Developing Pragmatic Competence in Iranian EFL Classrooms

Authors

  • Husain Abdulhay Dept. of English Language Translation, Payame Noor University, Iran

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53555/es.v2i3.223

Keywords:

Pragmatic competence,, dialog, speech acts,, classroom-based instruction

Abstract

The study sought to discern how the explicit teaching of the speech acts of opening and closing conversations facilitated by teacher influences the performances of Iranian EFL learners. Four activities were incorporated into the set program: translating a conversation from Persian into English, developing the conversation and in the end doing the role play. Participants were divided into a treatment and a control group (32 and 13) respectively and their performances were measured by a pre- and a post-test requiring the students to perform a dialog with their peers to score the
presence and appropriateness of opening and closing and elaborating them according to situations in their tasks. The findings yielded that treatment group utilized more elaborate opening and closing elements. The results support and extend prior research on the effectiveness of classroom-based instruction for EFL learners’ pragmatic development.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bardovi-Harlig, K., Hartford, B. A. S., Mahan-Taylor, R., Morgan, M. J., & Reynolds, D. W. (1996). Developing pragmatic awareness: Closing the conversation. In T.Ê Hedge & N. Whitney (Eds.), Power, pedagogy, and practice (pp. 324–337).Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Reprinted from ELT Journal, Vol. 45, pp. 4–15,1991.).

Brown, H.D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.).White Plains, NY.: Addison Wesley Longman.Bulut, Talat., Bilgin, Selcuk., and Uysal Huseyin(2014).Developing Pragmatic Skills and Conversational Strategies in Speaking Competence. Humanizing language teaching. 16(4).

Edwards, M. (2003).How Are You, Auntie Elizabeth?In Teaching pragmatics, ed. Bardovi-Harlig,K. and Mahan-Taylor, R.. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State Office of English Language Programs: http://exchanges.state.gov/ education /engteaching/pragmatics.htm.

Edwards, M. and Csizér, K. (2001). Opening and closing the conversation–how course-book dialogues can be implemented in the classroom.Novelty 8 (2): 55–66.

Eslami-Rasekh, Zohreh. , Eslami-Rasekh, Abbas., and Azizollah Fatahi (2004). The effect of explicit metapragmatic instruction on the speech act awareness of advanced EFL students. Electronicjournal of teaching of Engliah as a second or foreign language.Vol. 8. No. 2.

Kaburise, Phyllis (2014). Using explicit and implicit instruction to develop pragmatic ability in non-urban classrooms in South Africa. Mediterranean journal of social sciences, 5 (23) 1235-1241.

Kasper, G. (1997). Can pragmatic competence be taught?. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

Mohammed, M (2012). Teachability of pragmatic competence: The impact of explicit instruction on the development of Iraqi Freshman EFL learners’ pragmatic competence. Basrah University.Schegloff, E. A. and Sacks,H (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica 8 (4): 289–327.

Tarone, Elaine(1983). Some thoughts on the notion ofcommunication strategy. TESOL Quarterly15, 285-295.

Varadi, T.(1973). Strategies oftarget language leanercommunication. Message adjustment . Paper presented at the sixth conference of the Romaniann English linguistics project. Reprinted 1980in the international review o applied linguistics 26:281-295.

Downloads

Published

2016-03-31

How to Cite

Abdulhay, H. (2016). Developing Pragmatic Competence in Iranian EFL Classrooms. International Journal For Research In Educational Studies, 2(3), 01–14. https://doi.org/10.53555/es.v2i3.223