The Effects of Explicit Pragmatic Teaching on Young Learners' Pragmatic Development

Abstract

A large body of literature has examined the role of explicit teaching on L2 pragmatics. Previous research findings confirmed that explicit teaching has a positive impact on the development of L2 learners’ pragmatic competence. Many studies attempt to explore the efficacy of instruction in improving pragmatics competence in terms of learners' speech acts of requesting. However, little attention has been focused on teaching request strategies to young learners. This study aims to investigate whether explicit instruction of request strategies may enhance the young learners’ L2 pragmatic awareness and whether there will be an increase on the learners’ awareness based on social power, distance, and imposition factors. Twenty-two second-grade Turkish students from a private school participate in the study. The participants are divided into experimental and control groups and each group consists of eleven students. The experimental group receives four hours of treatment in two weeks while the control group follows conventional instructions without any metapragmatic teaching on requesting strategies. The quantitative data is gathered by administering Discourse Completion Test (DCT) as both the pre and the post-tests. To increase the reliability and validity of the research results, the triangulation method is used. For triangulation, the teacher-researchers employ teacher observation with a rubric and semi-structured interview is conducted with purposefully chosen students. The results of quantitative analysis showed that there is no significant difference in learners’ pragmatic awareness on L2 requesting. However, according to the qualitative results, there is a noticeable difference in the learners’ pragmatic awareness on requests and pragmatic factors.

Keywords

• pragmatics
• speech acts
• request
• pragmatic awareness
• young learners

Doğrudan Edimbilim Eğitiminin İlköğretim Öğrencilerinin Edimbilimsel Gelişimi Üzerindeki Etkileri

Abstract

Mevcut literatürün büyük bir çoğunluğu ikinci dilde doğrudan edimbilim öğretimini inceler. Önceki araştırma bulguları doğrudan öğretimin yabancı dil öğrencilerinin edimbilim yeterliliğinin gelişim sürecinde olumlu bir etkiye sahip olduğunu doğrulamaktadır. Birçok araştırma, rica konuşma söylemi özelinde edimbilim yeterliliğinin gelişiminde öğretim yönteminin etkinliğini ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlar. Lakin, rica stratejilerinin genç öğrencilere öğretimi konusunda oldukça az araştırmalar yürütülmüştür. Bu araştırma, doğrudan rica stratejilerinin yabancı dilde edimbilim farkındalığının arttırılabileceğini ya da öğrencilerin sosyal güç, mesafe ve dayatma derecesi hususlarında farkındalık seviyelerinde bir artış olup olmayacağını araştırmaktadır. 22 adet Türk ikinci sınıf öğrencisi katılımcılar olarak alınmıştır. Katılımcılar deney ve gözlem grubu olarak 11 kişiden oluşan 2 grup şeklinde ayrılmıştır. Deney grubu iki haftalık süreçte 4 saatlik uygulamaya tabii tutulurken, deney grubu mevcut müfredatı ek uygulama olmaksızın takip eder. Sayısal veriler Söylem Tamamlama Görevi (DCT) aralığı ile test öncesi ve sonuçları alınacak şekilde kullanılmıştır. Güvenirlik ve geçerlilik notlarında verilerin güçlendirilmesi adına üçgenleme yöntemine başvuruldu. Bu noktada, araştırmacı-öğretmenler öğretmen gözlem formu ve amaçlı örnekleme yoluyla yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu yöntemlerinden yararlanıldı. Sayısal veriler yabancı dilde rica söyleminin farkındalık seviyesinde ciddi bir fark olmadığını göstermiştir. Ancak, sözel veriler öğrencilerin edimbilimsel rica söylemi ve edimbilim faktörleri üzerine farkındalık seviyesinde ayırt edilebilecek bir farklılık ortaya koymuştur.

Keywords

• edimbilim
• rica söylemi
• edimbilimsel farkındalık
• doğrudan öğretim

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