Abbas Ali Zarei - PHD Associated Professor, Imam Khomeini International University
Sepideh Zakerha - MA student, Qazvin Islamic Azad University

This study evaluates the relative effectiveness of two types of explicit instruction (i.e., task-based and cross-linguistic approaches) and implicit instruction on the short- and long-term comprehension and production of the suggestion speech act by a group of 124 pre-intermediate Iranian learners of English as a foreign language. The task-based group (N = 34) received explicit meta-pragmatic explanation and participated in consciousness-raising activities, role-plays, etc. The cross-linguistic group (N = 32), was provided with translation activities and had to compare between Persian and English pragmatic forms. The implicit group (N = 30) received no instruction, and the only technique employed was input enhancement. The three treatment groups were compared with a control group (N = 28) using a pre-test and two (immediate and delayed) posttests, consisting of a Rating Assessment Test (8 situations) and a Written Discourse Completion Test (6 situations). The delayed posttest, comprising the same tests, was administered eight week after the instructional period to measure longterm retention. The results revealed that the three treatment groups significantly outperformed the control group on the immediate posttest over the pre-test. The treatment groups also maintained their improvement on the delayed posttest. In addition, the two explicit groups performed significantly better than the implicit group on all measures. The findings have implications for Iranian EFL teachers and material developers, encouraging them to revise their teaching methods with regard to the findings of sociolinguistic research.

interlanguage pragmatics, explicit instruction, implicit instruction, task-based approach, cross-linguistic appraoch