Relationship between Attitude toward Target Language Culture Instruction and Pragmatic Comprehension Development

Vahid Rafieyan,Norazman Bin Abdul Majid,Lin Siew Eng

doi:10.5539/elt.v6n8p125

Abstract

Familiarity with the cultural features of the target language society and interest in learning those cultural features are the key factors to determine language learners’ level of pragmatic comprehension. To investigate this issue, this study attempted to assess the relationship between attitude toward incorporating target language culture into classroom instruction and the development of pragmatic comprehension. The data were collected through the administration of a Likert scale attitude questionnaire and two pragmatic comprehension tests one used as pre-test and the other used as post-test to 32 intermediate level language learners at a language academy in Malaysia. The findings suggested that a positive attitude toward learning target language culture leads to a higher level of pragmatic comprehension. Therefore, it was recommended to furnish foreign language course books as well as foreign language classroom instruction with cultural information.

Highlights

Pragmatics studies the way speakers and writers use context and shared information to convey information that supplements the semantic content of the expressions (Bianchi, 2004)
The findings suggested that a positive attitude toward learning target language culture leads to a higher level of pragmatic comprehension
Language learners expressed a positive attitude toward the incorporation of target language culture into classroom instruction

Summary

Introduction

Pragmatics studies the way speakers and writers use context and shared information to convey information that supplements the semantic content of the expressions (Bianchi, 2004). It “concentrates on those aspects of meaning that cannot be predicted by linguistic knowledge alone and take into account knowledge about the physical and social world” (Peccei, 2000: 2). As the pragmatic features of the target language are often not salient for language learners, mere exposure to these features does not help language learners to notice them (Kasper & Rose, 2002) and many aspects of target language pragmatics either are not learned or are learned very slowly (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001). Level of familiarity with the cultural perspectives of the target language community, on the one hand, and the learner’s willingness to learn and apply those cultural features, on the other hand, are the key factors to determine language learners’ level of pragmatic comprehension (Ran, 2007)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion