A Meta-Analytic Study of Instructed Second Language Pragmatics: A Case of the Speech Act of Request

Abstract

Research on the effectiveness of request instruction in L2 pragmatics has been extensive, yet inconclusive. The present meta-analysis aims not only to provide a quantitative and reliable measure of the effects of instruction for the speech act of request in Iran, but also to illustrate a description of the relationship between some variables that moderate its effectiveness (age, gender, proficiency level, treatment type, research design, and data collection procedure). To do so, a total of 37 studies were retrieved and by establishing a set of different inclusion/exclusion criteria, 17 primary studies were coded and analyzed. Results revealed that (1) there is an overall large effect size on the effectiveness of the instruction of request (g = 1.48) in an Iranian context; (2) some variables were found to be a moderator for this effectiveness like gender and treatment type; (3) considering gender, the male group produced a larger effect size (g = 3.09) than the female one (g = 1.10); (4) and regarding treatment types, the explicit group yielded a larger effect size (g = 1.53) than the implicit one (g = 1.20). A thorough interpretation of the results, as well as a discussion of practical, theoretical, and methodological implications of this study, is provided to tackle a number of conundrums surrounding the instruction of request and shed light on how to reorient future research.