INVESTIGATING PRAGMATIC STRATEGIES IN ESL CLASSROOM DISCUSSIONS: A STUDY OF PAKISTANI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The current research examined pragmatic strategies of Pakistani university students in ESL classroom discussions. The central aim was to reveal the pragma linguistic strategies by means of which students communicate and to see how cultural and contextual factors mediate their communication. I utilized design-based research as our qualitative approach with a quantitative component for triangulation. Data were collected from fifty ESL learners of universities selected for the study through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire. Detailed information about the use of polite or direct, modify and resolve approvals/requests were collected by semi-structured interview, while students' frequency and perceived use of these strategies was obtained through a questionnaire.

Findings found that students frequently used verbal politeness and hedges to (de)attune in their talk an interaction or a face-threatening offensive act. Their communicative behaviors revealed profound cultural differences on issues of power and social hierarchy; a respect that affected their choices. The students were also aware of situational and interlocutor variation in language use—a response to pragmatic knowledge, if not conscious application of it. And finally, repair and explanation patterns indicated that they were attempting to maintain meaningful interaction under linguistic constraints. However, low confidence to disagree and lack of exposure in authentic communication inhibited learners' pragmatic fluency.

The study essentially found that Pakistani university students manifested developing pragmatic competence, largely determined by sociocultural experiences. The findings indicated that introducing explicit teaching of pragmatics, and communicative activities through ESL classroom practice might have positive effects on learners’ communication ability and confidence level. This study helped in navigating the relationship between language, culture and communication Pakistani ESL contexts and also provided pedagogical implications for teaching pragmatics at university level.