Raising Pragmatic Competence in Foreign Language Classrooms

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 6, 41 - 50, 10.12.2017

Nadhim Othman Najmalddın

Abstract

Second language pragmatics has recently been a prevailing topic in
the field of second language teaching. While many studies have been conducted
about why, how, and what to incorporate regarding the teaching of pragmatic
competence, there are still unsolved issues about them. This study addresses
the possibility of developing pragmatic competence in EFL classrooms through
well-designed curricular courses. The study also examined the impact of
proficiency in expediting pragmatic production in English L2 learners. Fifty
senior university students (25 males; 25 females) with English high proficiency
attended the course, participating in a pre-test before instruction began and a
post-test upon the course completion. The study addresses several significant
questions, namely the relationship of proficiency and development of pragmatic
competence, the impact of class-based curriculum in raising competence, and the
role of gender as an influencing factor affecting competence and students'
preference of assessment methods.  Unlike
previous studies, this study covered more than one aspect of pragmatic
production, including inference, implicature, structural errors in meaning and
interpretation, and speech act (requests, refusals, apology and offer). The
study produced key findings that can help inform and improve the incorporating
of pragmatic competence in language study; proficiency level significantly
impacts pragmatic competence; pragmatic-based curricula are supportive in
constructing competence; gender factor does not affect learning pragmatics, as
both genders performed similarly in the tests. Eventually pragmatic competence
can expectedly be raised in classrooms-based courses.

Keywords

Pragmatic Competence, Curriculum, Gender Difference, Assessment

References

• Aslan, O. (2009). The role of gender and language learning strategies in learning English (Doctoral dissertation, MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY).
• Birner, B. J. (2013). Introduction to pragmatics. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, A John Wiley & Sons, Publication.
• Brown, J. D. (2001). Pragmatics tests: Different purposes, different tests. In K. Rose &G.Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching (pp. 301-325). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.