The Effect of Metapragmatic Explanation on L2 Learners’ Development of Pragmatic Competence

A review of the literature on interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) shows a further need for studies strengthening the bond between ILP and second language acquisition research. As such, this study aims at investigating the potential effects of metapragmatic explanation in two consciousness-raising tasks on Iranian EFL learners’ acquisition of English request downgraders. 90 intermediate EFL learners, who were checked for their homogeneity, were selected and randomly assigned to three groups: a problem-solving task with metapragmatic discussion group (PTWG), a problem-solving task without metapragmatic discussion group (PTOG), and a control group. All the three groups were evaluated for their accurate use of English request downgraders before and after the treatment with a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and an Acceptability Judgment Test (AJT). Participants in the experimental groups completed the same problem solving tasks for 5 instructional sessions with the only difference on absence/presence of metapragmatic explanations. The results indicated that the participants’ accurate use of English request downgraders improved in both PTWG and PTOG compared to the control group. Moreover, it was found that the participants in the PTWG outperformed those in PTOG in acquiring the target forms, corroborating the effective ness of metapragmatic explanations in ILP growth. The study provides implications for teaching pragmatics in EFL classrooms.

کلیدواژه ها:

Interlanguage pragmatics ، metapragmatic explanations ، request downgraders ، consciousness raising