An Investigation into How B2-C2 Level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners Display Their Pragmatic Competence in Speaking

Abstract

The importance of testing second language (L2) learners’ pragmatic competence is becoming evident following increasing research (e.g. Ross and Kasper, 2013). Current pragmatic tests mainly use the Speech Act Theory as a theoretical framework and discourse completion tasks (DCTs) as test instruments. However, these have been criticized lately for overlooking the importance of the discursive side of pragmatics. The main objective of this research was to contribute towards the assessment of B2-C2 level EFL learners’ pragmatic competence by experimenting with task formats that allow the examination of extended oral discourse. The empirical study examined how two speaking task formats allowed test takers to display their pragmatic competence. It also aimed to identify some criterial features defining the level of EFL learners’ pragmatic competence. Six university students took part in this mixed-method study, which included four monologic and two dialogic tasks, followed by a semi-structured interview. Performance of the tasks was video recorded, transcribed and analyzed quantitatively as well as qualitatively using a Conversation Analytic framework. It was concluded that both task formats allow learners to display their pragmatic competence in terms of the sequential organization of speech and selection/use of pragmalinguistic devices. Results also showed that with increasing proficiency the number and range of pragmalinguistic devices seemed to increase and the sequential organization of speech tended to become somewhat more natural.