PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE AND THE CHALLENGE OF SPEECH EXPRESSION AND PRECISION Thesis Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Arts in English By Samar Muftah Elemam, M.S. Dayton, Ohio May 2018 PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE AND THE CHALLENGE OF SPEECH EXPRESSION AND PRECISION Name: Elemam, Samar Muftah APPROVED BY: ____________________________________ Jennifer Haan, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor. ____________________________________ Lori Phillips, M.S. Faculty Advisor ____________________________________ Bryan Bardine, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor ii Copyright by Samar Elemam All rights reserved 2018 iii ABSTRACT PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE AND THE CHALLENGE OF SPEECH EXPRESSION AND PRECISION Name: Elemam, Samar Muftah University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Haan With the increasing advancements in communication technology and the acceleration of globalization, English is becoming a de facto world-wide standard for language. It is not just grammar, spelling and diction that determine successful communication between intercultural speakers. The social awareness aspect, or what is referred to as pragmatic competence, of communication can be just as important. Without a solid understanding of pragmatics, a non-native speakers of English may encounter professional failure in their future. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the significance of ways that students learning English as a second language, develop pragmatic awareness. A second objective was to recommend teaching activities that could enhance that development, enabling second language learners to discern cultural and contextual meaning in real-life situations outside the classroom. This will help to further develop linguistic skills and instill confidence to students. iv Every challenging work needs self-efforts as well as guidance of elders especially those who were very close to our heart. My humble effort I dedicate to my sweet and loving Father & Mother Whose affection, love, encouragement and prays of day and night make me able to get such success and honor To My Husband Abdul Saide For his love, sacrifices and my shining armor To My Friend Lori Phillips served as my inspiration and strength during stormy days. To Allah For always being with me thank you for everything. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My special thanks to Dr. Jennifer Haan, my advisor, for her support, motivation, patience, and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I couldn’t have imagined having a better advisor for my thesis. Besides my advisor, I would like to express my appreciation to the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. Lori Phillips, and Dr. Bardine, for their encouragement, insightful comments, and hard questions. My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Slade the associate professor and chair of the department of English for always having open doors to assist and help me. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents, Muftah Elemam and Najia Aldharrat, and to my husband, Abdul Saide, for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...iv DEDICATION……………………………...………………………………………….....v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………….………………...…...vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTATIONS…………………….…………........viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING PRAGMATICS........3 CHAPTER 3 GRAMMAR AND PRAGMATICS............................................................17 CHAPTER 4 TEACHING PRAGMATICS……………………..……………….….......20 CHAPTER 5 IMPROVING PRAGMATICS WITH THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY….32 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION…………………………….…………………….……….35 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………......38 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTATIONS CALL Computer Assisted Language Learning DCT Discourse Completion Task EFL English as a Foreign Language FLL Foreign Language Learner FTA Face Threatening Action IPA International Phonetic Alphabet NS Native English Speaker NNS Non-native English Speaker SLL Second Language Learner L1 First Language L2 Second Language viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION As defined by Hughes and Allen (2013), pragmatics is a branch of linguistics aimed at studying the peculiarities of using language, with a major focus on examining its contextual use. For both the first and second language learners, the issues related learning pragmatics are linked to text organization, implicature, presupposition, and the handling of turns in conversation (Schmidt 6). I believe that to become truly fluent in a second language, the learning of pragmatics is as essential as learning the grammar, spelling, diction and syntax of the target language. The aim of pragmatics, in any second language instruction, is to provide the foreign language learners an opportunity to develop their pragmatic competence in the new language (Ziran 10). Two methods of learning pragmatics are first, through teacher provided inputs such as classroom instruction and interactions, and second, through student outputs which are the student practicing the language outside of the classroom. Additionally, it can be sourced from a preplanned pedagogical intervention aimed at the full comprehension of pragmatics (Hughes & Allen, 2013). Previous studies on pragmatics have argued that poor pragmatic development by second language learners (SSL) was primarily caused by a low level of interactions and poor quality of conversations with 1 native speakers. This not only limits the learning process but also imposes huge demands on the instructional process by making optimal gains less attainable within the traditional classroom format (Ziran, 13). This paper will first present a discussion of the theoretical framework for learning pragmatics. This includes the speech acts theory, politeness, and requests. Next, the problems, obstacles, and critical issues that confront the teaching of pragmatics is discussed. Finally, the pragmatic development process itself is examined. Teacher activities that can help develop and improve pragmatics are proposed. 2 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING PRAGMATICS The theories of learning pragmatics try to explain the process of how people acquire not only language capabilities but also to explain other ways we communicate our needs, wants, and desires. These are the things people tend to take for granted since we are all born into a culture that has ingrained norms, traditions, and ways of doing little things that mean a lot. Several theories of how people learn a second language have been proposed. Richard Schmidt suggested in 1990 his noticing hypothesis as a basis for studying the effect of explicit instruction techniques in the attainment of second language pragmatic skills. Also, both the Speech Acts Theory developed by Austin in 1962 and the Politeness Theory proposed by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson in 1987 instill a structure for analysis. As a specific example of learning pragmatic skills from these theories is presented of a Taiwanese student learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). These models: The Noticing Hypothesis, the Speech Acts Theory, and the Politeness Theory along with a case study of the Taiwanese student are thoroughly examined in the following thesis. 2.1 The Noticing Hypothesis The Noticing Hypothesis as promoted by Richard Schmidt in 1990 addresses the role of awareness in acquiring second language skills. Basically, he was saying that a second language learner (SLL) must first notice the grammatical differences to learn the 3 language. His theory addresses the initial resources available to the learner, their innate processing abilities, and the attentional environmental conditions needed. These features are combined as “input” to the student and if congealed properly will become true inputs like interaction with native speakers as a step to notice and acquire the English language (Schmidt, 1995). Particularly, Schmidt (1995) believes that awareness occurs at the initial level of noticing and that this, is in of itself, a key component of learning. The researcher states that the detection of appropriate input through awareness and subsequent attention is a prerequisite for filtering intake from input and subjecting it to further processing (Schmidt, 1995, 2001). Previous studies contend that learning a language is mostly an unconscious process (Chomsky, 1965, 1986, 1990; Gregg, 1984; Krashen, 1982; Seliger, 1983). Prior to this concept, foreign language teaching methods emphasized the rules and patterns of the new language – the grammar, structure, and syntax. This new unconscious learning proposition led to a rejection of these methods to focus on teaching the “meaning” rather than the grammar and structure. The debate began and other researchers (Carlson & Dulany, 1985; Fisk & Schneider, 1984; Kihlstorm, 1984), supported the thesis of Schmidt, that “there is no learning without attention” (Schmidt, 1995, p. 9). Schmidt (1990) also found evidence that supports the role of consciousness in learning a second language. Some researchers have taken the theory of consciousness even further, suggesting (Baars, 1988; Carr, 1979; Gardner, 1985; Norman, 1986; Schmidt, 1990; Schneider, 1985) that consciousness plays a crucial role especially when dealing with new, novel