Pre-Service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers' Awareness of the Pragmatic Aspect of Language

Y

11

Preservice Teachers; English (Second Language); Language Teachers; Pragmatics; Knowledge Level; Preservice Teacher Education; Student Attitudes; Foreign Countries; Elementary School Teachers

2154-6282

The objective of this survey study was to explore pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' opinions concerning the pragmatic aspect of language and their awareness of certain pragmatics concepts. Thirty-three pre-service EFL teachers from a state university in Türkiye participated in the study voluntarily. As a data-collection instrument, a survey with Likert scale questions and a few additional questions was used. Results of the descriptive and frequency analysis demonstrate that the pre-service EFL teachers understood the value of pragmatics in language teaching and learning since they mentioned communicative competence as an important aspect of language use. They also believed that learning a language requires an understanding of both its linguistic and communicative components. The definitions of "pragmatics" given by participants reveal that they are knowledgeable with the concept's theoretical underpinnings. The results highlight that participant teachers learned certain pragmatics concepts, like speech acts, pragmatic awareness, and face-threatening acts, in their university courses, but they were less familiar with some pragmatics concepts compared to others. Results suggest that more emphasis should be given to pragmatics in teacher education curriculums to make teacher candidates more aware of the importance of pragmatics and more capable of applying their theoretical knowledge of pragmatics in actual language use.

As Provided

2023

EJ1392745