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 quasiexperimental 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.

How Qualitative Inquiry Can Enlighten Instructional Pragmatics: An Example from a Case of Teaching Implicatures

“…On the other hand, as hinted above, another key finding in Bouton's studies (Bouton, 1994(Bouton, , 1999 was that formulaic implicatures can be taught, which would call for comprehensive instructional studies as the project in question is. In this regard, the covered implied meanings, which are Pope Questions, Indirect Criticism, Verbal Irony, Indirect Refusals, Topic Change, Disclosures, Indirect Requests and Indirect Advice (Bouton, 1994(Bouton, , 1999Colston, 2000;Matsumura, 2001Matsumura, , 2007Rinnert & Kobayashi, 1999;Roever, 2005;Taguchi, 2005), were either ones that had already been reported as formulaic in the related literature or those that were tested and mostly confirmed in terms of being formulaic and teachable (Cetinavci, 2019;Cetinavci & Ozturk, 2017) (see the Appendices for exemplificative figures on the steps taken to teach the covered implicatures).…”

“…In view of what has been outlined heretofore, and given that the aim was to complement a project for teaching implicatures (Cetinavci, 2018(Cetinavci, , 2019Cetinavci & Ozturk, 2017) with qualitative inquiry, the implied meanings designated to be covered for research were those defined as formulaic, thus teachable implicatures in Bouton's (1994) seminal work. These are based on a formula of some sort crucial to effective interpretation, which might prove exceedingly difficult for learners and not susceptible to exposure effects (Bouton, 1994;Nigar, 2019).…”

“…Mixed methods research, on the other hand, has a great potential in the quest for accountability for educational quality (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). Accordingly, in order to contribute to filling the abovementioned research gaps with an exemplary practice of quality assurance in teaching implicature comprehension, this qualitative study investigated the interpretation strategies after a project on teaching implicature (Cetinavci, 2018(Cetinavci, , 2019Cetinavci & Ozturk, 2017) and revealed how attributable the performance changes were to the instructional kit itself, which had been intended as a tangible innovative product for enhancing pragmatic competence.…”

“…Regardless of whether the empirical focus is merely on interpretation or interpretation after instruction, provided that the under-researched nature of pragmatic comprehension and underlying processes are discovered in depth, it can be easier to facilitate the development of pragmatic competence (Malmir & Derakhshan, 2020) with intercultural training and policy making (Nigar, 2019). Accordingly, in order to have a role in bridging the abovementioned research gap, this qualitative study was carried out to investigate the pragmatic comprehension strategies launched after a project on teaching implicature (Cetinavci, 2018(Cetinavci, , 2019Cetinavci & Ozturk, 2017) and to reveal how attributable the performance changes were to the instructional assets. These had been developed by the researcher as an innovative product meant to be useful for any English language teaching or teacher training program concerned to help students enhance their pragmatic competence.…”

Motion Graphic Animation Videos to Improve the Learning Outcomes of Elementary School Students

“…A teacher must maintain students' interest in learning, teach students to learn and develop their desire to learn, to find satisfaction in learning from the first lesson in their school life (Yakovleva & Goltsova, 2016). The activity of these students needs to be stimulated with interesting and meaningful learning (Cetinavci, 2019). The contents of the basic education program reflect life.…”