Is pragmatics teachable?

Nowadays, intercultural competence has become an increasingly important component in the English as a Foreign Language area. In dealing with such a thing, it is to be considered taking into account the obvious multicultural use of English and the view of language that integrates a wider social and cultural perspective. If language and culture are inseparable, then when a person is acquiring a new language, he or she is acquiring a new culture at the same time. This involves the language learner in objective and subjective reflection of first culture and foreign culture where meanings are to be chosen depending on personal perspectives. 

Pragmatics is generally linked with culture and that means that the pragmatics knowledge indicates that English native and non-native speakers need to have a broader focuses in their English interactions, including the focuses of grammar structure and vocabulary accuracy, the considerations of speech appropriateness, and the different cultural issues.

Since the idea pragmatics was introduced into language education, it has received more and more attention in language learning. Studies have been done to investigate the relationship between language education and pragmatic development, for example, whether grammatical development guarantees a corresponding level of pragmatic development. The results of these studies differ. Some studies showed that high language proficiency participants had better performance in tests of pragmatics than low language proficiency participants in English as foreign language context. On the other hand, other studies showed disparities between learners’ grammatical development and pragmatic development. They reported that even learners who exhibit high levels of grammatical competence may exhibit a wide range of pragmatic competence when compared with native speakers in conversations and elicited conditions (Liu, 2007).

Two major areas of pragmatics to be concerned are speech acts and intercultural interaction.

a.    Speech Acts
If the point of view we take is from a perspective of functions in languages, communications for various particular purposes are categorized into many specific “speech acts”. According to Kasper and Rose (1999), communication action includes not only using speech acts such as apologizing, complaining, complimenting, and requesting, but also engaging in different types of discourse and participating in speech events of varying length and complexity. They implied that dissimilar types of functional languages can be created by concerning the language complexities from aspects of grammatical accuracy, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic communication competence. Therefore, for facing the challenges in the intercultural communications, English speakers need to learn techniques and strategies in speech acts in order to accomplish goals of establishing closer interpersonal relations and completing tasks efficiently through suitable languages.

b.    Intercultural Interaction
One of the advantages in learning pragmatics is that the learners can interpret the meanings of language from a broader intercultural aspect. Through established pragmatics foundation in mind, EFL speakers will be more sensitive to people’s intentional meanings embedded in international interaction. They can also learn to be proficient in reacting to the EFL speakers’ interlocutions in an effective and comprehensive fashion.

Perspective of EFL interaction sees that there is not a cultural or a language which are better than the others. Lin (2007) pointed out that the non-native English speakers, and even native speakers should learn pragmatics by describing and explaining interlanguage communication from a universal and intercultural perspective, rather than stereotype the native-like English as a standard form of communication.

It can be inferred that when learning pragmatics, there is no limitation of how many foreign cultures a learner should learn though the more cultural learned the better, if a learner can absorb sufficient intercultural knowledge. One significant issue of pragmatics is that there are no classical and standard patterns in each speech act of English. Therefore, the EFL/EIL speakers have to raise their consciousness about various types of speech acts which are based on a structure and convention paragon of another different culture.

Rose (2001) argues that pragmatics consciousness raising is basically an inductive approach to develop a general awareness of how language forms are used appropriately in context.  Accordingly, the goal of pragmatic learning that that English speakers must be familiar with different suitable forms based on intercultural knowledge, but not transform the speaking into a certain standard type of language. In other words, Rose (2001) reveals that pragmatics is a study, which makes the learners comprehend that language varieties do exist in various speech acts of EIL/EFL communications, and which makes the learners accommodate to diverse kinds of flexible colloquies in EFL/EIL communication.

The necessity and importance of teaching pragmatics have also been recognized but still language teachers hesitate to teach pragmatics in their classrooms. Matsuda (1999) lists two reasons for this reluctance in pragmatics teaching. First, teaching pragmatics is a difficult and sensitive issue due to the high degree of ‘face threat’ it often involves and, second, the number of available pedagogical resources is limited. And the second one is that there are no valid methods for pragmatics assessment.

Is Pragmatics teachable?

Because pragmatics is a significant field of language learning, many researchers have provided language teachers and learners’ different approaches, methods, and strategies for pragmatics education. In fact, some teachers already cover it in teaching without realizing like demonstrating the culture differences through dialogue examples, comparing and contrasting the different strategies that different cultures apply, and learning with scenarios and role play, and those are effective approaches of teaching pragmatics.

Additionally, pragmatics training should start at the beginning of a learner’s English learning, because pragmatics education is a significant factor why a person can apply English in cross-culture communication in a polite attitude, even though the learner can only interact and communicate in a basic level of English proficiency.

Lin (2007) proposed the following methods as alternatives in teaching pragmatics in EFL classroom.

1. Demonstrating through examples

Firstly, learning from the examples is a method that teachers and students can apply to learn the intercultural differences, and various strategies of speech acts. Actually, everyone is able to provide misunderstanding examples of pragmatics that indicate the politeness and appropriateness issues in communication of his/her original cultures. Since cultural contradictions do exist in different countries, everyone is an expert of his/her own language and culture. Everyone who works with a second or foreign language, whether learners, teachers, or researchers, knows some interesting stories of miscommunication and misunderstanding in cross-cultural situations. Therefore, through referring to the examples of miscommunication aroused by cultural difference, English speakers might be able to avoid the rude or ineffective languages from perspectives of the other cultures. Furthermore, many examples that demonstrate the cross cultural miscommunication are actually very interesting, which attributes to stimulating the learner’s motivation for learning pragmatics.

2. Hint strategy of request speech act

Pragmatics can be taught through speech act strategies in different cultures. For example, for teaching “request” speech act in pragmatics, the “hint” strategy needs to be introduced to the learners. The reason is that, the “hint” strategy is applied in many counties as a conventional method, for example, countries in Asia. Hence, English speakers need to be informed for learning different strategies of request speech acts of the other cultures and learn to raise their awareness of the hidden request functions in the languages. In other words, if the speakers do not previously learn the pragmatics, some request speech act might sound like gossips to them. That is to say, without learning pragmatics, people might refuse the others without knowing they just reject to offer people who need their aid. As a matter of fact, traditional forms of request speech act in another country cannot be easily distinguished without pragmatics education. For that reason, the strategies of speech act need to be taught with examples that demonstrate various types of request forms in order to raise students’ awareness of intentional request meanings produced by the speakers.

3. Demonstrating through comparison and contrast

Many teachers and researchers agreed that the successful pragmatics teaching and learning can be achieved by comparing and contrasting examples of different cultures. Through comparing the similarities and contrasting the differences between target language speakers’ and non-native speakers’ speech acts and language productions, the non-native speakers can be very clear about what are the native-like forms and what are the intercultural forms. In his study, Rose (2001) reveals that Hong Kong English bilinguals often misunderstand in using request, especially in direct request contexts that would be inappropriate to people in the United States. It was later found out that most of the misunderstandings are caused by lack of pragmatics education. So it is strongly suggested that the language trainers or teachers have to develop the learners’ pragmatic knowledge, and clarify for them what is appropriate and inappropriate in request speech through contrasting the differences between the target language forms and the intercultural language forms in different speech acts.

4. Demonstrating speeches created by people from different background

Inspired by the comparing and contrasting methods, the different types of speech forms based on different social status and different speaker and hearer orientations in request speech act can be learned. For example, the appropriate language used by people in their high or low social statuses can be displayed. The input offered by teachers to contrast the two statuses should be taught. Teacher might tell the student that the indirect form, such as “Could you please …?” is for low status people to request the higher status people. And, the direct form, such as “Can you …?” is for high status people to request the lower status people. Additionally, the different perspectives used to make requests form can be displayed and contrasted as well. For example, the teacher might show the different orientations of speakers and learners and tell the students that saying “Can I…?” is from the perspective of the speaker and “Can you…?” is from the perspective of the hearer.

5. Teaching through role play

Teaching pragmatics through scenarios and role-plays is also an applicable technique. A Japanese researcher displayed several situations that the students can use to discuss the appropriate speech act languages. They are request situations like making an appointment with professor, extending the paper submit due date, makeup exam for a course, and requesting the professor to revise papers. He believed that through the situational variables, the request dialogues can be written according to students’ selected roles. In the role-play with scenarios, students can practice to use the appropriate language that conveys their intended meanings and expressions of request. Besides gaining an opportunity of practicing what had been learned in class, the role play is a relaxing way of learning that stimulates students’ learning motivations for pragmatics.

References

Brandt, Sally. 2005. Can Bart, Monika, Malcolm and Jerry help English language Learners Develop Their Listening Skills? The use of sitcoms in the classroom. 18th Annual EA Education Conference 2005. Sydney: Australian Pacific College.

Friends (DVD). Bright, Kevin (Director). American, 1994-2004.

Grice, P. 1975. Logic And Conversation. In P. Cole and J. L. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics (vol. 3: Speech Acts), 41-58. New York: Academic Press.

Hwang, Caroline C. 2006. From Culture-specific Expressions to Intercultural Competence. Volume 4, No.7 (Serial No.34). National Taipei University of Technology. Taiwan.

Hwang, Caroline C. 2007. Lexical Pragmatics As A Challenge To EFL Comprehension: The Issue On Indirectness, Inferencing, And Schematic Knowledge. Department of  English and Applied Linguistics, National Taipei of University of Technology. Available on : www.pdfgeni.com

Joey (DVD).  Bright, Kevin (Director). America, 2005-2006.

Kasper, G. 1997. Can Pragmatic Competence Be Taught? Available on: http://  www.lll.hawaii.edu/nflrc/NetWorks/NW6/default.html.

Kondo, Sachiko. (…).  Raising Pragmatic Awareness in the EFL Context. Available on www.pdfgeni.com

Lin, Grace Hui Chin. 2007. The Significance of Pragmatics: Mingdao Journal 3(2)：91-102(2007) Mingdao University. Available on: www.pdfgeni.com

Matsuda, M. 1999. Interlanguage Pragmatics: What Can It Offer To Language Teachers? The  CATESOL Journal, 11(1), 39-59. Available on: www.pdfgeni.com

Miro, A. (1998). Evaluating Video, [Online, accessed 27th September 2005]
               http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/networking/68/edtech/amber.html

Rose, K. R. 1994. Pragmatic Consciousness-Raising In An EFL Context. Pragmatics and Language Learning Monograph Series, 5, 52-63. Available on www.pdfgeni.com

Rose, K. R. & Kasper, G. (Eds.). 2001. Pragmatics In Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press

Sert, Olcay. 2009. Using TV Series In English As An Additional Language (EAL) Classrooms. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Available on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto

Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. 1995. Relevance. Communication and Cognition. Oxford and
               Cambridge: Blackwell.

Walker, S. 1997. Video for young learners. Available on : 
          http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/networking/68/edtech/aisha2.html

www. Wikipedia.com

Yule, George. 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zhang, Xiaohong. 2006. Grammaticalization of Pragmatic Markers in Friends: US-China Foreign Language Journal, Volume 4, No.7. Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Available on: www.pdfgeni.com

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Using Sitcoms in Developing Intercultural Competence

The topic of intercultural competence became more and more important. Globalization and worldwide contacts between companies, organizations and individuals need the ability to communicate in a successful way. Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures. This ability can exist in someone at a young age, or may be developed and improved as a competence.

Intercultural competence can be fostered by providing students of foreign language as many as authentic materials to study. Also, there should be a shift of emphasis in the field of linguistics, from the traditional tracks (such as syntax, phonology, or semantics, etc) to pragmatics, the use of language in socio-cultural context. That means that attention in foreign language teaching must be directed from sentence-pattern drills to functions and schemata (the knowledge of how the target language works in the real world). The excellent sources of how certain and appropriate expressions apply for certain conditions and places are moving pictures or films in which students can analyze and experience pseudo situation offered.

For both teachers and students, film is already very popular in English classrooms. Film can be a good exposure for EFL students in which dialogues, acceptability of utterances and expressions can be seen in real situation. Authentic video material serves to add fun and motivation to the language learning experience also.

While there are a number of arguments in favor of the use of films, there are also a number of concerns about its usage. Johnston (in Burt, 1999) states that video does not explain complex concepts; grammar and writing skills are not practiced; it can be a time-consuming task for the teacher having to select authentic videos and prepare appropriate activities and some shows contain inappropriate or even controversial language, content and themes.

A specific genre of television show, the situation comedy (sitcom), can be seen as a good alternative. While a film is considered as a time consuming material, a 23 minutes-duration sitcom will provide what a film might offer. Sitcoms can be manipulated by teachers to tie in with the language focus, thematic focus or to foster macro and micro skill development in the classroom. The activities designed to exploit the material will of course differ in their level of difficulty, but they should have one thing in common - allowing the students to succeed and walk away from the lesson with a sense of satisfaction at being able to understand authentic video material.

Strategies for Developing Intercultural Competence

Intercultural competence can be defined as the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures. A person who is interculturally competent captures and understands, in interaction with people from foreign cultures, their specific concepts in perception, thinking, feeling and acting. Earlier experiences are considered, free from prejudices; there is an interest and motivation to continue learning (Wikipedia.com). Intercultural competence is in relation with the capacity to understand more than what the words record in spoken or written language. It has to do with the human communication process and therefore goes beyond linguistic competence.

Stier (2006) divided intercultural competence into content-competencies and processual-competencies. Content-competencies predominantly have a one-dimensional or static character and refer to the knowing that-aspects of both the ‘other’ and the ‘home’ culture. They include knowledge of history, language, non-verbal behavior, world-views, ‘do’s and don’ts’, values, norms, habits, customs, taboos, symbols, behavioral patterns, traditions, sex roles etc. On the other hand, Processual-competencies considers the dynamic character of intercultural competence and its interactional context.

Teacher of foreign language should be aware that intercultural competence is needed as the basic ability for any interaction. It is not only necessary to have social skills, but also to improve the sensitivity and understanding for other values, views, ways of living and thinking, as well as being self-conscious in transferring one’s own values and views in a clear, but appropriate way. Lazar (2007) proposed some very simple general guidelines for language teachers and teacher trainers to develop students’ intercultural competence.

•    If the teachers do have first-hand experiences from other cultures, she or he should take every opportunity to tell the students about these and elicit their reactions as well as their own similar experiences;

•    If the course book used contains culturally-loaded texts (most of them do by definition), make sure teachers do not only exploit these texts for grammatical analysis and vocabulary building;

•    Grammar practice and vocabulary activities can be sources of cultural knowledge, means of intercultural skills development or ways to form open and accepting attitudes if teacher do not fail to add those two or three sentences that will help students understand the cultural dimension better;

•    When teachers give writing tasks and tests, do not only assess students’ knowledge of grammar rules and vocabulary items but sometimes ask them to write (guided) reflective compositions about their experiences in other countries or in their home town with people from other cultures;

•    Encourage students to look things up, be open, curious and non-judgmental, establish e-mail partnerships with students in other countries, participate in simulations, role-plays and ethnographic projects during language lessons and go on study trips if possible.


The Situation Comedy (Sitcom) as Source of Intercultural Moment

Sitcoms have certain characteristics that can be beneficial to foreign language learners; namely, the presence of regular, stable and consistent characters, being 30 minutes in length, being broadcast weekly, the use of naturalist filming, the use of recurring gags and slapstick humor, and having a plausible plot based on situations revolving around the ‘taboos, preoccupations, prejudices, obsessions, fads and fixations’ of current society (Brandt, 2005). Another feature of the sitcom is the standard narrative structure employed, namely:

    Orientation – an account of the situation when the story begins,
    Complication – conflicts between characters,
    Resolution – the solution to the threat,
    Evaluation – the characters re-evaluate their relationship,
    Re-Orientation – order is restored

In terms of linguistic benefit, sitcoms present learners with the opportunity to study language from an ‘intensely verbal form of television’ which at first may appear daunting but when broken down and presented scene by scene, can ‘present, exemplify, consolidate and revise language’ (Miro, 1998). Another benefit of using authentic videos is that television shows have a tendency to present real language that is not simplified and is spoken at a normal speed with genuine accents (Burt, 1999).

In 1990’s, Indonesian television broadcasts were overwhelmed with American sitcoms that had good responses from Indonesian viewers. Nowadays, they are overloaded with local soaps and reality shows. Thankfully, it is not so difficult to get the original and copyrighted DVD or VCD. This surely makes teachers easier to manipulate, such as rewinding or freezing certain moments, on account of teaching learning process. Examples of sitcoms that could be incorporated into the classroom are Friends, Lizzie McGuire, Hanna Montana, The Nanny, Two and A Half Man and the list continues.

First Watching Sitcoms, Then What?

Enjoying humor in sitcoms sometimes can be troublesome for some people, let alone students of foreign language. Basically, humor presented in sitcoms is pragmatic, words association or connotation, and cultural reference. Occasionally, the writer brings sitcoms into the classroom when materials are related to cross cultural understanding, such as holidays.

Things to remember, when bringing video into classroom teachers should not count on what students remember from watching the video at home and often do detailed work with particular scenes and during video showing teachers should do something with scenes, and especially with such in which a dialect, or unfamiliar expression is spoken.

Sitcoms are designed to be aired on televisions. That means there is certain available pause provided for commercial break. Teacher might use this moments (do not forget to press pause on the remote controller) for question and answer session, but make sure it’s just a couple of minutes because it can ruin the momentum. Once in a while, invite students to predict how the story will develop and end.

Several activities designed after watching sitcoms can be individual or in groups. The activities might be:
•    asking students to act as film critics. This can be a preliminary activities before jumping on the intercultural discussion.
•    Invite students to recollect memorable and intercultural moments in the show.  

Verdict:

One of the main benefits in choosing sitcoms in the classroom to develop students’ intercultural competence is simply that sitcoms provide what real language use and culture exposure in relatively short time. This advantage will allow the learner to concentrate on the language being used and in the same time continuously being exposed to a large bank intercultural moments.

Other advantage also includes language development, improved listening comprehension skills, improved pronunciation, and exposure to non-verbal forms of communication. But teachers should be aware as well that sitcoms also has disadvantages that include the lack of exposure to grammar and writing, being time-consuming in terms of the preparation required, and contact with inappropriate themes and content.

There is no reason why sitcoms can’t be used as one of ways to develop students intercultural competence, but the key to using this type of material effectively is dependent on the creation of appropriate activities that support and develop language learning. Teachers should involve students to a discussion both in native and target language culture.

References

Belisle, Claire. 2007. eLearning and Intercultural dimensions of learning theories and teaching models. Paper submitted to the FeConE (Framework for eContent Evaluation) project.

Brandt, Sally. 2005. Can Bart, Monika, Malcolm and Jerry help English language Learners Develop Their Listening Skills? The use of sitcoms in the classroom. 18th Annual EA Education Conference 2005. Australian Pacific College, Sydney

Burt, M. 1999. Using Video with Adult English Language Learners, Eric Digest.  Available on :http://www.cal.org/caela/esl% 5Fresources/digests/video.html

Canning-Wilson, C. 2000. Practical Aspects of Using Video in the Foreign Language Classroom. in The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI. No. 11, November 2000. Available: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Canning-Video.html

Fantini, ALvino E. 2005. Exploring Intercultural Competence: A Construct Proposal. School for International Training Brattleboro. Vermont.

Lázár, Ildikó. 2007. Developing Intercultural Competence in the Foreign   Language Classroom.  Eötvös loránd University, Budapest. Hungary

Miro, A. (1998). Evaluating Video, [Online, accessed 27th September 2005]
             http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/networking/68/edtech/amber.html

Stier, Jonas. 2006. Internationalization, Intercultural communication and Intercultural Competence.  Journal of Intercultural Communication, Issue 11.

Walker, S. 1997. Video for young learners. Available on : 
          http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/networking/68/edtech/aisha2.html

www. Wikipedia.com

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