The Impact of Iranian EFL Teachers’ Meta-Pragmatic Awareness on Their Classroom Practices and Teaching Strategy Development

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of English Language Teaching, Sara. C., Islamic Azad University, Sarab, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Department of English Language Teaching, Tab. C., Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Instructing interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) is essential for effective second language communication. The present study set out to investigate the impact of Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ meta-pragmatic awareness on their classroom practices and developing strategies in teaching pragmatics. To do so, a qualitative study was designed in which 30 EFL teachers selected through convenience sampling from different districts of Tehran City took part. The participants’ classes were observed through an observation checklist three times during the semester, and live notes were taken in the classroom in terms of their teaching ILP practices and teaching strategy development both before and after an in-service meta-pragmatics training course awareness. The results of the observation data analysis showed the success of the in-service training course of meta-pragmatics. Furthermore, adopting an inductive approach in teaching pragmatics, correcting errors either after a delay or on the spot, and comparing L2 and L1 pragmatic features were among the most frequently used strategies teachers developed after being trained with respect to meta-pragmatics. The study results have some implications for foreign language teacher trainers, EFL teachers, and EFL learners.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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