MA General linguistics A master’s thesis for the course of MA General Linguistics with the title An investigation into EFL advanced learners’ production of apology speech act through the use of explicit/implicit mode of training at Tien Giang University MA student: Doan Thi Thuy Hang August, 2019 i MA General linguistics ABSTRACT The major goal of the current study is to examine whether there were any significant variations at advanced L2 learners’ production of apology strategies when they were instructed with explicit and implicit training methods. Besides, the study aims at exploring which teaching method would generate more benefits for the learners at Tien Giang University. A total of 30 potential participants were randomly assigned into an either implicit training group or an explicit teaching group. Pragmatic features concerning apology strategies were taught through specific lesson plans designed for explicit or implicit purposes. The explicit group underwent four different stages in each lesson including presentation, explanation, practice, and feedback. The implicit traning group was also instructed with the same phases and received exposure to similar authentic input, but they experienced enhancement of input through extra activities outside the classroom. Tests relevant to written discourse completion tasks were dilivered to the partcipants before and after the training period with a pre-test, post- test, and delayed-test. The results indicated that both training groups showed significant differences and improvements at their production of the speech act after the treatment. However, the explicit training method generated more benefits to learners than the implicit training approach. i MA General linguistics ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, my profound gratitude is dedicated to my first supervisor, Dr. Jarret G. Geenen and my second supervisor, Dr. Sybrine Bultena for their detailed guidance and helpful advice from the point I started writing first pages until I finished the last chapter. Mainly, they offered me more opportunities to discuss my thesis at their office so that I could gain useful advice from their extensive knowledge of pragmatic filed. Thanks to this, my thesis step-by-step went on the right direction. Moreover, they spent valuable time reading each chapter of the thesis and gave me constructive feedback to improve my writing as well as research skills. I would also like to extend my special thanks to Mr. Johnnie Shuck, my uncle; Mr. Nguyen Phuc Chau, my manager; Miss. Vo Thi Minh Due, my close friend for their great support during my master course. Specifically, my uncle, a native speaker of English, is always willing to proofread my papers, promptly responds to my answer of English terms, and gives me practical advice for almost all aspects of life. The great support from Mr. Nguyen Phuc Chau who gave me a golden chance to study abroad so that I could gain more experience in linguistic field and met a wide diversity of friends when being in the Netherlands. Without the considerable help from Miss. Vo Thi Minh Due, I would not have finished my thesis on time since she was responsible for providing implicit and explicit training of pragmatics to learners at TGU. I would also like to thank my classmates for their share of practical experience in writing a thesis. Also, I am grateful to the TGU advanced learners who took part in my study. Without their willingness and contribution, my thesis would have not been completed. I must convey my gratitude to Mrs. Annie Priest and Mr. Ryder Moore, who helped me grade the participants’ responses in the pre-test, post-test and delayed-test Finally, I must express my heartfelt thanks to my parents and my brother for giving me not only valuable encouragement but also financial support to study the field I am keen on. ii MA General linguistics TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... ....................... i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES …………….............................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Statement of the problems ......................................................................................... 1 1.2. Research questions..................................................................................................... 3 1.3. Research organization ............................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2: Literature review …................................................................................................. 5 2.1. Defining key terms .................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1. Pragmatics .......................................................................................................... 5 2.1.2. Pragmatic competence ........................................................................................ 5 2.1.3. Interlanguage pragmatics ................................................................................... 7 2.1.4. Pragmatic transfer .............................................................................................. 9 2.2. Teaching of pragmatics ........................................................................................... 10 2.3. The speech act of apology ...................................................................................... 12 2.3.1. Definitions of apologies.................................................................................... 12 2.3.2. Common strategies of apology ......................................................................... 13 2.4. Implicit/Explicit learning and pragmatic training approach .................................... 14 2.5. An overview of relevant studies on the contribution of implicit/explicit training to the acquisition of speech acts .................................................................................. 17 Chapter 3: Methodology ......................................................................................................... 21 3.1. Participants .............................................................................................................. 21 3.2. WDCTs (pre-test, post-test, and delayed-test) ........................................................ 21 3.3. Teaching materials and procedures ......................................................................... 23 3.4. Data collection procedures ...................................................................................... 29 3.5. Data analysis ........................................................................................................... 30 iii MA General linguistics Chapter 4: Results .................................................................................................................. 33 4.1. The outcomes of pre-test WDCTs .......................................................................... 34 4.2. The outcomes of post-test WDCTs ......................................................................... 38 4.3 The outcomes of the delayed-test WDCTs................................................................ 42 4.4. An analysis of mean values from WDCTs............................................................... 46 4.4.1. The results of WDCTs before the training session ............................................. 46 4.4.2. A comparison of mean scores from WDCTs before/after the training session... 48 Chapter 5: Discussion….......................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 6: Concussion …........................................................................................................ 55 6.1. Conclusion ………….............................................................................................. 55 6.2. Limitation of the study ........................................................................................... 55 6.3. Pedagogical implications ........................................................................................ 56 6.4. Direction for future study ....................................................................................... 57 References............................................................................................................................... 59 Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 65 Appendix A: Pre-test .............................................................................................................. 65 Appendix B: Post-test............................................................................................................. 69 Appendix C: Delayed-test......................................................................................................