Final undergraduate dissertation teaching pragmatics: explicit instruction and task-based language teaching

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of learning pragmatics, specifically on the speech act of requesting in English in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context. Explicit instruction and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) were the main foci of this research. 27 students took a pre-test and a post-test to measure participants’ knowledge after the intervention. The instruction was given following an adaptation of the taxonomies of Trosborg (1995, p. 205) and Alcón et al. (2005, p. 17). A whole class was devoted to the instruction of the said speech act. Additionally, a task was created to implement TBLT in the classroom and examine its effects on learners’ pragmatic performance. The results obtained seemed to suggest a positive effect on explicit instruction and TBLT on learners’ pragmatic competence. Participants showed a major improvement after the intervention given. Hence, findings from the present study support the need of instruction for L2 pragmatics.