ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND LAW, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

INVESTIGATING THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPING PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE OF EFL STUDENTS: THE CASE OF ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL IN ADAMA

By KORIE SHANKULIE Advisor: HAILELEUL ZELEKE (PHD)

JUNE 2012

INVESTIGATING THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPING PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE OF EFL STUDENTS: THE CASE OF St. JOSEPH SCHOOL IN ADAMA

By Korie Shankulie

A Thesis Submitted to School of Humanities and Law, Department of English in partial fulfillment for the requirement of Master of Arts degree (MA) in English

JUNE 2012 Adama

Declaration I declare that the research paper hereby submitted to Adama science and Technology University for the degree, Masters of English has not previously been submitted by me or anyone else for a degree at this university or any other university, but it is my own work in design and execution and that all materials contained therein HAVE been fully acknowledged.

____________________________ Korie Shankulie

___________________________ Date

ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND LAW DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH (GRADUATE PROGRAM)

Investigating the Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Pragmatic Competence of EFL Students: the Case of St. Joseph School in Adama

By Korie Shankulie

Approved by the Board of Examiners:

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Advisor _________________________________________ ______________________

External Examiner __________________________________________ _______________________

Internal Examiner __________________________________________ _______________________

Acknowledgments
I sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Haileleul Zeleke, for his insightful comments, professional guidance and detailed advice throughout the development of this thesis. I remain greatly indebted to him again for his fruitful comments and suggestions at the very earliest stage of the thesis. I am very much indebted to the kindness, patience and warm-welcome he has shown me in the course of time.

I owe my gratitude to Dr. Luc Journe, for his constructive comments reading the first three chapters of this work.

I am also grateful to my friends: Muktar Hussein, and Taddele Mognehode, for their enthusiasm and warm-hearted encouragement.

I would like to express my particular gratitude to my mother, Soreti Dewano, for her unfailing moral support.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge all the students and teachers who completed the questionnaires. My thanks especially go to those teachers who allowed me to observe their classes.

Korie Shankulie,

-I-

List of Figures and Tables

List of Figures Page

Figure 1.Models of Communicative Competence..17

List of Tables
Table 1. Checklists for Absence or Presence of the Pragmatic Features.................................................62 Table2.Communicative Acts in the Textbooks...........................................................................................64 Table 3.Frequency Communicative Acts in each textbooks...69 Table 4.Pragmatic Contents of Grade 10th English textbook....70 Table 5.Grade11Textbook Pragmatic contents.74 Table 6.Challenges related to Teachers Training Programs...........74 Table 7.Whether any lesson received helped the teachers or not..............72 Table 8.Challenges related to Students Textbooks....76 Table 9. Do the teachers include any lesson in their daily plan to teach pragmatics?.............................76 Table 10.Why teachers do not teach pragmatic aspect of English language?..........................................77 Table11.General Perception of Teachers about opportunities to learn pragmatics in EFL context78 Table12. Classroom Observation Results..80 Table 13.Learners Language Skills Proficiency Background..83 Table 14.Exposure to the English Language outside the Classroom84 Table 15. Learners Self-perceived Sociolinguistic Competence..86 Table 16. Learners Self-perceived Discourse Competence..........88 Table 17. Learners Self-perceived Pragmatic Competence.89 Table 18.Scaling the difficulty Level of Communicative Acts....92 -II-

Table 19. Table 19. MDCT Score Description..99 Table 20. The MDCT score of the students by group.........100 Table 21. Summary of MDCT Situation and the Weight of Distance, Power, and Rank of Imposition....101 Table 22.Sources of Students Pragmatic Knowledge.101

-III-

List of Acronyms Used L1..first language

L2. second language

FL foreign language

EFL English as a foreign language

ILPinterlingual/language pragmatics

SLA..second language acquisition

SPCCself-perceived communicative competence

MDCTmultiple choice discourse completion test

-IV-

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities for teaching pragmatics in EFL context. Learners often find the area of language use difficult. Teachers are advised to explicitly teach pragmatic features of language and make use of authentic models of language to help learners practice using appropriate language in social contexts. In spite of this, information about pragmatic aspect of language and pragmatic-focused instruction is lacking in an EFL Ethiopian context classroom. Textbooks and teachers are an integral part of language teaching in general in an EFL setting where there are no opportunities to learn the language informally outside the classroom. However, the textbooks almost never provide adequate pragmatic information for students to develop successfully their pragmatic competence. The findings indicated that there is a scarcity of pragmatic information contained in the English for Ethiopia, and the variety of pragmatic information is limited. Most of the metalanguage explanations are simple; and there are no metapragmatic explanations at all. It is fairly possible to infer from the teachers response that well-designed teacher training and teaching materials should be in place for teachers to develop students pragmatic competence. Moreover, the teaching hours to cover the issue of pragmatics; thus, to properly manage each lesson may solve the current problem of teaching pragmatics in the classroom. The results of this study also showed that teachers seldom use pragmatic instruction in classrooms, and mostly students have to spend time by themselves developing pragmatic competence without explicit instruction. Overall, the pragmatics instruction is immature and needs to be developed, and teachers need professional training to be aware of how to teach pragmatics effectively. Although the learners self-perceived competence mean score was high, their MDCT result was low; and this confirmed that self-perceived competence and the actual performance never match. This is why according to Dewaele (2007) higher levels of self-perceived competence are linked to lower levels of communication which in fact has to be further investigated in our own context. The research was entirely qualitative except that some simple statistical calculations were used to compute the frequency, mean and percentage of the numerical data. The data were drawn from the content analysis of two student textbooks (grade 10 &11), responses of four teachers teaching grade 912 and self-perceived competence and pragmatic awareness test results of 183 students. The findings of this study have implications for teaching pragmatics to EFL learners, the development of pragmaticfocused materials, future research and well-designed teacher training. -V-

Table of contents
Page Acknowledgements.I List of Tables and Figures.II Acronyms...IV Abstract..V CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION1 1.1.Background.1 1.2. The Rationale for the Current Research3 1.3.Statement of the Problem...4 1.4.Objectives of the Study..8 1.4.1.General objective..8 1.4.2.Specific objectives8 1.5.Research Questions9 1.6.Significance of the Study...9 1.7.Delimitation of the Study..10 1.8.Limitation of the Study.10 1.9.Organization of the Study.11 1.10. Definitions and Abbreviations...12 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.13 2.1.Communicative Competence.13 2.2. Communicative Performance15 2.3.Models of Communicative Competence15

2.4. Pragmatics.17 2.4.1.Dimensions of Pragmatics18 2.4.2.Pragmatic Competence.19 2.4.3.The Importance of Teaching Pragmatics..19 2.4.4.Teachability of Pragmatics in EFL Setting..................21 2.4.5.Pragmatic Instructions: Explicit vs. Implicit23 2.5.Communicative Function (Speech Acts)24 2.5.1.Describing Speech Acts.25 2.5.1.1.Speech Acts of Apology..26 2.5.1.2.Speech Acts of Compliments..28 2.5.1.3.Speech Acts of Complaints.31 2.5.1.4.Speech Acts of Refusals..33 2.5.1.5.Speech Acts of Requests..34 2.5.1.6.Speech Acts of Gratitude.35 2.6.Challenges for Teaching Pragmatics...38 2.6.1.Challenge Related to Course Books39 2.6.2.Challenge Related to Courses in Teachers Training39 2.6.3.Challenge Related to Language Class Size..41 2.6.4.Challenge Related to Teachers' Sense of Self-Efficacy...41 2.6.5.Challenge Related to the Attitude toward English Language..41 2.6.6.Learners Level of Target Language Proficiency.42 2.6.7.Challenge Related to Pragmatics Teaching Methods...42 2.6.8.Challenge Related to the Availability of Authentic Inputs...43

2.7.Possibilities/Opportunities for Teaching Pragmatics in EFL Classroom.44 2.7.1.The Role of Language Teachers Talk45 2.7.2.The Role of Textbooks........46 2.7.3.The Role of Culture.47 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS AND PROCEDURES OF THE STUDY.50 3.1. Methods of the Study50 3.2. Research Design50 3.3. Procedures of the Study50 3.4. The Data51 3.4.1. Content Analysis Sampling Process..52 3.4.1.1. Sampling Units for the Content Analysis.....52 3.4.1.2. Data Coding Scheme for Content Analysis.53 3.4.1.3. Procedure of Content Analysis....53 3.5. Participants..54 3.6. Procedure for Collecting Data54 3.6.1. Data Sources.54 3.6.2. Research Setting..................54 3.6.3. Sampling..................55 3.7. Tools of Data Collection55 3.7.1. Questionnaire..............55 3.7.2. Classroom Observation.56 3.7.3. Discourse Completion Test..............56 3.7.4. Content Analysis...........57

3.8. Procedure for Data Analysis.59 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION..60 4.1. Pragmatic Content Analysis of the Textbooks......................................................................61 4.2. Pragmatic Features Contained in each Textbooks.................................................................69 4.3. Questionnaires for Teachers.......................................................................................73 4.4. Classroom Discourse Observation.............................................................................79 4.5. MDCT for Students....................................................................................82 4.6. Learners Self-perceived Communicative Competence............................................85 4.7. MDCT Scores and Descriptions.97 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...103 5.1. Summary of Research Results....................................................................................103 5.2. Conclusions.................................................................................................................104 5.3. Recommendations.......................................................................................................106 5.4. Implications.................................................................................................................110 Bibliography................................................................................................................................I-XXV Appendices..I-XXII Appendix 1: Textbooks Pragmatic Content Evaluation Checklist.I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for Teachers.....................III Appendix:3 MDCT for Learners.VII Appendix:4 Classroom Observation ChecklistXIII Appendix:5 Communicative Acts in the Textbooks.....XV Appendix:6 Self-perceived Competence Questionnaire ..................XX

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background Learning a foreign language is regarded nowadays as an essential component in the curricula at different educational levels. In particular, learning the English language has become necessary given its widespread use throughout the world according to House and Kasper (see, Martinez-Flor, 2004). However, in order to make learners become communicatively competent in the English language, there is a shift from previous theoretical frameworks, which considered language as a formal system based on grammatical rules, towards a more communicative perspective (ibid). Alcaraz (see, Martinez-Flor, 2004) points out that the shift from language usage rule to language use rule was possible due to the advent of pragmatics as a specific area of study within linguistics that favored a focus on interactional and contextual factors of the target language (TL). English is more of a foreign language than a second language in Ethiopia. This mainly is because English is used so infrequently in daily life outside the classroom and students do not have the opportunity to learn the language informally. Thus, the main way students have been expected to learn English has been by using it as a medium of instruction. As put forward by Heugh, K. (2006) role of English in Ethiopia, at least outside the educational system, resembles more closely that of countries where English is considered as a foreign language than that of countries where it is considered a second language used relatively widely as a lingua franca (e.g. In some urban settings in Kenya). Contrary to this Amlaku (2011) argues that speaking English, or at least mixing English while using a local language, is perceived by the majority of the societies as a sign of being educated and modernized. Despite all weaknesses, English is increasingly getting acceptance and stamina in Ethiopia for purposes of both domestic and foreign interactions and transaction other than in the educational contexts as subject and medium of instruction. As international and cross-cultural communication has become part of everyday life in Ethiopia, pragmatic competence should be an important asset to a person and thus, rehearsing pragmatic skills alongside other linguistic aspects should be one of the objectives of language teaching in formal education. In Ethiopia, formal instruction of English or the learning environment, most commonly comprises of a non-native language teacher, a fairly large classroom full of learners with very dissimilar aptitudes, and the teaching materials, which refer to anything that can be used to facilitate

the learning of a language, such as textbooks, printouts, or grammar books. Teaching authentic language use, which resembles the way the language is used in the real world outside the classroom, in these circumstances is very challenging and the teaching materials should play an integral role in offering the students a model of real-life language use. Although language teachers have the right to develop their own materials, the most commonly used materials are only published textbooks. As Vellegna (2004) aptly points out, the textbook is often the very center of the curriculum and syllabus. In such cases, textbooks used should be carefully designed, to make sure that they are perfectly in line with the learning objectives and learners need. Basically, the chosen textbook should provide all the important linguistic inputs outlined for each stage of learning and life outside the school. However, studies have shown (for example Vellegna 2004, Peiying, 2007; 2008) that textbooks rarely provide enough information for learners to successfully acquire pragmatic competence. Similarly, knowledge about how conversations work and what the sociocultural norms and practices are in each communication culture is often inadequately presented in the textbook contents (Bardovi-Harling 2001:25). In order for students to learn how language really works, they need authentic materials of authentic communication situations. The demand for pragmatic input is particularly relevant when upper secondary school teaching materials are concerned, because at this level, students are expected to be quite proficient language users. In other words, at upper secondary school stage, they are at an advanced level and competent to understand the subtleties of English. Most students in upper secondary school study English as their compulsory language, that is, the language that has started in the lower stage of the comprehensive school and that is obligatory to all students. Practicing pragmatic abilities in a classroom requires student-centered interaction. The teaching materials should provide a relatively wide range of exercises designed to rehearse the sociopragmatic knowledge of students. In a similar vein, Kasper (1997) suggests the inclusion of activities such as role-play, simulation, and drama to engage students in different social roles and speech events. The activities in the textbooks provide valuable opportunities to practice the pragmatic and sociolinguistic skills that students need in their everyday interactions outside the classroom.

Pragmatic competence can also be acquired through raising awareness on the pragmatic aspects of second/foreign language, and in this process, the metalanguage, that is, a language which is used to describe language (Lyons 1995: 7), can assist significantly. In teaching and learning of any language, metalanguage is essential, both in classroom interaction and within the teaching materials. In language instruction context, metalanguage helps the learners to understand the key elements of the target language and the major differences between the target language and the learners L1. Evidently, as the learners metalinguistic awareness increases, the level of language proficiency increases as well (Renou 2001: 261), and therefore the teaching materials should be rich in pragmatic metalanguage and teachers should also be aware of the significant role of learning pragmatics. In conclusion, this study entirely focused on challenges and opportunities for teaching pragmatic competence. Besides, it was the intent of this research to evaluate teachers perception of the textbooks content in terms of their pragmatic content. Furthermore, it was the concern of this study to look at what teachers think are impediments for them to deliver pragmatic instructions in the EFL setting. 1.2. The Rationale for the Current Research It is might be questioned that why some researches of this kind are conducted and what main cause motivated the researcher to study the problem in question. Hence, this research has its own grounds to be conducted for. 1. The first motive of conducting this research largely grew from a belief that the teaching of vocabulary and grammar is not enough to enable learners to become competent and naturalistic users of English. 2. The other rationale is to provide enough information or basic guidelines for teachers to start tackling the area of pragmatics in the classroom; at least in an informed, logical and confident pedagogical manner. 3. It is also necessary to provide some basic or essential information on pragmatics, and to be of practical use to teachers who are interested in, but have little knowledge of, pragmatics in a foreign language context. Many literatures depict that people who are trained with pragmatics are finding more positions related to teaching, research, editing, forensics, trade, negotiation, corpus analysis, computer

programming, among other things. Indeed it is related to any work with a touch of language. To this end, the study aims at investigating the challenges side by side with the opportunities/possibilities of developing pragmatic competence of learners in an EFL context. 1.3. Statement of the Problem Learning a language is more than just acquiring a simple understanding of the rules of grammar; learners must be able to use the language as well. This use is needed far beyond the classroom, in a variety of situations, where politeness and tact will help soothe tensions and open doors for communication. Each context has its unique traits that require unique forms of language. Pragmatic ability is this context-dependent use of language (Christiansen, 2003:1). If language learners want to function smoothly in a society, their pragmatic ability is of utmost importance. Wolfson (see, Christiansen, 2003) points out: People do not normally take offense or make negative character judgments when a nonnative speaker mispronounces a word or when grammatical errors are made; indeed, such differences as those which result in a foreign accent are often found very charming. Errors in rules of speaking are a very different matter. An inappropriate question or the failure to utter the customary apology, compliment, or congratulations will not be judged as an error natural to the process of language learning or indeed, of intercultural differences, but as a personal affront. (p. 1). Pragmatic ability is not only fundamental to the smooth functioning of society; it is also a crucial skill for students who intend to study abroad in another language. According the body of literatures, although it is such an important aspect of language, pragmatics did not receive considerable attention in the English as foreign language contexts. For example, (Peiying, 2007 and 2008; and Vellegna, 2004) evaluating the pragmatic content of the English language textbooks, found respectively: neither English textbooks nor English classroom teaching provide adequate pragmatic input to learners with regards to quantity and quality of pragmatic input, the extent of pragmatic knowledge in college English textbooks and classroom teaching is limited and predominantly concentrates on metapragmatic information, metalanguage, speech acts, cultural information, pragmatic information in the textbooks and classroom teaching is randomly distributed,

 the pragmatic input is taught explicitly with limited tasks and task varieties, the content(information-based) approach reflecting an information-transmission model neglects the appropriate use of the target language, essential for effective communication, and affords students with few opportunities for interactive learning and the use of English for real purpose.

textbooks include a paucity of explicit metapragmatic information, and teachers manuals rarely supplement adequately (Vellegna, 2004).

The above mentioned research findings in other words could be challenges to teaching pragmatics in an EFL context. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of research on pragmatics in the setting of the current research. Pragmatics plays a very important role in the process of language teaching and learning because it draws the teachers attention to the development of the learners communicative competence, which is now considered the goal of the language teaching process (Celce-Murcia, et.al. 1995; Vellegna, 2004; Garcia, 2004 and Peiying, 2007). English language textbooks present the language to students in terms of written and spoken language, but their presentation of the language may not be as comprehensive as the one students need to succeed in communication. However, textbooks play vital role in English language teaching (ELT), especially in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom where they provide the primary, perhaps the only, form of linguistic input (Kim and Hall, 2002 in both Vellegna, 2004 and Peiying, 2007). Textbooks are, hence, one of the challenges being faced by the teachers because they rarely provide adequate pragmatic information for students to successfully develop their pragmatic competence. Further studies also suggest that teachers seldom bring in outside materials related to pragmatics, as a result of which heavily relying on the contents of the textbooks to teach pragmatic ability is unlikely (Vellegna, 2004). Vellegna again argues that textbook developers could include authentic examples of speech acts and sufficient metaprgamatic explanations to facilitate acquisition of pragmatic competence (2004:1). If both classroom teachers and textbook writers do not strive for the inclusion of pragmatic materials to substantiate the textbooks, students will lose pragmatic ability; the ability to use language appropriately according to the communication situation (Garcia, 2004:1). Garcia further points out that if students do not have the pragmatic ability, they will lack the ability to:

 understand a speakers intentions; interpret a speakers feelings and attitude; differentiate speech act meaning, such as the difference between a direct and commissive; evaluate the intensity of a speakers meaning, such as the difference between a suggestion and a warning; recognize sarcasm, joking, and other facetious behavior; and

be able to respond appropriately (p. 1-2).

Vellegna (2004) opines that acquisition of pragmatic competence in English through textbooks is highly unlikely, given that the amount and quality of pragmatic information provided in the textbooks (p.1). Beside this Peiying (2007:1) asserts there is a dearth of pragmatic information contained in textbooks and the variety of pragmatic information is limited. Peiying further contends that most of the metapragmatic explanations are simple indicating the inadequacy of pragmatic inputs in the textbooks. The current Ethiopian upper secondary schools English textbooks are written by foreigners, yet most materials have been written based on the intuition of the textbook writers (CARLA, 2011:2). There seems to exist a shared belief that native English speakers just know intuitively how to interact in their language and should be able to explain the social use of the language to the learners. However, this commonly shared belief is not necessarily true; in fact, a native speaker's intuition is sometimes unreliable (ibid). By intuition they mean that textbook developers may not have real experience of the textbook users to include good amount of pragmatic lesson in the textbook. Similarly, Rover (see El-okoda, 2010:191) points out that although pragmatic competence is considered to be a major component of communicative competence, little attention has been paid to testing it in the literature. Likewise, EFL student teachers curriculum and in-service professional development program lack the inclusion of good amount of pragmatic aspect of language teaching (Cohen, 2008). In addition, pragmatic errors are more serious than grammatical ones and people who speak with pragmatic errors are often considered impolite; sometimes they could be interpreted as breach of etiquette (Boxer and Pickering, 1995; Bardovi-Harlig and Mahan-Taylor, 2003). Hence, it is imperative for learners to acquire the ability to properly use language.

Equipping Ethiopian students with communicative competence in order to help them communicate effectively in all walks of their lives and international communication is truly essential. English has been used as a medium of instruction from grade 7 or 9 upwards since long time ago, but problems in learning and teaching English have been observed ever since (Jarvis, as cited in Amlaku, 2010) had given his personal account of experiences and observations. Presently, says Amlaku for his part [teachers] at schools and employers in industries have been complaining about the low level English language competence of students and graduates, respectively (p.9). But what are the challenges that pull back language learners not to competently communicate when there is a need to do so? Although there have been studies about communicative language teaching in Ethiopian schools, the investigation on pragmatic information in English textbooks used in Ethiopia has not yet been conducted. Similarly, whether there exist any additional pragmatic features in teachers book as a resource for teachers has not been questioned. Likewise, whether English language teachers bring in outside materials to help learners develop pragmatic competence has not yet been investigated in the setting of the current research. There is paucity of pragmatic contents and their presentations are marginalized as compared to other language items. There are no courses offered to pre-service language teachers in the area of pragmatics as a result of which teachers do not supplement textbook with inputs to help learners acquire pragmatic competence. Although it is vitally important to acquire communicative competence, there are no research emphases in the area of pragmatics in the present research area. The current research, therefore, looks into the challenges and opportunities in teaching pragmatics to language learners in the EFL context and the way forward to it.

1.4. Objectives of the Study

1.4.1. General Objectives of the Study The major objective of the present study was to investigate the challenges of teaching pragmatics in an EFL setting; by means of analyzing textbooks in terms of their pragmatic contents; exploring opportunities/possibilities of teaching pragmatics in an EFL setting; discovering whether students can choose appropriate language in a given situation; and forwarding possible recommendations based on the research results.

1.4.2. Specific Objectives of the Study This study was aimed to evaluate the communicative competence of Ethiopian EFL learners, specifically those in St. Joseph School, through the discourse completion test analysis. In this regard, the present study had three specific objectives: Analyzing English textbooks on the basis of thanking strategies, apologizing strategies, complimenting strategies, complaining strategies, refusing strategies, and requesting strategies presented in Aijmer (1996); and Ishihara and Cohen, (2010). Analyzing the discourse completion data collected from St. Joseph 10th and 11th grade students, Investigating the challenges teachers in EFL setting, particularly those in St. Joseph School, were facing in teaching pragmatic aspects of the English language, Considering these concerns, the aim of this study was two-fold: to deal with those theoretical approaches that inform the process of learning speech acts in particular contextual and cultural settings; and, secondly, to present a variety of methodological proposals, grounded on researchbased ideas, for the teaching of the major pragmatic features in foreign language classrooms. 1.5. Research Questions One of the main purposes of English language education in Ethiopia can be to cultivate the communicative competence of Ethiopian EFL learners. Many innovations have been made to improve English education contexts and cultivate the communicative competence of Ethiopian students. The notion of communicative syllabus has been adopted from various theories of language teaching and learning which in fact reflects this innovation atmosphere of English language education policies in Ethiopia. The notion of communicative competence has had a very powerful influence on every aspect of language teaching. English language textbooks have been published on the basis of communicative syllabus since very recently. Whereas, communicative competence is not on the list of items learned, but a set of strategies for realizing the value of linguistic elements in context of use is on the list Widdowson(see in Chang, 2004:1 ). In order to attain the above objectives, this study attempted to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent do the students textbooks provide pragmatic information for learners to acquire pragmatic competence?

2. What are the challenges perceived by high school teachers to develop students pragmatic competence? 3. How do the teachers perceive students textbooks pragmatic contents-are they challenges or opportunities for them? 4. Do students choose appropriate language based on a provided situation/context? 5. To what extent do teachers consider other possibilities than the textbook, for teaching pragmatics in an EFL setting? 1.6. Significance of the Study The need to teach pragmatics in a target language has been demonstrated in studies conducted in the fields of interlanguage and crosscultural pragmatics which indicate that the performance of pragmatic features may differ considerably from culture to culture, thus creating communication difficulties in cross-cultural encounters. In this research an attempt was made to examine the socio-pragmatic aspect of the students textbook, the challenges faced by teachers and the availability of opportunities to teaching pragmatic competence to EFL learners. Generally, this research is expected to have the following significance: 1. It can help syllabus designers to revise English language syllabuses to include substantial quantity of pragmatic features and the quality of their presentations in the textbooks. 2. The research would also be worthwhile resource for teachers who are interested to develop their own teaching materials for teaching pragmatics/speech acts. 3. The research would be helpful for textbook writers to consider including the substantial amounts of the pragmatic aspect of the English language in the English language textbooks and wishing to have an informed opinion on the pedagogical implications derived from research on pragmatics/speech act performance. 4. It fills the research gap that exists in studying challenges and possibilities to teaching pragmatics in an EFL setting of Ethiopian context. 5. Above all, the research would be of importance for the other researchers to look into the field attentively.

1.7. Delimitation of the Study It is not an easy task to make an investigation of the challenges and opportunities of developing the pragmatic competence in an EFL context. It would have been a good idea if the research work of the present kind had addressed all micro level approaches to pragmatics: indexicals, presupposition, implicature and speech acts. The present research, however, confined itself to the study of pragmatic competence with particular emphasis on some speech acts and challenges to teaching pragmatics along with the existing opportunities, if any, in the context of English as a Foreign Language. Another concern was that it needed sufficient time, human power and financial resources to incorporate all upper high schools in the Adama Town in the current research. 1.8. Limitation of the Study This study was believed to have certain constraints. Researches of the present kind require practical or experimental examination of the respondents awareness of pragmatics aspects of language use. Many such experimental research works are available since the coming into attention of pragmatics beginning from 1970s. In spite of this fact, the search for local research works could not be able to avail any related works undergone at home. This in turn has hampered and limited the depth of the current research. In addition to the above points, lack of both multimedia resources and laboratories for conducting experimental research in the schools while the learners practice language use, was a hurdle for the current research. Furthermore, the research was first designed to be conducted on homemade English language textbooks. Unfortunately, the new textbooks authored by foreign writers came into use in the middle of the research work and they are voluminous in size. This might also throw some light on the result of the present research. Researches in the area of pragmatics (Ishihara, N. and Cohen, A. 2010) recommend that various sources of data can be employed while undertaking a study: intuition and introspection, discourse completion tasks (DCTs), role-plays, recording of natural conversation; and field observation of natural conversation. However, due to the time, financial and material limitations the current research employed only discourse completion tests, questionnaires, textbook content analysis and class observation.

1.9. Organization of the study This study is divided into five chapters. Chapter One, presents an overview of the study in which the background to the research, rationale for the research, the objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study, the limitation of the study as well as the organization of the study were briefly presented. Chapter Two, reviews the theoretical issues relevant to the study including communicative competence, pragmatics and pragmatic competence, speech act of complaining, refusing, apologizing, requesting, complimenting etc. and the challenges and possibilities of teaching pragmatic competence to the EFL learners. Chapter Three, discusses issues of methodology and outlines the study design, data collection instruments, reliability and validity test of the data collection instruments, procedure of data collection, selection of subjects and analytical framework. Chapter Four, presents the data analysis and discusses the findings on the challenges and possibilities of teaching pragmatic competence in EFL setting. Chapter 5, provides an overview of major findings and conclusions, implications, and suggestions for further research.

1.10. Definitions of the Study terms/ Technical Terms (Online Language Dictionaries. http://www.wordreference.com/definition/sociolinguistic) Sociolinguistic/pragmatic transfer: refers to the learners strategy of incorporating native language based elements in target language production and behaviour. Pragmatic failure/deviance: it is a communicative failure that results from lack of compatibility between speakers intent and hearers standards for acceptability. Sociocultural competence: refers to the speakers/writers ability to determine the pragmatic appropriateness of a particular speech act in a given context. Speech act information: speech act information in this study consists of 3 categories-types of speech act, numbers of linguistic form provided for each speech act, and exercises or tasks using the speech acts the students have just learned in each particular unit. Usage: refers to the explanations about the usage of any linguistic forms and of any grammatical features, expressions, phrases, or words which could enhance pragmatic knowledge of the students. Politeness: refers to the use of appropriate language considering different social factors, including social distance, age, role relationships, and so forth, between the speaker and the interlocutor in the given contexts.

Register: refers to the sort of social genre of linguistic use. It comprises three dimensions-field, tenor, and mode. Field refers to the social setting and purpose of the communication. Tenor refers to the relationship between interlocutors or participants in the event. Mode refers to the medium of communication as in spoken or written. Style: refers to variations within registers representing choices along social dimensions. In this study, it refers to the degrees along formality-casualness continuum. Cultural information: in the present study refers only to the information about culture that one has to know and be aware of when communicating verbally in order to avoid pragmatic failure or breakdown in communication. Therefore, other information about cultures, for example, music or food was ignored in the present study. Quality: refers to the amount of details or explanation, the complexity or variety of examples provided in the context. MDCT refers loosely to a pragmatics instrument that requires students to read a written description of a situation and select what would be best to say in that situation from a set of choices.

CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1. Communicative Competence People in virtually all locations of the globe are more mobile than ever, and more likely to traverse into cultures different from their own. Literally and figuratively, the walls that separate us are tumbling down. Though we may not have fully become a "global village," there is no denying that the various cultures of the world are more accessible than ever before, and that the peoples of these cultures are coming into contact at an ever increasing rate. These contacts ultimately comprise interpersonal encounters. Whether it is the negotiation of an arms treaty, or the settlement of a business contract, or merely a sojourner getting directions from a native, cultures do not interact, people do. Communicative/interactional competence in such intercultural context is therefore mandatory. According to Bara (2010) the term competence refers to that abstract set of capacities which the system [communication system] possesses, independently of the actual use to which those capacities are put. Performance, instead, refers to the capacities actually exhibited by a system in action (Bara, 2010:203).Therefore, the term communicative competence is comprised of two words, the combination of which means competence to communicate. Competence is one of the most controversial terms in the field of general and applied linguistics according to various works in the area. In some literature, it is also broadly called intercultural communication competence that it is considered very broadly as an impression that behavior is appropriate and effective in a given context. Normally, competence is considered as ability or a set of skilled behaviors. However, any given behavior or ability may be judged competent in one context, and incompetent in another. Consequently, competence cannot inhere in the behavior or ability itself. It must instead be viewed as a social evaluation of behavior. This social evaluation as pointed out by Spitzberg (2009:380) is composed of the two primary criteria -appropriateness and effectiveness.

As stated by Spitzberg (2009) Appropriateness means: the valued rules, norms, and expectancies of the relationship are not violated significantly. Effectiveness is the accomplishment of valued goals or rewards relative to costs and alternatives. With these dual standards, therefore, communication will be competent in an intercultural context when it accomplishes the objectives of an actor in a manner that is appropriate to the context and relationship (p. 380). The phrase Communicative Competence currently in use was primarily coined by the US anthropologist Dell Hymes according to Leung, C. (2005:2). The notion is intended to replace Noam Chomsky's dichotomy of competence and performance. Competence is the knowledge of rules of grammar, performance, is how the rules are used. Speakers draw on their competence in putting together grammatical sentences, but not all such sentences can be used in the same circumstances: Close the window and would you mind closing the window, please? are both grammatical, but they differ in their appropriateness for use in particular situations. Speakers use their communicative competence to choose what to say, as well as how and when to say it. In the words of Georgakopoulou, and Goutsos, (2001) communicative competence is a relative term in that, for example, a phrase like I think I deserve a drink too could be factually stating the speakers wish to buy herself a drink; or it could be expressing a complaint to the person who has not bought the speaker a drink; or it could be indirectly soliciting the hearers offer (p. 3). Generally, this example may suggest that there is no hope for successful communication in our everyday life, since we can utter so many speech acts in so many different ways. However, surprisingly we do establish the link between linguistic form and function in a specific environment in which they occur and interpret speech acts accurately. Generally, communicative competence is not a matter of knowing rules for the composition of sentences and being able to employ such rules to assemble expressions from scratch as and when occasion requires. It is much more a matter of knowing a stock of partially pre-assembled patterns, formulaic frameworks, and a kit of rules, so to speak, and being able to apply the rules to make whatever adjustments are necessary according to contextual standards Widdowson (1989:135).

2.2. Communicative Performance The idea once competence is acquired, performance will take care of itself is false (see Widdowson in Ohno, 2004). According to Widdowson, there are two distinguished aspects of performance: Use and Usage. Usage makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his/her knowledge of linguistic rules, whereas, Use makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his ability to use the language rules for effective communication. This can be summarized as: Performance Use Usage rules of socioculture rules of grammar social context linguistic context

In keeping with this Ohno (2011) opines that linguistic context focuses on usage to enable the students to select which form of sentence is contextually appropriate, while social context focuses on use to enable the students to recognize the type of communicative function their sentences fulfill(p,28). 2.3. Models of Communicative Competence Life in this contemporary globalized world commands respective challenges in communication and brings nearly everyone into contact with people of other languages and cultures. Through this contact cultures make people require exchanging cognitive notions, thoughts and precepts, and to do so a strong medium is required. Foreign and second language education has developed to unravel the challenges the present and prospective interlocutors encounter, by emphasizing on learning how to communicate successfully with others speaking a different language and living a different culture. On the basis of this reality various authors have developed different models of communicative competence. The first comprehensive model of communicative competence, which was intended to serve both instructional and assessment purposes, is that of Canale & Swain (1980), further elaborated by Canale (1983) as shown in (Kasper and Kenneth 2006; Martinez-Flor & Uso-Juan, 2006 & 2008 and Celce-Murcia, et.al 1995). This model posited four components of communicative competence: 1. Grammatical competence - the knowledge of the language code (grammatical rules, vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, etc.). Grammatical or formal competence, which refers to the Chomskyan concept of linguistic competence(Alptekin, 2002:57); it is the native speakers knowledge of the

syntactic, lexical, morphological, and phonological features of the language, as well as the capacity to manipulate these features to produce well-formed words and sentences. 2. Sociolinguistic competence - the mastery of the sociocultural code of language use appropriate application of vocabulary, register, politeness and style in a given situation). Sociolinguistic competence, as said by (Alptekin, 2002:58), deals with the social rules of language use, which involve an understanding of the social context in which language is used. Such factors as the role of the participants in a given interaction, their social status, and the information they share, and the functions of the interaction are given importance. Social context here refers to the culture-specific context embedding the norms, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of a culture. Appropriate use of the language requires attention to such constructs. Pragmatic knowledge is also subsumed under this model according to Bachman and Palmer (see in Bagaric and Mihaljevic, 2007; Celce-Murcia, 2007). 3. Discourse competence - the ability to combine language structures into different types of cohesive texts (e.g., political speech, poetry). Discourse competence, which is the ability to deal with the extended use of language in context. This is ordinarily achieved through the connection of a series of sentences or utterances to form a meaningful whole. These connections are often quite implicit: ideas are linked to each other based on general knowledge of the world as well as familiarity with a particular context. Where these conceptual and experiential bonds are weak or inadequate, the meanings inferred from them are likely to be erroneous. 4. Strategic competence - the knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies which enhance the efficiency of communication and, where necessary, enable the learner to overcome difficulties when communication breakdowns occur. The summary of various models of communicative competence are presented in the following diagram.

Canale and Swain (1980)

Grammatical Competence Strategic Competence Sociocultural Competence

Canale (1983)
Grammatical Competence Strategic Competence

Bachman and Palmer (1996)

Language Knowledge Organizational Knowledge Grammatical Knowledge

Sociocultural Competence Discourse Competence

Textual Knowledge competence Pragmatic Knowledge

Fig 1. Models of Communicative Competence (in Bagaric and Mihaljevic, 2007:102)

2.4. Pragmatics

Pragma-is etymologically traced back to the Greek language and refers to activity, deed, affairs (Trosborg, 1994:5). However, linguistic pragmatics is to be distinguished from non-linguistic pragmatics, i.e. pragmatics in the domains of the sociologist, psychologist, the ethno methodologist, the literary scholar, and so on. There are numerous definitions of pragmatics, and one of interest in second language pedagogy has been proposed by Crystal (in Kasper and Kenneth, 2001: 2) as the study of language from the point of view of users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction and the effects their use of language has on other participants in the act of communication. In other words, pragmatics is the study of communicative action in its sociocultural context. This seems to deal with what many teachers find a very challenging and complex area; how do we help our students understand what the effects of inappropriate language use will be, how do we equip our students to know when and how to be polite, to be casual, to be direct or authoritative etc. Unanimously (Kasper and Rose, 2001; Rose and Kasper, 2002) indicated that communicative actions include not only using speech acts (such as apologizing, complaining, complimenting, and requesting) but also engaging in different types of discourse and participating in speech events of varying length and complexity in various contexts. According to Andrian, et.al (2003), pragmatics is fundamentally about how the context of use contributes to meaning, both semantic meaning and speakers meaning. The core topics of

pragmatics are indexical, presupposition, implicature, and speech acts, but in reality there is no limit to the ways in which context can influence meaning (163). Fromkin and Others (2011) also contend that pragmatics is concerned with our understanding of language in context. According to them, there are two kinds of contexts that are relevant to understand language. The first is linguistic context-the discourse that precedes the phrase or sentence to be interpreted; the second is situational context-virtually everything nonlinguistic in the environment of the speaker and hearer. Situational context includes the speaker, hearer, and any third parties present, along with their beliefs and their beliefs about what the others believe. It includes the physical environment, the social environment/milieu, the subject of conversation, the time of the day, and so on, and infinitum (p. 167). This implies almost any imaginable extra-linguistic factor may, under appropriate circumstances, influence the way language is interpreted. Almost these all definitions of pragmatics have some features in common i.e. language meaning from the point of its users and various contexts (situations) of language use do exert some sort of pressure on communication meanings. 2.4.1. Dimensions of Pragmatics Basically, the study of pragmatics deals with areas such as deixis, conversational implicature, presupposition, conversational structure/conversation analysis and speech acts. So far various studies have classified components of pragmatics into two based on Leechs and Thomass finding (see in Eslami-Rasekh, 2005): sociopragmatics and pragmalinguistics. According to Alcon and Martinez-Flor, (2008:3) pragmalinguistics refers to the linguistic resources for conveying communicative acts and interpersonal meanings, whereas sociopragmatics refers to the social perceptions underlying participants interpretation and performance of communicative acts. Hence, while dealing with pragmatics attention is paid to consider knowledge of the means to weaken or strengthen the force of an utterance (i.e. pragmalinguistic knowledge) and knowledge of the particular means that are likely to be most successful for a given situation (i.e. sociopragmatic knowledge). Generally, the ability to make appropriate choices from a large range of linguistic forms and pragmatic strategies such as directness/indirectness and routines in the realization of communicative acts is referred to as pragmalinguistics. Sociopragmatics is social assumptions or principles underlying participants interpretation and performance of communicative acts. As such,

sociopragmatics is essentially about appropriate social behavior in a certain speech community which has to do with context that is dealt separately in the forthcoming section. 2.4.2. Pragmatic Competence Kasper says, competence, whether linguistic or pragmatic, is not teachable. Competence is a type of knowledge that learners possess, develop, acquire, use or lose (1997:1). But, why should pragmatic competence be developed? Some works in the area indicate that grammatically correct sentences would not mean appropriate utterances in different contexts because, language use choice is determined or affected by various factors such as social norms, relationship between the interlocutors, shared knowledge /background: baby on sale, social distance between the interactants, age, gender, social power/rank/class, degree of imposition, etc. Similarly, grammatical competence doesnt guarantee pragmatic competence. Learning language involves many aspects: not merely its sounds, words, grammar, meanings, functions, but the social, cultural and discourse conventions. Grammatical development does not guarantee a corresponding level of pragmatic development (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001:14). Knowledge of language that is appropriate to the situations in which one is functioning is a must, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated or to have their messages misunderstood (Eslami-Rasekh, 2005:199). EFL learner may gain comfortable control of the vocabulary and grammar of the language without achieving a comparable control over the pragmatic functional uses of the language (speech acts) (Cohen, 1996:253). 2.4.3. The Importance of Teaching Pragmatics Developing pragmatic competence cannot be achieved overnight unless learners are exposed to and practice authentic language use. What are the goals of teaching pragmatics? What are the ultimate benefits to the learners? English has now acquired the title of the worlds leading global language (Crystal 2003:1) because it is used for business, science, and politics Sonia and Thomas (2009:2). Research into the pragmatic competence of adult foreign and second language learners has demonstrated that grammatical development does not guarantee a corresponding level of pragmatic development Bardovi-Harlig and Dornyei, (see in Eslami-Rasekh, 2005:199) and that even advanced learners may fail to comprehend or to convey the intended intentions and politeness values. It is necessary to understand and create language that is appropriate to the situations in

which one is functioning, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated or to have their message misunderstood (Elslami-Rasekh, 2005:199). Hui (2007) further points out to the following reasons as to why to teach pragmatics in English language classroom: For avoiding miscommunication caused by cultural difference, being familiar with diverse cultures and pragmatics is essential. In other words, the teaching and learning of pragmatics would release the difficulties of international communications for both native and non-native speakers (p. 1). Bardovi-Harlig and Mahan-Taylor (2003), state that the chief goal of instruction in pragmatics is to raise learners pragmatic awareness and give them choices about their interactions in the target language. They further indicate the goal of instruction in pragmatics is not to insist on conformity to a particular target language norm, but rather to help learners become familiar with the range of pragmatic devices and practices in the target language (p. 3). Kondo (see in Bardovi-Harlig and Mahan-Taylor, 2003) argues with such instruction, learners can maintain their own cultural identities and participate more fully in the target language communication, and gain control of the force and outcome of their contributions (p.1). The main objective in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) is to enable students to communicate effectively in many situations and contexts. According to Teresa (2009) this involves being able to control a wide range of language functions, which are how speakers use language for requesting, congratulating, apologizing, complaining, consoling, and promising, among many other functions (p.1). Nowadays, the relationship between pragmatics and language learning and teaching is clear. As Bouton in Guerra (2003) states: Pragmatics and language learning are inherently bound together. Pragmatics provides language teachers and learners with a research based understanding of the language forms and functions that are appropriate to the many contexts in which a language is used-an understanding that is crucial to a proficient speakers communicative competence (p.10).

Generally, pragmatics is needed if we want a fuller, deeper and more reasonable account of human language behavior (Mey, 2001). Furthermore, outside of pragmatics, no understanding; sometimes, a pragmatic account is the only one that makes sense (p.4). Having pragmatic ability means being able to go beyond the literal meaning of what is said or written, in order to interpret the intended meanings, assumptions, purposes or goals, and the kinds of actions that are being performed (Cohen, 2007). 2.4.4. Teachability of Pragmatics in EFL Setting Knowledge without justification is not real knowledge, and pragmatic knowledge is no exception. To act or behave appropriately in out of ones own culture is a demanding task. However, pragmatic ability is part of a learners communicative competence, and it has received attention in the proposed models of communicative competence (Celce-Murcia, Drnyei and Thurrell, 1995 and Celce-Murcia, 2007; Kasper, 1997) questions whether teaching pragmatics is possible or not. However, Brock and Nagasaka (2005), answer the question saying Teaching Pragmatics in the EFL Classroom? SURE You Can! In answering that question, they suggest that teachers should consider adopting the simple acronym S.U.R.E. to guide them as they help their students See, Use, Review, and Experience pragmatics in the EFL classroom (p. 20). See: Teachers can help their students see the language in context, raise consciousness of the role of pragmatics, and explain the function pragmatics plays in specific communicative events. Use: Teachers can develop activities through which students use English in contexts (simulated and real) where they choose how they interact based on their understanding of the situation suggested by the activity. Review: Teachers should review, reinforce, and recycle the areas of pragmatic competence previously taught. Experience: Teachers can arrange for their students to experience and observe the role of pragmatics in communication (p, 21-24). As suggested by Rose (2005: 386), there seem to be three central questions, i.e. whether pragmatics is teachable, whether instruction in pragmatics produces results that outpace exposure alone, and whether different instructional approaches yield different outcomes. First, with regard to the teachability of pragmatics, there is evidence indicating that pragmatics is teachable and that

pedagogical intervention has a facilitative role in learning pragmatics in FL contexts (see BardoviHarlig, 2001; Rose and Kasper 2001). Pragmatics can easily be integrated into any classroom; whether traditional or communicative Bardovi-Harlig, et.al. (2003:1). However, Kasper (2000:1) has argued: In a foreign language situations, students lack the need and opportunity of genuine communication in the target language; therefore, it is nearly impossible for students to develop pragmatic abilitythe ability to interpret utterances in context, especially when what a speaker says is not the same as what the speaker means; to carry out communicative action effectively and interact successfully in different environments and with different participants. Kasper herself has admitted that as an increasing number of studies demonstrate, most of aspects of pragmatics are quite amenable to teaching in foreign language classroom, but with reservation that not all approaches to teaching pragmatics are equally effective (2000:2). It can be argued here again that as it is the case for approaches of presenting pragmatics contents in an EFL classroom, it is also true for the language teaching approach in general that there is no single perfect approach or method or technique to teach language. In fact it is true that unless teachers also know about methods of evaluating students progress in pragmatics, they may be reluctant to focus on

pragmatics in their teaching even though a number of assessment instruments for pragmatics is available now (Kasper, 2001:2). In this case it is arguable that curriculum revision is not complete without an integrated assessment component. The question of teachability of pragmatic competence has inspired a number of research projects exploring the role of instruction in learners pragmatic development. Kasper (1997) for example argues that while competence cannot be taught, students should be provided with opportunities to develop their pragmatic competence. Pragmatics in EFL setting is therefore teachable based on the availability of the opportunities in the teaching environment. 2.4.5. Pragmatic Instructions: Explicit vs. Implicit Pragmatic Instruction Studies propose that learners benefit from attention-drawing activities with pragmatic instruction and appropriate feedback more than being exposed to new language items without any instruction. They show that the target pragmatic features are most effectively learned when they are taught

explicitly using input enhancement techniques. Explicit pedagogic intervention is viewed as necessary in order to develop learners pragmatic ability. Takahashi (see Kasper & Rose, 2001:171-199) argues that the target pragmatic features were found to be most effectively learned when they were under the condition in which a relatively high degree of input enhancement was realized with explicit metapragmatic information. At the same time, the degree of attainment of a second language pragmatic competence is to a certain extent limited in the classroom environment. It is claimed that simple noticing and attention to target pragmatic features in the input do not lead to learning. Tateyama, Kasper, and Thananart (see Kasper& Rose, 2001:200) studied the effects of explicit and implicit instruction in pragmatics with beginning English language learners of Japanese. Their pilot study revealed that the explicit group outperformed the implicit group. The effects of pragmatic instruction on learners were especially apparent in rather complicated situations where the learners benefited from the teachers instruction. Alternatively, Criado (2009:43) suggests that when approaching the learning of functions of language two options are generally considered: explicit and incidental learning. Explicit learning advocates for a conscious presentation of the information to be learned. It is assumed that being conscious and aware of what we have to learn is more efficient for acquisition. On the other hand, explicit attention consumes a lot of time and this slows down the process. Incidental learning advocates usage (meaningful usage, with no explicit information on the words). Various researchers have presented their studies which shed light on various aspects of pragmatic competence and the way to improve that competence through explicit/implicit instruction. Pragmatics should be explicitly taught, no matter how the learners are apt to use that knowledge in their social interactions; because the purpose of teaching pragmatics is to provide learners with explicit knowledge of pragmatics, focusing on teaching sociocultural and pragmalinguistic routines Kawate-Mierzejewska (see JALT, 2001:109). It is clear that the question what aspect of pragmatics should be taught is answered in the sense that when designing tasks that are used to raise learners pragmatic conscious those aspects of pragmatics: socioprgamatics and pragmalinguistics should receive attention. Therefore, conscious raising tasks are important because, (a) it can raise learners awareness about specific sociocultural and pragmalinguistic routines that should be focused, and as a result, (b) it can provide the learners

with explicit sociocultural and pragmalinguistic knowledge about those routines focused on (JALT, 2001:110). Tatsuki, Donna (see, JALT, 2001:912) also discusses three pedagogical foci that are relevant to the teaching of pragmatics. The first one is a focus on form in which metapragmatic explanations are implemented based on the assumption that explicit knowledge can later become implicit. The second is a focus on meaning in which scaffolding was implemented based on the assumption that through social interaction a learner can enlarge his/her repertoire of formulaic expressions. The final focus is on awareness. The assumption is that pragmatic competence will improve if learners become more aware of mismatches between their L1 pragmatic norms and those of the TL. 2.5. Communicative Functions (Speech Acts) An important figure in the development of pragmatics, John Austin (see in Fasold and ConnorLinton, 2006:162) has pointed out that when people use language they are performing a kind of action. The actions are called speech acts. Within the realm of pragmatic ability, the ways in which people carry out specific social functions in speaking such as apologizing, complaining, making requests, refusing things/invitations, complimenting, or thanking have been referred to as speech acts (Cohen, 2007, 2010). When language is used by human beings in real-life situations, there are generally communicative goals associated with every utterance. Speakers express their emotions, ask questions, make requests, and commit themselves to actions - they do things with words. In linguistic pragmatics, we use the term speech act to describe such language actions. A wide range of utterances can qualify as speech acts. Speech-act theory/speech act deals primarily with meaning in communication (as opposed to meaning in language) and thus is part of the pragmatic aspect of a language's meaning-that it relates to the knowledge of the world shared by speakers and hearers, rather than relating to signs and their designations or name (semantic aspect) or to formal relations among signs (syntactic aspect). Semantics should be restricted to assigning interpretations to signs alone-independent of a speaker and hearer.

2.5.1. Describing Speech Acts Under this section we shall discuss descriptions of different situations, which may call for different speech acts. When performing or realizing speech acts, there are commonly identified factors that can either negatively or positively affect the meaning/sense of speech acts in communication. The examples of these factors may include (a) Social status: Relative social status of the speaker/writer and the listener/reader. (b) Distance: Level of social distance and psychological distance (how distant or close the speaker/writer and listener/reader feel to each other). (c) Intensity (power): Intensity of the act (e.g., the magnitude of the imposition in a request or the severity of the infraction in an apology). In the following sub-section we will look at selected speech acts to a certain extent. The CARLA Speech Acts website (http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html/ accessed on 19/10/2011) has descriptions of six speech acts (apologies, complaints, compliments and responses to compliments, requests, refusals, and thanks), with examples from various languages. The amount of information on a given speech act varies greatly depending on the availability of research articles that investigate that speech act. 2.5.1.1. Speech Acts of Apologies Apology is a frequently used speech act which serves different purposes ranging from maintaining polite rituals that could vary from one society to another (social etiquette), to the acknowledgment of serious offences. In spoken and written interactions and in effect in intercultural interactions it becomes relevant to ascertain what conditions must be present for the adequate performance of an apology. This speech act must have the following conditions: a) An act has occurred, b) A believes that the act has offended B, c) A takes responsibility for the act (Fahey, 2005:3). In apologizing, the speaker/writer recognizes the infraction or offense caused through his/her fault and attempts to repair the relationship with the listener/reader. The situation may be fairly tense if the infraction is large or if the listener is in a more powerful position on the social scale than the speaker. What are some routinized patterns in apologies in English and what strategies work most effectively to repair and maintain a good relationship with the listener/reader? Speakers of English language typically use apologies for a variety of reasons or functions. There are three reasons

people typically use apologies for (see http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html) These are: to say that they are sorry, to explain why the offence happened, and to make a repair for the offence and maintain a good relationship with the addressee (see also Cohen and Ishihara 2010:56). Apologies are usually perceived as negative politeness devices that express respect rather than friendliness and apology is considered to be a polite speech act used to restore social relations following an offence (Holmes 1995: 154). Next, Holmes lists three categories of apologies focusing on the relative status of the participants: upward apology is to a superior person of greater power, equal apology is to an equal, and downward apology is to a subordinate or person of lesser power. Complex speech acts like apologies actually consist of a set of strategies that are used by competent speakers of the language with some regularity. There are five relatively typical strategies for making an apology (see http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html): 1. An expression of an apology. The speaker/writer uses a word, expression, or sentence containing a verb such as sorry, excuse, forgive, or apologize. Languages have certain words that are used to express an oral apology more than others. For example, in American English, I apologize . . . is found more in writing than it is in oral language. An expression of an apology can be intensified whenever the apologizer feels the need to do so. Such intensification is usually accomplished by adding intensifiers such as really or very e.g., Im really sorry. 2. Acknowledgment of responsibility. The offender recognizes his/her fault in causing the infraction. The degree of such recognition on the part of the apologizer can be placed on a scale. The highest level of intensity is full acceptance of the blame: Its totally my fault. At a somewhat lower level would be an expression of self-deficiency: I was confused/I didnt see/You are right. At a still lower level would be the expression of lack of intent: I didnt mean to. Lower still would be an implicit expression of responsibility: I could be wrong, but I was sure I had given you the right directions. Finally, the apologizer may not accept the blame at all, in which case there may be a denial of responsibility: It wasnt my fault, or even blaming of the listener: Its your own fault. 3. An explanation or account. The speaker/writer describes the situation which caused him/her to commit the offense and which is used by this speaker/writer as an indirect way of apologizing. The explanation is intended to set things right. For instance, in some cultures this may be a more acceptable way of apologizing than in others (Cohen, 2008:123). Thus, in cultures where public

transportation is unreliable, coming late to a meeting and giving an explanation like, The bus was late, might be perfectly acceptable. 4. An offer of repair. The apologizer makes a bid to carry out an action or provide payment for some kind of damage resulting from his/her infraction. If someone is late for an appointment with a friend s/he might say something like: How can I make it up to you? Can I buy you lunch on Friday? Or why dont I buy you lunch on Friday? Or someone who fails to make it to an appointment might say: Would you be willing to reschedule the meeting? 5. A promise of non-recurrence. The apologizer commits him/herself to not having the offense happen again, which is situation-specific and less frequent than the other strategies. For example, if you bump into a stranger, you are not going to promise you will never do it again, but you might if it is a co-worker who you dont pick up on time. The five major patterns or strategies that make up the apology speech act are almost universally available to speakers/writers, regardless of the language in which they are speaking or writing. Nonetheless, preference for any one of these strategies or for a combination of them will depend on the specific situation a speaker/writer is in within the given language and culture group. (see, http://www.iles.umn.edu/Apolohies/Apologies.htm) In realizing apologies people may use interjections and/or intensifiers. Not only could an intensifier play an important role, but even an interjection like Oh! could have an important role. In fact, there could be times when a well-placed Oh! and an offer of repair could take the place of an expression of apology in English: e.g., Oh! Here, let me help get something on that burn and clean up the mess, as opposed to, Im very sorry that I bumped into you. Other ways of intensifying apologies include expressing explicit concern for the listener and using multiple intensifying strategies. So apologies can be intensified in the following ways: 1. Intensifying the apology expression: (a) Use of adverbials, e.g., Im really sorry. (b) Use of repetition or multiple intensifiers, e.g., Im really very sorry.

In English, there is a difference between very and really, with really implying more regret and very more etiquette. 2. Expressing explicit concern for the listener, e.g., Have you been waiting long? 3. Using multiple intensifying strategies, e.g., Im so sorry. Are you all right? Im terribly sorry. (see, http://www.iles.umn.edu/Apolohies/Apologies.htm accessed 19/10/2011). 2.5.1.2. Speech Acts of Compliments Compliments in English often function as a social lubricant, helping the social relationships to go smoothly. How compliments are used, for example, in English language? What strategies are used to give and respond to compliments? Are there any taboos in giving or responding to compliments? How do these norms of behavior vary across languages and cultures? Compliments are expressions of positive evaluation that commonly occur in everyday conversational encounters among interlocutors of equal or higher status. A compliment may be used to open a conversation or to smooth conversational interaction by reinforcing the links of solidarity between the interlocutors. People often compliment qualities related to personal appearance (e.g., clothes, hair), possessions, skill, or accomplishments. (see, http://www.iles.umn.edu/Compliments/Compliments.html). Research has shown that compliments are formulaic in terms of both their meaning and forms used to compliment other people. For example, with regard to their meaning, compliments are mainly realized by means of adjectives and verbs. In the majority cases compliments realized by means of five adjectives: nice, good, beautiful, pretty, and great. And the majorities are realized through the combination of two verbs such as like and love (Cohen and Ishihara, 2010:57-60). Compliments are usually performed when the speaker wants to have a positive effect on the interpersonal relationships with persons complimented. With respect to their form, almost all of the compliments are realized in three patterns given and received by speakers as Manes and Wolfson (see in Cohen and Ishihara, 2010). They found that most of the compliments in English fall into three patterns, which are: 1. Your hair looks nice --> Noun Phrase + is/looks/ (really) Adjective 2. I like your car --> I (really) like/love + Noun Phrase 3. That's a nice tie --> (PRO (really) (a) Adjective + Noun Phrase (Note: NP=Noun Phrase, ADJ=Adjective, PRO=Pronoun, V=Verb).

Likewise other researchers have also identified topics of compliments. According to Cohen and Ishihara (2010:58) the major referents of compliments include attributes of the conversational partner, such as: 1. appearance/possessions (e.g., You look absolutely beautiful!) 2. performance/skills/abilities (e.g., Your presentation was excellent.) 3. personality traits (e.g., You are so sweet.) With regard to gender differences, females tend to give and receive more compliments to and from other females and males, while males tend to give more compliments to women (overall appearance) and, to a lesser degree, to other males (Cohen, 2008:124). Like other communicative acts, compliment also has various distinctive functions and strategies. According to recent research, compliments in English are often used to: 1. express admiration or approval of someones work/appearance/taste; 2. establish/confirm/maintain solidarity; 3. serve as an alternative to greetings/gratitude/apologies/congratulations; 4. soften face-threatening acts such as apologies, requests and criticism; 5. open and sustain conversation (conversation strategy); and 6. reinforce desired behavior. (Cohen and Ishihara, 2010:57) The most commonly used adjectives in compliments were nice, good, pretty, great, and beautiful, although the list undoubtedly varies for other varieties of English. As there are strategies to compliment a given character, there are also strategies to respond to the given compliment. Semantically, common responses to compliments can be categorized into acceptance, mitigation, and rejection. Each category has sub-categories: 1. Accept: a. Token of appreciation (Thanks/Thank you.) b. Acceptance by means of a comment (Yeah, its my favorite, too.) c. Upgrading the compliment by self-praise (Yeah, I can play other sports well too.) 2. Mitigate: a. Comment about history (I bought it for the trip to Arizona.) b. Shifting the credit (My brother gave it to me/It really knitted itself.)

c. Questioning or requesting reassurance or repetition (Do you really like them?) d. Reciprocating (So is yours.) e. Scaling down or downgrading (Its really quite old.) Alternatively, at this stage, learners can be introduced to and practice a variety of strategies for responding to compliments (see http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html/ and Cohen and Ishihara, 2010:59), such as: 1. showing appreciation (Thank you); 2. agreeing (Yeah, its my favorite too); 3. downgrading (Its really quite old); 4. questioning (Do you really think so?); 5. commenting on history (I bought it for the trip to Arizona); 6. shifting credit (My brother gave it to me); and 7. returning the compliment (So is yours). 2.5.1.3. Speech Acts of Complaints Complaints are used to express such instances as disapproval, annoyance, blame, threats, or reprimand as a reaction to a supposed offence, also to hold the hearer responsible for the offensive action and possibly request a repair, to share a specific negative evaluation, obtain agreement, or establish a common link between the speaker and the addressee by trouble sharing; for example, I can't believe I didn't get an A on that course. I worked so hard! has the following reaction from the Hearer: Same here. She doesn't give away A's very easily, that's for sure. (http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html). Trosborg (1994:57) defined complaints as both an abusive act and, like request, a face-threatening act. The speech act of complaint may consist of a number of acts, such as threatening, cursing, and accusation, and these acts are likely to cause certain damage to the social relation between the complainer and the complainee. In addition, a complaint is by definition non-polite because its function is to show disapproval or cause offence to interlocutors. Like requests, if the complainer does not want to impose too much impact on the complainee, the mitigating devices are still needed when performing complaints. These mitigating devices may include the use of modifiers or downgraders to lessen the degree of directness or to make a complaint sound more polite. Complaints can be done in an even indirect way by replacing the complaint with other acts, such as a request, or censuring in a way of hint. However, in some situations the complainer may want to

make the censure more justifiable by providing supportive statements, or by using upgraders to increase the force of a complaint. A coding method or strategies of speech act of complaint realization provided by Olshtain and Weinbach (see in Cohen and Ishihara, 2010) is presented as follows: 1. Below the level of reproach-these are various realizations that enable the speaker to avoid explicit mention of the offensive event or direct focus on speakers (e.g. Such things happen, Dont worry about it, there is no real damage). 2. Expression of annoyance or disapproval-encompasses various realizations that are vague and indirect and do not explicitly mention either the socially unacceptable act, but do express general annoyance at the violation (e.g. Such lack of consideration!, This is really unacceptable behavior!). 3. Explicit complaint-refers to realizations where the speaker has made the decision to use an open face-threatening act toward the hearer, but to instigate no sanctions (e.g. Youre inconsiderate!, One should not postpone this type of operation, You should not have postponed such an operation). 4. Accusation and warning-as a complaint when the speaker chooses to perform an open face-threatening act and further implies potential sanctions against the hearer (e.g. Next time Ill let you wait for hours!). 5. Immediate threat-is expressed when the speaker chooses to openly attack the hearer (e.g. Youd better pay the money right now, Im not moving one inch before you change my appointment), or as direct insults (e.g. Youre an idiot!). Complaints have the following strategies/speech act sets: first of all, there is an explanation of purpose, for example, Look, I dont want to be horrible about it, then comes a complaint, for example, I think maybe the grade was a little too low, then follows a request for solution, for example, I would appreciate it if you would reconsider my grade, and finally a request for nonrecurrence, for example, Well, Id really like to find out about this because Im hoping it wont happen again. These are generally classified into two: direct and indirect strategies. Indirect complaints are given to addressees who are not responsible for the perceived offence, for example, She never cleans up after her. Isnt that horrible) and often open a conversation and create solidarity between the speakers. Indirect complaints tend to center on three themes: Self (Oh, Im so stupid), other (John is the worst manager.) and Situation (Why did they have to raise tuition?).

2.5.1.4. Speech Acts of Refusals In making a refusal, the speaker/writer is typically communicating a potentially undesirable message as far as the listener/reader is concerned. What strategies can be used to mitigate refusals in English? What pragmatic norms prevail in making and interpreting refusals in English? There are distinctive functions and strategies for refusing. Refusals are often made in response to requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions (Cohen and Ishihara, 2010:60). The direct and indirect strategies of refusals can be described as follows: I. Direct 1. Using performative verbs (I refuse.) 2. Non-performative statement: a).No b). Negative willingness/ability (I cant.) II. Indirect 1. Statement of regret (Im sorry.) 2. Wish (I wish I could help you.) 3. An excuse, a reason, an explanation (I have a headache.) 4. Statement of alternative: a). I can do X instead of Y (Id rather . . .) b).Why dont you do X instead of Y? (Why dont you ask someone else?) 5. Set condition for future or past acceptance (If you had asked me earlier, I would have . . .) 6. Promise of future acceptance (Ill do it next time.) 7. Statement of principle (I never do business with friends.) The following adjuncts to refusals can also be used to accompany the refusals described above: 1. statement of positive opinion/feeling or agreement (Id love to come); 2. statement of empathy (I realize you are in a difficult situation); 3. pause fillers (um, well); and gratitude/appreciation (thanks so much for the invite). 4. gratitude/appreciation (Thanks so much for the invite). (see http://www.carla.umn.edu/speech acts/refusal/index.html accessed 19/10/2011)

2.5.1.5. Speech Acts of Requests By making a request, the speaker infringes on the recipients freedom from imposition (http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html). The recipient may feel that the request is an intrusion on his/her freedom of action or even a power play. As for the requester, s/he may hesitate to make requests for fear of exposing a need or out of fear of possibly making the recipient lose face. In this sense, requests are face threatening to both the Requester and the Recipient. Since requests have the potential to be intrusive and demanding, there is a need for the Requester to minimize the imposition involved in the request. One way for the Speaker to minimize the imposition is by employing indirect strategies rather than direct ones. People tend to use a greater degree of indirectness with people who have some power or authority over them than to those who do not. By making a request, the speaker/writer infringes on the listeners freedom from imposition. The recipient may feel that the request is an intrusion on his/her freedom of action or even a power play. As for the requester, s/he may hesitate to make requests for fear of exposing a need or out of fear of possibly making the recipient lose face. In this sense, requests are face threatening to both the requester and the recipient. Researchers have identified functions for and strategies for making requests. Because requests have the potential to be intrusive and demanding, there often is a need for the requester to minimize the imposition involved in the request. One way for the requester to minimize the imposition is by employing indirect strategies rather than direct ones (Cohen and Ishihara 2010:66). The more direct a request is, the more transparent it is and the less of a burden the recipient bears in interpreting the request. The scale of directness can be characterized according to the following three strategies: 1. Direct strategies (marked explicitly as requests, such as imperatives): a).Clean up the kitchen. b).Im asking you to clean up the kitchen. c).Id like to ask you to clean the kitchen. d).Youll have to clean up the kitchen. e).I really wish youd clean up the kitchen. 2. Conventionally indirect strategies (referring to contextual preconditions necessary for its performance as conventionalized in the language):

a) How about cleaning up? b) Could you clean up the kitchen, please? c) You have left the kitchen in a total mess. d) Im a nun. (a request to someone to stop trying to pick her up) (ibid). Both situational and cultural factors influence the selection of these request strategies. Still, there may be consensus across a number of cultures with regard to requesting strategies. For example, a big favor usually comes with more indirect and/or polite strategies than a low-imposition request in various cultures. Friends use more casual requests than acquaintances, provided that the content of the request is the same (Cohen and Ishihara 2010:67). However, the specific directness levels appropriate for given situations might differ cross-culturally. Some examples of other softening downgraders are: a. Do you think I could borrow your lecture notes from yesterday? b. Could you tidy up a bit before I start? c. It would really help if you did something about the kitchen. d. Will you be able to perhaps drive me? e. Can I use your pen for a minute, please? 2.5.1.6. Speech Acts of Gratitude/Thanks Thank you expressions are used to express appreciation of benefits and to enhance rapport between interlocutors, and that this basic use is extended to the functions of conversational opening, changing, stopping, closing, leave taking, and offering positive reinforcement. A further use is to express dissatisfaction or discomfort indirectly often using sarcasm and often with differential intonation (Jung, 1998: I). We thank/express gratitude in different ways for different reasons. We may say: "Thank you so much for the gift!" to show gratitude, "Thanks for the wonderful meal." to compliment someone, or "Thats all, thank you." to signal the conclusion of a conversation. Thanking has various important social functions. The person offering the gratitude has to have a valid reason for thanking. Thank you expressions may often be required by social convention. The way gratitude is verbally expressed varies, ranging from simple, thank you, or thanks; to the

more extensive, I appreciate x, I am thankful for x, I am grateful for x, please accept my thanks for x, etc. The choice of a gratitude expression is largely dependent on how the thanker evaluate what the benefactor did for him/her and how the expressions function. While the major and general effect of thanking is, like the speech act of complimenting, to enhance rapport or solidarity between interlocutors by making the other party feel good, there are some more specific functions which thanking serves. According to (Jung, 1998 and de Pablos-Ortega, 2010) the following are functions of thanking: 1. Function of appreciating benefit: it is a basic function of thank you expression. The benefit could be either physical or mental. 2. Function of conversational opening, changing, stopping, or closing: in a conversational opening, there can be potentially high tension between the interlocutors. Thank you expressions used in this situation may reduce the tension somewhat. 3. Function of leave-taking and positive answer. Thank you expressions sometimes serve to substitute for leave taking expressions, although the two types often co-occur. 4. Functions of emotional distraction or discomfort. Thank you expressions may be used to indirectly express dissatisfaction with the interlocutors attitude. There are distinctive strategies that most of the time proficient language users apply in communication. There are phrases that commonly precede or follow an expression of gratitude or thanks. These phrases perform another function for the speaker (see Jung, 1998 and de PablosOrtega, 2010): Complimenting (Thank you. Youre wonderful.) Expressing affection (I really appreciate this. Youre a sweetheart.) Reassuring the listener (I cant thank you enough. This is just what I wanted. Blue is my favorite color.) Promising to repay (I dont know how to thank you. Ill pay you back as soon as I can.) Expressing surprise and delight (Oh, wow! Thank you!) Expressing a lack of necessity or obligation (I dont know how to thank you. You didnt have to do this for me.) Exaggerating to emphasize the depth of the gratitude (I really appreciate this. Youre a lifesaver.).

There are also various responses to thanking strategies. According to (Jung, 1998 and de PablosOrtega, 2010), six type of response to the use of thank you are identified: acceptance, denial, reciprocity, comment, nonverbal gesture, no response; the choice of which is determined by factors such as relationship of the interlocutors and communicative intent. In the speech act of thanking it will be very effective if the benefactor accepts or acknowledges the gratitude. The thanker expects the benefactor to respond to his/her politeness. There can be various strategies of responding to thank you expressions. 1. Acceptance: you are (very) welcome, sure, ok, my pleasure, 2. Denial: No problem, Not at all, Dont mention it. 3. Reciprocity: Thank you 4. Comments: detailed descriptions e.g. Thank you very much for the help. I really appreciate it. 5. Non-verbal gestures: a smile, a node, etc. 6. No response (ibid). How people respond to being thanked typically falls into these categories: 1. Recognizing the gratitude and relieving the speaker of its burden (Youre welcome.) 2. Indicating that it was gladly done (Thats quite all right.) 3. Denying the existence of the need to thank or playing it down (Not at all / Dont mention it.) Thanks and apologies can be responded in similar terms (Thats all right / Not at all). What thanks and apologies have in common is the concept of indebtedness. A thanks implying the indebtedness of the speaker to the listener closely resembles, apologies where the speaker actually recognizes his indebtedness to his listener. For example: A. Thank you for all your help. I cant tell you how much I appreciate it. B. Dont mention it/Thats all right. Its really nothing. (See http//www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/thanks/index.html) 2.6. Challenges of Teaching Pragmatic Competence in EFL Setting In foreign language context teachers are non-native speakers of English language and they need to be well-prepared for teaching the pragmatic aspect of knowledge of language. In addition to this fact there are no sufficient, or no course, is offered to teachers either during pre-service or in-service

education programs in the area of pragmatics. This situation is what El-Okda (2010) calls as paucity of pragmatic courses in both pre-service teacher education programs and in-service professional development (169). If the student teachers or those teachers that are handling the teaching of English language are provided with the pragmatic courses, [they] can help their students see the language in context, raise consciousness of the role of pragmatics, and explain the function pragmatics plays in specific communicative event (Brock and Nagasaka, 2005:20). The second pillar in developing the pragmatic competence of learners is ELT material. The explicit treatment of pragmatic language features in prescribed textbooks and their accompanying teachers guide is vitally important. Language teaching materials need to frequently include pragmatic materials so as to help learners develop pragmatic competence, because teachers in EFL settings, where there are relatively few opportunities for students to use the language in communicative contexts (Brock and Nagasaka, 2005), will make use of textbooks as the major source of pragmatic knowledge. However, the attempt of including very few mini-dialogues for certain speech acts and that are contrived and de-contextualized does not help the learners develop their pragmatic competence or does not represent the reality outside the classroom (El-Okda, 2010:180). Let alone the external environment, many students do not know how to make polite requests in English in the classroom (Brock and Nagasaka, 2005:21). We shall see this and other challenges in detail in the next sub-sections. 2.6.1. Challenge Related To Course Books There are various challenges that negatively hamper the English language learning from the perspective of pragmatics. Learners pragmatic divergence can sometimes be attributed to the effect of the instruction or the instructional materials, rather than being a result of insufficient pragmatic awareness or incomplete pragmatic control on the learners part. One of the problems foreign language teachers have with the textbooks is related to the dialogues in terms of their pragmatic value. Much research sheds light on the dissatisfaction with the content of the course books used at all levels, specifically in the field of English language teaching. Practitioners are substantially dissatisfied with how spoken texts are presented in course books as print materials. As the review of relevant research shows, ELT textbooks rarely include adequate or comprehensible explanations of how conversation works in English. For Vellegna (2004), speech acts (actions with functions) in the textbooks are, for the most part, pragmatically inadequate since

students are only occasionally given models of the speech acts with very little contextual information or explicit metapragmatic discussion. As this review of literature shows, the language of English language textbooks must vigorously be studied to unearth the nature and quality of textbooks in terms of their value from the perspectives of pragmatics, linguistics and pedagogy. It is also shown that pedagogical materials are inadequate to be reliable source of pragmatic input for classroom language learners (Alcon & Safont, 2001; Bardovi-Harlig, 1996; Vellegna, 2004) and unlikely to result in pragmatic development. Therefore, Eslami-Rasekh (2005) argues:

The responsibility for teaching the pragmatic aspects of language use falls on teachers. However, as language teachers, we face certain challenges. These include lack of adequate materials and training, which are the result of a lack of emphasis on pragmatic issues in ESL teaching methodology courses (p.199). 2.6.2. Challenge Related to Courses in Teachers Training Pragmatic competence is a key component of strategic competence, involving knowledge of when and how to use particular language forms to perform desired language functions. Authentic language input is not readily available in ESL/EFL textbooks, and teachers typically do not have the skills to create pragmatic learning exercises for their students (Vallegna, et.al, 2007:20). Particularly for teachers in peripheral social contexts, they may have had infrequent interaction with native speakers and be unfamiliar with the rules for contextualized language use. Explicit instruction in pragmatics has been suggested for learners and teachers in a similar way. According to Vallenga and his coauthors (2007) for ESL/EFL teachers, competence in pragmatics means understanding these concepts: Language varies its structure systematically according to functions (e.g., starting or ending a conversation, expressing disagreement, apologizing, requesting, refusing, etc.). Politeness and appropriate language use varies according to contextual features. Contextual features have different levels of importance in different languages. Speakers make sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic choices when expressing speech acts.
(p.21).

Research shows that non-native English-speaking teacher candidates (NNESTCs) feel insecure about their English language proficiency and their pragmatic competence may be weaker than their organizational competence (Eslami-Rasekh, Pasternak & Bailey, in Zohreh R. Eslami and EslamiRasekh, A., 2008). Biesenback-Lucas and Rose (see in Zohreh R. Eslami and Eslami-Rasekh, 2008) also witnessed that teacher education programs do not seem to focus on pragmatic aspects of language and to train the teacher candidates in teaching the pragmatic dimensions of language(p.179). While some recent pioneering work (e.g., Eslami-Rasekh, 2005; Eslami & Eslami-Rasekh, 2008; Yates & Wiggglesworth, 2005) has begun to investigate the effects of instructional pragmatics in teacher education, (Ishihara, 2011: I). On the other hand, Ishihara argues that little has been explored in depth as to the way in which teacher cognition develops in the classroom discourse of language teacher development. 2.6.3. Challenge Related to Language Class Size Teachers in most cases complain for the unmanageable class size. Large classes, limited contact hours and little opportunity for intercultural communication are some of the features of the EFL context that hinder pragmatic learning (Eslami-Rasekh et al., 2004; Rose, 1999). 2.6.4. Challenge related to Teachers' Sense of Self-Efficacy Understanding teachers' perceptions and beliefs is important because teachers, heavily involved in various teaching and learning processes, are practitioners of educational principles and theories (Jia, Eslami & Burlbaw, cited in Eslami and Fatahi, 2008). Teachers have a primary role in determining what is needed or what would work best with their students. Findings from research on teachers' perceptions and beliefs indicate that these perceptions and beliefs not only have considerable influence on their instructional practices and classroom behavior but also are related to their students' achievement. In most cases teachers do not give attention to pragmatic/communicative functions in the classroom. Omaggio (see in Uso-Juan, and Martinez-Flor, 2008) gives the following three reasons for neglecting intercultural/pragmatic competence in the language class: 1. Teachers usually have an overcrowded curriculum to cover and lack the time to spend on teaching culture, which requires a lot of work;

2. Many teachers have a limited knowledge of the target culture and, therefore, afraid to teach it; 3. Teachers are often confused about what cultural aspects to cover (p.165). 2.6.5. Challenge Related to the Attitude toward English Language Do learners realize that learning and efficiently using English language is one of the keys to success? How about the teachers? Learners attitude to use English language out of classroom situation can also negatively affect the development of pragmatic competence. In this regard, Cohen (2008) has argued that the EFL learners of Japanese do consider speaking English with each other as something shameful (p. 25). This implies that the question of pragmatic competence can be affected by the attitude language learners have toward the target language in addition to the subtle treatments of the target language culture. Our students probably do not use English outside the classroom. At least, most of them do not use it actively. They can watch films and listen to music but they hardly ever talk for instance due to the competing negative attitude toward talking in English out of class. 2.6.6. Challenge Related to Learners Level of Target Language Proficiency In developing pragmatic competence, the other factor that has also received attention in interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) is the influence of learners level of target language proficiency. A propos to this, some studies show that FL learners pragmatic ability progresses in line with their language proficiency (Rose, 2000, for supportive moves in requests; Takahashi & Beebe, 1987, for refusal realization strategies), whereas in other studies it appears that, although proficiency has little effect on the range of realization strategies (Kasper & Schmidt, 1996), it does influence the order and frequency of semantic formulae used by learners (Kasper & Rose, 2002). 2.6.7. Challenge Related to Pragmatics Teaching Methods Pragmatics should not be seen and treated as different language aspect that demands different teaching method according to scholars. On top of this, pragmatics instruction should not be aimed solely at serving advanced and proficient EFL students language learning nor should it be a complementary pedagogical approach. As Childs (see Bouchard, 2011) argues,

Pragmatic is not an optional add-on. It is a necessary facet of language and of language learning. That is because the whole point is no longer grammatical form but communication of meaning, and that is based on situations. The emphasis is on appropriate patterns, whether they are grammatical or not (p.40). While this argument highlights the importance of teaching pragmatics in the language classroom, it does not denigrate the importance of grammar knowledge in communicative competence. When dealing with potential pragmatic failures, a combination of grammar knowledge and pragmatic awareness creates the necessary conditions in which strategies for repair can be developed. Given that instructing pragmatics in all context, there is not likely to be one approach which is to be preferred over all others in every context (Kasper and Rose, 2001:8). It has been identified that the content and forms of language teaching are significantly influenced by the content and forms of language testing. According to (Kasper and Rose, 2001:9), especially in instructional contexts where formal testing is regularly performed curricular innovations that comprise pragmatics as learning objective will be ineffective as long as pragmatic ability is not included as a regular and important component of language tests. 2.6.8. Challenge Related to the Availability of Inputs Research results in FL settings report that in EFL context the range of communicative functions(speech acts) and realization strategies is quite narrow, and that the typical interaction patterns restrict pragmatic input and opportunities for practicing discourse organization strategies. So as to improve the pragmatic competence of EFL learners, arguments have been put forward for the necessity of instruction in pragmatics (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001). Kasper (1997) argues learners may not detect relevant input features, and that to achieve learners attention, input should be made salient through input enhancement. It is believed that input enhancement will raise the learners consciousness about the target feature. Input enhancement is defined by Fukuya and Clark (see in Zohreh R. Eslami and Eslami-Rasekh, 2008:180) as an implicit instructional technique that provides no metapragmatic information. However, Eslami-Rasekh(2005) suggests providing awareness raising activities before jumping in to the teaching of pragmatic aspect of the target language. Through awareness-raising activities, students acquire information about pragmatic aspects of language-for instance, what strategies are used for apologizing in their first language (L1) and second language (L2), what is considered an

offence in their culture compared to the target culture, what are different degrees of offence for different situations in the two languages, and how the nature of the relationship between the participants affects the use of apologies. The aim is to expose learners to the pragmatic aspects of language (L1 and L2) and provide them with the analytical tools they need to arrive at their own generalizations concerning contextually appropriate language use. These activities are designed to make learners consciously aware of differences between the native and target language speech acts. The rationale for this approach is that such differences are often ignored by learners and go unnoticed unless they are directly addressed (Schmidt 1993, 2001). Takahashi (2001) proposes a much broader view of input enhancement. She distinguishes three different degrees and types of input enhancement: explicit teaching, featuring metapragmatic explanation about form-function relationships of the target structures; form-comparison, in which students compare their own speech acts realizations with those of native speakers; and form-search, in which students identify the target strategies in provided scenarios. Similarly, Rose (2005: 388) states that while most studies have focused on the production of the target features or their use in interaction, instruction aimed at improving learners pragmatic comprehension has received far less attention. The role of instruction has also received special attention in ILP research, since, as mentioned above, FL contexts provide learners with little access to appropriate pragmatic input (see the volumes by Alcon & Martinez-Flor, 2005; Martinez-Flor et al., 2003; Rose& Kasper, 2001; for reviews of research on pragmatic instruction). 2.7. Possibilities/Opportunities for Teaching Pragmatics in EFL Classroom The challenge for second or foreign language teaching is whether we can arrange learning opportunities in such a way that they benefit the development of pragmatic competence of learners. What opportunities are offered for pragmatic learning? The research works have made mention of such opportunities as: opportunities for pragmatic input: teacher talk (Kasper, 1997; Bardovi-Harlig and Hartford, 1996; Nikula, 2008), textbooks (Salazar, 2007; Uso-Juan, 2007) and audiovisual material (Alcn, 2005; Fernndez-Guerra, 2008; Martnez-Flor, 2008). Although typically an ESL environment is thought to be superior to an EFL environment for learning language, especially the pragmatics of a language, some studies show that this is a sweeping generalization and not necessarily true. According to Wallace (2011) Pragmatics can be

successfully acquired in an EFL setting (p.274). Furthermore, some think that lack of exposure to the target language in an EFL setting hinders students development of pragmatics. However, the majority of SLA studies agree that pragmatics can be acquired successfully in an EFL setting if the teacher teaches it explicitly. In fact, researches show that explicit pragmatics instruction can be more effective than implicit pragmatics instruction. Taguchi (see Wallace, 2011:274) shows us that for acquiring pragmatics, an ESL setting is not necessarily better than an EFL setting, but that each setting may contribute to different learner outcomes. Wallace (ibid) argues whatever the setting might be that greater practice means greater performance speed. Studies of development of Foreign Language (FL) knowledge have tended to focus more on the acquisition of syntactic, phonological, morphological and semantic forms than on the development of pragmatic ability (Cohen, 2005). Evidence of this fact is that FL learners may master the vocabulary and grammar of the target language without gaining a comparable control over the pragmatic uses of the language (Us-Juan and Salazar (2002:103). This amounts to saying that FL learners may know several forms of thanking, complaining or apologizing without being sure when it is appropriate to use one form or another as mentioned by both Uso-Juan and Salazar (2002). Therefore, it has been argued that the teaching of pragmatics is necessary to develop learners ability to communicate appropriately in the target language (TL), particularly in the foreign language (FL) context (Kasper, 1997; Bardovi-Harlig, 2001). Savignon (2006:10) discusses about shaping or designing language curriculum that entails five components out of which one is language for a purpose, or language experience. Language for a purpose or language experience is the use of language for real and immediate communicative goals. She argues that for not all learners are taking a new language for the same reasons, teachers should do the following in selecting language inputs: It is important for teachers to pay attention, when selecting and sequencing materials, to the specific communicative needs of the learners. Regardless of how distant or unspecific the communicative needs of the learners, every program with a goal of communicative competence should pay heed to opportunities for meaningful language use, opportunities to focus on meaning as well as form (pp. 11-12).

2.7.1. The Role of Language Teachers Talk Teachers vary in their attitudes to teacher talk according to findings. Some of them accept that it is useful source of language input for all language levels, except from the more advanced ones. Others regard it as an important part of the early stages of learning, but believe it should be abandoned as soon as possible (Lynch as quoted in Adriana 2009:1). There are at least three main reasons that make teacher talk worth studying and improving. The reasons are as follows: a. People have recognized the vital link between comprehension and the progress made in the language classroom. b. Studies of classroom language have shown that certain aspects of teacher talk, such as the way we ask questions, influence the way learners use language. c. It is not easy for learners to understand what the teacher is currently trying to focus their attention on (ibid). Due to its importance, it is inevitable to make sure that the teacher talk fulfils certain criteria. First of all, it should be simplified, but not unnatural. It needs to exhibit a certain level of redundancy (words like let me see, in fact, well, etc.) and words, together with structures, should be repeated at regular intervals. Speaker is also required to break the text into short paragraphs that enable students to interrupt, comment on them or ask questions. All new items that are presented need to be supported by additional examples. Teachers are expected to ask for feedback, both verbally and non-verbally while teaching pragmatic content of language. In connection with the body language, it is strongly recommended to maintain an eye-contact with as many members of the class as it is possible. The reasons for eye-contact are numerous. For instance, to put an emphasis on something being explained, to stimulate interaction among students, to check understanding, etc. Halukov(see in Adriana 2009:2). 2.7.2. The Role of Textbooks Textbooks are key component in most language programs. In some situations they serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom. They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of language practice the students take part in. In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teachers instruction.

Bardovi-Harlig (2001) argues that since teachers talk cannot be considered as a pragmatically appropriate model for learners, textbooks with conversations are designed to be models for students, and yet they generally fall short of providing realistic input to learners (p. 25). She suggests that textbooks should be used cautiously: Any textbook should be used judiciously, since it cannot cater equally to the requirements of every classroom setting. In bilingual and multilingual situations, there are special limitations on the amount of English language teaching that can be done via the textbook. The textbook can present examples of common difficulties, but there are problems specific to different language groups which are left for the teacher to deal with. It is also likely that a textbook will outlast its relevance because of changes in the language policy of the community for which it was written (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001:24). Therefore, textbooks are always at the center of curriculum although there are some limitations attributed to them with regards to their pragmatic contents. 2.7.3. The Role of Culture [Local and Target Culture] People may meet with various problems in intercultural communication. The knowledge of target languages culture is as important as its grammar or vocabulary. Perhaps more to the point, a lack of cross-cultural awareness can be a severe hindrance in the understanding of a message which is linguistically accurate or comprehensible. As a rule, people are much less tolerant of cultural bumps and cultural shocks than they are of grammatical mistakes and lexical insufficiency. Language is inseparable from culture. Thus, when learners learn a language, they learn about culture; and as they learn to use a new language, they learn to communicate with other individuals from a different culture. Magnifying the significance of target language culture in learning a foreign language, Jie (2010) opines: Through analyzing and comparing the anecdotes of pragmatic failure in crosscultural communication from the aspects of lexicon, syntax and discourse, some pragmatic strategies are suggested in intercultural communication. To improve learners cultural awareness and communicative competence, a cultural-linguistic approach in foreign language teaching should be adopted (p.1).

A language cannot exist in vacuum. It has to express some objective function when utterances are made or some text is written. Regmi (2011:2) points out When we learn a new language, we need to adopt the culture of the target language to a certain extent because the cultural aspect comes amalgamated with the target language. However, what about the learners and their own culture? Regmi again has the following to say with regards to this question: The learners have their own set of cultural experiences and objectives of using a language. They have their own cultural amalgamation which has to be addressed during target language learning process to make it meaningful and relevant to the learners. We can assume that integration of local culture and context is inevitable while learning a target language (ibid). Thus, local context becomes inseparable from the use of language. This is because, students want to see cultural elements from both target language culture and local culture in foreign language classrooms as well as in language learning materials Devo and Yasemin (2010:4). Samovar, Porter, and Jain (see Purba, 2011) emphasize: Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted... Culture...is the foundation of communication (p. 45). Unlike structure teaching pragmatics calls for the inclusion of cultural aspects of language. Pedagogical decisions concerning what and how to teach pragmatics are quite different from such decisions concerning the teaching of linguistic structures. It is deducible from this that teachers can decide on the priorities in teaching selected aspect of pragmatics. It seems that the first step toward acquisition of sociocultural rules of language use is a program aimed at sensitizing learners to cultural differences in pragmatic behavior across culture. Therefore, making learners be aware of overall patterns of behavior in the target culture and of available choices for functional language realization may well help learners become better users of input in the target language.

In connection with this, researchers argue that once we have developed a tentative list of pragmatics aspect of language relevant for particular group/learners, we need to decide which of these are suitable for the early part of the language learning and which should be left for the later stage (Cohen, 1989, 2005 and 2009). As there are barrier to developing pragmatic competence in EFL setting there are also possibilities or opportunities to teaching pragmatic competence as clearly put forward by literature reviews made so far. Henceforth, in order to undergo the research scheme the next chapter will tell how to go about issues of methodology and outline of the study design, data collection instruments, reliability and validity test of the data collection instruments, procedure of data collection, selection of subjects and analytical frameworks.

CHAPTER THREE METHODS AND PROCEDURE OF THE STUDY

3.1. Method of the Study This chapter deals with the processes involved in selecting the research design, instruments, and subjects of the study. Even though the investigation of the problem did not confine itself to a particular method, qualitative method has been taken up to a large extent. The main thesis of the study was an attempt to explore the challenges being faced by English language teachers to teach pragmatics to their students, and investigate the manifestation of contents of pragmatics/social language in the current EFL textbooks. For this purpose, therefore, a descriptive research method was chosen as it is used to specify or describe a phenomenon without conducting an experiment. 3.2. Research Design To achieve the purpose mentioned under section 3.1, the study was principally designed to be qualitative. Questionnaires, observations, discourse completion tests and content analysis seemed to be appropriate instruments to collect data for the study since objectively recorded teachers and students behaviors such as actions, utterances and verbal expression of their attitudes (opinions) towards the concept can be elements of descriptive studies (Mc Arthur 1983). A triangular approach was used to collect data from all four (4) and 183 secondary school English language teachers and respective students (details are given below). 3.3. Procedures of the Study This study consisted of the following methodological steps. First and foremost, the researcher conducted pretest- at this step the researcher has attempted to design some open ended discourse completion test questions in order to asses pragmatic awareness of the learners. Doing the groundwork has helped the researcher identify as to whether the stated problem was researchable or not with the selected school level learners. In fact it was very early to give the full account of the preliminary investigation. Regardless of this, it was fairly possible to say that the students had some sort of pragmatic (pragmalinguistic) awareness. It was also not possible to tell how the students had acquired the pragmatic/pragmalinguistic knowledge; as the data could not inform why the learners fail and/or able to use the proper social language. That is why Cohen, (1996: 253) indicates that the inability to use speech acts in their proper temporal/spatial context can be traced forth that

FL students may learn forms for offering their thanks or for apologizing but may not be sure when it is appropriate to use one form or another. After the current researchs groundwork was finished, formulating research questions, stating the motive behind the research, stating the limitation and delimitation of the study, stating the significance of the study followed. Following the scheme of the research, related discourses were reviewed. Next to reviewing related sources, research tools that were proper to the study were chosen and designed. After instruments for data collection were designed, determining sample size in question, and selecting an appropriate sample from the data on hand took place. Subsequently, before administering the tools, as it was part of the subjects of the present study, textbooks were selected, and unit of analysis were defined, contents for analysis were constructed and categorized; the contents were coded according to the established definition. Afterwards, the questionnaires were administered to the language teachers with the intension to elicit their perception of the pragmatic contents of the textbooks, their own awareness and teaching of the pragmatic aspect of language and impediments they were facing in teaching pragmatic aspect of the English language. Corresponding to this, questionnaires and discourse completion tests were distributed to the participant students to assess their perception of their own language ability and performance respectively. The questionnaires for the teachers were delivered on hand. Discourse completion tests were distributed to the sampled students in a classroom, in collaboration with the school teachers. All the questionnaire and test papers were collected back. On the whole, the collected data were descriptively analyzed, interpreted and conclusion were drawn. 3.4. The Data Rationales for textbooks The study focused on textbook, because it is a critical part of the learning process, and in most cases, reflects the teaching strategies adopted by the teachers. It has a significant impact on course structure, classroom activities, and homework assignments. It often provides the students first exposure to the subject, and provides a frame or screen for the students understanding of the subject (Brunner, as cited in Butt, 2010: 58). While textbook content does not necessarily reflect the material covered in a classroom, coverage of an issue in a textbook makes it more likely to be covered in class, even if teachers do not follow their text directly. Teachers are also unlikely to cover a concept that they have never heard about (Butt, 2010:59).

Although the cultural and pragmatic issues may be occasionally addressed in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), previous studies (for example Vellegna 2004, Us-Juan 2007) have indicated that the teaching materials do not systematically deal with the ways in which the linguistic choices are affected by setting, situation, status and purpose. The researcher strongly believed that if the communicative aspects of language and pragmatic competence were a central theme in EFL classes, it would significantly benefit students in their everyday communication situations and in their future careers. Readings of some previous research works has shown that there is lack of pragmatic input in EFL materials, and this study will give insight into whether this holds true in the Ethiopias upper secondary school EFL materials as well. The study therefore drew upon various essential pragmatic elements that were evident or missing in the data taken from content analysis of 10th and 11thgrade textbooks. The discussion of the data was carried out with reference to research on ESL/EFL and Pragmatics. The findings from this study were assumed to provide an empirical base upon which EFL textbooks, pragmatic materials and tasks can be developed in textbook writing. An important part of this study was simply to determine the presence or absence of lessons about pragmatic awareness/competence of learners in the English language textbooks. 3.4.1. Content Analysis Sampling Process 3.4.1.1. Sampling Units for Content Analysis Since it was difficult to observe all contents, the researcher was forced to sample from available content for coding pool. Units of analysis may differ from units of observation. Sample selection depends largely on unit of analysis. The researcher was well aware that he needed to be clear about unit of analysis before planning sampling strategy to avoid problems that may occur later. The sampling could involve stratified, purposive, systematic or random technique of selecting the representative population of the study. In the present study the researcher planned to pursue purposive sampling. Before sampling the representative data in relation to the central issues of the study, code sheets were designed to identify the presence or absence of any elements relevant to the focus of the study. The coding instructions and element definitions were written to ensure that specific concepts were highlighted and received a specific level of attention in the text before they would be coded as present. Code sheets included nine (9) categories(themes) [Pragmatic/ functional language:

definition, semantic formula-complimenting, thanking, refusing, complaining, apologizing, complaining, etc., Language use rules: turn taking, staying on topic, opening or closing conversation, Instruction: implicit vs. explicit or inductive vs. deductive-register, metapragmatic and metalanguage explanations, and speech acts sets/model (Olshtain & Cohen, 1991), Approaches to sociopragmatic competence: role plays, drama, DCT/DRT, observing naturally occurring data, dialogue, and their authenticity, Social context: age, gender, rank, power, friends, acquaintances, Physical context: office, hospital, school, library, restaurant, Pragmatic Learning strategies: suggestions made for the learners to further practice the language and Cultural context: norms, values, expectations, assumptions of culture at large] were looked only for presence () or absence (x) for each element. 3.4.1.2. Data Coding Scheme for Content Analysis After the data collected for the study were categorized, the textbooks were coded for the above elements while entering the data into tables for analysis. Coding is the heart of content analysis. Coding is the process of converting raw data into a standardized form. Each additional entry of datum collected from the textbooks was registered under each code. Coding therefore is the technique to classify content in relation to a conceptual framework. Like in the current study, pragmatic elements can be categorized, general pragmatic information, language use rule, cultural context, physical context, approaches to sociopragmatics competence, social context, physical context, mode of instruction, etc. 3.4.1.3. Procedure of Content Analysis of the Textbooks The process of content analysis begins during or after the data processing/entering. Thus the procedure consisted of formulating the research questions, collecting the data, categorizing the data based on the research questions, indentifying the connection between the data collected from the textbooks and that of the respondents and finally interpreting or assigning meaning to the data obtained. 3.5.Participants The research subjects were grade 10th and 11th students at St. Joseph School. The total population of the study comprised of 339 students and 4 teachers. Out of the total population of the students, the researcher drew sound sample systematically based on the table of systematic random sampling;

and the representative sample was 183. After the sample population was decided, the total population was divided by the sample population that resulted in every 1.85 student to be part of the sample. By rounding off the fractions the students names were arranged alphabetically and every 2nd student was included in the sample. Moreover, all (100%) teachers that were teaching English language to grade 10th and 11th students were also part of the research subjects. Questionnaires were distributed to all the participant teachers and students; and all of them had returned papers. In addition to this, all the students included in the sample were seated for the MDCT. Participants Males Females Total Students 102 81 183 % 55.73 44.25 99.98 Teachers 3 1 4 % 75 25 100

3.6. Procedures for Collecting Data 3.6.1. Data Sources Two forms of data sources were used as input for the present study- primary and secondary sources. The primary sources were teachers and students in the selected school in addition to which the researcher observed the classrooms textbooks use. The secondary data were synthesized from various related discourses through reading. 3.6.2. Research Setting The research setting was one non-governmental school; St. Joseph School in Adama. It was purposefully chosen and found to be relevant to the study based on the preliminary investigations made by the researcher. More to this point, as the textbook is the only classroom resource nationwide; any setting that uses the material can suit the study to be carried out. 3.6.3. Sampling In the present research the researcher employed two stage schemes of sampling: the first purposive sampling only focusing on high achiever students. This was to test the extent to which the learners were aware of pragmatic/functional aspect of the target language. Doing this in turn helped the researcher to proceed with the research work as designed with some minor modification when need arisen. During the first stage sampling, only 15 students were selected and tested. The second and

final sampling was systematic random sampling so as to include all students: low, medium and high achievers as the aim was not to distinguish between these groups of students. 3.7. Tools of Data Collection 3.7.1 Questionnaire Primarily, sample questionnaires were designed and administered to teachers who are teaching English the same grade level at selected school. Feedbacks were obtained that there were no difficulties to comprehend the message of the questionnaire. Similar questionnaires with minor modifications were administered to elicit teachers perception of the students textbooks with regards to pragmatic content and their own pragmatic background knowledge. Whereas, questionnaire for self-perceived competence were newly developed for the students in addition to the discourse completions test that was completely changed from open ended format to multiple choice. The change was made to alleviate the difficulty that might occur in analyzing the data and MDCT is gaining its prominence to test learners pragmatic proficiency in EFL (Setouguchi, 2008:1) and to mitigate its effect on the result. More than 99% of the questionnaires were close ended. The respondents were asked to put only a tick mark () in the column of their choice or that represents their perceptions of the rating scales. The rating scales range from one up to five where 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=undecided 4=agree 5= strongly agree. In

the data analysis, the researcher has combined strongly disagree (1) and disagree (2), and strongly agree (5) and agree (4) together. 3.7.2. Classroom Observation Classroom observation has always been considered as one of the tools for data collection in language acquisition researches, because it allows the study of a phenomenon or behavior at close range with many of the contextual variables present (Waxman, 2011). Thus, the researcher observed classrooms to ascertain the prevalent challenges to teach pragmatics in EFL classroom as indicated by the teachers. This is to say that the observation was mainly done to cross-check whether the problems forwarded by teachers exist or not. The researcher was physically present in the classrooms to observe how the teachers use the textbooks to develop pragmatic competence of learners through metapragmatic explanations of the language in point or use materials prepared by themselves for the same purpose to supplement the text books.

Pertinent lessons were observed based on agreement with the teachers, especially, when there are oral presentations and speaking skills sessions. In each class teachers who took part in filing out the questionnaire were observed. In all the observations conducted, the researcher took the position where his presence did not disturb the class. In other words, the observation was made without intervention in any way. Teachers were requested to voluntarily cooperate with the researcher and the sections were chosen on random basis. 3.7.3. Discourse Completion Test Discourse completion tests are used to elicit the pragmatic awareness of learners. Hence, the researcher employed DCT/MDCT to cross check what students replied in self-perceived competence questionnaires with what language they chose in MDCT. Beside the DCT/MDCT, some questions were added at the end of the test paper so that students can give what they believed as regards to the sources of their current knowledge of pragmatics. To test the difference in the learners awareness in the grammatical and pragmatic domains, the researcher developed a contextualized pragmatic and grammatical judgment task presented in a written format. The task was developed in five steps for pretest: (a) identifying and constructing the test scenarios, (b) testing the scenarios through a production (written) task, (c) selecting the targeted responses for the task, (d) piloting the judgment task in written format, and (e) retesting the revised scenarios (MDCT). In the first step, 7 scenarios were constructed to elicit one of five speech acts: complaint, compliment, requests, apologies, and refusals. To ensure that learners interpreted the scenarios as requiring the targeted speech act, the researcher asked 15 (purposively selected) secondary School EFL students to carry out a standard discourse completion task (DCT). They were given a scenario and asked how they would react, as in Example 1. You are wearing a new shirt and a classmate looks at you and says: This shirt looks great on you! Blue is a great color for you. You answer: _____________________________________________________________ The study was open ended and exploratory in nature. It asked learners to report whatever they were thinking and then examines those reports to gain insights into what they know about pragmatics and how they acquire pragmatic knowledge and ability.

3.7.4. Content Analysis The purpose of this research is first to investigate the impediments faced by language teachers to teach pragmatics and second to analyze aspects of the content of pragmatics manifested in the students textbooks and their classes to determine if certain elements (e.g., apology, compliments, complain, request, thanks, etc) are present. While content analysis, if used properly, can indicate the presence (or absence) and extent of elements that may be signs of quality or effectiveness, based on what previous studies or other literature have established about those elements. As Krippendorff (2004) indicates: Content analysis is potentially one of the most important research techniques in the social sciences. The content analyst views data as representations not of physical evidence but of texts, images, and expressions that are created to be seen, read, interpreted, and acted on for their meanings, and must therefore be analyzed with such uses in mind. Analyzing texts in the context of their uses distinguishes content analysis from other methods of inquiry. (p. xiii) Content analysis includes, for instance, comparing the frequency of single words, phrases, or things in a text, or the space dedicated to them in a piece of work. The purpose of the content analysis was to get the research data to a form that is easier to perceive, and thus to help in drawing the conclusions. The conclusions do not, however, pop up straight from the analyzed data, because content analysis can only give direction to theoretical discussion. According to writers, content analysis is a scientific way of making observations and collecting data from a document. Further precise definition of content analysis is provided by Krippendorff, (2004): Content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the context of their use (p.18). This definition of content analysis best suits the current study. In this definition it is deducible that content analysis is a research technique; which implies that content analysis involves specialized procedures. As a research technique, content analysis provides new insights by increasing the researchers understandings regarding the phenomena under study. Krippendroff, further argues that content analysis is a scientific tool (ibid); that is employed to collect and analyze data.

In the current study, a content analysis was conducted in order to discover the nature of pragmatic materials and tasks in the high school English language textbooks written by foreign writers. The textbooks were examined for pragmatic information quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative data focused on percentage and amount of pragmatic information contained in the textbooks and amount of variety of pragmatic information. Qualitative data concentrated on the nature of pragmatic information and the level of richness of pragmatic information. Pragmatic information was differentiated according to the categories on the basis of the frame works adapted from the work of Vallenga (2004) and Peiying (2007). They are general pragmatic information, metapragmatic information, metalanguage, speech acts, cultural information and pragmatically oriented tasks. Investigation of pragmatics content in each of the two textbooks focused on the explicit mention of metapragmatic description of speech acts such as requests, apologies, complaints, compliments, etc. page-by-page counts, coding, description and analysis of different pragmatic information in the two textbooks was performed to obtain the intended data. For validity and reliability of the whole work, the researcher employed triangulation so as to not concentrating on just one source of information. He approached the topic from different points of view by combining qualitative data from discourse completion tests (DCTs), questionnaire for teachers and qualitative data from content analysis using checklists designed for the same purpose. He used theories and background knowledge from books and journals or articles that guide him to approach the topic in the right way. 3.8. Procedures for Data Analysis In the process of data analysis the first step was organizing the data by research questions because organizing by research questions draws together all the relevant data for the exact issue of concern to the researcher and it preserves the coherence of the research. With respect to the content of the textbook, coding the content according to the established definitions, categorizing the data, counting the frequency of each code in the textbooks and tabulating was done. After the data were gathered from the textbooks, the students and the respective teachers, both qualitative and quantitative analyses were geared up. Content analysis and questionnaire were chief data gathering tools. Once the data obtained through textbook content analysis, questionnaires, discourse completion test and classroom observations were organized, the next step was description of the data. Thence, the

meaning was given to the data. This stage involved explaining the findings and triangulation for veracity and validity (accuracy) of the data. The last stage of data analysis was reporting or drawing conclusion and looking for implications that were dealt with in the next chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

In Ethiopia, English is taught as a foreign language. Equipping Ethiopian students with communicative competence in order to help them communicate effectively in international communication is truly essential. Although there have been studies about communicative language teaching in Ethiopian schools, investigation on pragmatic information in English textbooks used in Ethiopia has not yet been conducted. Similarly, whether there exist any additional pragmatic features in teachers book as a resource for teachers has not been questioned. Likewise, whether English language teachers bring in outside materials to help learners develop pragmatic competence has not been investigated. Furthermore, no study has been conducted pertaining to the challenges existing to developing pragmatic competence of language learners. Developing learners communicative competence, i.e. the ability to communicate appropriately, is commonly recognized as the ultimate goal of language teaching (Kasper 1997a; Us-Juan and Martinez-Flor 2006). Therefore, teaching practices should focus not just on the features of the target language system but also on its sociolinguistic and pragmatic rules Judd (as qtd in Us-Juan 2007:224). In other words, learners should be given plenty of opportunities to practice use of the language that is appropriate to a given situation. Being central to language use, and language learning, pragmatic issues must be addressed in language classroom (Rose, 1994:5). This is because differences in linguistic and cultural background can produce important misunderstandings as they imply different rules of interaction and the use of different linguistic terms to convey meaning (Cenoz, 2007:7). Hence, the inclusion of pragmatic elements in students books is mandatory in EFL context as there are no other reliable opportunities for learners to take advantage of (Bardovi-Harlig, and Dorneyi, 1998; Kasper 1997; Valllenga, 2004; Peiying, 2007). According to literatures, learners pragmatic knowledge and competence is framed mostly by the information presented in the textbooks. In addition to that in the English as a foreign language setting, teachers level of awareness about pragmatics is of paramount importance to help learners with pragmatic skills that are important in communication. In order to successfully acquire pragmatic competence/awareness, language learners need to be exposed to appropriate input in the classroom, particularly in foreign language (FL) classroom settings, where learners opportunities to

be in contact with the target language are usually non-existent. In such a context, textbooks are the core of the classroom syllabi and therefore constitute the primary source of input learners are exposed to (Vellenga 2004). The researcher has carried out analysis of the existing English language textbooks aimed at teaching English language in both government and non-government upper high schools in Ethiopia. In addition to the analysis, a survey of contemporary literature on some of the principles and practices of curriculum planning and course design, with special reference to English pragmatics has been taken up in order to ascertain the conformity scale of the current English language textbooks designed by foreigners. The researcher specifically believed that the observations put forward by teachers using the textbooks have a lot of contribution to make, for the conceptual and concrete culmination of the research, which in fact is discussed in the forthcoming section. Checklists were also used to measure the frequency and the extent to which the pragmatic features were treated in the textbooks. 4.1. Pragmatic Content Analysis of the Textbooks Question#1 Do the students textbooks provide enough pragmatic information for learners? The pragmatic features investigated in this study were Speech act Information, Usage, Politeness, Register, Style, and Cultural information. The books were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively using tables as instruments for the data collection process. The investigation was conducted on the basis of page-by-page inspection of the two selected books and any new point of information related to Speech act information, Usage, Politeness, Register, Style, and Cultural information even if it appeared in only one phrase was counted as an aspect of information. It was found that every pragmatic feature focused in this study was not presented in each book. The results were shown in table below. Presence was represented by a tick mark () and absence was represented by (x).The criteria for evaluation was adapted from Celce-Murcia (2007); and Peiying (2007).

Table 1. Checklists for Absence or Presence of the Pragmatic Features Pragmatic features Book 1 ML Interpersonal Exchanges 1. Greeting and leave taking 2. Making introductions and identifying oneself 3. Extending, accepting and declining invitations and offers 4. Making and breaking engagements 5. Expressing and acknowledging gratitude 6. Complimenting and congratulating 7. Showing interest, 8. Showing surprise, 9. Showing sympathy, 10. Showing disbelief, 11. Showing disappointment Information 1. asking for and giving information 2. reporting (describing, narrating) 3. explaining 4. remembering Opinions 1. expressing and finding out about attitudes and opinions 2. agreeing and disagreeing 3. approving and disapproving 4. showing satisfaction and dissatisfaction Feelings : expressing 1. love, 2. happiness, 3. sadness, 4. pleasure, 5. anger, 6. embarrassment, 7. pain, 8. relief, 9. fear, 10. annoyance, 11. surprise Suasion: 1. suggesting,
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Book 2

MP
x x x x x x x x x x x

ML
x x x x x x x x x x x

MP
x x x x x x x x x x x

2. requesting, 3. Instructions 4. giving orders, 5. advising, and warning 6. asking for, granting and withholding permission Problems: 1. complaining and criticizing 2. blaming and accusing 3. admitting and denying 4. regretting 5. apologizing and forgiving Future scenarios: Expressing wishes, hopes, and desires plans, goals, and intentions promising predicting and speculating possibilities and capabilities of doing something Following Rules of Conversation 1. taking turns in conversation 2. introducing topics of conversation 3. staying on topic 4. rephrasing when misunderstood 5. how to use verbal and nonverbal signals 6. how close to stand to someone when speaking 7. how to use facial expressions and eye contact Changing language according to the needs of a listener or situation, such as 1.talking differently to a baby than to an adult 2.giving background information to unfamiliar listener 3.speaking differently in a classroom than on a playground Adapted from Peiying 2007, and Celce-Murcia, 2007.

x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x

x
x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x

x x x x x x

x x x

x x x

x x x

x x x

Pragmatics, or the ability to communicate using language, is increasingly recognized as essential to language competence and production. Researchers currently advocate metapragmatic instruction which combines explicit instruction, awareness-raising activities, and guided practice (EslamiRasekh, 2005; Kasper, 1997). However, the pragmatic features in the current students textbooks were not explicitly laid down. The pragmatic information that was presented in the textbooks was not backed up by further explanation either metapragmatic or metalanguage as displayed in the

above table. Instead of merely relying on the checklists already prepared by the researcher, the decision was made to check the pragmatic information or content in the books through page-bypage counting of each single case. The researcher selected expressions for various language strategies such as thanking, refusing, apologizing, complimenting, complaining and requesting, and classified them into categories according to Aijmer (1996) and Ishihara and Cohen (2007) in order to evaluate the pragmatic

contents of the selected textbooks. After determining the general amount of pragmatic contents provided in the textbooks, specific areas of interest were selected for analysis. The results were shown in the table below. Table2.Communicative Acts in the Textbooks Communicative Acts

Examples or strategies or realization of strategies

Topic /types strategies

Compliments

appearance/possessions performance/skills/abilities personality traits Direct refusals Statement of regret Statement of positive opinion Excuse, reason, explanation Gratitude Statement of future acceptance Indefinite reply Statement of alternative Statement of empathy Good wish to hearer Thanking someone explicitly Expressing gratitude

e.g., You look absolutely beautiful!) (e.g., Your presentation was excellent.) (e.g., You are so sweet.) (e.g. No, I cant, I dont think I can) (e.g. Im sorry) (e.g. Id love to, I wish I could) (e.g. I have to study for the test) (e.g. Thank you) (e.g. Perhaps some other time) (e.g. Im not sure, I dont know) (e.g., How about the movies) (e.g. No offence to you) (e.g. Have a nice trip, Hope you have fun) (e.g. Thanks, thank you, thank you for, thank you very much, thanks a lot, fine thanks) (e.g. Im grateful)

x x x x x x x x x x

Thanking

Refusal

Book 2
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Book 1

Expressing the appreciation of the addressee Expressing the appreciation of the act Acknowledging a debt of gratitude Stressing ones gratitude Expressing emotion Suppressing ones own importance[self-denigration] Explicitly apologizing Offering/presenting ones apologies Acknowledging a debt of apology Expressing regret Demanding forgiveness Apologies Explicitly requesting the hearers forgiveness Giving an explanation or account Self-denigration or self reproach Minimizing responsibility Expressing emotion Acknowledging responsibility for the offending act Promising forbearance from a similar offending act Offering redress Asking about ability to do something[ability] Asking about the possibility of the desired act happening [consultation] Asking whether the hearer is willing to do or has an objection to do something[willingness] Expressing a wish that the agent should do something [want] Expressing a need or desire for goods [need] Stating that the hearer is under

(e.g. Thats kind of you, thats nice of you) (e.g. Thats lovely, its appreciated) (e.g. I owe a debt of gratitude to) (e.g. I must thank you) (e.g. Oh, thank you) (e.g. Im an ingrate, Im so careless) (e.g. I apologize) (e.g. I present my apologies) (e.g. I owe you an apology) (e.g. Im sorry, Im regretful ) (e.g. Pardon me, forgive me, excuse me) (e.g. I beg your pardon, ) (e.g. Im sorry The bus was late, its so unusual) (e.g. How stupid of me, how awful, I ought to know this) (e.g. I didnt mean to, I thought this was, ) (e.g. Oh, Im so sorry,) (e.g. Its my fault,) (e.g. I promise you that will never happen again) (e.g. Please let me pay for the damage I have done) (e.g. Can you come to the party? Can you help me? Can I talk to Mr. president? ) (e.g. Is it possible, would you mind,)

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Requesting

(e.g. Will you, would you(like), )

(e.g. I would like you to,) (e.g. I want, I need,) (e.g. You must, you have to,)

x x x

x x x

the obligation to do something [obligation] Stating that it is appropriate that the hearer performs the desired action Asking an idiomatic WH questions Hypothesis Appreciation Permission quest Naming the object requested Checking the availability[existence] Valuation-an utterance expressing the feelings of the Speaker about either the Addressee or the problem. Closing - An utterance made by the Speaker to conclude the complaint set. Threat- An utterance stating an action the Speaker might take, depending on the reaction of the Addressee. Remedy - An utterance calling for some corrective action. Justification of The Addressee An utterance giving a reason or excuse for the Addressee's having committed the wrong or considering the effect on the Addressee. Justification of the speaker-An utterance explaining why the Speaker is making the complaint and the effects of the wrong on the Speaker. Act Statement- An utterance which states the problem directly. Orientation - An utterance giving the Speaker's intent in initiating the complaint, but with no detail. Opener- An utterance initiating the speech act set but giving no information about the wrong.

(e.g. You should, )

(e.g. What about, how about, why dont you, why not) (e.g. If you would, perhaps you would.) (e.g. I would be grateful if you would do, I would be glad if ) (e.g. May I , let me) (e.g. The next slide please) (e.g. Is Mrthere) (e.g. e.g. 'It's really disgusting.')

x x x x x x x x x x x x

(e.g. OK, thanks. )

(e.g. e.g. "I, er..could take it higher than just talking to you." )

(e.g. 'This is going to have to stop.') ( e.g. 'Is this time particularly difficult for you?" )

x x

x x

Complaining

( e.g. "... because I... you're making me miss lectures by turning up late." )

(e.g. "This is the fourth time this month you've been really late!" ) (e.g. 'I've been meaning to talk to you about the rubbish you've been leaving outside.' ) (e.g. "Listen, Jimmy." )

Explicit complaint

Request for ExplanationAn utterance calling for an explanation of the Addressee's behavior, Blame -An utterance finding fault with the Addressee or holding him/her responsible for the wrong,

(e.g. Youre not fair. Youre inconsiderate. One should not postpone this type of operation. Ive been waiting here for nearly an hour. You are always late. I expected different treatment from a physician like you.) (e.g. 'I mean, why do you do it?')

(e.g. 'You realize 'cause you're late again...')

Adapted from Aijmer 1996; Ishihara and Cohen, 2007 Most lessons are insubstantial and that there are no matapragmatic explanations provided. For example, we can see the following lesson presented in grade 10 students book under the title apologizing. How would you say sorry to someone? Look at the expressions: Sorry, I didnt mean to I am sorry but I apologize for I hope you will forgive me but I seem to have made a mistake. Im really sorry I am sorry for misunderstanding I hope you will understand (p. 62). Another lesson that has to do with compliments as presented in 10th English textbook on pages 85 and 91, has got similar problem. For example, Mercy is a good person You are good at Maths (p.85). Tesfaw is so good at speaking English. Tesfaw is such a good English speaker (p.91).

In the excerpt there is no clear instruction for the learners to further practice the language feature and there is no explicit metalanguage or metapragmatic explanation is given. Similarly, with the intention to say no or refusal to requests for sex, the following expressions are presented merely for the sake of presenting in 11th grade English language textbook. No metapragmatic explanation is provided. They are present only in name. I would really rather not If you dont mind, Ill say no to that. I dont want, if you dont mind. Im sorry, but Ive said no and Im not going to change my mind. Id prefer to/Id rather Why dont we instead? (p.103). Likewise, a topic about tourist complaint that is presented in grade 11th textbook page 128, must have left learners with unsolved puzzle. That is to say complaining being important feature of pragmatics, ample matapragmatic explanations and scenarios must have been provided. For the excerpt presented above no metalanguage and metapragmatic explanation has been given. No authentic context for practice and use is provided. No scenarios or situations were presented so that the learners will learn how the expressions are used in a real life like simulations. The objective states by the end of the lesson you will be able to learn to apologize to someone however there are no practice activities to assess learners behavior. Table 3.Frequency of Communicative Acts in Each Textbook Type of Communicative Acts Grade 10 textbook Grade 11 textbook

# of pages

# of pages

% of pragmatic pages

f Request Apology Compliments Complaints Refusing Thanking Total 74 13 10 4 4 105

f 48 3 11 1 7 2 72

17 5 3 3 3 31

327

9.5

9 1 2 1 1 2 16

251

6.4

% of pragmatic pages

Total # of pages

Total # of pages

The above table represents the quantity of pragmatic information contained in the student textbooks. In this case even phrase was counted so as to include the most possible data in the process of enumeration. As one can see from the table above, only few pages have gone for scantly explained and discussed pragmatic language features. Almost all pages or the lions share have gone for grammar, vocabulary, passages, and other language skills. This is somewhat paradox in that where the most important source of pragmatic aspect of language is said to be textbook, particularly in EFL setting and where there is meager opportunities for learners to develop their pragmatic competence, scantiness of such pragmatic contents in the textbooks can highly debilitate learners communicative competence. 4.2. Pragmatic Features Contained in Each Textbook Contiguous with examining the types of pragmatic features included or excluded in each of the books under investigation, the present study looked into the number of each feature included. It was found that there were differences in number of pragmatic features between the books as shown in the table below. () may stand for presence, both scant and sufficient, and explanations given about a particular communicative act; while (x) stands for absence and lack of explanation about a particular communicative act. Table 4.Pragmatic Contents of Grade 10th English textbook politeness
Page No

Pragmatic Features/Topics style

register

usage

5 6 6 7 8 20 21 22 23

34 59 62 67

Relative clauses Making comparisons Adverbs of time Giving advice Making plans and suggestions Asking questions Sequencing information Giving advice Remembering and reminiscing Conditional sentences Modal verbs Apologizing Adjectives of character

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x

x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1

Total

ML

MP

92 114 145 147 128 156 215 226-28

Illustrating a point Language use Making wishes Wishing Social expressions Hedges Congratulations, inviting, Language use

x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x

x x

x x x x

x x x x x x x x

1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3

1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3

It is observable from the table that most of the pragmatic elements that are rarely appearing in the students textbooks lack explicit explanation of forms, meaning, usage, purpose/use and context. Politeness, style, register and usage are absent altogether. Except very few metalinguistic explanations there no metapragmatic explanations provided for those features of pragmatics. Table 5.Grade11Textbook Pragmatic contents register
No.

politeness

Page

Pragmatic features/topics style

Usage

14 23 24 35 40 98 99 102 108 127 128 129 130 172 173 213 215 294 318

Discussing advantages and disadvantages[dialogue] Language of meeting The language of discussion How to write an informal letter Reported speech [dialogue] Giving Advice Asking for Advice Saying No [refusal] Language of formal letter A formal letter Tourist Complaints Making suggestion Turn taking Discourse markers* Discourse markers* Language we use to express wish* May I interrupt? Speculating about the future* hedges? Dialogue

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3

x x x x x

x x x

total

ML

MP

The above table shows the inclusion and absence of the pragmatic features in question. None of the books provided all the pragmatic features under investigation. Both of them, however, presented at least a dearth of features. In both textbooks, pragmatic information accounts for merely a small portion as indicated in the other section. Pragmatics deals with meaning in context that is the meaning conveyed often indirectly beyond what is literally communicated (Ishihara, 2010:1). Others like Yates (2004) also have described pragmatics as the secret rules of language, the rules that help us know how formal or informal to be, how long to wait before we ask or answer a question, how to apologize to someone for bumping into them or how to give a compliment. All of them have highlighted the importance of socially appropriate language use; ability to use language in context has been identified as an essential component of communicative competence. It is very rare case that one can find such qualities as mentioned by scholars in the students books reviewed regarding social and authentic language use contexts. In Ethiopian EFL context, English is used mainly in the classroom and EFL learners thus have significantly fewer opportunities to engage in English-based communication outside the classroom. The English classroom, therefore, becomes the central place for their development of pragmatic competence. Previous studies show that pragmatic competence can be taught (Eslami-Rasekh, 2005; Kasper, 1997; Jianda, 2006). However, foreign language teachers, being foreign language learners themselves, hesitate to teach pragmatics in their classrooms. A large number of EFL teachers have learned English as a foreign language. Many may neither have any contact with native speakers, nor have they had enough opportunities to fully develop their pragmatic knowledge and skills (Cohen, 2004; Kim & Hall, 2002). For those non-native teachers, textbooks can be of particular use in equipping themselves with pragmatic competence. In other words, textbooks are the only tool nonnative speaker teachers use to teach the four language skills and pragmatic knowledge (Kim & Hall, 2002).

However, textbooks rarely provide enough information for learners to successfully acquire pragmatic competence. In the worst case, they can be a source of pragmatic failure (Vasquez & Sharpless, 2009). Bardovi-Harlig (2001), for instance, reported that speech act realizations presented in textbooks might not reflect the manner in which native speakers commonly realize in a

speech act. The target language culture may be misrepresented and the rules of speaking or politeness norms may be distorted. Moreover, textbooks have been criticized for decades for failing to provide EFL learners with adequate and appropriate pragmatic knowledge (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Peiying, 2007; Takafumi, Fukusawa & Shinichi, 2007; Vellenga, 2004; Yang, 2007). Vallenga (2004), in particular, reported that metalinguistic and metapragmatic information related to ways of speaking were missing from ELT textbooks used in most university worldwide. The results from the books analysis indicated that the pragmatic features focused in the study were included in the books used in teaching the English language as a foreign language in Ethiopian upper high schools. However, the features and the pragmatic information contained vary across the books. To conclude, from the data analysis, although the pragmatic features are included in those books variedly, the amount of pragmatic information in the books is far short of being an adequate source for EFL students to attain pragmatic competence. Likewise, non-native EFL teachers may also find it insufficient to simply rely on students books to enhance their pragmatic knowledge. The pragmatic features, only in title, are paid a lip service in the textbooks. Admittedly, in a plethora of grammar, the paucity of the pragmatic features is visible in addition to the absence of explicit explanations given to even the meager presentation of the pragmatic aspect of the language. 4.3. Questionnaire for Teachers Question # 2.What are the Challenges Faced by High School Teachers in Teaching Pragmatic Competence? A questionnaire was designed for eliciting perceptions of teachers in relation to the challenges faced in teaching pragmatic competence by language teachers who are teaching English language at St. Josephs High School. In order to prepare questionnaires, first, the researcher reviewed relevant literature as pointed out earlier. Second, questionnaires were designed and distributed to the teachers before the actual data collection in order to ensure whether the questionnaires were applicable as per what the researcher intended to collect pertaining to the apparent challenges. For each category of challenges, there was one major open-ended question, followed by clarification checks and attempts to elicit any further perceived challenges. The initial draft consisted of 12 statements. It was then submitted to the advisor; colleagues and classmates who were interested in this area for feedback about the relevance and clarity of each statement. Acting upon their feedback,

the number of statements was increased to 24 and very few modifications in wording were made. Four copies were distributed to English language teachers teaching grades 9-12, and all forms were returned. Table 6.Challenges Related to Teachers Training Programs Whether they have learned a course on pragmatics (request, apology, complain, compliment, thanks Yes % 4 No % -

100 -

All of the subjects stated that they had exposure to information about pragmatics. For instance, one subject mentioned that When I was a sophomore student in the university, I took the course An Introduction to Linguistics. Its the basic lesson to linguistics, and of course contains pragmatics. After yes or no question, the second category of the questionnaire was about the extent to which those teachers were benefited out of the lesson/course received. Hence, the questionnaire has three point scales. The researcher decided to consider the mean values between 1 and 1.5 inadequate, between 1.6 and 2 fairly adequate, and finally between 2.6 and 3 adequate. Table 7.Whether any Lesson Received Helped the Teachers or not

If in-service and/or pre-service training has helped them to:

Be aware of pragmatics as a branch of linguistics

N % Mean Compare their L1 with that of English N % Mean Learn norms of politeness in face to face interaction in N English % Mean Teach pragmatic aspect of English language N % Mean Select activities to teach language USE N % Mean Construct tests to evaluate language USE N % Mean

12 100 3 -

8 100 2 8 100 2 4 50 1 4 50 1

4 100 1 2 50 .5 2 50 .5

Inadequate

Adequate

Fairly adequate

It can be seen from the table above that all the respondents replied that the lesson or any training they received has made them be aware of pragmatics as a branch of linguistics. The mean of their response was 3 which indicated that the lesson they received was adequate to help them be aware of pragmatics. They have again argued that the lesson they have received has fairly helped them compare the pragmatic relationship between their mother tongue and that of English. The mean score for the responses was 2 which mean that the lesson they received was fairly adequate to assist them compare the pragmatic relationship that exists between their L1 and the English language. As confirmed by the teachers the instructions they received helped all or 100% of them, learn norms of politeness in face to face interaction in English. The mean of their responses indicated that the lesson they have learned was fairly adequate if not adequate. Referring to the last three statements the teachers have opposite reactions as compared to the first categories. The knowledge they had acquired about pragmatics was of no help to enable all or 100% of them to deliver lesson on pragmatic aspect of the English language; to put it precisely in their own response inadequate. Likewise, the lesson they received did not guarantee them to select and/or design activities to teach pragmatic features of English language in the classroom. Similarly, the lesson they received was inadequate in that it was not of use by 50% of the teachers, to construct tests to evaluate language use in the EFL setting where English is spoken only in the classroom. In fact, 50% of the respondents have claimed that they selected activities to teach and constructed tests to assess pragmatic knowledge. However, the mean score of their responses was one (1.5) which means inadequate. Challenges related to students textbooks According to literatures textbooks can be either opportunity or challenge to teaching pragmatics in EFL context. What do St. Joseph school teachers think of textbooks pragmatic contents? Inadequate=1, fairly adequate=2 and adequate=3.

Challenges related to students textbooks Statements

Inadequate Adequate Fairly adequate

Teachers views about the pragmatic contents of their guide and students textbooks:

a/explanation of pragmatic aspects of English

N %

4 100 2 1.5 50 4 1 100 4 1 100

4 1 50 -

Mean 1

b/activities that help learners learn to use language or pragmatics c/how to teach pragmatic aspects of English language

d/how to test pragmatic aspect of English language

N Mean % N Mean % N Mean %

As shown in the table above, regarding the explanation of pragmatic aspects of English language presented in textbooks or their guide, the teachers responded unanimously (100% of them) that the contents are inadequate. Pertaining to the activities presented in the students textbook to help learners learn to use language, 50% of the teachers contended fairly adequate and the quarter part of them argued inadequate. While with regards to the method of teaching and testing pragmatic aspect of language, all the respondents with one voice said that the textbooks are inadequate. Tables 9. Do the teachers include any lesson in their daily plan to teach pragmatics? Item Inclusion of lesson in lesson plan Adequate Fairly adequate 3=75% Inadequate 1=25%

Table 9 represents that 75% of the participants affirmed that pragmatic lessons that they include in their lesson plan were fairly adequate and 25% of them acknowledged that the lesson they include to supplement textbook is inadequate. In line with this item, there was subsequent question that why teachers were not able to include pragmatic aspects of the English language in their lesson plan. The responses are treated in the table below. The scales were assigned values as strongly agree=5, agree=4, undecided=3, disagree=2, strongly disagree=1.

Table 10.Why teachers do not teach pragmatic aspect of English language? Ratings Strongly disagree Strongly agree

Undecided 1 25 1 25 1 25

Statements

Lack of extra time Limited knowledge of target culture and language Confusion with which aspect of pragmatics to cover Lack of training Insufficient materials Students language level Teachers language level Type of language assessment

N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N %

2 50 1 25 2 50 1 25 2 50 4 100 1 25

3 75 2 50 2 50 1 25 3 75 2 50 2 50

1 25 -

As shown in the table above, the three most common challenges the teachers reported that they are encountering in teaching pragmatics were lack of training as stipulated by Bardovi-Harlig and Mahan-Taylor, (2003:1) Pragmatics does not receive the attention in language teacher education programs that other area of language do, large class sizes and time allotment. Students language level and insufficient materials are the next most frequent difficulties for teachers to teach pragmatics. In a similar way, all subjects (100%) commented that teachers language level could be a factor that influenced pragmatic teaching. Finally, type of assessment, which in fact aimed at passing exam, has significant impact up on the pragmatic lessons according to the teachers response. This is as Kasper (2000), puts forward, Unless teachers also know about methods to evaluate students' progress in pragmatics, they may be reluctant to focus on pragmatics in their teaching.

Disagree

Agree

Table11.General Perception of Teachers about Opportunities for Learning Pragmatics in EFL Context Agreement scales/raters Undecided Disagree 1 25 3 75 2 50 3 75 1 25 2 50 Strongly agree Agree Strongly disagree 1 25 1 25 1 25 1 25 -

Statements Teachers talk in the classroom is importantto help learners acquire pragmatic knowledge The current English textbook discusses and identifies pragmatic areas of the students needs Methods and techniques of teaching CL and pragmatics are supposed to be different Teaching pragmatic competence is not as important as teaching communicative ability Teachers rarely bring in outside materials related to pragmatics Learning and teaching pragmatics from textbooks is impossible Textbooks are inadequate in presenting authentic pragmatic samples, but teachers can overcome shortcomings of textbooks Textbooks cannot be counted as reliable resources of pragmatic input N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N %

3 75 4 100 1 25 3 75 2 50

1 25 1 25 1 25 -

1 25 -

It is shown in the table above that the idea of teachers talk in the classroom to help learners be aware of language pragmatics was accepted by 75% of the participant, while 25% rejected it. Pertaining to the statement, Methods and techniques of teaching CL and pragmatics are supposed to be different, 25% of the teachers are in dilemma, and 50% of them, however disagree and the remaining 25% strongly disagreed with the statement. In reference to the item stated Teaching pragmatic competence is not as important as teaching communicative ability, 75% of the participant teachers responded that they disagree with the statement and the remaining 25% of them strongly disagree. With regards to the statement Teachers rarely bring in outside materials related to pragmatics, the respondents (100%) of them all together have witnessed they agree with the

statement. What was surprising to the researcher was that in table 7 the teachers responded that they include pragmatic aspect of the English language in their daily lesson. The sixth item aimed at eliciting teachers perception about the possibility of learning and teaching pragmatics from the learners textbooks. 25% of them strongly agreed, agreed, undecided, disagree and strongly disagreed with the statement respectively. 4.4. Classroom Discourse Observation Analysis of classroom discourse was difficult because the manifestation of pragmatic features in the classroom discourse was far short of existence as there was paucity of pragmatic elements in the students textbooks. The lesson consisted of mostly teacher fronted activities and individual work. This might be caused by the presence of the researcher that could be misunderstood by those teachers that were trying to show off their English standing in front of the classroom all the way through 45 minutes. During the teacher-fronted activities, the teachers addressed the class as a whole almost exclusively. When they addressed individual students, they did so in brief, using formulaic language relating to the contents of the lesson i.e. grammar and reading passages. None of the students asked a question during the presence of the researcher and they did not interact much with each other except for brief comments which were not audible. The paucity of interaction in English during non-teacher-fronted activities was somewhat common in the classes observed by the researcher it was impossible to determine whether the students used English with one another. This was because the researcher overheard some students diverting to Amharic and talking some other business when he was sitting by some students during classroom discourse observation. These observation tools were constructed in such a way that the observer only had to tick or cross from a list when something happened in the class, e.g. teacher uses board (), students answer individual questions (x). The researcher had followed the following stages for doing observations. First, the researcher decided the particular types of activities or behavior he wanted to observe. Second, prepared a checklist or a record form to complete as he did his observation, or as soon as possible afterwards. Thirdly, the researcher talked with the class teacher and got her/his permission; explained what he wanted to do and negotiated what the teacher would get in return, e.g. some feedback on the lessons effectiveness. Fourthly, he completed his observation and marked up his checklist, took some time to reflect on the observations and finally, analyzed the result and came up with the following results.

Table12. Classroom Observation Results Key: DCT =discourse completion test, ODCT=oral discourse completion test, MDCT=multiple choice discourse completion test or WDCT=written discourse completion test Subcategories Spotted Unspotted 1. drills Classroom Activities 2. translation 3. discussion 4. presentations 5.conscious raising activities 6.explicit instruction of pragmatics 7.awareness-raising activities 8.guided practice 9. game 10. role plays 11.DCT, ODCT, MDCT or WDCT 1. teacher to students Participant organization 2. student to students or student to the classroom 3.group work 4. individual work 1. form/grammar Content or explicit focus on language 2. discourse 3. usage 4. use/function: complaining, complimenting, refusing 1. written Materials used 2. audio 3. visual 4. stories 5. dialogues 6. scenarios/situations/authentic language samples or models 1. use of target language Communicative features 2. information gap 3. sustained speech 4. reaction to code or message 5. incorporation of preceding utterances 6. discourse initiation 7. relative restriction of linguistic form/semantic formula Key: DCT-discourse completion test, MDCT-multiple choice discourse completion test, Items category WDCT-written discourse completion test.

Classroom discourse and textbook use were observed because the classroom is the ideal place for teachers to help learners interpret language use. A classroom discussion of pragmatics is also a good place to explore prior impressions of speakers (Bardovi-Harlig and Mahan-Taylor, 2003:38). The aim of observing the classroom activities was to spotlight on turn-taking behavior of students and teachers, cross-cultural comparisons in the use of communicative acts, treatment of learners pragmatic errors, the nature of linguistic input provided by the teachers, style shifting in the classroom, direct or indirect influence of the teachers and techniques that are used to address pragmatics in the classrooms. As to the organization of the participants, the aim was to see whether the teacher working with the whole class and/or individual students, whether the students were divided into groups or were engaged in individual seat work, or if they were engaged in group work, how was it organized etc. because as indicated in many literatures group work is considered to be an important factor in the development of fluency skills and communicative skills. Observation results revealed that students were typically involved in whole-class instruction with rare interaction with their teacher or other students. Students were just watching or listening to the teachers. The teachers typically focused on the content of the task or assignment, responded to students' signals, communicated the task's procedures, and checked students' work. As it can be seen from the table, all of the teachers never use any scenarios or situations to activate students pragmatic awareness by explaining the meaning of different language functions or uses. Beside this they never use any role-play activities to observe students pragmatic competence or failure. This might be due to huge number of students that ranges from 62 to 65 in a classroom. The researcher never observed the teachers asking their students to collect pragmatics information from outside the classroom from TV, movies, magazines, novels, etc. that are either naturally occurring or closer to authentic language use. As far as the researchers classroom observation is concerned, no one of the teachers happened to include pragmatic topics such as refusing, thanking, apologizing, complaining, complimenting, in their lesson. With reference to materials used, the aim was to make a note of authentic/unauthentic materials that stimulate real-life communicative situations. Many advocates of the communicative approach have claimed that authentic materials are essential in order to prepare students for the kinds of discourse they will encounter outside the classroom. Nevertheless, no teacher was found to use any additional materials to help learners with the theme of lessons delivered, except textbook contents.

Although some teachers claimed in the questionnaire that the pragmatic lesson they brought into the classroom from outside world was fairly adequate, no one of them found to have included pragmatics related issues; rather they were heavily depending on the contents of the textbooks all the way through while the researcher was observing their behavior in the classroom. To further find out about the contradictions, the researcher talked to those teachers informally after the classroom sessions as to why they were not bringing in outside materials. They responded that there were no materials that they could make use of for the same purposes and on the other hand they were bringing materials related to grammar and vocabulary teaching. 4.5. MDCT for Students Question# 3. Do students choose appropriate language based on a provided situation/context? Research on the acquisition of communicative competence suggests that a complex interplay of psychological, affective and sociobiographical variables determine the levels of proficiency reached by language learners and users (Dewaele, 2007:141).The focus in this section of the present study was on self-perceived pragmatic proficiency in English. It is a judgment that we are all forced to make at some point. Before distributing MDCT, rubrics were administered to the participant students in order to assess their self-perceived competence so as to check the result against that of what they would score in MDCT. In order to elicit learners perceived language skills proficiency, the researcher had included an item so that learners act up on it in this regards. Hence, learners rated their perceived proficiency using the rating scales: very good=(4), good=(3), fair=(2), and poor=(1). Table 13.Learners Language Skills Proficiency Background Skills Speaking N % Mean N % Mean N % Mean N % Mean Very good 29 16 0.158 56 30 0.30 87 48 0.48 74 40 0.40 Proficiency Good Fair 90 56 50 30 0.491 0.30 92 21 50 11 0.50 0.11 74 22 40 12 0.40 0.12 67 31 36 16 0.366 0.169 Poor 8 4 0.04 14 5 0.076 11 6 0.06 Total 100 100 0.98 100 100 0.98 100 100 1 100 100 0.98

Listening

Reading

Writing

In view of the above table, almost a half (50%) of the respondents pointed out that their proficiency in speaking skills is good; and 30% of them rated their speaking skills proficiency as fair. On the other hand, very few of them (4%) responded that their speaking skills proficiency is poor. Those who opted for the scale very good accounted for about 16%. In relation to the listening skills 30%, 50%, 11% and 5% of the participants indicated that their perceived proficiency is very good, good, fair and poor correspondingly. With regards to the reading skills, 48% of the subjects inclined to say that their perceived proficiency is very good at reading and 40% of them on the other hand, maintained that their perceived proficiency is good. The rest 12% of them indicated that their reading proficiency is fair. No one of them rated their reading proficiency as poor. With respect to the writing skills, those who selected the scale very good were about 40% of the sample; and 36% of them opted for the scale good in that order. The rest 16% and 6% of the participants selected fair and poor respectively. Based on the data on hand, it is fairly possible to argue that students were good at speaking and listening; and very good at reading and writing respectively. In order to elicit sorts of opportunities learners had, the researcher devised and included one item in the questionnaire administered to them. The respondents were asked to put their responses using the following scales: Frequently =4, sometimes =3, rarely =2, no chance =1. Table 14.Exposure to the English Language outside the Classroom Frequently Sometimes Rarely Use of English with English speakers/natives Watching films in English without translation. Reading in English: magazines, literature, academic books f % f % f % 28 15 119 65 37 20 90 49 37 20 87 47 47 25.6 16 8.7 50 27 No chance 18 9.8 11 6 9 4.9 Total 183 100 183 100 183 100

Although it is difficult to attribute the when and how, based on the above data 49% of the subjects pointed out that they sometimes used English language with the natives. Whereas, 15% of them claimed that they frequently use English language with the English speakers; and 25 % of them have rare contact with the English speakers. The remaining 9.8% of the respondents replied that they have no chance to use English language with the English speakers.

Researches reveal that people who take an active approach to learning and who seek out chances to use the language are much more likely to succeed than those who don't. The best kind of language practice involves one in expressing, interpreting and negotiating meaning with proficient language users. In meaningful interaction, whether it takes place in speech or in writing, one experiences the forms of the language in a context that helps her to understand how to use them appropriately. In line with the above question, the participants were also asked whether they watch films in English that were not translated into local languages. Accordingly, 65% of them responded that they frequently watch films without translation; 20% of them replied they watch films without translation sometimes; and 8% of them rarely watch films without translation and 6% of them indicated that they have no chance to watch any films in English. The participants were also asked whether they read any literary or nonliterary works produced in English. In their response to the question, it was observed that 20% of them frequently read magazines, books, etc. and 47% of them replied that they sometimes read such materials in English. The remaining 27% and 4% of them showed that they rarely read and have no chance to read such materials in English respectively. On the basis of the data presented above, it is safely deducible that most of the participant students have no frequent chance/exposure to the target language sources: human and material. This in turn might hamper the development of learners pragmatic and linguistic competence. Thence, the burden is on the teachers shoulder to supply the students with materials that can compensate situations outside classroom. 4.6. Learners Self-perceived Communication Competence The self-perceived communicative competence (SPCC) rubrics was developed to find out about participants (students) perception of their own competence in different communication contexts and given different types of receivers. The scale was intended to let the respondents define their own communication competence. Since people make decisions with regard to communication (for example, whether they will even engage in it), it is their own perception that is important, and not that of an outside observer. It is important that readers of this measure recognize that this is not a measure of actual communication competence; it is a measure of perceived competence. Knowledge of communication strategies empowers individuals to communicate, express themselves, perform many different functions, and attain satisfactory outcome. It was just to test learners beliefs with

respect to practicing English anytime anywhere so as to be able to use the language effectively. It is believed that practice makes perfect in all aspects of language including nonlinguistic features. In order to solicit how learners perceive their communicative competence, the following rubrics was designed and distributed to them before the discourse completion test was administered. Some items were taken from 11th grade English textbook (p. 42-43 and 88).The rubrics were made of five models of communicative competence along with description: sociocultural competence, discourse competence, strategic competence, grammatical competence, and pragmatic competence. The last one in fact took the lions share for the main reason that the researchs theme revolved around it. The likert scale was also part of the rubrics along with values attached to each description-strongly agree=5, agree = 4 neither agree nor disagree=3, disagree=2, and strongly disagree=1. The mean score were rounded to the nearest mathematical values. Table 15.Learners Self-perceived Sociolinguistic Competence Sociolinguistic Competence Rating Values
5 4 75 40.9 48 26.2 60 32.8 3 15 8.2 44 24. 25 13.7 2 19 10.4 20 10.9 8 4.4 1 10 5.5 16 8.7 1 .5 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 3.97 3.56 3.62 2.71 3.17 3. 4.23 3.51 3.86

Items 1 2

Total

Mean Score

Speaking English can help me interact with native speakers. Studying English is important because it can help me make friends who speak English. Learning English is important because it will broaden my world view.

f % f % f %

64 34.9 55 30. 89 48.6

If I speak English well, I can travel around the f world without language barriers. % I want to do well in English because I want to f show my ability to my parents/ teachers/ % friends. I want to improve my English because most f of my friends speak English very well. % I want to improve my English in order to understand foreign cultures. It is important to speak appropriate English in different social contexts. I think learning English will be more effective f % f % f

31
16.9 35 19.1 18 9.8 43 23.5 34 18.6 82

54
29.5 40 21.9 32 17.5 72 39.3 70 38.2 49

60
32.8 45 24.6 50 27.3 40 21.9 55 30 29

30
16.4 52 28.4 51 27.8 16 8.7 16 8.7 13

7
3.8 11 6 32 17.5 12 6.6 8 4.4 10

10

if we have group discussion with classmates during the class. Whenever I have communication breakdown in conversations with native speakers, I will try to use verbal or non-verbal messages to bridge the gap.

% f %

44.8

26.8

15.8

7.1

5.5

100

14 7.7

69 37.7

68 37.2

24 13

8 4.4

183 100

3.28

In relation to the first item, under the first criteria (sociolinguistic competence), 35% of the subjects replied that they strongly agree, 41% of them claimed that they agree, 8.2% of them were indifferent meaning they neither agree nor disagree, 10% of them responded that they disagree and the last 5.4% of them singled out the likert scale strongly disagree. The mean score of their response was 3.87=4 [agree]. Regarding the second statement studying English is important because it can help me make friends who speak English, 30% of the subjects strongly agreed with the statement, 26.2% selected agree, 24% of them neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement, 10.92% disagreed, and the remaining 8.74% opted for strongly disagree. Nevertheless, the grand mean of their responses was 3.55; and when rounded off to the nearest value it means agree. In other words most of the respondents agreed with the statement. Regarding the statement If I speak English well, I can travel around the world without language barriers, 16.9% have a strong belief, 29.5% replied they agree, 328% of them neither agreed nor disagreed,16.4% of them opted for the scale disagree and the remaining 3.8%, have weak belief of the statement. The mean score for the responses was 3.37= (indifference). For the statement I want to improve my English in order to understand English speakers cultures 23.5% of the participants replied they strongly disagree, 39.3% responded they agree, 21.9% of them claimed they neither agree nor disagree and 6.6% of them pointed out they strongly disagree with the statement. In spite of this, the mean score of all likert scales resulted in 3.62=4, which implied that majority have agreed with the statement. The next statement was I think different social contexts may require me using different but appropriate English. As noted in the table above, 19% of the subjects strongly agreed, 38.3% agreed, 30% reserved from having a say (meaning they neither agreed nor disagreed), 8.7% disagreed and 4.3% of them strongly disagreed with the statement. However, the grand mean of their response was 3.56=4(agree).

The next category was discourse competence. This item in fact was designed to see how learners rate their ability to produce coherent idea in written or spoken English or to see the extent to which learners perceived their discourse competence in using discourse markers to: o Initiate discourse, o Make a boundary in discourse (shift/partial shift in topic), o Preface a response or a reaction, o Fill a gap or dallying tactic, o Hold the floor, o Effect an interaction or sharing between the speaker and the hearer, o Bracket the discourse either cataphorically or anaphorically, o Make either foregrounded or backgrounded information.

Table 16. Learners Self-perceived Discourse Competence Discourse Competence 1 I usually practice many grammar drills in order to improve my English. I will ask myself to express my thoughts in a comprehensive and correct manner in English. I perceive that I can express my ideas naturally in spoken English. I will try to talk to native speakers to strengthen my spoken English. I perceive that I feel more comfortable to express my ideas in written English. I will read different grammar books written by different authors to improve my grammatical competence. Students are expected to be able to use extended utterances where appropriate Students need to have the ability to maintain coherent flow of language over several utterances f % f % f % f % f % f % f % f %
49 26.8 38 20.7 61 33.3 69 37.7 50 27.3 52 28.4 16 8.7 18 9.8 7 3.8 6 3
Total Mean Score

183 100 183 100

3.5

3.58

3 4 5 6

27 14.8 47 25.6 45 24.6 37 20.2 48 26.2 34 18.6

65 35.5 64 34.9 58 31.7 57 31.1 62 33.9 70 38.2

50 27.3 36 19.7 38 20.8 39 21.3 38 20.8 55 30

28 15.3 25 13.7 29 15.8 28 15.3 26 14.2 16 8.7

13 7 11 6 13 7 22 12 9 4.9 8 4.4

183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100

3.33

3.59

3.48

3.29

7 8

3.59

3.56

Under discourse competence, students reacted to statement, I will ask myself to express my thoughts in a comprehensive and correct manner in English in different ways. For instance, 20.7%

of the subjects claimed that they strongly agree, 37.7% showed that they agree, 28.4% of them pointed out they neither agree nor disagree or they are in favor of no view, 9.8% o of them preferred disagree and the last 3% contended they strongly disagree with the statement. The sum total of their mean 3.95=4(agree), that is the majority of the students ask themselves to express their thoughts in a comprehensive and correct manner in English. Students were also asked, under discourse competence item 3 to rate their self-perceived competence as in the following statement. I perceive that I can express my ideas naturally in spoken English. This was intended to solicit views of the subjects about their own flow of idea when they try to speak in English. Accordingly, 14.75%, 35.5%, 27.3%, 15.3% and 7% of the subjects replied they strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree and strongly disagree respectively. The mean score showed that the majority of the respondents neither agree nor disagree with the statement. They were not sure as to whether their language naturally flows when they write or speak or not. Subsequent to the discourse competence, learners rated their self-perceived pragmatic competence. Like in the other cases, students rated their self-perceived competence in relation to the pragmatic competence as well. Their responses frequency and percentile as well as the mean score were presented in the separate table below. Table 17. Learners Self-perceived Pragmatic Competence Pragmatic Competence 1 I know what to say, when to say and how to say and rule of talking when talking with other people in English I pay special attention when I make requests I pay special attention to other people making requests I pay special attention to other people when I refuse I pay attention to other peoples feeling, status and age when I complain I know when I should use modal verbs such as can, could, would, or may when apologizing, requesting, refusing, thanking, inviting, suggesting ,etc. f % f % f % f % f % f %
24 13.1 47 25.6 47 25.6 36 19.6 52 28.4 60 60 32.7 69 37.7 65 35.5 63 34.4 67 36.6 71 64 34.9 38 20.7 45 24.5 54 29.5 44 24 34 17 9.2 21 11.4 17 9.2 16 8.7 14 7.6 8 18 9.8 8 4.3 9 4.9 14 7.6 6 3.2 10
Total Mean Score

183 100 183 100 183 100 183

3.23

2 3

3.66

3.65

4 5

3.47

100
183 100 183 3.86 3.78

32.8

38.7

18.5

4.3

5.4

100

7 8 9

I know taking turns in conversation I know how to do rephrasing when misunderstood I have the skill as to how to use verbal and nonverbal signals I know how close to stand to someone when speaking I have the skills as to how to use facial expressions and eye contact I know the giving background information to unfamiliar listener will help I know speaking in a classroom is different from speaking on a playground I know how to address and talk to people whose age and status are different from mine

f % f % f % f % f % f % f % f %

44 24 27 14.8 15

77 42 68 37 60

44 24 59 32.2 71

11 6 20 10.9 24

7 3.8 9 4.9 13

183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100 183 100

3.75

3.42

3.19

8
39 21.3 35 19 34 18.6 72 39.3 58 31.6

32.7
65 35.5 74 40.4 59 32.2 63 34.4 64 34.9

38.7
49 26.7 47 25.6 60 32.8 24 13.1 32 17.4

13.1
18 9.8 16 8.7 24 13.1 14 7.6 16 8.7

7
12 6.5 11 6 6 3.3 10 5.4 13 7

10

3.53

11

3.55

12 13

3.48

3.92

14

3.73

Under the pragmatic competence, various items were posed to the subjects so as to grasp the general pictures of their self-perceived competence. Language is not only a means of teaching but it is a means of learning as well. Therefore, opportunities should be given to students, particularly at the secondary schools levels, to relate school work to the skills required in employment and adult life. Concerning this, a statement that was posed to the subjects was whether they are aware of what to say when and how to say; and whether they think that they have sufficient knowledge about rules of turn taking when talking to others in English. Then, 13.1% replied that they strongly agree, 32.7% responded that they agree 34.9% of them contended they neither agree nor disagree, 9.2% of them claimed that they disagree and the rest 9.8% said that they strongly disagree with the statement. The mean score of their responses was 3.23, which means the majority of the respondents neither agree nor disagree with the statement. This implies that they neither know what to say, when to say, how to say nor rules of talking to other people in English. In the second statement under pragmatic competence which goes I pay special attention when I make requests, 25.6% of the subjects strongly agreed that they pay special attention when they make requests, while 37.7% preferred agree, 20.7% of them voted for neither agree nor disagree, 11.4% of them indicated that they disagree, and 4.3% of them said that they strongly disagree

with the statement that was posed to see their awareness about peoples social status, relation they have with me, power, age, etc. when they make requests. With respect to the statement I pay special attention to other peoples requests, those participants who replied strongly agree were about 25.6%, those who said agree were around 35.5%, those who replied neither agree nor disagree accounted for 24.5%, while 9.2% of them selected disagree and the 4.9% responded they strongly disagree with the statement. The mean score was 3.65 closer to likert scale agree. I pay special attention to other peoples status, age, sex, power, etc. when I refuse, was the fourth statement that was presented to the subjects. Consequently, 19.6% of them replied strongly agree 34.4% of them disagreed 29.5% of them said they neither disagree nor disagree whereas, 8.7% disagreed, and the remaining 7.6% of them selected strongly disagree. The mean score was 3.47 which means neither agree nor disagree. Concerning, the statement I pay attention to other peoples feeling, status and age when I complain, 28.4 of the participants responded strongly agree 36.6% of them agreed, while 24% of them said neither agree nor disagree, 7.6% of them replied disagree and the rest 3.2% of them strongly disagreed with the statement. The mean score of their responses was 3.78 which imply that the majority neither agree nor disagree with the statement. For some, milder example of impoliteness is that language speakers or EFL learners may not understand the differences of how and when to use such modals as can and could versus the conditional would; the latter of which carries a more imperative meaning than the two modals in respect to making requests (Jung in Dash, 2004). In connection to this I know when I should use modal verbs such as can, could, would, or may when apologizing, requesting, refusing, inviting, suggesting, etc. was one of the statements forwarded to the subjects. As a result, 32.78% of them said they strongly agree, 38.7% of them agreed, 18.5% of them neither agreed nor disagreed, 4.3% of them disagreed, and 5.4% of them strongly disagreed with the statement. The score of their mean was 3.86. The other item was I know how to take turns in English conversations. Related to this statement, 24% of the of the respondents replied strongly disagree, 42% of them said they agree, 24% of

them indicated they neither agree nor disagree, 6% of them claimed they disagree, and 3.8% of them strongly disagreed. The mean score is 2.76 which implied disagreement. The other statement presented to the subjects was I know how to do rephrasing when misunderstood in English. Pertaining to this statement, 14.8% of them replied strongly agree, 37% responded agree, 32.2% of them answered neither agree nor disagree, while the rest 10.9% and 7% responded disagree and strongly disagree respectively. The mean score was 3.42 which imply the majority of the respondents neither agree nor disagree with the statement. Speech acts or communicative acts (Celce- Murcia, 2007) are also called social acts which can be judged as appropriate and/or inappropriate according to specific and secrete rules of communication in a given context, culture, or norm. These feature of language have also linguistic formula that interlocutors are expected to use based on a particular norm, culture, or general social context. In this research, learners were also asked to rate the difficulty level of some communicative acts as given in the table below. At the end of the question of difficulty level, open ended question followed with the secondary intention to be aware of the language used by the students in talking about the issue of difficulty. The communicative acts were randomly ordered and the subjects/students were simply requested to scale their perceived difficulty level of individual acts. VD: very difficult D: difficult A: average E: easy VE: very easy. Table 18.Scaling the difficulty Level of Communicative Acts Rating scales Speech acts Invitations Refusals Apologies Requests Commands Compliments Suggestions Giving advice Thanking VD 34 62 29 31 33 46 36 42 15 % 18.5 33.8 15.8 16.9 18 25 19.6 22.9 8.1 D 47 37 33 36 46 58 48 29 20 % 25.6 20 18 19.6 25.1 31.6 26.2 15.8 10.9 A 42 33 29 48 49 38 49 48 21 % 22.9 18 15.8 26.2 26.7 20.7 26.7 26.2 11.4 E 34 32 47 47 36 28 38 28 23 % VE % 14.2 10 24.5 11.4 10.3 7 6.5 19.6 56.8

18.5 26 17.4 19 25.6 45 25.6 21 19.6 19 15.3 13 20.7 12 15.3 36 12.5 104

Complaints

64

34.9

44

24

33

18

22

12

20

10.9

As it can be seen from the above table, 18.5%, 26.6%, 22.9%, 18.5% and 14.5% of the participants replied that making invitation in English is very difficult, difficult, average, easy and very easy for them respectively. To put this in a comparative way, the larger number, i.e. 26.6% took the lions share implying that invitation in English is difficult for the participants. In a similar pattern, as it can be read from the data that giving refusals in English is very difficult for 33.8%, difficult for 20%, average for 18% easy for 17.4 and very easy for the 10% of the subjects correspondingly. It is therefore, vivid that giving refusals in English is very easy for only few, i.e. 10% of the participants. In relation to the communicative act of apology, the presented data indicated that it is very difficult to apologize in English for 15.8%, difficult for 18%, average for 15.8%, easy for 26.6% and very easy for 24.5% of the participants in that order. Although the data did not tell how apology is easy, the majority, i.e. 25.6% of the respondents witnessed that apologizing in English is easy. The researcher has a reservation that the data needed further verifications as to whether the participants use appropriate semantic formula when/where they are supposed to apologize. Nevertheless, the majority of participants were not confident enough to boldly claim that giving apology in English is very easy. As to the communicative act of request, only 11.4% of the subjects claimed that it is easy to make requests in English. Whereas, 16.9% of them responded that making requests in English is very difficult. The remaining 19.6%, 26.6% and 25.6% of them pointed out that making request in English is difficult, average and easy correspondingly. It is evident from the table that about 90% of the sample participants rated making commands in English as very difficult, and 18% of them said difficult, 25% of them replied average and (19%) of them responded easy. The remaining 10.3% of them chosen the likert scale very easy. Concerning compliments, 25% of the respondents pointed out giving compliments in English is very difficult and 31% of them acknowledged that giving compliments in English is difficult for them. The remaining 20.7%, 15.3% and 7% of them asserted that it is average, easy and very easy for them to give compliments in English in that order.

In expression of gratitude, the speaker thanks the hearer for something he or she is doing, or has done. By thanking the hearer, the speaker expresses his or her feelings of indebtedness as well as that of appreciation. Learners of English as a foreign language need to have this skill as language users. It is apparent that this communicative act was rated as very easy by almost more than half of the respondents that accounted for 56.8% and 8.1% of them rated as very difficult to express gratitude in English. Overall it is perceptible from the data presented above here that the participants, if not all, almost the majority of them affirmed that those communicative acts are moderately difficult for them. The majority of the participants (34.9%) rated that complaining in English is very difficult. And yet 24% of them confirmed that complaining in English is difficult. The other 18%, 12% and 10.9% of the respondents rated their complaining skill as average, easy and very easy respectively. It is commonly believed that the goal of language learning is communication. The goal of language teaching is therefore teaching students to communicate in the language they are learning so that they can use it successfully to perform a variety of functions. Learning will take place consciously if students perceive the need for it. That need or gap can be observed from these data in relation to various language functions. In the majority of the cases, participants rated those communicative acts (functions) such as invitations, refusal, requests, apologies, commands, compliments, complaints, and giving advices-as difficult. If students have only learned English to pass an examination, then the language they might have acquired is probably transitional and focused on that need for the test. As to why they have rated those communicative acts the way they have rated them, participants have forwarded the following justifications. Note that the words of the participants were typed exactly the way they were written down. because of the English language very hard language Because some of them are not giving tention in our society so we dont use them frequntly. Thats why! b/c of my experience that when I mate foreign speakers those actions are very difficult to me sometime those kinds of action is faced when I go one step further in my life and those makes me stressed to reply on English

giving advice is more difficult to me b/c I dont have much words to give advice or Im not naturally have more vocabulary Thanking someone is easy to me b/c I learnt starting from Grade 0 OR that is the easiest word from all other things Because I didnt got most of the chance to try them or practice them in real b/c it is so complicated because I amnt speaking always because I dont speak them frequntly I may be run out of vocabulary for complaints. b/c it need high skill in speaking except refuzing most actions are not hard to do actually, All of them are not much difficult for me because English is not mother tang language of mine and Im not native for English because when I say Apologies I feel that I make my self Inferior but if I Invite some one I am happy with that I must be polite so it is difficult for me to talk using polite words b/c I feel it is difficult it is difficult b/c you dont know which is difficult to people what it is easy for you to say things by your own- you think that it may make them fell bad for me giving advise is most difficult if its personal and thanking is not difficult for me b/c the expression that I indicate as a least difficult are more familiar for me and I used them always the most difficult one are not familiar for me Because sometimes I forget some words I dont have enough vocabularies to express my feelings b/c those are the difficulties that I get when I speak English with others because I use them rarely and some of them frequently I just said that because those things are even hard in Amharic. b/c of that I knew that from my life cycle for example I have difficult situation in complaints b/c the words are not usually used in social or in other places that is why - thank you b/c they need more explanation and experience on it b/c things are difficult when we talk in English b/c I have no enough vocabulary to express my feeling

because I have less developed English speaking ability so I cant talk to much English thanking someone is the easiest thing b/c thanking people for their help is the right thing b/c I didnt practice such kind of things before and the light ones are the things I practice most times and see on films In spite of the fact that these statements are ungrammatical, there are some facts as one reads all the way through the statements. In connection to this, Amlaku (2010) argues English in Ethiopia is a medium of instruction from secondary school through higher education but the learners proficiency remains always poor and the effectiveness of English language teaching remains always questionable, despite the efforts being undertaken by the Ethiopian government and concerned institutions (p.10). Students affirmed that the English language itself is difficult for them. There are no such language aspects as requesting, complaining, compliment, apologizing, etc. in their day to day social language practices. Using these pragmatic aspects demanded them of some sort of efforts. Students were not familiar with those language aspects, and those aspects of language did not receive enough attention in the learning and teaching process. However, Cenoz, (2007:7) in other section has argued that being central to language use, and language learning, pragmatic issues must be addressed in language classroom, because English is mainly used in the classroom and EFL learners thus have significantly fewer opportunities to engage in English based communications outside the classroom. Therefore, English classroom becomes the central site for their development of pragmatic competence. 4.7. MDCT Scores and Descriptions There are six types of methods for pragmatic knowledge assessment that so far have been identified by researchers according to Jianda, (2006), i.e., the Written Discourse Completion Tasks (WDCT), Multiple-Choice Discourse Completion Tasks (MDCT), Oral Discourse Completion Tasks (ODCT), Discourse Role Play Talks (DRPT), Discourse Self- Assessment Talks (DSAT) and Role-Play selfassessments (RPSA). DCTs are used to elicit data by giving speakers scenarios that describe a situation and having speakers write down or role-play what they would say in that situation (Ishihara and Cohen, 2010). The MDCTs used for this study consisted of 20 situations with their respective choices in which learners have to choose socially acceptable language with an ideal interlocutor. The situations

varied based on the relative power of the two people, their social distance, and the degree of imposition created by the intent (action). The DCT was chosen as the data elicitation tool because it was the most expedient way to collect the relatively large amount of data. There were three to four months between the pre- and posttest. The pretest format was WDCT. MDCT was chosen for many reasons. It is easy to administer because of using paper-and-pencil format. MDCT allows the researcher to control features of the situation. MDCT can quickly gather large amounts of data in a short time. MDCT can make it easy to statistically compare responses from different groups without any need for transcription. However, written DCT has limitations. For example, written DCT data do not show the interactional facets of a speech event. Written DCT is only written receptive and productive language and it does not encourage oral production or selfreflection. Furthermore, written DCT is difficult to score because it requires recruiting, training, scheduling, and paying raters (Brown, 2001). This problem could be solved if the design was systematic and rigorous. All the students who took part in the research were given a sociolinguistic test. This test was devised to measure degrees of politeness, formality, appropriateness, and register variation in the spoken mode. For each item, a sociocultural context was provided, and the participants needed to choose from a list of four or five alternatives the most appropriate way to respond to that particular situation representing the appropriate use of language based on the NS perspective and the remaining options were distracters. The scoring for this test was based on native-speaker responses to the items. A sample question is as follows: You are having dinner with your friend's family. The food that your friend's mother has prepared is delicious, and you want some more. You've decided to say something in order to get some more. Which of the following, do you think, is the most appropriate? A."You are a great cook." B."Please give me more food." C."This food sure is delicious." D."Could I have some more?" Therefore, both quantitative and qualitative data were involved. The quantitative data were collected through MDCT; while the qualitative data were obtained through the analysis of the responses of MDCT.

In order to eliminate the pretest effect on the test results, the test format was changed from open ended to multiple choice items and the tests were administered to all learners at the same time and collected back in the same time. The time allotted for the test was 35 minutes. Respondents did it independently without discussion with their classmates and they were encouraged to ask any questions if they were not clear with the vocabulary or expression. After the participants submitted the questionnaire, the researcher checked the answers to avoid any unchecked or not unanswered responses. If it did happen, the students would be required to complete them again.

The scores were tabulated and tallied and finally calculated so as to interpret them. Mean and percentile for the correct answer and other distracters were calculated in the following table. Immediately after the participants finished doing the test, there was a section of the question paper that required them to indicate what was/were the sources of their current pragmatic knowledge. Personal relationships between the interlocutors, their level of imposing rank, their power, specifically their age, gender, and social distance between interlocutors were point of pragmatic parameters when designing the MDCT. Table 19. MDCT Score Description Options for MDCT C D E 26 25 8 .14 .136 .04 14 13.3 4 31 105 8 .169 .57 .04 16.9 57 4 61 13 10 .33 .07 .05 33 7 5 86 16 9 .46 .08 .049 46 8 4.9 12 14 10 .065 .076 .05 6.5 7.6 5 15 13 12 .08 .07 .065 8 7 6.5 12 8 11

Scenarios Situation 1

Situation 2

Situation 3

Situation 4

Situation 5

Situation 6

Situation 7

f Mean % f Mean % f Mean % f Mean % f Mean % f Mean % f

A 96 .52 52 9 .05 5 85 .46 46 12 .07 7 64 .34 34 90 .49 49 138

B 28 0.15 15 30 .163 16.3 14 .08 8 54 .29 29 82 .44 44 53 .28 28 13

6 .03

Total 183 .98 100 183 .99 100 183 .99 100 183 .95 100 183 .97 100 183 .98 100 183

Mean % Situation 8
f Mean

% Situation 9
f Mean

% Situation 10
f Mean

% Situation 11
f Mean

% Situation 12
f Mean

% Situation 13
f Mean

% Situation 14
f Mean

% Situation 15
f Mean

% Situation 16
f Mean

% Situation 17
f Mean

% Situation 18
f Mean

% Situation 19
f Mean

% Situation 20
f Mean

.75 75 13 .07 7 9 .049 4.9 30 .163 16.3 32 .174 17.4 12 .065 6.5 24 .131 13.1 7 .038 3.8 25 .136 13.6 24 .13 13 9 .049 49 25 .136 13.6 29 .158 15.8 118 .644 64.4

.07 7 21 0.114 11.4 116 .633 63.3 40 .218 21.8 31 .169 16.9 32 .174 17.4 30 .163 16.3 15 .08 8 98 .535 53.5 41 .224 22.4 21 .114 11.4 29 .158 15.8 20 .109 10.9 14 .076 7.6

.065 6.5 130 .71 71 18 .098 9.8 27 .147 14.7 26 .142 14.2 68 .371 37.2 65 .355 35.5 123 .672 67.2 21 .114 11.4 33 .18 18 132 .72 72 41 .224 22.4 34 .185 18.5 20 .109 10.9

.043 4.3 19 .103 10.3 27 .147 14.7 73 .398 39.8 86 .469 46.9 40 .218 21.8 43 .234 23.4 22 .12 12 26 .142 14.2 66 .36 36 21 .114 11.4 88 .48 4.8 100 .546 54.6 31 .169 16.9

.06 6 11 .06 6 13 .07 7 8 .043 4.3 27 .147 14.7 21 .114 11.4 16 .087 8.7 13 .07 7 19 .103 10.3 -

4 .021 2.1 -

.98 100 183 .99 100 183 .97 100 183 .99 100 183 .99 100 183 .99 100 183 .99 100 183 .98 100 183 .98 100 183 .99 100 183 .98 100 183 .98 100 183 .97 100 183 .97 100

With reference to the first situation, 52% of the examinees selected the correct answer (A). The remaining sum total of them i.e. 48% were distracted. The implication is that their pragmatic awareness is questionable. The deviation from the mean score is 0.042. Relating to the second

question, 43% of the examinees were distracted from the right or correct answer while the remaining 57% of them have chosen the correct answer (D). The deviation from the mean score is 0.045. With regards to the third scenario, the subjects accounting for about 33% selected the right answer (C), and the rest 67% were misled by other distracters. The deviation from the mean score is 0.042. Pertaining to the fourth situation, 46% of the participants have chosen the correct option. The remaining sum total of them i.e. 54% were distracted by the other options. Table 20. The MDCT score of the students by group Frequency Scores 1-5 48 6-10 69 11-15 53 16-20 13 Total 183 As it can be seen from the data presented above, the % Mean 26.2 .26 37.8 .37 28.9 .27 7.1 .071 100 .99 majority of the participants scored between 6

and 10 (37.8%). The average scorers were still not negligible that constitute for 28.9% scoring points between 11-15 out of 20 points. The top scorers were between16-20 accounting for 7.1% as compared to the other ones. This indicated that the majority of the participants did not have sort of awareness about pragmatics and pragmatic test. This might be the case that their grammar knowledge must have helped them than their pragmatic knowledge. Table 21. Summary of MDCT Situation and the Weight of Distance, Power, and Rank of Imposition Situation Situation 1 speaker compliments the hearer Situation 2 speaker advices the hearer Situation 3 hearer apologizes for talking aloud Situation 4 speaker requests a help Situation 5 speaker refuses a request Situation 6 speaker gives compliment to Situation 7 teacher versus student Situation 8 the speaker requests money Situation 9 speaker apologizes Situation 10 response to a compliment Situation 11 speaker apologizes Context School School Library Exam Room Shopping School Classroom Home D Low Low High High High Low High Low P R Equal Equal Low High Low High High Low Low Low Low High Low High High Low Low Low Low

Neighborhood High School Appointment Low Low

Situation 12 speaker complains Situation 13 speakers orders meal Situation 14 speaker suggests Situation 15 speaker thanks a host Situation 16 speaker apologizes

School Restaurant Restaurant Restaurant Classroom

Low High High High High

Low High Low Low

Low High Low Low

Table 22.Sources of students pragmatic knowledge Immediately after the last question of MDCT students were given alternative to choose pertaining the source of their knowledge that aided them do the test. The following table represents the students answer to the above question. Items I remembered what I heard in class I heard it once somewhere I remembered what I wrote in my notebook I remembered the teacher had explained it I knew the answer from reading I translated it from my mother tongue It sounded right Others Frequency 70 42 31 67 51 29 32 37 % 19.4 11.6 8.6 18.6 14.2 8 8.9 10.3 Mean .19 .11 .08 .18 .14 .08 .08 .10

Table 20 represents opportunities that learners have to acquire pragmatic competence. Respondents claimed that knowledge of pragmatics that they obtained from the interactions in the classrooms accounted for 19.4%. The second major source of pragmatic knowledge of students is the explanations made by the language teachers standing for 18.6%. From the above discussions the following points were the major themes in digging out the challenges in EFL context: the teaching of pragmatics is ineffective, the existing materials are deficient, social or contexts of language use are restraints, and teachers are unqualified in the area of language pragmatics. In more detailed way the next chapter has to do with conclusion and recommendation for the discussions.

CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY OF RESEARCH RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Summary of Research Results Based on the inventory made pertaining to the presence and absence of the pragmatic features in the students textbooks, the research findings showed that there is a dearth of language use contents in the plethora of other linguistic features that almost constituted above 90% of the textbooks contents (see, table 3). It was also evident from the data analysis that the pragmatic elements that were only given a lip service were given insufficient metapragmatic and metalanguage explanations. Hence, it is one of the challenges to teaching pragmatics in Ethiopian EFL context. The other research result was that teachers did not bring in outside materials to complement the paucity of pragmatic contents of the English language textbooks so as to facilitate the opportunities for teaching and learning pragmatics in the classroom. Evidence for this can be seen from table 11 where 100% of the teachers responded unanimously that no teacher could be singled out for bringing in outside materials to instruct pragmatics in EFL setting where there are rare opportunities to learning pragmatics. Further research result was that the majority of the participant students scaled that most of the communicative acts or social functions that they were tested for are difficult. As a result of which most of them scored below average in MDCT (see, table 18). The students further explained that those pragmatic features were difficult for them because have very negligible access to use the communicative acts in the classroom. The classroom observation results were also consistent with what was detected from the textbooks inventory, teachers responses and that of students responses that there were no lessons or interactions directed to the development of pragmatic competence in the classrooms. 5.2. Conclusions In the modern communication and communication oriented terminology we are interested in the process of providing language and its procedures, not just in the end-product, rather language use. Pragmatics is needed if we want fuller, deeper and generally more reasonable account of human

language behavior (Mey, 2001). Furthermore, outside of pragmatics, no understanding; sometimes, a pragmatic account is the only language use that makes sense. Further magnifying the essentiality of pragmatics and pragmatic competence lesson some pronounce Pragmatic competence is not a piece of knowledge additional to the learners existing grammatical knowledge, but is an organic part of the learners communicative competence (Kasper as qtd in Edwards and Csizer, 2004). With the growing demand to communicate in a foreign language, both the teacher education and language teaching process require specific attention not only to form and meaning but also to the pragmatic features of a language as pragmatic competence is one of the most important component of communicative competence. It is believed that in EFL contexts teachers and textbooks play central roles as resources of the target language and culture. A textbook is a framework which regulates the programs without which classrooms have no face validity to students and learners dont take their learning serious. In situations when shortage of experts in teaching a foreign language is felt, the role of textbooks become pivotal according to literatures. Textbooks portray the role of various people in the target society, the way different people at different levels of society express their intentions through utterances (Sahragard, et al., 2009). In an EFL context such pragmatic awareness and knowledge could be developed by the help of the teacher and the textbook. However, it is argued by Vellenga (2004) that the presentation of speech acts or pragmatic features in textbooks are pragmatically unsatisfactory, they are not supported well with contextual information, nor they are given explicit metapragmatic discussion. Similarly, Kasper (see in Vallegna 2004) blames textbooks as one of the factors for learners ineffective pragmatic strategy use. Hence, based on the findings of this research the following conclusions were drawn. The current English textbooks for Ethiopian upper high schools, i.e. grade 10 and 11 are containing only meager features of pragmatics. By implication they are challenges to teaching socially acceptable language or pragmatics to students. Being the most important source of developing communicative competence, they do not cooperate with learners to help them develop pragmatics. Textbooks are primary or central part of teaching and learning in the Ethiopian upper high schools. However, they almost never provide adequate pragmatic information for students to successfully develop their pragmatic competence. The findings indicated that there is a scarcity of pragmatic

information contained in the English for Ethiopia, and the variety of pragmatic information is limited. Most of the metalanguage explanations are very shallow and there are no metapragmatic explanations at all. The textbook writers havent given enough attention to the application of pragmatic theory in their textbooks as pragmatic information contained in the two language textbooks is not distributed evenly like it is the case for other language skills. Dimension of pragmatic competence are still confined to the explicit instruction of lexical, syntactical, and grammatical structures. The results of the study emphasized the need for explicit teaching of pragmatic features. Language learners should be given opportunities to be exposed to native-like conventions through the use of authentic materials, audio-visual aids, teacher talk and the textbook. To increase such exposure, teacher training needs to involve explicit teaching of pragmatic features to increase awareness. Above all, textbooks need to carry out pragmatic features and classroom methodologies to provide realistic, purposeful, and meaningful language practices. The pragmatic awareness, or lack of it, is very much affected by the textbooks used and by the classroom practices. As the need for communication increases with the mobility of people, effective language teaching and appropriate use of the foreign language gains importance to develop linguistic competence. Rose (2005) argues that explicit instruction is necessary for EFL learners to develop pragmatic competence. By looking at the results it can be said that it is necessary to help language learners in general, and language teachers, in particular, develop pragmatic awareness with the explicit but contextual and meaningful teaching of daily speech conventions. During the teacher training process, trainees should be provided with extensive pragmatic knowledge and be guided to develop theirs. It is fairly possible to infer from the teachers response that well-designed teacher training and teaching materials should be in place for teachers to develop students pragmatic competence. Moreover, the teaching hours to cover the issue of pragmatics; thus, to properly manage each lesson may solve the current problem of teaching pragmatics in the classroom. The findings of this study also showed that teachers seldom use pragmatic instruction in classrooms, and mostly students have to spend time by themselves developing pragmatic competence without explicit instruction. Overall, the pragmatics instruction is immature and needs to be developed, and teachers need professional training to know how to teach pragmatics effectively. Although the learners self-perceived competence mean score was high, their MDCT

result was low; and this confirmed that self-perceived competence and the actual performance never match. This is why according to Dewaele (2007) higher levels of self-perceived competence are linked to lower levels of communication which in fact has to be further investigated in our own context. Ultimately, it has long been recognized that language is an essential and important part of a given culture and that the impact of culture up on a given language is something intrinsic and indispensable. Therefore, it has become axiomatic to state that there exists a close relationship between language and culture. This can further be argued that all communication acts are culturallyloaded. Communication may be affected by culturally-related factors because communication acts are fundamentally developed through social interactions. The results of this study indicated that teaching language should also consider this fact so as to help learners develop the communicative skills which demanded of them in the social life spectrum out of the school compound. If this is simply paid a lip service and not be practiced cultural boundaries may bring about certain misunderstandings that will obstruct seriously the flow of communication process. Therefore, cultural and pragmatic awareness must aim to face these communication breakdowns. 5.3. Recommendations There is no doubt that effective teaching in Ethiopian EFL classrooms can improve students pragmatic knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary for the textbook writers to write user friendly textbooks in terms of providing pragmatic information to both the teachers and students. The researcher has a strong belief that future EFL textbook would include immense presentation of a variety of linguistic forms along with explicit metapragmatic explanations and contextually rich and authentic opportunities for students to practice those forms. As it is the most important aspect of language learning, textbooks developers should also take a note of procedures of teaching, selection of authentic materials and designing of tasks. Besides, they should not forget the essentiality of assessing the pragmatic aspects by providing modern approaches to testing pragmatic features of language. More importantly, there is a high expectation for aspiring teachers trainers and textbook writers to improve their own knowledge of pragmatics and pedagogy for optimal students learning outcomes. Teachers also should be able to receive sufficient knowledge in the area of pragmatics while they are on job or taking undergraduate courses.

The aim of instruction in pragmatics is not to force learners to adopt native speaker pragmatic choices or is not linguistic imperialism, but to expose learners to positive evidence or linguistic empowerment to use the words of Phillipson, (2009: 12), making them aware of a variety of linguistic resources that are used in combination with specific contextual factors. This knowledge progressively enables learners to make more sound decisions when choosing linguistic as they interact in the target language. In consequence, it is necessary to conduct research exploring the effects of instruction in

pragmatic aspects of the English language in an Ethiopian EFL setting. Taking theory as the foundation, learners can be instructed on the strategies and linguistic forms by which specific pragmatic features are performed and how these strategies are used in different contexts. This may contribute to the role language teaching has to help students situate EFL communicative practices in their sociocultural context and appreciate their meanings and functions within the EFL setting. Here the researcher has provided teaching methods and concepts for teachers to refer to. First, teachers should try to use dialogues or scenarios to activate students awareness of pragmatic knowledge, explain the meanings of these different language uses, and most importantly discuss language uses with students after exercises (Uso-Juan & Martinez-Flor, 2006). Teachers can also give students a scenario, a student asks a teacher to extend a deadline of final exam, for example. Students have to think about how to give an appropriate response to the teacher if they are in that kind of situation, and later teachers discuss answers with students (Rose, 1994; Crandall & Basturkmen (2004); Takimoto, 2006; Meier, 1997). Second, increasing opportunities for students to produce target pragmatics is important. Teachers can use role-play activities to observe students pragmatic competence. Or teachers can provide discourse completion task (DCT) with students, which can have students read a variety of situations and write down what they would say in each situation(Lee, S.J & McChesney, B., 2000). The situations could be an apology for a friend, a request for parents, or a suggestion for subordinate (Alcon, Soler, 2005; Eslami-Rasekh, 2005; Takimoto, 2006). Third is to make students as observers and discoverers (Markee & Kasper, 2004). Teachers can develop students pragmatics senses in several ways. For instance, teachers can prepare four video clips containing different uses of requests, and students need to write down the phrases used to ask

somebody to do something in these clips, and finally students also have to think about why people in the video clips use different types of language. Teachers can also have students to collect pragmatics information outside the classroom such as TV, radios, novels, and other resources (Alcon Soler, 2005; Eslami-Rasekh, 2005). Finally, teachers should instill the concept of target pragmatics into students, and give explicit pragmatic instruction no matter what language levels they are (Uso-Juan & Martinez-Flor, 2006; Boxer, D. & Pickering, L., 1995). Hence, its imperative for teachers to know how to adjust lessons based on students language proficiency, and to incorporate basic pragmatic knowledge into lessons. Most importantly, teachers should develop students own perception of target pragmatics, so that students can observe or notice language usages from TV, movie, magazine, and novel. It is also commendable for teachers that an EFL classroom can provide the context and the explicit instruction necessary for learners to begin developing pragmatic competence in English. If our goal as teachers of English is for our students to leave our classrooms with the ability, at least on some level, to communicate successfully in English, then we have to move beyond the bare bones approach to teaching language. We must put flesh and blood on those bones by using English for both classroom management and language instruction and by creating opportunities for students to see, use, review and experience the English language in communicative contexts. Additional research is needed to determine the effectiveness of metapragmatics for lower-level learners and those in non-university settings. Before using metapragmatic instruction, teachers must clearly identify their goals and determine the level of understanding they want their students to demonstrate. In addition, instruction must be presented as a series of choices for empowerment rather than a checklist for acculturation. In sum, the two crucial things of teaching pragmatics are to have students recognize the importance of appropriately using a language in a given context, and to help them develop their own pragmatic analysis while encountering different language uses from a variety of sources. Teachers can just use last five minutes in every lesson to introduce pragmatics, and do pragmatic activities. Explicit instruction can help learners a lot and if teachers can successfully activate students pragmatic awareness, students will definitely develop their pragmatic competence gradually. More specifically,

Teachers should: have adequate pragmatic competence; receive training and development that is of great importance; design activities aiming at raising students pragmatic awareness; plan activities offering opportunities for communicative practice; realize that there is not a single best way to develop the students pragmatic competence in EFL classroom. Instructions, implicit or explicit, deductive or inductive, all function. Teaching approaches, eclectic or suggestopedic, both improve the learners pragmatic abilities; encourage learners to read widely about the culture of the target language and participate in as many social activities as possible so as to broaden their views and enrich their social experiences; lay more emphasis on functions, not merely on grammar and vocabulary; organize more activities of listening and speaking than those of reading; give more attention to dialogues and conversations than to texts; test the learners pragmatic competence rather than merely their linguistic competence; Textbooks should be prepared: Enriching classroom input of textbooks with real-world materials, such as recordings of native speaker conversations, radio programs, and even television soap operas; with authentic and real life speech; with high quality in pragmatic knowledge; being supplemented with additional books that focus on pragmatics. 5.4. Implications for future research The findings of this study have implication for classroom teaching, future research, and curriculum design.

Future research implications From the data, its difficult to conclude that what pragmatic topics, such as refusals, compliments, apologies, complaints, etc., the teachers focused on while designing an effective lesson. In other words, the results didnt explain how teachers incorporate a specific area of pragmatic knowledge into a lesson. Moreover, no assessment could prove that those students would really absorb pragmatic knowledge to develop their pragmatic competence. Thus, future study might focus on a particular area of pragmatics and design a comprehensive lesson and assessment for EFL teachers. Or researchers could conduct a study to examine which area of pragmatic knowledge that students are good/bad at, and what the reasons are. As the current research is based on content analysis of two textbooks and questionnaires, the findings were not conclusive enough to make a broad generalization. Henceforth, further research is calling for attention to investigate how upper high school teachers can develop students pragmatic competence in the process of classroom instruction by using different practical approaches. Researchers in the area should pay due attention to each one of the communicative acts such as compliments, complaints, apologies, request, gratitude etc. on their own. Further research at the higher education level is recommended. Further research should include a larger sample size and control group. Retrospective interviews could offer valuable information about the factors affecting participants mitigation choices, possibly highlighting examples of pragmatic resistance or helping to identify pragmatic knowledge which has been acquired but not yet realized. Additional research should also examine students oral requesting, apologizing, complimenting, complaining, thanking, suggesting, refusing, etc. perhaps in the performance of the communicative acts when students are unaware that they are being assessed. Such an assessment could offer insight into the treatments impact on students real-world using the language. It could also highlight changes not captured by the students written assessments as a result of their limited literacy skills. This is especially important for students, like the participants in this study, whose English fluency cannot be captured in written assessments. Future studies should also examine the effectiveness of metapragmatic instruction on lower-level learners to determine what basic organizational knowledge, if any, is required in order for metapragmatic instruction to be effective.

Finally, this study examined only making requests, refusals, apologies, giving compliments, complaints, giving thanks; and further research is needed to develop effective metapragmatic instruction for additional speech acts. Research should be undertaken at both micro and macro levels of pragmatics at the higher learning institutions. Pedagogical Implications Language learners need to be taught pragmatic routines to help them avoid negative transfer, which in fact lead to communication failure, when speaking English. The results of the studies reviewed suggest that learners in an EFL context could benefit from pragmatic input. Although learners benefit from both implicit and explicit instruction, explicit instruction has been shown to be more effective (Rose and Ng Kwai-fun, 2001).Teachers ought to prefer to explicitly teach their students communicative acts such as compliments, refusals, apologies, complaining, gratitude/thanks, requests, strategies to accepting and rejecting requests, advice, invitation, compliments, suggestion etc. For teachers who are unfamiliar with researches related to communicative acts or prefer to adopt a model lesson, an excellent website is http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/descriptions.html/. The researcher believed that along with explicitly teaching pragmatic routines, awareness raising is an essential component to aid students in their pragmatic development. The responses from students were very positive, especially when they gave answers to open ended DCT. One needs to take the issue of cross-cultural pragmatics into the classroom if as Jung (2001, p.6) indicates, pragmatics is a subject that is an indispensable part of language learning and which has received insufficient attention in acquisition. But the question is how to go from recognizing the importance of the issues to moving into classroom language learning and mitigating cross-cultural communication failure. There may be no easy solutions it would appear. Some writers alluding to such difficulties argue that the cross-cultural pragmatics is potentially an explosive area of making judgments on what is pragmatically acceptable to the foreign learner. Openness to different pragmatic interpretations consistent to sensitivities of various cultures and social groups would be something to keep in mind as well as an approach free of stereotypical judgments. Pragmatic competence can be developed in the classroom through a range of situations and activities. The researcher believed that pragmatic rules that are different from or nonexistent in the

students first language need to be given emphasis. Comparative studies and needs analyses can be carried out to address the most challenging pragmatic issues facing particular groups or all students. On the whole, EFL context represent unique challenges for teaching of pragmatic competence, and too little attention has been paid to this area. If the pragmatic competence is to be dealt with successfully in an EFL settings, methods and materials must be developed which do not assume or depend on NS (native speakers) intuitions of the teacher (Rose, 1994:5). Teacher Education Implication Pragmatic competence is one of the vital components of communicative competence that needs to be considered in EFL teacher education programs. Unfortunately, available teacher education sources on EFL methodology and assessment lack a focus on teaching the pragmatic aspects of language as witnessed by the teachers. Pragmatics has been identified as an important component of language teachers knowledge base and appears to have been incorporated into some teacher education programs in both EIL and EFL contexts. However, the treatment of pragmatics in teacher training courses tends to center on theory/rhetoric rather than practical applications. Implication for Curriculum Design Educational administrators should take pragmatics into consideration when designing curriculum guidelines for English subjects. Adding some discourse completion tasks or scenario tests into national examinations should be a good start to value pragmatic knowledge. Furthermore, teacher training and teaching materials should be provided so that teachers will develop students pragmatic competence.

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APPENDICES
APPENDIX-1 ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND LAW, DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES AND LANGUAGES (Textbooks Pragmatic Content Evaluation Checklist) General pragmatic information, metalanguage, metapragmatic information, and speech acts treatments in the textbooks understudy will be checked using the following criteria. The

frequency of the following pragmatic information in each textbook will be checked page-bypage. Key Book 1=10th grade English textbook Book 2=11th grade textbook ML=metalanguage explanation Mp=metapragmatic explanation Speech acts Interpersonal exchanges 12. Greeting and leave taking 13. Making introductions and identifying oneself 14. Extending, accepting and declining invitations and offers 15. Making and breaking engagements 16. Expressing and acknowledging gratitude 17. Complimenting and congratulating 18. Showing interest, surprise, sympathy, disbelief, disappointment, interest Information 5. asking for and giving information 6. reporting (describing, narrating) 7. explaining 8. remembering Opinions 9. expressing and finding out about attitudes and opinions 10. agreeing and disagreeing 11. approving and disapproving 12. showing satisfaction and dissatisfaction Feelings 7. expressing love, happiness, sadness, pleasure, anger, embarrassment, pain, relief, fear, annoyance, surprise Suasion 8. suggesting, requesting, instructions Book 1 ML MP Book 2 ML MP

9. giving orders, advising, and warning 10. asking for, granting and withholding permission Problems 6. complaining and criticizing 7. blaming and accusing 8. admitting and denying 9. regretting 10. apologizing and forgiving Future scenarios wishes, hopes, and desires plans, goals, and intentions promising predicting and speculating possibilities and capabilities of doing something Following Rules of Conversation 1. taking turns in conversation 2. introducing topics of conversation 3. staying on topic 4. rephrasing when misunderstood 5. how to use verbal and nonverbal signals 6. how close to stand to someone when speaking 7. how to use facial expressions and eye contact Changing language according to the needs of a listener or situation, such as 8. talking differently to a baby than to an adult 9. giving background information to unfamiliar listener 10. speaking differently in a classroom than on a playground

APPENDIX-2 ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND LAW, DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES AND LANGUAGES Questionnaire (for teachers) Dear Teacher/Senior Teacher of English, This study aims at identifying the difficulties you might face in teaching your students a very important aspect of knowledge of English language known as pragmatic competence/awareness. Pragmatic competence/awareness can be roughly defined as the ability to use language forms appropriately in social situations or contexts. As teachers of English we face many difficulties in teaching this aspect of language/knowledge. Such difficulties can be classified in to four categories: difficulty related to your teacher education program relevant or relevant in-service training, difficulties related to textbooks and teacher guides, lack of exposure to real life use in natural situations outside the classroom and difficulties related to testing this aspect of knowledge. This questionnaire is designed with the purpose of finding out which difficulties you are facing currently. Hence, you are kindly requested to respond to the following questionnaire. Many thanks for your cooperation. The researcher, Personal information Gender: M F Level of your education: Diploma Degree two years Masters Degree three years +

Experience in teaching the English language: one year

1. Have you studied a course on pragmatics (more specifically speech acts such as: requests, refusals, apologies, compliments, thanks, complaints, etc) in your undergraduate teacher education program? Please, put a tick mark in front of your answer. a. Yes b. no And you can put forward a point regarding the time and courses you have received about pragmatics, please.___________________________________________________________

Raters Statements and Items 2

Have you been taught any of the following items in any of your undergraduate courses or in-service training courses? To what extent have pre-service and/or in-service education programs helped you?
Inadequate Fairly adequate Adequate

a b c d e f

a b c d 4

Become aware of pragmatics as a branch of linguistics Compare English and your L1 pragmatic norms and strategies Learn norms of politeness in face to face interaction in English Teach the pragmatic aspect of the English language Design or select activities for teaching of this aspect of knowledge of English Design tests of this aspect of knowledge of English Please, add anything you think relevant that is not mentioned about your learning pragmatics _____________________________________ To what extent do your students English textbooks and teachers guides include each of the following? Explanation related to this[pragmatic] aspect of knowledge of English Activities that help students practice performing those[pragmatic] uses of language Guidance about how to teach those[pragmatic] uses of language Guidance for teachers as to how to test those[pragmatic] uses of language Teachers do not include in their lesson plan teaching such [pragmatic] language aspects. If you do not include any lesson of pragmatics in your lesson plan why? a/time allotment b/lack of knowledge c/lack of training d/students language level e/teachers language level f/type of assessment g/inadequate materials Do not forget adding other challenges you feel you are facing please, ________________

Strongly agree

Partially agree

disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Partially agree

Some people argue that one of the reasons why teachers do not teach pragmatic/cultural aspect of the English language is lack of extra time. Many teachers have limited knowledge of the target culture [English language culture] and, therefore, are afraid to teach it in the classroom. English language teachers are often confused about what aspect of the language culture to cover. Teachers talk in the classroom is more important in foreign language classrooms where opportunities for the full range of human interactions are limited to help learners acquire pragmatic knowledge. The current English textbook discusses and identifies pragmatic areas of the students needs and students will be able to relate to the social and cultural contexts presented in the textbook Methods and techniques of teaching communicative language and pragmatics are supposed to be different Teaching pragmatic competence is difficult and teaching pragmatic competence is not as important as teaching communicative ability Teachers rarely bring in outside materials related to pragmatics Learning pragmatics from textbooks is impossible Textbooks are inadequate in presenting authentic pragmatic language samples, but teachers can overcome shortcomings of textbooks Textbooks cannot be counted as a reliable source of pragmatic input What would you like to suggest at the end that need to be done regarding the teaching of pragmatics ______________________________

i j

disagree

Agree

Please put a tick mark in front of your response

APPENDIX-3 The Pragmatics Awareness Test Situations [Scenarios] Dear students, The following template is prepared to obtain information from you that would be used for research purpose. Therefore, cooperate with me in responding to the questions you are asked. I would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation. The researcher, Personal information Gender age grade level Background questionnaire 1. Birth place ______________________________ 2. First language ___________________mother tongue _____________ 3. Self evaluation of proficiency in English as compared to native/first language Raters Skills Excellent very good Fair poor Speaking Listening Reading Writing Your responses to the following situations will also help the researcher to know your knowledge of complimenting, apologizing, thanking, complaining, requesting, and refusing. So please, choose the appropriate answer for each item in relation to the situations accordingly. There are 20 situations on the following pages. Each situation will have possible responses. Circle the letter of your choice (a, b, c, d, e or f) that you think is the most appropriate and acceptable for the situation described. Thank you! Situation 1: Your friend gave you a nice complement on your new t-shirt. You notice this friend is wearing a new dress too. You would like to say something nice but actually you dont think it suits her at all. What would say? A. "I like your dress too but I think you need another color." B. "I see you're wearing a nice new dress too. I think it really suits you. How much did it cost?" C. "Oh, is that a new dress too? Nice." D. "And you are very nice today. Are you wearing a new dress too? It's very pretty." E. You would say nothing. Situation 2: Your friend tells you that she is considering taking an evening course. You heard that this course is very difficult. What would you say? A. "Don't take that course, please. It's too hard!" B. "You'd better not take that course." C. You would say nothing. D. "I suppose that course to be really difficult. Are you sure you want to take it?" Situation 3: The librarian comes up to you and your friend but looks at you and tells you that you are talking too loudly. What would you say? A. "Sorry, I didn't realize we were talking so loud." B. Thank you; its OK."

C. ''I'm terribly sorry. I honestly forgot I was in a library. Please accept my sincere apologies." D. "OK, OK but I wasn't the only one talking, you know." (You point to your friend.) E. You would say nothing Situation 4: You are in an exam room. Your pen has run out of ink. You know the teacher who is invigilating the exam has extra pen. You stand up and go to the teacher and say: A. "Oh, my pen seems to have run out of ink!" B. "I wonder if you have a pen I could borrow? Mine seems to have run out of ink." C. "Excuse me sir; I want your extra pen, please. Mine seems to have run out of ink." D. "Give me your extra pen, please." E. You would say nothing. F. You simply shake the pen to make it write. Situation 5: You are in a hurry for school time is almost over. You decide to buy a pen on your way to school. You pay for it and then the salesclerk asks you to fill out a customer survey form. If you fill out the form you will be late. What do you say? A. "Sorry, but I'm in a hurry." B. "I'm sorry, I wish I could but I really can't. I'm in a hurry for school. C. "No, I don't have time for such things." D. "OK, but Ill do it very quickly." (You fill out the form and are late.) E. You shake your head to indicate no and say nothing. Situation 6: When telling your friend that you like his/her shirt, you say: A. "Hey, cool shirt, I like that!" B. "Hello, you look very nice today, I really like that shirt." C. Hello, you look nice, I like that shirt D. Thank you; it is nice shirt for how much did you by? E. You are so sweet. Situation 7: Consider, for example, a teacher making a simple request of a student to close a classroom door to shut off the noise from the corridor. There are a number of ways this request can be made; which one is the most appropriate one? A. "Could you please close the door?" B. "Why aren't you shutting the door?" C. "SHUT THE DOOR!" D. Go back, and shut that door! E. Dont you know that the door should be shut. Situation 8: You would like to go to a concert this weekend but you dont have any money. You must not miss it as one of the artists is your favorite. You have to borrow some money from your older uncle whose name is Chemere. How would you ask? A. Give me 50 birr that I will pay you back tomorrow, please. B. Its not such a big deal if you lend me 50 birr that I will pay you back soon. C. Oh, Chemere, please, I would like to go to the concert but I have no money. Would you lend me 50 birr? I can pay you back tomorrow, I promise. D. Lend me 50 birr please, you will be paid tomorrow. Situation 9: Hunde is your neighbor. He is 40 and an office worker. You took his bicycle to school and got in an accident. How would you apologize in an acceptable way?

A. Hey, Hunde, Im really sorry. B. Oh, Hunde, Im very sorry. I took your bicycle to the school, and I got in an accident. Forgive me. Im going to take it to a garage, and I myself am going to pay the costs of the repairs. C. Im really very sorry, Hunde. D. Hello, Hunde, Im terribly sorry but I will repair it for you. Im going to take it to a garage E. Oh my, what an idiot I am! Situation 10: You are wearing a new shirt and a classmate looks at you and says: This shirt looks great on you! Blue is a great color for you. You answer: A. Hello, Thank you. B. Oh, Im sure thank you. C. Yeah, Im keen on choosing colors, dont worry. D. Thanks, I bought it for trip to Sodere E. Silence (you say nothing). Situation 11: You were planning on going to breakfast with your close friend, Guta, but as you walk up, it is already 40 minutes past the time you were supposed to be at the restaurant. You call your friends cell phone and apologize: You answer: A. How can I make up to you? Can I buy you lunch on Sunday? B. Im so forgetful. You know me, Im never on time. C. Have you been waiting for a long time? Its ok, forget it. D. Im sorry; would you be willing to reschedule the appointment? E. Silence Situation12: Your friends and you are given a project work that must be submitted within two days. One of your friends is very much uncooperative. He doesnt come on time whenever you ask him to contribute. What would you say to him in that case? A. No harm done! B. Shame up on you that we should have done it by now. C. You are always late and now we have less time to do the job. D. Come on lets finish it. E. Go and do it alone; it is not my business. F. You say nothing. Situation 13: You and your uncle went to a restaurant. You ordered roasted chicken. Your uncle decides to order something else. When his meal comes it looks delicious but when your meal comes, it is burnt. What would you say to the waiter? A. "Hey waiter, my meal is burnt. Take it back to the kitchen and get me what he has." (You point to your uncles meal) B. "Please forgive me but my meal is burnt." C. "Excuse me waiter, I'm sorry to have to say this but my meal is burnt. Give me something else, please." D. You would eat it even though it does not taste good.

Situation 14: Just when you finally start eating your uncle lights up a cigarette. You do not like cigarette smoke when you are eating. What would you say to your uncle? A. "Doesn't cigarette smoke ruin your appetite?" B. "Get out of here with that cigarette!" C. "Would you mind waiting until I'm finished eating before smoking." D. "You're ruining my meal. Put your cigarette out. Please." E. You would say nothing. Situation 15: After the meal you would like to thank your hosts. What would you say? A. Thank you so much. That was a great meal." B. Thank you." C. You treated me too well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." D. "I appreciated the meal." E. You would say nothing. Situation 16 You are a student. You forgot to do the assignment for your English language. When your teacher whom you have known for some years asks for your assignment, you apologize to your teacher. A. Can I bring it to you at the end of the day? B. Shall I do the assignment at once? C. Im sorry; I've completed my assignment but forgot to bring it with me. I'll hand it in tomorrow. D. You would say nothing. Situation 17 When someone compliments the watch you are wearing and says - I like your watch, you would: A. Say, "Oh this cheap thing? It's not worth much." B. Give it to him/her. C. Say, "Thanks" and smile. D. Say, "Would you like to have it?" Situation 18 For a woman it is not considered appropriate to give compliments to: A. A woman about her husband. B. A man about his wife. C. A couple about their child. D. A doctor about his or her salary. Situation 19 If someone offers you some food that you really don't like, you might say: A. "I hate that." B. "Sure, I'd love some more." C. "I'll have just a little bit, please." D. "Thanks, but I'm really full. Situation 20 You have just been asked out to dinner but you really don't want to go with the person who invited you. You might say: A. "Thanks a lot but I'm busy tonight. B. "No, I really don't enjoy being with you. C. "I'm dieting so I mustn't go out to eat." D. "I don't think so. I already have plans."

Look back at situations 1-20. When you wrote down your answers what did you think? Circle as many as you want. a). I remembered what I heard in class b). I heard it once somewhere c). I remembered what I wrote in my notebook d). I remember the teacher had explained it e). I knew the answer from reading f). I translated it from my mother tongue g). It sounded right h).others ______________________________________________________________________________ I. Number the following actions from what you think is most difficult for you to say in English to what is the least difficult, starting with number one as most difficult. ___________Invitations ___________ Refusals/Saying no to an offer __________ Apologies/Saying sorry for something __________ Requests/Asking for things __________ Commands/Telling someone to do something __________ Compliments ___________ Giving suggestions ___________ Giving advice ___________ thanking someone ___________ Complaints J. Reason out why you ordered those actions from the most difficult to the least__________________

APPENDIX-4 Table12. Classroom Observation Checklist Items category Classroom Activities Subcategories 1. drills 2. translation 3. discussion 1. presentations 2.conscious raising activities 3.explicit instruction of pragmatics 4.awareness-raising activities 5.guided practice 9. game 10. role plays 11. DCT, ODCT, MDCT or WDCT 1. teacher to students 2. student to students or student to the classroom 3.group work 4. individual work 1. form/grammar 2. discourse 3. usage 4. use/function: complaining, complimenting, refusing 1. written 2. audio 3. visual 4. stories 5. dialogues 6. scenarios/situations/authentic language samples or models 1. use of target language 2. information gap 3. sustained speech 4. reaction to code or message 5. incorporation of preceding utterances 6. discourse initiation 7. relative restriction of linguistic form/semantic formula Spotted Unspotted

Participant organization

Content or explicit focus on language

Communicative features

Materials used

APPENDIX-5 Table2.Communicative Acts in the Textbooks

Example or strategies or realization of strategies

Communicative Acts

Topic /types strategies

Book 1

Compliments

appearance/possessions performance/skills/abilities personality traits Direct refusals Statement of regret Statement of positive opinion Excuse, reason, explanation Gratitude Statement of future acceptance Indefinite reply Statement of alternative Statement of empathy Good wish to hearer Thanking someone explicitly

e.g., You look absolutely beautiful!) (e.g., Your presentation was excellent.) (e.g., You are so sweet.) (e.g. No, I cant, I dont think I can) (e.g. Im sorry) (e.g. Id love to, I wish I could) (e.g. I have to study for the test) (e.g. Thank you) (e.g. Perhaps some other time) (e.g. Im not sure, I dont know) (e.g., How about the movies) (e.g. No offence to you) (e.g. Have a nice trip, Hope you have fun) (e.g. Thanks, thank you, thank you for, thank you very much, thanks a lot, fine thanks) (e.g. Im grateful) (e.g. Thats kind of you, thats nice of you) (e.g. Thats lovely, its appreciated) (e.g. I owe a debt of gratitude to) (e.g. I must thank you) (e.g. Oh, thank you) (e.g. Im an ingrate, Im so careless) (e.g. I apologize)

Refusal

Ap olo gie s

Expressing gratitude Expressing the appreciation of the addressee Expressing the appreciation of the act Acknowledging a debt of gratitude Stressing ones gratitude Expressing emotion Suppressing ones own importance[self-denigration] Explicitly apologizing

Thanking

Book 1

Offering/presenting ones apologies Acknowledging a debt of apology Expressing regret Demanding forgiveness Explicitly requesting the hearers forgiveness Giving an explanation or account Self-denigration or self reproach Minimizing responsibility

(e.g. I present my apologies) (e.g. I owe you an apology) (e.g. Im sorry, Im regretful ) (e.g. Pardon me, forgive me, excuse me) (e.g. I beg your pardon, )

(e.g. Im sorry The bus was late, its so unusual) (e.g. How stupid of me, how awful, I ought to know this) (e.g. I didnt mean to, I thought this was, ) Expressing emotion (e.g. Oh, Im so sorry,) Acknowledging responsibility (e.g. Its my fault,) for the offending act Promising forbearance from a (e.g. I promise you that will never similar offending act happen again) Offering redress (e.g. Please let me pay for the damage I have done) Asking about ability to do (e.g. Can you come to the party? something[ability] Can you help me? Can I talk to Mr. president? ) Asking about the possibility (e.g. Is it possible, would you of the desired act happening mind,) [consultation] Asking whether the hearer is (e.g. Will you, would you(like), ) willing to do or has an objection to do something[willingness] Expressing a wish that the (e.g. I would like you to,) agent should do something [want] Expressing a need or desire (e.g. I want, I need,) for goods [need] Stating that the hearer is (e.g. You must, you have to,) under the obligation to do something [obligation] Stating that it is appropriate (e.g. You should, ) that the hearer performs the desired action Asking an idiomatic WH (e.g. What about, how about, why questions dont you, why not) Hypothesis (e.g. If you would, perhaps you would.)

Requesting

Appreciation Permission quest Naming the object requested Checking the availability[existence] Valuation-an utterance expressing the feelings of the Speaker about either the Addressee or the problem. Closing - An utterance made by the Speaker to conclude the complaint set. Threat- An utterance stating an action the Speaker might take, depending on the reaction of the Addressee. Remedy - An utterance calling for some corrective action. Justification of The Addressee - An utterance giving a reason or excuse for the Addressee's having committed the wrong or considering the effect on the Addressee. Justification of the speakerAn utterance explaining why the Speaker is making the complaint and the effects of the wrong on the Speaker. Act Statement- An utterance which states the problem directly. Orientation - An utterance giving the Speaker's intent in initiating the complaint, but with no detail. Opener- An utterance initiating the speech act set but giving no information about the wrong. Explicit complaint

(e.g. I would be grateful if you would do, I would be glad if ) (e.g. May I , let me) (e.g. The next slide please) (e.g. Is Mrthere) (e.g. e.g. 'It's really disgusting.')

(e.g. OK, thanks. )

(e.g. e.g. "I, er..could take it higher than just talking to you." )

(e.g. 'This is going to have to stop.')

( e.g. 'Is this time particularly difficult for you?" )

Complaining

( e.g. "... because I... you're making me miss lectures by turning up late." )

(e.g. "This is the fourth time this month you've been really late!" ) (e.g. 'I've been meaning to talk to you about the rubbish you've been leaving outside.' )

(e.g. "Listen, Jimmy." )

(e.g. Youre not fair. Youre inconsiderate. One should

not postpone this type of operation. Ive been waiting here for nearly an hour. You are always late. I expected different treatment from a physician like you.) Request for ExplanationAn utterance calling for an explanation of the Addressee's behavior, Blame -An utterance finding fault with the Addressee or holding him/her responsible for the wrong, (e.g. 'I mean, why do you do it?')

(e.g. 'You realize 'cause you're late again...')

APPENDIX-6 ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND LAW, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE (QUESTIONNAIRE for SELF-PERCEIVED COMPETENCE) Dear students, the following table is about your general perception with regards to your communicative competence. Hence, you are kindly required to put a tick mark in front of your response for each description. Thank you. 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neither agree nor disagree 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Criteria 1 2 Description 5 Speaking English can help me interact with native speakers. Studying English is important because it can help me make friends who speak English. Learning English is important because it will broaden my world view. If I speak English well, I can travel around the world without language barriers. I want to do well in English because I want to show my ability to my parents/ teachers/ friends. I want to improve my English because most of my friends speak English very well. I want to improve my English in order to understand foreign cultures. It is important to speak appropriate English in different social contexts. I think learning English will be more effective if we have group discussion with classmates during the class. Whenever I have communication breakdown in conversations with native speakers, I will try to use verbal or nonverbal messages to bridge the gap. I usually practice many grammar drills in order to improve my English. I will ask myself to express my thoughts in a comprehensive and correct manner in English. I perceive that I can express my ideas naturally in spoken English. 4 Value 3 2 1

Sociocultural/sociolinguistic Competence
Discourse competence

3 4 5

7 8 9

10

1 2

4 5 6

7 8

I will try to talk to native speakers to strengthen my spoken English. I perceive that I feel more comfortable to express my ideas in written English. I will read different grammar books written by different authors to improve my grammatical competence. Students are expected to be able to use extended utterances where appropriate Students need to have the ability to maintain coherent flow of language over several utterances Whenever there are words which I dont understand, I will look up the dictionary right away. Whenever there is something we dont understand in class, We should raise the questions immediately. When I read an article written in English, I will always try to guess those unknown words based on their contexts. As long as there are things I dont understand, I will ask questions to teachers. I really believe that memorizing vocabulary needs to go competence with reading. English four skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing should be developed at the same time. I usually spend a lot of time memorizing vocabulary. I know what to say, when to say and how to say and rule of talking when talking with other people in English I pay special attention when I make requests I pay special attention to other people making requests I pay special attention to other people when I refuse I pay attention to other peoples feeling, status and age when I complain I know when I should use modal verbs such as can, could, would, or may when apologizing, requesting, refusing, thanking, inviting, suggesting ,etc.

1 Strategic Competence Grammatical Competence Pragmatic Competence

1 2

3 1

2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

I know taking turns in conversation I know how to do rephrasing when misunderstood I have the skill as to how to use verbal and nonverbal signals I know how close to stand to someone when speaking I have the skills as to how to use facial expressions and eye contact I know the giving background information to unfamiliar listener will help I know speaking in a classroom is different from speaking on a playground I know how to address and talk to people whose age and status are different from mine