Pragmatic competence is an essential component in communicative competence (Bachman & Palmer, 2010; Canale, 1983). Therefore, teaching pragmatic knowledge plays an important role in a foreign language curriculum, particularly in teaching English as a ForeignLanguage (EFL). However, there exists a lack of literature about the teaching of pragmatics with little empirical research on teachers’ and learners’ perceptions in Iran. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of focus-on-form instruction (FFI) speech acts on Iranian EFL learners’ pragmatic competence. Cooperative grouping, role plays, and other pragmatically oriented tasks were used to promote the learning of the intended speech acts. To come up with conclusive and persuasive findings, 132 Iranian male and female learners, intermediate- above, served as the subjects. The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to evaluate the participants’ language proficiency level. Teachers’ and students’ questionnaires about the instructions and teachers’ interview were used as the instruments in this study. Data collected by different instruments were analyzed and compared by way of a mixed method and. then was triangulated to enhance its validity and reliability. The finding of the study showed that explicitness leads to better pragmatic knowledge development than the implicit knowledge. 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 study aims to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ perception and instructional practices towards form-focused instruction of speech acts specifically request, apology and invitation. To this aim, through sequential explanatory mixed methods design the researchers used criterion sampling and 30 English language instructors in Islamic Azad University (IAU) of North Tehran Branch served as the subjects. To attain general perception and teaching practices of instructors towards form-focused instruction of speech acts, they were asked to answer a pragmatic questionnaire. Besides, in order to achieve an enhanced awareness concerning instructors’ perceptions and practices regarding form-focused instruction a semi-structured interview was conducted for the same 30 English language instructors. Finally, six classes were observed by the investigators through convenience sampling. Likewise, through the triangulation approach, the investigators studied and merged the required data. The statistical results of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis revealed that form-focused instruction of speech acts is mostly focused by the Iranian EFL instructors. Most of them agreed with the use of explicit strategies for instructing request, apology and invitation speech acts rather than implicit strategies. Additionally, the explicit strategies were used by most of the instructors in EFL classes. The results of the current study are beneficial for syllabus directors and scholastic administrators to have a different outlook towards the curricula and textbooks' content, particularly for EFL settings.

Mastery over speech acts plays a significant role in the accomplishment of communication between interlocutors. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate Iranian EFL Instructors' perception and instructional practices towards form-focused instruction of speech acts, specifically request apology and invitation. To this aim, through a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the present researchers selected 30 English language instructors in Islamic Azad University (IAU) of North Tehran Branch based on criterion sampling as the study participants. All the participants completed an adapted version of Pragmatic Knowledge Questionnaire (PKQ), and were successively interviewed in terms of their claimed perceptions and practices regarding form-focused instruction of speech acts through a semi-structured interview. Finally, six classes were observed by the researchers to get informed of their real classroom practices. The results of data analyses were then triangulated, and the findings revealed that Iranian EFL instructors used explicit strategies rather than implicit strategies to instruct speech acts in their classes. Also, they presumed and agreed that explicit instruction is more effective since this technique seems to be easier, understandable and without ambiguity for the learners. The results of the current study are beneficial for EFL instructors, syllabus designers, materials developers, and scholastic administrators to enrich the current English language teaching curricula.