Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics
Volume:15 Issue: 2, Sep 2012

Most of the studies in Interlanguage Pragmatics have focused on the performance and acquisition of speech acts by nonnative speakers, considering politeness only as a subsidiary issue. The present study pertains to linguistic politeness and attempts to investigate the effects of different teaching methods on the acquisition of English politeness strategies (PSs). Eight groups of freshman and junior English majors were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (enhanced input, explicit teaching, and role play) and one control group (mere exposure). The participants took a TOEFL test, a pretest, and finally a posttest after a seven-week treatment of a list of PSs. The results indicated that instruction has a significant positive influence on the acquisition of PSs and explicit teaching is significantly the most effective method. Role play and input enhancement were the second and third most effective. Moreover, it was shown that although the level of language proficiency significantly influenced the knowledge of PSs (the ability to recognize appropriate PSs for each social context), it did not affect the acquisition of PSs. The findings imply that the instruction of PSs can be started at intermediate level and explicit teaching alongside role play activities will greatly benefit language learners.

In L2 instruction and assessment، the application of research findings that adopt an integrative، psycholinguistic approach to explore the information-processing and speech-management facets of fluency seems necessary. This paper reports on a study that drew on Levelt’s (1989، 1999) speaking-specific model to probe the problem-solving mechanisms (PSMs) of fluent and nonfluent L2 speakers through a speaking-oriented questionnaire and a series of output-related retrospective interviews. The fluent and nonfluent L2 speakers were identified using a newly-developed analytic fluency scale and the task-related speech samples of 200 participants. The results revealed that the fluent L2 speakers employed cognitive، linguistic، and interactional PSMs more frequently and with greater facility than the nonfluent participants particularly to compensate for deficits in their conceptual repertoire، bridge communication gaps، and negotiate the intended meaning with their interlocutors. Specifically، they efficiently reshaped the preverbal plan to avoid failure، adeptly employed a variety of fillers and hesitation devices to maintain the communication flow، and attentively monitored the conversation. However، the nonfluent L2 speakers entirely abandoned or completely changed their original speech plan after running into deficiencies in their own outputs that made their speech utterly disjointed. Still at times، they struggled to self-correct their speech but failed due to deficient linguistic and interactional competence، which adversely led to more disfluencies. The findings suggest that further research into the cognitive، linguistic، and interactional processes underlying (non) fluent speakers’ use of PSMs can be useful in explaining speech disfluencies or learners’ differential L2 fluency.

This study was conducted to find out to what factors Iranian EFL language learners at high schools attribute their successes and failures. To this end، 708 Iranian high school students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and gender were selected. These participants were asked to take an attribution questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of four parts: Emotion، Self-image، Intrinsic motivation، and Language policy. Mainly، ANOVA and Post-hoc tests were employed to analyze the data. The results demonstrated that Intrinsic motivation is the primary attribution، and gender does not play any role in attribution. Moreover، significant differences were found among students of different social classes. Students from high socioeconomic background scored highest in Emotion and Self-image; and students from rural areas outscored in Intrinsic motivation and Language policy. Finally، the results were discussed in the context of language learning and teaching.

This study explored the effect of using Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction on the persuasive writing and self-efficacy of Iranian EFL learners and compared the effectiveness of such instruction with nonstrategy-based (i. e.، traditional) instruction. In so doing، this study followed the SRSD model، using a mnemonic and transition word chart، essay examples، and a graphic organizer. To achieve the objectives، 60 Iranian EFL undergraduate students at two universities participated in this study، which used a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design. The analyses of covariance on the persuasive essays and self-efficacy tests in the control and experimental groups revealed that both SRSD and non-SRSD instructions had a positive impact on the participants'' persuasive writing ability. But the effect of SRSD instruction was significantly greater on the participants'' writing (i. e.، format and content، organization and coherence، sentence construction and vocabulary in writing). In addition، the self-efficacy of the SRSD group improved، but the difference in posttest self-efficacy scores between the SRSD and non-SRSD groups was not statistically significant. The findings draw language instructors'' attention to the metacognitive dimension of writing and importance of teaching self-regulatory strategies as a way for achieving autonomy and self-efficacy in writing.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of task-based language teaching (TBLT) on EFL learners’ pragmatic production، metapragmatic awareness، and pragmatic self-assessment. To this end، 75 homogeneous intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to three groups: two experimental groups and one control group. The 27 participants in the pre-task، post-task pragmatic focus group (experimental group one) received pragmatic focus on five speech acts in pre-task and the post-task phases. The 26 participants in the scaffolded while-task group (experimental group two) only received pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic feedback and scaffolding during task completion. However، the 22 participants in the mainstream task-based group (control group) were not provided with any sort of pragmatic focus. The EFL learners’ pragmatic production، metapragmatic awareness، and pragmatic self-assessment were measured using a written discourse completion task (WDCT)، a metapragmatic awareness questionnaire، and a pragmatic self-assessment questionnaire. The findings showed that the three groups enhanced their pragmatic production to almost the same degree at the end of the treatment. Furthermore، the results revealed the development of metapragmatic awareness among the EFL learners in the two experimental groups only. In addition، the two experimental groups managed to develop their pragmatic self-assessment more than the control group. Therefore، it can be concluded that the use of tasks within the framework of TBLT، with or without pragmatic focus in any of the three phases، helps EFL learners develop pragmatic production، while the development of metapragmatic awareness and pragmatic self-assessment can be attributed to pragmatic focus and feedback.