Fostering EFL Learners' Pragmatics Awareness, Incidental Pragmalinguistic Learning, and Speaking Ability Through Video-Based Pragmatic Tests

Raising English language teachers and learners’ awareness of pragmatics and pragmalinguistics has been of much concern to applied linguists since a couple of years ago. However, the number of studies on the impact of video-based pragmatic tests on EFL learners' pragmatics awareness, incidental pragmalinguistic learning, and speaking ability is scanty. The present study investigated the effect of video-based pragmatic tests on EFL learners’ pragmatic awareness and pragmalinguistic learning, and speaking ability. Participants of this study were 38 male and female language learners who were selected through convenience sampling. The participants were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups. In the experimental group, video-based pragmatic tests were used along with the usual instructional materials; while in the control group the material was taught in the conventional method, without using video-based pragmatic tests. A pretest/posttest control-experimental research design was used. a placement test, two Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Tests, and two speaking ability tests were used to assess the participants’ pragmatic awareness, incidental pragmalinguistic learning, and speaking ability before and after the treatment. Independent samples-t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for analyzing the data. The results of the study indicated a high level of pragmatic awareness and pragmalinguistic learning improvement in the experimental group. Further, the findings revealed that video-based pragmatic tests affected the learners' speaking proficiency. The findings have theoretical and pedagogical implications for applied linguists, English language teachers, and learners.