Teaching Pragmatic Competence in EFL Classrooms: The Impact of Speech Act Instruction on Pre-Service English Teachers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29408/veles.v9i1.29561Keywords:
Pragmatic Competence, speech act interaction, EFL teacher training, communicative competenceAbstract
Pragmatic competence—the ability to use language appropriately in social contexts—is essential for effective EFL communication but often underemphasized in teacher education. This study examines the impact of speech act-based instruction on developing pre-service English teachers’ pragmatic competence. Participants included 20 second-year students enrolled in the English Education program at Universitas Kristen Indonesia Tomohon. Over four weeks, they attended two 90-minute instructional sessions per week, integrating explicit instruction, role-plays, discourse analysis, and reflective discussions. Multiple instruments were employed: a 30-item pragmatic competence test (combining situational multiple-choice and open-ended tasks), classroom observations, and post-instruction interviews. Quantitative results revealed statistically significant improvements across all levels of speech acts: locutionary (M = 0.437 to 0.5665, p < .001), illocutionary (M = 0.535 to 0.6105, p < .001), and perlocutionary (M = 0.5295 to 0.5565, p < .001). Qualitative findings highlighted increased pragmatic awareness, communicative confidence, and in-class adaptability. However, participants still faced challenges in transferring theoretical knowledge into spontaneous speech, suggesting the need for extended, contextualized instruction. These findings affirm the value of structured pragmatic instruction in EFL teacher training, equipping future educators to model and foster linguistic accuracy and sociocultural fluency in global communication.
References
Abolfathiasl, H., & Abdullah, A. N. (2015). Pragmatic consciousness-raising activities and EFL Learners’ Speech Act performance of ‘Making Suggestions.’ Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 6(2), 333. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0602.13
Ahmed, E. A. M. (2022). The effects of pragmatics competence in EFL university learners. Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 12(10), 1618–1631. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojapps.2022.1210110
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford: University Press.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Mahan-Taylor, R. (2003). Teaching pragmatics. U.S. Department of State, Office of English Language Programs.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., Mossman, S., & Vellenga, H. E. (2014). The effect of instruction on pragmatic routines in academic discussion. Language Teaching Research, 19(3), 324–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541739
Basra, S. M., & Thoyyibah, L. (2017). A speech act analysis of teacher talks in an EFL classroom. International Journal of Education, 10(1), 73. https://doi.org/10.17509/ije.v10i1.6848
Borer, B. (2018). Teaching and learning pragmatics and speech acts: An instructional pragmatics curriculum development project for EFL learners. School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 176.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Byram, M. (2021). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence: Revisited. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800410251
Chong-yuan, Z. (2021). Explicit speech act instruction for developing EFL students’ pragmatic competence. International Journal of English Language Teaching, 9(4), 26-35.
Choraih, M. A., Loutfi, A., & Mansoor, A. (2016). The importance of pragmatic competence in the EFL curriculum: application and implications. Arab World English Journal. 183–195. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2895549
Christianto, D. (2020). Speech acts in EFL classrooms. Journal of Pragmatics Research, 2(1), 68–79. https://doi.org/10.18326/jopr.v2i1.68-79
Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage.
Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Dendenne, B. (2014). The pragmatic suitability of the Algerian ELT secondary school textbooks: A focus on speech acts. Revue Des Sciences Humaines, 25(41), 07–27.
Derakhshan, A., Malmir, A., & Greenier, V. (2021). Interlanguage pragmatic learning strategies (IPLS) as predictors of L2 speech act knowledge: A case of Iranian EFL learners. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 18(1), 170–187. https://doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2021.18.1.11.170
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. Oxford University Press
Gilmore, A. (2007). Authentic materials and authenticity in foreign language learning. Language Teaching, 40(2), 97–118. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444807004144
Glaser, K. (2014). Inductive or deductive?: The impact of method of instruction on the acquisition of pragmatic competence in EFL. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Glaser, K. (2020). Assessing the L2 pragmatic awareness of non-native EFL teacher candidates: Is spotting a problem enough? Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 16(1), 33–65. https://doi.org/10.1515/lpp-2020-0003
Gomez-Laich, M. P. (2016). Second language learners’ divergence from target language pragmatic norms. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 6(2), 249–269. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2016.6.2.4
Grundy, P. (2019). Doing pragmatics (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429300301
Gudkova, S. (2018). Interviewing in qualitative research. In: Ciesielska, M., Jemielniak, D. (eds) Qualitative methodologies in organization studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65442-3_4
Hall, G. (2017). Exploring English language teaching: Language in action (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315193380
Hidayat, D. N., Fadhilah, F., & Septiawan, Y. (2022). Speech acts in English classroom: A case at a junior high school in Indonesia. EduLite Journal of English Education Literature and Culture, 7(2), 251. https://doi.org/10.30659/e.7.2.251-265
House, J. (1996). Developing pragmatic fluency in English as a foreign language: Routines and metapragmatic awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 225–252. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100014893
Hussein, N. O., Albakri, I. S. M. A., & Seng, G. H. (2020). Developing undergraduate EFL students’ communicative competence through using pragmatic instruction. International Journal of English and Literature, 5(1), 232–238.
Ishihara, N. (2010). Instructional pragmatics: Bridging teaching, research, and teacher education. Language and Linguistics Compass, 4(10), 938–953. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818x.2010.00242.x
Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A.D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833842
Ivanova, I. (2017). Teachers’ perceptions of the role of pragmatics in the EFL classroom. Studies in Linguistics Culture and FLT, 03, 27–44. https://doi.org/10.46687/silc.2018.v03.003
Jeon, E. H., & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development. In J. M. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 165–211). John Benjamins.
Jianda, L. (2006). Assessing EFL learners’ interlanguage pragmatic knowledge: Implications for testers and teachers. Reflections on English language teaching, 5(1), 1–22.
Kasper, G. and Blum-Kulka, S. (1993) Interlanguage pragmatics. Oxford University Press, New York, 64-81.
Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmatic development in a second language. Blackwell.
Kitis, E., & Dimitris Kitis, E. (2022). Metapragmatic awareness in EFL: Reporting speech-acts. International Journal of Language Studies, 16(3), 1-32.
Koran, E., & Koran, S. (2017). Pragmatic competence is an integral part of EFL teaching. International Journal of Social Sciences and Educational Studies, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v4i3p87
Laughlin, V. T., Wain, J., & Schmidgall, J. (2015). Defining and operationalizing the construct of pragmatic competence: Review and recommendations. ETS Research Report Series, 2015(1), 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12053
Liew, W. M. (2013). Effects beyond Effectiveness: Teaching as a performative act. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(2), 261–288. https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12012
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2015). Second language research: Methodology and design (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Mao, T., & He, S. (2021). An Integrated approach to pragmatic competence: Its framework and properties. SAGE Open, 11(2), 215824402110114. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211011472
Masouleh, F. A., Arjmandi, M., & Vahdany, F. (2014). The effect of Explicit Metapragmatic instruction on request speech acts awareness of intermediate EFL students at the institute level. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2(7), 504–511. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2014.020702
McConachy, T. (2017). Developing intercultural perspectives on language use: Exploring pragmatics and culture in foreign language learning. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783099337
Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. and Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Sage, London.
Ngai, P., & Janusch, S. (2015). Intercultural communication training for English language teachers: A case study of an immersion program for South Korean teachers. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 44(4), 345–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2015.1081853
Qu, S. Q., & Dumay, J. (2011). The qualitative research interview. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 8(3), 238–264. https://doi.org/10.1108/11766091111162070
Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS. London: McGraw-Hill, Open University Press.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003117452
Pourmousavi, Z., & Zenouzagh, Z. M. (2020). A comparative study of the effect of teacher’s group and individual feedback on Iranian EFL learners’ learning of speech acts in apology letter writing. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-020-00088-w
Roever, C. (2012). Testing pragmatics. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 1–6). Wiley-Blackwell.
Santosa, A. W., & Kurniadi, A. (2020). Speech act analysis of teacher talk in EFL classroom. Jurnal Penelitian Humaniora, 21(2), 101–107. https://doi.org/10.23917/humaniora.v21i2.9871
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schauer, G. A. (2023). Intercultural competence and pragmatics. In McConachy, T., & Liddicoat, A.J. (Eds.). Teaching and learning second language pragmatics for intercultural understanding. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44472-2
Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching, 48(1), 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444814000263
Taguchi, N., Chen, Y., & Qin, Y. (2022). Metapragmatic knowledge and transfer of learning across speech acts. Applied Linguistics, 44(2), 217–238. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amac043
Takimoto, M. (2009). The effects of input-based tasks on the development of learners’ pragmatic proficiency. Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amn016
Timpe-Laughlin, V. (2017). Adult learners’ acquisitional patterns in L2 pragmatics: What do we know? Applied Linguistics Review, 8(1), 101–129. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-2005
Turhan, B., & Tuncer, H. (2022). Apologies and compliment responses: A case of pre-service EFL teachers. IJELTAL (Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics), 7(1), 51. https://doi.org/10.21093/ijeltal.v7i1.1182
Vu, N. M. (2017). Teaching pragmatics in English as a Foreign Language at a Vietnamese university: Teachers’ perceptions, curricular content, and classroom practices. (Thesis). The University of Sydney
Yuan, Y. (2012). Pragmatics, perceptions and strategies in Chinese college English learning (Doctoral dissertation). Queensland University of Technology.
Yuan, R., & Lee, I. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ changing beliefs in the teaching practicum: Three cases in an EFL context. System, 44, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.02.002
Zhao, Y., & Throssell, P. (2011). Speech act theory and its application to EFL teaching in China. Language Culture and Society, 32, 88–95.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Yopie Alex Tomi Pangemanan, James Edward Lalira, Jane Elvira Scipio, Royke Max Suoth, Vivi Nansy Tumuju, Mercy Mantau
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with VELES agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., posting it to an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as this can lead to productive exchanges and earlier and greater citations of published work.
VELES is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
