Effect of National Cultural Distance as Predictor of Pragmatic Competence on Writing Proficiency

Writers whose national culture has less distance from the cultural values of the target language community are supposed to be more familiar with the pragmatic features of the target language and consequently write more comprehensibly for target language readers than writers whose national culture has more distance from the cultural values of the target language community. To assess the actual effect of national cultural distance from target language community as a predictor of target language pragmatic competence on target language writing proficiency, the current study was conducted over a group of German undergraduate students perceived as culturally close to Britons as the target language community and a group of South Korean undergraduate students perceived as culturally distant from Britons. The study, which compared the ability of the two groups of participants in using proper target language politeness strategies in writing letters of application, found that less national cultural distance from the cultural values of the target language community results in more appropriate use of target language pragmatic features in target language writing. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested providing opportunities for language learners in foreign language contexts to have contact with target language speakers through telecollaborative partnership and to be exposed to target language pragmatic features through target language pragmatic instruction. Keywords: National Cultural Distance, Pragmatic Competence, Writing Proficienc

Effect of ‘Focus on Form’ versus ‘Focus on Forms’ Pragmatic Instruction on Development of Pragmatic Comprehension and Production

To develop target language pragmatic competence, language learners’ attention must be directed toward not only linguistic but also pragmatic aspect of the target language expressions (Schmidt, 2001). Thus, some sorts of pragmatic awareness-raising instruction, using either explicit ‘Focus on Forms’ or implicit ‘Focus on Form’ techniques, are advised by scholars to develop pragmatic competence in language learners (e.g. Eslami-Rasekh, 2005; Bardovi-Harlig & Mahan-Taylor, 2003). To this end, the current experimental study was conducted on 52 undergraduate students of English at a university in Iran to investigate the effect of ‘Focus on Form’ versus ‘Focus on Forms’ pragmatic instruction on the development of their pragmatic comprehension and production. The experiment consisted of three phases: 1) the random assignment of participants to two groups: a ‘Focus on Forms’ group receiving metapragmatic explanations of target language pragmatic forms and a ‘Focus on Form’ group receiving target language pragmatic instruction using input enhancement, input flood, and recast, 2) conducting intervention for one semester, and 3) assessing their pragmatic comprehension and production knowledge following the intervention. Assessment tools consisted of a 4-senario discourse completion task and a 16-item multiple-choice pragmatic comprehension test both developed by Taguchi (2012). The results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that both ‘Focus on Form’ and ‘Focus on Forms’ methods of pragmatic instruction had a significant effect on the development of pragmatic comprehension and production. However, language learners in ‘Focus on Forms’ group had a significantly better development than language learners in the ‘Focus on Form’ group. This significant development was evident for both the comprehension and production aspects of pragmatic competence. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested furnishing English as foreign language classes with ‘Focus on Forms’ pragmatic instruction. Keywords: Focus on Form Instruction, Focus on Forms Instruction, Pragmatic Comprehension, Pragmatic Productio

Effect of Developing Pragmatic Competence through Telecollaboration on Improving English as Foreign Language Learners’ Writing Proficiency

The very information structure of written communication depends not just on the writer’s meaning and purpose but rather on the extent to which writer and reader share knowledge of pragmatic features of the language. To assess the actual effect of developing target language pragmatic competence through telecollaboration on improving English as Foreign Language learners’ target language writing proficiency, the current study was conducted on 60 Iranian learners of English at Razi Petrochemical Company in Iran. The study enjoyed a true experimental design by random assignment of participants to two equal groups, one group merely receiving writing instruction while the other being linked to target language speakers besides receiving writing instruction, and by administering three writing tasks immediately before intervention, immediately following intervention, and two months following intervention. The results of between-within subjects analysis of variance indicated that language learners who were linked to target language speakers not only demonstrated a better performance in writing according to the pragmatic features of target language following the intervention but also maintained their obtained knowledge to a greater extent than language learners who did not have contact with target language speakers. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested providing opportunities for language learners in English as Foreign Language contexts to be virtually linked to target language speakers through telecollaboration. Keywords: Pragmatic Competence, Telecollaborative Partnership, Writing Proficienc

Effectiveness of ‘Focus on Form’ versus ‘Focus on Forms’ Instruction on the Development of Knowledge of Formulaic Sequences

Formulaic sequences are known to be fundamental to the way language is used, processed, and acquired in both the first language and the second language (Schmitt & Carter, 2004; Wray, 2002; Wray, 2008; Meunier & Granger, 2008; Schmitt, 2010) and consequently should be incorporated into foreign language classroom practice (Wood, 2010; Alali & Schmitt, 2012; Hatami, 2015). However, there have always been discrepancies over the best method of incorporating them into foreign language classroom. To this end, the current study compared the effectiveness of two form-focused methods of instructing formulaic sequences including ‘focus on form’ method and ‘focus on forms’ method on the immediate and sustainable development of knowledge of formulaic sequences. The participants of the study were thirty learners of English as a foreign language at the intensive English program of a university in Japan. The study followed an experimental design by dividing participants into two parallel groups of ‘focus on form’ and ‘focus on forms’, administering pre-test one week prior to intervention, conducting instruction for the two different groups at two different levels of explicitness for four weeks, and administering post-test and follow-up test respectively one week and ten weeks following the intervention. The instruments used for data collection consisted of instruction materials for intervention as well as three sets of recognition tests and cued output tests to assess participants’ learning gains as pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test. The results of mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance revealed that both ‘focus on form’ and ‘focus on forms’ methods of instructing formulaic sequences are equally effective for immediate and long-term goals. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested the incorporation of target language formulaic sequences into foreign language instruction. Keywords: Focus on Form Instruction, Focus on Forms Instruction, Formulaic Sequence

Effect of ‘Focus on Form’ versus ‘Focus on Forms’ Cultural Instruction on Translation of Culture-Bound Texts

The significant role of cultural background knowledge of the source and target language societies in the process of transferring meaning across languages whose speakers possess totally distinct cultures has been emphasized by numerous scholars (e.g., Malinowski, 1935; Nida, 1964; Toury, 1995; Agost, 1998; Agost, 1999; Paniagua, 2000; Nord, 2001; Riccardi, 2002; Albirini, 2009; Yang, 2010; House, 2015). To this end, the current study investigated the effect of cultural instruction in general as well as ‘Focus on Forms’ versus ‘Focus on Form’ methods of cultural instruction in particular on developing translation quality of culture-bound texts. Participants of the study were 98 undergraduate students of English translation at a university in Iran. These participants were divided into three groups: ‘Focus on Forms’ group which received explicit instruction about cultural features of the source language, ‘Focus on Form’ group which received instruction about cultural features of the source language through input flood and input enhancement, and control group which merely received translation exercises. Participants’ ability to translate culture-bound texts was then assessed through translating some excerpts of news adopted from Voice of America, following a 4-week intervention. The results of one-way between-groups analysis of variance revealed that both ‘Focus on Forms’ and ‘Focus on Form’ methods of cultural instruction are influential in developing ability to translate culture-bound texts at a high quality. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested supplementing translation courses with cultural features of the source language society. Keywords: Culture, Focus on Form, Focus on Forms, Instruction, Translatio

The Effect Of ‘Focus On Form’ Versus ‘Focus On Forms’ Pragmatic Instruction On The Development Of Pragmatic Comprehension

Anggapan umum ialah ciri-ciri pragmatik bahasa sasaran perlu diberi perhatian terhadap pelajar bahasa melalui pengajaran pragmatik berfokuskan “form”. The common assumption is that target language pragmatic features need to be brought to language learners’ direct attention through form-focused pragmatic instruction for them to be learned

Relationship between Acculturation Attitude and Effectiveness of Pragmatic Instruction

Attitude toward accepting target language culture or maintaining heritage culture referred to as acculturation attitude can determine language learners’ pragmatic gains during an educational sojourn. To this end, the current study investigated the relationship between language learners’ acculturation attitudes during an educational sojourn and the effectiveness of pragmatic instruction. Participants of the study were 52 Iranian postgraduate students of English education at a university in Australia. A discourse completion task was used to assess language learners’ level of pragmatic competence. The adapted version of Berry’s (2001) East Asian Acculturation Measure (EAAM) was also used to assess language learners’ level of acculturation attitude toward Australian culture. The analysis of Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient (r) revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between acculturation attitude and effectiveness of pragmatic instruction. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested encouraging and providing opportunities for language learners who are on an educational sojourn to immerse in target language culture to be able to develop their pragmatic competence to an optimal level. Keywords: Acculturation Attitude, Pragmatic Competence, Pragmatic Instructio

Effect of Telecollaboration on Translation of Culture-Bound Texts

One of the most problematic perspectives of translation phenomenon is the cultural gap between the source language and the target language (Yang, 2010). This gap can be ideally filled through telecollaboration which provides internationally dispersed language learners in parallel language classes with cost-effective access to, and engagement with, peers who are expert speakers of the language under study (Belz, 2005). To investigate the effect of telecollaboration on the quality of translation of culture-bound texts, the current study was conducted on 64 Iranian undergraduate students of English translation at a university in Iran. Instruments used in the study consisted of three texts containing news excerpts from Voice of America (VOA). The study consisted of three phases: 1) assessing quality of translation of culture-bound texts, 2) random assignment of participants to two groups: one merely receiving cultural instruction while the other being linked to native English speakers through LinkedIn alongside receiving cultural instruction, and 3) assessing quality of translation of culture-bound texts immediately and two months following treatment. The results of mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance revealed the significant positive effect of telecollaboration on developing quality of translation of culture-bound texts and sustaining the attained knowledge. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested incorporation of cultural components of source language society into translation courses and providing opportunities for translation students to be exposed to authentic and intensive source language culture through telecollaboration.

Effect of Telecollaboration on Translation of Culture-Bound Texts

One of the most problematic perspectives of translation phenomenon is the cultural gap between the source language and the target language (Yang, 2010). This gap can be ideally filled through telecollaboration which provides internationally dispersed language learners in parallel language classes with cost-effective access to, and engagement with, peers who are expert speakers of the language under study (Belz, 2005). To investigate the effect of telecollaboration on the quality of translation of culture-bound texts, the current study was conducted on 64 Iranian undergraduate students of English translation at a university in Iran. Instruments used in the study consisted of three texts containing news excerpts from Voice of America (VOA). The study consisted of three phases: 1) assessing quality of translation of culture-bound texts, 2) random assignment of participants to two groups: one merely receiving cultural instruction while the other being linked to native English speakers through LinkedIn alongside receiving cultural instruction, and 3) assessing quality of translation of culture-bound texts immediately and two months following treatment. The results of mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance revealed the significant positive effect of telecollaboration on developing quality of translation of culture-bound texts and sustaining the attained knowledge. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested incorporation of cultural components of source language society into translation courses and providing opportunities for translation students to be exposed to authentic and intensive source language culture through telecollaboration.