The Effect of Using the Specialized Corpus of Casual Conversation on EFL Learners' Pragmatic Awareness

This study investigated whether using a specialized corpus of casual conversation significantly affects Iranian EFL learners' pragmatic awareness. Thirty male police officers aged ۳۶–۴۶ from the Islamic Republic of Iran Police Force in Hamadan participated. After homogenization via the Oxford Placement Test, ۲۰ intermediate-level participants were randomly assigned to experimental (n = ۱۰) and control (n = ۱۰) groups. The experimental group received instruction using the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) alongside their textbook, while the control group received only textbook instruction. A pragmatic awareness test measuring awareness of requests, apologies, suggestions, and refusals was administered as both pretest and posttest. Results from non-parametric Chi-square analysis revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group (χ² = ۴۴۹.۰۰۰, df = ۱۳, p =.۰۰۰). These findings suggest that specialized corpora of casual conversation provide authentic, contextually rich input that enhances EFL learners' pragmatic awareness. The study offers implications for language teachers, material developers, and curriculum designers seeking to integrate corpus-based instruction into EFL classrooms.

کلیدواژه ها:

Pragmatic awareness ، Casual Conversation ، Specialized Corpus ، EFL Learners ، Pragmatic Failure ، Speech Acts