Overcoming textbooks’ pragmatic deficiencies: A teaching proposal to the instruction of requests in the EFL classroom

Abstract

Over the years, English has become the language of the world. As a result, there has been a rising demand for learning the language, and consequently, a significant emergence of English courses. Nevertheless, some deficiencies have been identified in these courses and their materials (i.e. textbooks). Traditionally, English teaching and learning have been almost exclusively associated with the acquisition of its grammar. As a consequence, it is still unreasonably difficult to find represented Celce-Murcia’s (2007) pragmatic competence, despite having been regarded to be essential in the acquisition process of a language. Hence, in virtue of this problem and with a view to supplying this lack of pragmatics in English courses developed in foreign contexts, the current study is presented as a likely solution. Briefly, the project is aimed at designing a teaching proposal for the instruction of pragmatics, and more specifically, of the speech act of requesting. By doing so, and according to research, prospective students will be given the opportunity of exploring the speech act that has been deemed to be the most widely used as well as the most controversial, due to its face-threatening nature. With that aim in mind, first, significant research conducted on this particular assumption is outlined in order to provide the study with a theoretical background. Then, on the basis of previous literature, and considering the pragmatic deficiencies conventionally encountered in textbooks, the aforementioned teaching proposal is elaborated. Generally, it is intended for Spanish learners studying first of baccalaureate, which corresponds to a B1 level. Additionally, it appears disaggregated into five main stages, accounting for input, output, and feedback, following Martínez-Flor’s (2010) and Usó-Juan’s (2010) respective approaches. Ultimately, through its future implementation, it is expected to ensure the real and appropriate acquisition of the English language in foreign contexts.