Speech Acts in Elementary School English Instruction: Textbook Analysis and Teacher Perceptions

Abstract

Language learning involves not only acquiring the linguistic forms and structures but understanding how language is used appropriately in different socio-cultural contexts. It is believed teaching of speech acts can help foreign language learners enhance their competence in language use and enable them to communicate with native speakers successfully (Hymes, 1974; Searle, 1969; Wolfson, 1989; Yu, 1999). In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, English textbooks play an important role for those students who receive their language inputs primarily from textbooks (Kim & Hall, 2002). Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the appropriateness of speech act presentation in the elementary English textbooks with respect to English language instruction in Taiwan. Two adjacency pairs of speech acts (compliments/compliment responses and requests/request responses) in seven series of elementary English textbooks were scrutinized to see whether adequate information regarding these two speech act pairs was properly delineated. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore elementary school English teachers' awareness of cultural-specificity in language use. The findings show that compliments, compliment responses, requests and request responses were not adequately presented in the elementary school English textbooks. The speech act presentation in the textbook did not mirror precisely the native English speakers' interaction norms and seemed to inaccurately represent the actual language use. Results from teacher interviews indicate that English teachers did not seem to equip themselves with sufficient and adequate knowledge of cultural-specificity in language use, which may be adverse for language learners. These findings suggest that textbook designers properly integrate speech acts into elementary school English instruction, and teachers further develop professional knowledge in pragmatics to facilitate their English teaching to elementary school children.