the series of Indonesian ELT textbooks to see whether the pragmatic content as required in the curriculum is fulfilled. Using Searle’s speech acts model as the framework, content analysis method was applied by using descriptive approach in analysing the illocutionary acts and forces provided in the textbooks. The findings indicate that despite their occurrences on the textbooks, some of the speech acts provided were low in frequency and lacked variety to develop better pragmatic competence for the students. This has significant implications on the textbook writers in developing content materials for the pragmatic competence.

scholarly journals Persuasive Strategies of Saudi EFL Learners

2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Persuasive Strategies

The aim of this study is to investigate the speech act of persuasion used by Saudis learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Moreover, we seek to explore the differences between genders in the use of these strategies. The participants are 50 males and 50 females at level 7 of their bachelor’s degree in English. Data are collected using the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) method, which contains six scenarios similar to real-life situations. Data are analysed quantitatively using the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project nine-point rating scale, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, and Chi-square. The results of the DCT reveal that Saudi EFL learners use more direct strategies in English, namely hedge performatives and performatives. In addition, males are shown to be more inclined to use direct persuasive strategies compared to females. This research will benefit language learners, teachers, and researchers, as it highlights linguistic aspects of the speech act of persuasion that should be considered when learning and teaching a foreign language. The implications of this study inspire future research into different aspects of speech acts.

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 The effect of social class on Persian EFL learners’ pragmatic performance of Speech act of compliment responses

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Saman Ebadi ◽  
Farkhondeh Pursiah
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The Social ◽  
Compliment Responses

This study attempts to investigate how the participants’ social class affects types and frequency of EFL language learners’ compliment responses (CR).Data were collected from 60 Persian EFL Learners by using a DCT on various real life situations. The data were categorized and analyzed based onthe adapted version of CR categorization developed by Herbert (1989).The results indicated that both high and middle social class followed very similar patterns of CR.  The CR pattern doesnot seem to fluctuate according to the social class of the participants.The discrepancy in the strategies utilized by the participants in this study between the data achieved from the Persian and English questionnaires does not support L1 pragmalinguistic transfer in CR patterns for the middle social class participants.The findings of the research contribute to social, psychological and linguistic aspects of language learning in terms of examining the effect ofinteracting factors on the process of language learning in general and pragmatics in particular. Keywords: social class, compliment, compliment response, speech acts.

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.

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