Abstract-The present study examined the impact of pragmatic consciousness-raising activities on EFL learners' immediate and delayed performance of suggestions, using a pretest, treatment, posttest design. Two intact classes consisting of 52 Iranian intermediate EFL learners during an intensive English course were assigned as an experimental group with 27 learners and a control group with 25 learners. A Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) was given to both groups prior to the intervention that revealed no significant difference between the groups' pragmatic performance. The experimental group then underwent an eightweek pragmatic consciousness-raising treatment on the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic features of performing suggestions. After the completion of the intervention, a posttest and, after eight weeks, a delayed posttest was given to both groups to examine the effectiveness of the PCR intervention. The analyses of the scores of the groups revealed that first, the treatment was effective on the EFL learners' pragmatic performance and second, the treatment significantly enhanced the experimental group's ability to produce appropriate suggestions. Also, the study showed that the trend of structure and strategy use by learners in the treatment group changed as a result of the PCR treatment from the pretest to posttest and delayed posttest conditions. This study showed that consciousness-raising at the metapragmatic level improved EFL learners' pragmatic performance and variety of form-strategy use substantially; thus, it should be taken more seriously in L2 instruction and material development.
This paper analyses and upgrades taxonomies of strategies and structures for the speech act of suggesting based on existing taxonomies and classifications in the pragmatics research literature. Previous studies have focused mainly on linguistic structures used to perform the speech act of suggesting. Thus, there seems to be a need to provide a more comprehensive set of taxonomies for structures as well as strategies that can be used in EFL/ESL classrooms and for research on the speech act of suggesting. To this end, the speech act of suggesting is defined first and the features of this speech act are discussed. Second, the most recent classifications proposed for structures and linguistic realization strategies for suggestions were analysed and contrasted and a more comprehensive taxonomy of structures and linguistic realization strategies is provided, based on previous taxonomies. Finally, taxonomy of politeness strategies in making suggestions are provided, based on recent studies in cross-cultural pragmatics research.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.