PERSPECTIVES OF ENGLISH MAJORS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE IN EFFECTIVE ENGLISH COMMUNICATION

Autores/as

  • Le Thi Thai Tran Faculty of Foreign Languages, Nam Can Tho University, 168 Nguyen Van Cu Street, An Binh Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City, Vietnam
  • Nguyen Huynh Hue Thu Faculty of Foreign Languages, Nam Can Tho University, 168 Nguyen Van Cu Street, An Binh Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City, Vietnam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v10i2.6144

Palabras clave:

pragmatic, pragmatic competence, English majors, effective communication, speaking

Resumen

The present research examines English major students' perceptions regarding the role of pragmatic competence in effective English communication. Pragmatic competence — knowing how to use a language under specific social and cultural circumstances — is vital to effective communication; however, it is frequently overlooked in conventional language teaching. The current investigation was designed to investigate the consciousness of pragmatic features among learners, their confidence in their ability to apply these in actual communicative situations, and their preferred way of instruction for developing pragmatic skills. Data were gained through a questionnaire for 94 English-major students. Results show that while students understand the value of pragmatic competence, they often face challenges in applying it due to limited exposure to authentic English and insufficient classroom focus on real-life communication strategies. The findings suggest a gap between students’ awareness and their actual communicative performance, highlighting the need for curriculum improvements. This study provides useful insights for teachers and curriculum designers aiming to enhance communicative competence in EFL contexts.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

Biografía del autor/a

  • Le Thi Thai Tran, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Nam Can Tho University, 168 Nguyen Van Cu Street, An Binh Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City, Vietnam

    Le Thi Thai Tran is a lecturer of English at Nam Can Tho University, Vietnam. She has a strong interest in instructional strategies. She has expressed interest in instructing English major students in linguistics and language skills.

  • Nguyen Huynh Hue Thu, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Nam Can Tho University, 168 Nguyen Van Cu Street, An Binh Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City, Vietnam

    Nguyen Huynh Hue Thu is a lecturer of English at Nam Can Tho University, Vietnam. She is interested in the field of teaching and learning English. She has been particularly involved in teaching various courses such as comprehension reading, academic writing, and intercultural communication for English majors.

Referencias

Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Do language learners recognize pragmatic violations? Pragmatic versus grammatical awareness in instructed L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly, 32(2), 233–262. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/3587583

Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Politeness.html?id=OG7W8yA2XjcC&redir_esc=y

Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1–47. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Merrill-Swain/publication/31260438_Theoretical_Bases_of_Communicative_Approaches_to_Second_Language_Teaching_and_Testing/links/0c960516b1dadad753000000/Theoretical-Bases-of-Communicative-Approaches-to-Second-Language-Teaching-and-Testing.pdf

Cohen, A. D. (2012). Teaching pragmatics in the second language classroom. The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 1(1), 33-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/41756418

Culpeper, J., Mackey, A., & Taguchi, N. (2018). Second language pragmatics: From theory to research. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Second-Language-Pragmatics-From-Theory-to-Research/Culpeper-Mackey-Taguchi/p/book/9781138911772?srsltid=AfmBOooy0IK8fzX6O6Ymi3R-r_wtJgy4Hm51FYOzo9titjr2pNup2jy-

Holmes, J. (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (4th ed.). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833057

Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Pearson Education. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003168188

Kasper, G., & Schmidt, R. (1996). Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 149–169. Retrieved from https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/PDFs/SCHMIDT%20Developmental%20issues%20in%20interlanguage%20pragmatics.pdf

Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Longman. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/The_Input_Hypothesis.html?id=5ttoAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/pragmatics/6D0011901AE9E92CBC1F5F21D7C598C3#overview

Rose, K. R., & Kasper, G. (Eds.). (2001). Pragmatics in language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/pragmatics-in-language-teaching/pragmatics-in-language-teaching/39DAD43E940C7D75BABFE64097B3B6BC

Schauer, G. A. (2006). Pragmatic awareness in ESL and EFL contexts: Contrast and development. Language Learning, 56(2), 269–318. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-8333.2006.00348.x

Stalnaker, R. (1974). Pragmatic presuppositions. Retrieved from https://semantics.uchicago.edu/kennedy/classes/f09/semprag1/stalnaker-pragpresups.pdf

Taguchi, N. (2011). Teaching pragmatics: Trends and issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 289–310. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0267190511000018

Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91–112. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/4.2.91

Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. Longman. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Meaning_in_Interaction.html?id=4UZiAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

Tran, T. Q. (2010). Interlanguage pragmatics: Requests by Vietnamese EFL learners. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 7(1), 167–185.

Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Pragmatics.html?id=E2SA8ao0yMAC&redir_esc=y

Descargas

Publicado

2025-07-21

Número

Vol. 10 Núm. 2 (2025)

Sección

Articles

Licencia

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

 

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).