The effect of explicit pragmatic instruction of efl learners acquisition of the act of apologizing in english at tien giang university

DOAN THI THUY HANG * MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING * HUE - 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DOAN THI THUY HANG THE EFFECT OF EXPLICIT PRAGMATIC INSTRUCTION ON EFL LEARNERS’ ACQUISITION OF THE ACT OF APOLOGIZING IN ENGLISH AT TIEN GIANG UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DOAN THI THUY HANG THE EFFECT OF EXPLICIT PRAGMATIC INSTRUCTION ON EFL LEARNERS’ ACQUISITION OF THE ACT OF APOLOGIZING IN ENGLISH AT TIEN GIANG UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: PHAM THI HONG NHUNG, PH D HUE, 2013 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ĐOÀN THỊ THÚY HẰNG TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA VIỆC DÙNG LỜI CHỈ DẪN RÕ RÀNG VỀ NGỮ DỤNG HỌC CỦA HÀNH ĐỘNG LỜI NÓI “XIN LỖI” ĐỐI VỚI NGƯỜI HỌC TIẾNG ANH NHƯ LÀ MỘT NGOẠI NGỮ Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC TIỀN GIANG LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NHUNG HUẾ, 2013 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere Author Doan Thi Thuy Hang i ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate whether explicit instructions of apologetic strategies are effective in helping EFL learners in TGU gain pragmatic knowledge and achieve pragmatic competence in communication Participants in this study are randomly distributed into an implicit group and an explicit group Apology strategies and formulae were taught to the two groups in different ways The explicit group underwent three phases, feeling phase, doing phase and thinking phase The implicit group was exposed to the same authentic input as the explicit group was, but the former group experienced meaning-focused tasks before they entered production practice phase A pre-test and a post-test which were a written discourse completion task (WDCT) were given right before and after the intervention The results showed that both groups demonstrated improvements in the WDCT after the treatment, but to different degree The explicit group showed greater progress in the proper use in different situations This suggests the necessity of raising awareness activities in the classroom instruction of pragmatics ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  First of all, my deep gratitude goes to my supervisor Dr Pham Hong Nhung for her guidance and encouragement during the time I conducted my study Mainly, I honor her for having aroused in myself the desire to enrich and put into research use my knowledge in my specialized field I was also given an opportunity to practice the meticulous manner researchers should possess when they conduct a research project I would also like to extend my special thanks to Ms Giang Thi Kim Tu and Mr Nguyen Trung Ngon for their help in my master course Indeed, the insights and experiences I obtained from the course and the tutoring sessions have significantly contributed to the shaping, conducting, and writing of my thesis Also, I cannot forgive myself if I not appreciate Ms Annie Priest and Mr Johnnie Shuck for their useful advice I would also like to thank my classmates for their share of practical experiences in doing research Also, I’m grateful to the TGU non-English major freshmen who took part in my study Without their willingness and contribution, my research will be not realized Finally, I am very much indebted to my parents for giving me not only valuable encouragement and support but also mental strength to pursue my research work iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Rational of the study 1.3 Research Aims 1.4 Research Scope 1.5 Research Questions 1.6 Research Significance 1.7 Research Organization CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of Key Terms 2.1.1 Pragmatics 2.1.2 Pragmatic Awareness iv 2.1.3 Pragmatic Competence 2.1.4 Pragmatic competence vs communicative competence 2.1.5 Interlanguage pragmatics 2.2 Pragmatic competence and language teaching 10 2.2.1 Theories of teaching pragmatic competence 10 2.2.2 Explicit pragmatic instruction 11 2.2.2.1 Definition 11 2.2.2.2 The role of explicit instruction 12 2.2.2.3 The stages of explicit pragmatic instruction 12 2.3 Face and Speech acts 14 2.3.1 Face theory 14 2.3.2 Speech Acts Theory 15 2.3.3 Teaching Speech Acts 16 2.3.4 Acquisition of speech acts 18 2.4 The act of apologizing 19 2.4.1 Nature of apology 19 2.4.2 Common stages of apology 19 2.4.3 Strategies of an apology 20 v 2.4.3.1 An expression of apology 20 2.4.2.2 An explanation or account 20 2.4.2.3 An acknowledgement of responsibility 20 2.4.2.4 An offer of repair 21 2.4.2.5 Promise for forbearance 21 2.5 A review of relevant studies 21 2.6 Summary 22 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 Research Questions 24 3.2 Hypotheses 24 3.3 Subjects 24 3.4 Research Instruments 25 3.4.1 Pre-test and post-test 25 3.4.2 Teaching material 25 3.4.3 Goals for instruction 26 3.4.4 Instruction / Treatment 26 3.5 Data Collection and Analysis 27 CHAPTER IV: Findings and Discussion 29 4.1 Pre-test 29 vi 4.1.1 The Results of WDCT 29 4.2 Post-test 30 4.2.1 The Results of WDCT 30 4.2.2 Results of Post-Test WDCT of the Implicit Group 32 4.3.2 Results of Post-Test WCDT of the Explicit Group 32 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 35 5.1 A summary of findings 35 5.2 Conclusion 37 5.3 Limitations 38 5.4 Pedagogical Implications 39 55 Direction for future research 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES 45 Appendix A: Discourse Pre-Test (English version) 45 Appendix B: Discourse Post-Test (English version) 47 Appendix C: Discourse Pre-Test (Vietnamese version) 49 Appendix D: Discourse Post-Test (Vietnamese version) 51 vii that EFL learners in TGU should be provided with classroom instructions of pragmatic knowledge to facilitate the development of their pragmatic competence This research also indicated that explicit instruction of pragmatic knowledge is more beneficial to the realization of apologies compared with implicit instruction The study showed that teaching pragmatic knowledge had helped learners raise their pragmatic awareness and improve their abilities to choose appropriate pragmatic forms and strategies for certain social circumstances The main benefit of explicit instruction is that it may facilitate noticing, raise learners‟ awareness of English pragmatic knowledge, and thus help in converting input to intake The study also found that to gain pragmatic familiarity and fluency, more practice opportunities should be provided to learners Limitations Although receiving encouragements, instructions as well as helps from my experienced supervisor as well as teachers of English Departments throughout workshops, this paper faces some limitations Firstly, it is about the number of participants In order to get reliable result, it necessary to recruit a large amount of participants studying different majors; however the research merely involves 90 participants come from two different classes (accounting and literature education) This is likely to make reliability statistic (Cronbach's Alpha) is not very high Secondly, the limit of time restricted to carry out many deep research methods such as collecting students‟ English tests, making observations in classroom setting, and giving solutions for each kind of mentioned factor Moreover, the lesson plans and activity materials used in this study were designed and delivered to the learners by the researcher The design of the materials and the quality of instruction might differ in other contexts In 38 addition, the use of written DCT to collect the data and the focus on only a single speech act might also be limitations 5.4 Pedagogical implications The findings of this study further support and suggest inclusion of explicit instruction on pragmatics in the language learning settings because learners not acquire appropriate usage of the target language on their own The role of instruction in pragmatics becomes even more important in foreign-language classrooms, because pedagogical intervention is the primary access by which learners explore the target language Learning English is more difficult in an EFL learning environment compared to English as a second language environment because EFL learners not have the opportunity to interact with native speakers of the target language as ESL learners Therefore, the role of instruction and the responsibility of language educators become crucial to language learners‟ acquisition of target language pragmatics A language educator‟s responsibility is to remind learners that grammatical knowledge alone does not ensure language proficiency, but that proficiency comes from knowing and implementing linguistic rules found in the target culture In addition, language educators have to provide explicit instruction on pragmatics so that learners have the opportunity to “notice” certain pragmatic features as they build on their existing pragmatic knowledge and move toward L2 fluency This study contributes to the previous research on the positive effect of instruction on the development of pragmatic competence in Second and foreign language learning So, language teachers should take this fact into consideration to include issues of language pragmatics in ESL/EFL classes Similarly, it is on pedagogy scholars and syllabus planners not to ignore knowledge of pragmatic aspects in their syllabus design 39 The main pedagogical implication of this study is that learners need to be given multiple opportunities, through a variety of instructional techniques, to develop awareness of features of the pragmatics 5.5 Directions for future research Based on the results of this study, the following recommendations are suggested: The data analysis was based heavily on answers to a WDCT listed different situations The WDCT format is constructed for one-side response, so multiple turns of interaction cannot be examined As research has suggested, studying speech act communication in more than one conversational turn can provide researchers with additional information about how the speaker and hearer negotiate meaning Hence, further research might use some other different methods to collect data such as observation or role-play In the research, there was only the speech act of “apology” and it focused primarily on learners‟ ability to appropriately perform “apology” in communicative contexts Additional studies need to be done to examine different speech acts to obtain further insights into the behavioral patterns governing these other acts Additional studies involving the teaching of pragmatics to learners at various language proficiency levels could be conducted These studies may help instructors know about learners at various levels and figure out what pragmatics instruction would be most beneficial 40 REFERENCES Austin, J (1962) How to things with words Oxford: Oxford University Press Bachman, L (1990) Fundamental considerations in language testing Oxford: Oxford University Press Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Dornyei, Z (1997) Do language learners recognize pragmatic violations? 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Applied Linguistics 26, 90–120 Tateyama, Y (2001) Explicit instruction and JFL learner‟s use of interactional discourse markers In Kenneth R Rose and Gabriele Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching (pp 200-222) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Thomas, J (1983) Cross-cultural pragmatic failure Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91-109 43 Ton, N X P (2007) An Investigation into the Difficulties in Teaching Listening Comprehension Skill to Non-Major English Learners Da Nang University Trinh, Q L (2005) Stimulating learner autonomy in English language education: A curriculum innovation study in a Vietnamese context Amsterdam: PrintPartner Ispkamp B.V Wolfson, N (1983) An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English In Nessa Wolfson & Elliot Judd (eds), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp 82-95) Rowley, MA: Newsbury House 44 APPENDICES APPENDIX A DISCOURSE PRE-TESTS First, please fill in the following form about yourself: Name _ Gender Major Age Now, please read the following question Think of what you might say in response Write your response in the space What different structures you use to make apology in English? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please read the following short descriptions of situations in which you may find yourself Think of what you might say in response Write your response in the space provided Respond as if you were in a real situation Situation 1: You came to class late for 15 minutes You: _ Situation 2: You were in class You made so much noise while your teaching was delivering the lesson It really bothered and our teacher asked you to stop You: _ Situation 3: You promised to return your friend‟s book that day but did not finish reading it You: _ 45 Situation 4: You kept your friends waiting for an hour at the restaurant You: _ Situation 5: You were in a hurry to catch the bus but unfortunately you bumped into a woman and she fell down You: _ Situation 6: You were in a coffee shop with some friends You received a phone call and rose from the chair to answer it At the moment, you accidentally dirtied your friend‟s new shirt with some coffee stains You: _ Situation 7: Your mother asked you to buy some soap for a relaxing bath but you chose a wrong kind You: _ Situation 8: You borrowed your friend‟s motorbike to go to school but you had an accident and the motorbike got some scratches _ Situation 9: You forgot to turn off the water tap in the bathroom when going out for a walk Your mother discovered that the bathroom was flooded with water You: _ Situation 10: You stepped on an old man‟s foot when jostling into a theater You: _ 46 APPENDIX B DISCOURSE COMPLETION TESTS Name _ Gender Major Age Please list structures people can use to make apology in English? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please read the following short descriptions of situations in which you may find yourself Think of what you might say in response Write your response in the space provided Respond as if you were in a real situation Situation 1: You had an important appointment with a customer but came 20 minutes late You: _ Situation 2: You were at the party You told an unsuitable joke You: _ Situation 3: You promised to return you friend‟s book that day but did not finish reading it You: _ Situation 4: You lost your temper with your brother and made an inappropriate statement at the moment You: _ 47 Situation 5: You sent an email to your partner but forgot some important attachments You: _ Situation 6: Your group had a discussion for a class presentation tomorrow but you come without any preparation You: _ Situation 7: You lost your friend‟s book that he/she love most You: _ Situation 8: You borrowed your friend‟s motorbike to go to school but you had an accident and the motorbike got some scratches on it You: _ Situation 9: You posted some ugly photos of your friends on Facebook He/she felt really angry when seeing them appear on the site You: _ Situation 10: You were so caught up in your own life that you did not reply to a message from a close friend who told you that her laptop has been stolen You: _ 48 APPENDIX C DISCOURSE PRE-TESTS (Vietnamese version) Chào bạn! Tơi tên là: Đồn Thị Thúy Hằng, giảng viên môn tiếng Anh, Trường ĐHTG Tôi thực NCKH phục vụ cho luận văn tốt nghiệp thạc sĩ, dự kiến hoàn thành học kỳ cuối tháng 12 năm Những thông tin cung cấp bảng câu hỏi sử dụng nghiên cứu Tên người cung cấp thông tin giữ kín q trình nghiên cứu báo cáo đề tài Để nghiên cứu thực đạt kết tốt nhất, thơng tin cung cấp xác bạn vơ quan trọng Vì bạn vui lòng hợp tác cách khách quan cách suy nghĩ cẩn thận để trả lời câu hỏi cách xác phù hợp Thơng tin cá nhân tham gia (vui lịng điền đầy đủ thơng tin) Họ tên: Giới tính: Ngành học: Tuổi: Vui lòng liệt kê cấu trúc mẫu câu bạn thường dùng để thực hành động xin lỗi tiếng Anh _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 49 Vui lịng đọc tình khác mà bạn thấy gần gũi sống hàng ngày Hãy nghĩ câu trả lời thích hợp cho tình Viết câu trả lời vào chỗ trống chừa sẵn bên Trả lời thể bạn tình thật Tình 1: Bạn đến lớp trễ mười lăm phút Tình 2: Bạn lớp bạn làm ồn giáo viên giảng Việc làm ồn bạn thực gây phiền toái cho lớp học giáo viên yêu cầu bạn phải ngừng hành động làm ồn Tình 3: Bạn hứa trả cho bạn bạn sách vào ngày cụ thể đến ngày bạn chưa trả bạn đọc chưa xong Tình 4: Bạn để bạn bạn phải đợi liền nhà hàng Tình 5: Bạn vội vàng lên xe buýt không mai bạn đụng vào người phụ nữ cô làm cô ngã Tình 6: Bạn quán cà phê, bạn nhận gọi, bạn đứng dậy để trả lời điện thoại khơng mai bạn làm đổ cà phê vào áo người bạn khác Tình 7: Mẹ bạn yêu cần bạn mua xà bơng tắm bạn lại chọn sai loại Tình 8: Bạn mượn xe máy người bạn để đến trường, bạn có tai nạn xe bị trầy Tình 9: Bạn quên tắt vòi nước phòng tắm chơi Mẹ bạn phát bạn nước làm ngập phịng tắm Tình 10: Bạn chen lấn rạp hát lúc bạn giẫm phải chân phụ nữ lớn tuối Cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 50 APPENDIX D DISCOURSE POST-TESTS (Vietnamese version) Chào bạn! Tơi tên là: Đồn Thị Thúy Hằng, giảng viên môn tiếng Anh, Trường ĐHTG Tôi thực NCKH phục vụ cho luận văn tốt nghiệp thạc sĩ, dự kiến hoàn thành học kỳ cuối tháng 12 năm Những thông tin cung cấp bảng câu hỏi sử dụng nghiên cứu Tên người cung cấp thông tin giữ kín q trình nghiên cứu báo cáo đề tài Để nghiên cứu thực đạt kết tốt nhất, thơng tin cung cấp xác bạn vơ quan trọng Vì bạn vui lịng hợp tác cách khách quan cách suy nghĩ cẩn thận để trả lời câu hỏi cách xác phù hợp Thông tin cá nhân tham gia (vui lịng điền đầy đủ thơng tin) Họ tên: Giới tính: Ngành học: Tuổi: Vui lịng liệt kê cấu trúc mẫu câu bạn thường dùng để thực hành động xin lỗi tiếng Anh _ _ _ _ _ _ 51 Vui lịng đọc tình khác mà bạn thấy gần gũi sống hàng ngày Hãy nghĩ câu trả lời thích hợp cho tình Viết câu trả lời vào chỗ trống chừa sẵn bên Trả lời thể bạn tình thật Tình 1: Bạn có hẹn quan trọng với khách hàng bạn đến trễ 15 phút Tình 2: Bạn buổi tiệc bạn nói câu nói đùa bất lịch Tình 3: Bạn hứa trả lại sách cho người bạn vào ngày cụ thể bạn khơng trả chưa đọc xong Tình 4: Bạn cáu với em trai bạn dung từ ngữ không hay vào lúc Tình 5: Bạn gửi email cho đối tác quên đính kèm tài liệu quan trọng Tình 6: Nhóm bạn chuẩn bị cho buổi thuyết trình vào ngày mai bạn đến mà khơng có chuẩn bị Tình 7: Bạn làm sách u thích người bạn Tình 8: Bạn mượn xe máy người bạn để đến trường bạn lại có tai nạn xe máy bị trầy xước Tình 9: Bạn đăng tải vài ảnh xấu xí người bạn Facebook bạn bạn thực tức giận nhìn thấy trang web Tình 10: Bạn vô bận rôn với sống bạn quên việc trả lời tin nhắn người bạn, người cho bạn biết anh ta/cô ta vửa máy tính xách tay Cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 52