The Effects of Explicit Film-based Instruction on EFL Teacher Trainees’ Interpretation of Implied Meanings

Abstract

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable dimension of overall language ability, and proper interpretation of implied meanings is a major constituent of pragmatic competence. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the efficiency of a film-based instruction program devised to facilitate the interpretation of implied meanings in English. It was conducted with a quasi-experimental design. First, a multiple-choice discourse completion test was given to 144 English language teacher trainees with 77 people in the experimental group and 67 in the control group. After the 5-week instruction given to the experimental group, the test was administered to both groups again. The results revealed significant differences in favor of the experimental group. This makes the program a promising one as it made the participants, who were also prospective English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers responsible for helping their own students have pragmatic competence too, significantly more equipped about processing implied meanings as a major constituent of pragmatic competence.

Keywords

• Film,implied meanings (implicature),pragmatic competence,teaching pragmatics,teacher training

Kaynakça

1. Abrams, Z. I. (2014). Using film to provide a context for teaching L2 pragmatics. System, 46, 55-64.
2. Aydin, B. (2005). L’influence des faits linguistiques et culturels sur la communication orale dans l’apprentissage du Francais langue etrangere [The influence of linguistic and cultural facts on oral communication in learning of French as a foreign language]. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, (29), 34–42.
3. Bagaric, V., & Mihaljevic-Djigunovic, J. (2007). Defining communicative competence. Metodika, 8(1), 94–103.
4. Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1996). Pragmatics and language teaching: Bringing pragmatics and pedagogy together. In L.F. Bouton (Ed.), Pragmatics and Language Learning (Vol. 7, pp. 21-39). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
5. Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Dornyei, Z. (1998). Do Language Learners Recognize Pragmatic Violations? Pragmatic Versus Grammatical Awareness in Instructed L2 Learning. Tesol Quarterly, 32(2), 233-259.
6. Bella, S. (2014). Developing the ability to refuse: A cross-sectional study of Greek FL refusals. Journal of Pragmatics, 61, 35-62.
7. Biggs, J. (Ed.). (1996). Testing: To educate or to select? Education in Hong Kong at the cross-roads. Hong Kong: Hong Kong: Educational Publishing.
8. Birjandi, P., & Derakhshan, A. (2014). Pragmatic comprehension of apology, request and refusal: An investigation on the effect of consciousness-raising video-driven prompts. Applied Research on English Language, 3(1), 67-86. doi: 10.22108/ARE.2014.15479

9. Birner, B. J. (2012). Introduction to Pragmatics. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
10. Blight, R. (2002). Classroom procedure for explicit instruction in conversational implicature. In M. Swanson & K. Hill (Eds.), Conference Proceeding of JALT (pp. 142-148). Shizuoka, Japan : The Japan Association for Language Teaching.
11. Bouton, L. F. (1988). A cross‐cultural study of ability to interpret implicatures in English. World Englishes, 7(2), 183-196.
12. Bouton, L. F. (1992). The interpretation of implicature in English by NNS: Does it come automatically--Without being explicitly taught? Pragmatics and Language Learning, 3, 53-65.
13. Bouton, L. (1994). Can NNS skill in interpreting implicatures in American English be improved through explicit instruction? A pilot study. In L. Bouton & Y. Kachru (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (Vol. 5, pp. 88–109). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois.
14. Bouton, L. (1999). Developing nonnative speaker skills in interpreting conversational implicatures in English: Explicit teaching can ease the process. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in second language teaching and learning (pp. 47-70). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15. Can, A. (2013). SPSS ile Bilimsel Araştırma Surecinde Nicel Veri Analizi [Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS in Scientific Research]. Ankara, Turkey: Pegem Akademi.
16. Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1981). A theoretical framework for communicative competence. In A. S. Palmer, P. J. M. Groot, & G. A. Trosper (Eds.), The construct validation of test of communicative competence: Including proceedings of a colloquium at TESOL ’79 (pp. 31-36). Washington, DC: Teachers of English to Speakers of other Languages.
17. Cetinavci, U. R., & Ozturk, I. (2017). The Development of An Online Test to Measure the Interpretation of Implied Meanings as A Major Constituent of Pragmatic Competence. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 2017(December Special issue), 184-222. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.33994.06084
18. Cetinavci, U. R. (2018). Accuracy and speed in the interpretation of implied meanings in English: Turkish teacher trainees versus native speakers. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 14(2), 325-342.
19. Cohen, A. D. (2005). Strategies for learning and performing L2 speech acts. Intercultural Pragmatics, 2(3), 275-301.
20. Council of Europe. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
21. Crandall, E., & Basturkmen, H. (2004). Evaluating pragmatics-focused materials. ELT Journal, 58(1), 38-49. doi: 10.1093/elt/58.1.38
22. Crane, D., Kauffman, M., Bright, K. S., Borkow, M., Curtis M,, Chase, A. et al. (Executive Producers). (1994). Friends [TV series]. California, CA: Warner Bros. Television.
23. Davis, W. A. (2007). How normative is implicature. Journal of pragmatics, 39(10), 1655-1672. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2007.05.006
24. Economidou-Kogetsidis, M. (2015). Teaching email politeness in the EFL/ESL classroom. ELT Journal, 69(4), 415-424.
25. Erkmen, B. (2014). Novice EFL teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning, and their classroom practices. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 29(1), 99-113.
26. Eslami-Rasekh, Z. (2005). Raising the pragmatic awareness of language learners. ELT Journal, 59(3), 199-208.
27. Felix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2007). Pragmatic development in the Spanish as a FL classroom: A cross-sectional study of learner requests. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4(2), 253-286. doi: 10.1515/IP.2007.013
28. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics, volume 3: Speech aActs (pp. 41-58). New York: Academic Press.
29. Hymes, D. (1971). The contribution of folklore to sociolinguistic research. The Journal of American Folklore, 84(331), 42-50. doi: 10.2307/539732
30. Ishihara, N. (2010). Adapting textbooks for teaching pragmatics. In N. Ishihara & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (pp. 145-166). London, UK: Longman Applied Linguistics.
31. Jeon, E. H., & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development. In J. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 165–211). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
32. Jianda, L. (2006). Assessing EFL learners’ interlanguage pragmatic knowledge: Implications for testers and teachers. Reflections on English Language Teaching, 5(1), 1-22.
33. Kasper, G. (1999). Learning Pragmatics in the L2 classroom. Paper presented at the annual international conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning. University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA.
34. Kasper, G. (2001). Four perspectives on L2 pragmatic development. Applied Linguistics, 22(4), 502-530. doi: 10.1093/applin/22.4.502
35. Kasper, G. (2006). Speech acts in interaction: towards discursive pragmatics. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, J. C. Felix-Brasdefer, & A. S. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning, 11 (pp. 281-314). Honolulu, HI: National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
36. Koike, D. A., & Pearson, L. (2005). The effect of instruction and feedback in the development of pragmatic competence. System, 33(3), 481-501.
37. Kreuz, R. J., & Roberts, R. M. (1995). Two cues for verbal irony: Hyperbole and the ironic tone of voice. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 10(1), 21-31.
38. Kubota, M. (1995). Teachability of conversational implicature to Japanese EFL learners. Institute for Research in Language Teaching Bulletin, 9, 35-67.
39. Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
40. Li, W. (2015). Effective Teaching in the Use of Pragmatic Markers for Chinese EFL Learners. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 3(11), 822-829. doi: 10.13189/ujer.2015.031107
41. Matsumura, S. (2001). Learning the rules for offering advice: A quantitative approach to second language socialization. Language Learning, 51(4), 635-679. doi: 10.1111/0023-8333.00170
42. Matsumura, S. (2007). Exploring the aftereffects of study abroad on interlanguage pragmatic development. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4(2), 167-192. doi: 10.1515/IP.2007.010
43. Murray, J. C. (2011). Do bears fly? Revisiting conversational implicature in instructional pragmatics. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 15(2), 1-30.
44. Quaglio, P. (2009). Television dialogue: The sitcom Friends vs. natural conversation (Vol. 36). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing.
45. Rinnert, C., & Kobayashi, H. (1999). Requestive hints in Japanese and English. Journal of Pragmatics, 31(9), 1173-1201.
46. Roever, C. (2005). Testing ESL pragmatics. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang.
47. Roever, C. (2011). Testing of second language pragmatics: Past and future. Language Testing, 28(4), 463-481. doi: 10.1177/0265532210394633
48. Roever, C. (2013). Assessment of pragmatics. In A. J. Kunnan (Ed.). The companion to language assessment (Volume 1, pp.125-139), Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. doi:10.1002/9781118411360.wbcla057
49. Rose, K. R. (2001). Compliments and compliment responses in film: implications for pragmatics research and language teaching. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 39(4), 309-326. doi: 10.1515/iral.2001.007
50. Rose, K. R. (2005). On the effects of instruction in second language pragmatics. System, 33(3), 385-399. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2005.06.003
51. Searle, J. R. (1975). Indirect speech acts. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics, Vol. 3: Speech Acts (pp. 59-82) New York, NY: Academic Press.
52. Segueni, L. (2014). Developing Pragmatic Competence in the EFL Context: Opportunities and Challenges. Sciences Humaines, 35, 7-23.
53. Taguchi, N. (2005). Comprehending implied meaning in English as a foreign language. The Modern Language Journal, 89(4), 543-562. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2005.00329.x
54. Taguchi, N. (2008). The role of learning environment in the development of pragmatic comprehension: A comparison of gains between EFL and ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30(4), 423-452. doi: 10.1017/S0272263108080716
55. Taguchi, N. (2011a). The Effect of L2 Proficiency and Study‐Abroad Experience on Pragmatic Comprehension. Language Learning, 61(3), 904-939. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00633.x
56. Taguchi, N. (2011b). Teaching pragmatics: Trends and issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 289-310. doi: 10.1017/S0267190511000018
57. Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(1), 1-50. doi: doi.org/10.1017/S0261444814000263
58. Takahashi, S. (2010). Assessing learnability in second language pragmatics. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Pragmatics across languages and cultures: Handbook of pragmatics, Vol. 7 (pp. 391–421). Berlin, Germany: de Gruyter Mouton.
59. Tatsuki, D., & Nishizawa, M. (2005). A comparison of compliments and compliment responses in television interviews, film, and naturally occurring data. In D. Tatsuki (Ed.), Pragmatics in language learning, theory, and practice (pp. 87-97). Tokyo, Japan: JALT Pragmatics SIG.
60. Tercanlioglu, L. (2005). Pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about foreign language learning and how they relate to gender. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 3(5), 145-162.
61. Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91-112. doi: 10.1093/applin/4.2.91
62. Vasquez, C., & Sharpless, D. (2009). The role of pragmatics in the Master’s TESOL curriculum: Findings from a nationwide survey. TESOL Quarterly, 43(1), 5–28. doi: 10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00225.x
63. Vellenga, H. (2004). Learning pragmatics from ESL & EFL textbooks: How likely. TESL-EJ, 8(2), 1-18.
64. Verschueren, J. (2009). Introduction: The pragmatic perspective. In J. Verschueren & J. O. Ostman (Eds.), Key notions for pragmatics: Handbook of pragmatics highlights 1 (pp. 1-27). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing.
65. Washburn, G. N. (2001). Using situation comedies for pragmatic language teaching and learning. TESOL journal, 10(4), 21-26.
66. Wyner, L., & Cohen, A. D. (2015). Second language pragmatic ability: Individual differences according to environment. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 5(4), 519-556.