View Content #19486

By Patricia Roldán Marcos, University of Oregon graduate student in the LTS program.

This pedagogical sequence is designed for ESL learners and it can be easily adapted for different proficiency levels. It is aimed at providing tools and ideas to measure metapragmatic ability, i.e. students' analysis of the pragmatics of the L2. Although this pragmatic aspect cannot be separated from the linguistic or the cultural dimensions, the focus here is on developing students' analytic ability, which in turn will allow them to become independent learners by applying these skills to any naturally occurring L2 situation.

One of the benefits of ESL settings is that the target language is readily available outside of the classroom, so teachers can use this to their advantage by encouraging learners to become researchers (Tanaka, 1997). This approach facilitates effective assessment, as it entails the use of real data collected by students in a natural context, minimizing the potential issues that could arise from solely relying on intuition. On the other hand, the analysis of the samples can be carried out in a written online journal* and later discussed in class. The teacher could evaluate students' reflection using a rubric, and peer assessment could also be integrated in the oral discussions.

This could be part of a long-term project where groups of students are assigned different speech acts or functions to explore, e.g. requests, invitations, apologies, etc. Here is a general procedure that can be adapted to suit students' preferences or topics that the teacher may have to cover depending on the level.

Procedure:

1. Establish a clear time frame for the activity, whether it's a week or a term long project, and when the research, the journal writing and the discussions will happen.
2. Select the function(s) or speech act(s) to be analyzed or let students choose.
3. Provide a handout with the information students will need to record while carrying out their research, i.e. contextual factors like age, gender, social status, role, power distance, etc.
4. Provide models of sample language and sequences students may encounter during their research so they know what to expect, and practice using the handout in class. You can find authentic examples online or you could conduct your own research beforehand.
5. Give clear instructions about the way students should report their observations in the online journal and what to include: cultural norms that seem to exist in the community, what they saw/heard, the linguistic elements, the sequencing, why they think people say or do things that way, etc. This is where the learners show and develop their analytical skills.
6. Provide ongoing feedback as necessary, and incorporate discussions in class that will allow peers to assess their classmates. Use an evaluation form to assess each of the components students were asked to report on in their journals: observation, understanding of cultural norms in the target language, understanding of the language, and analysis of cultural reasoning behind L2 culture norms (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010).

References:

Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Tanaka, K. (1997). Developing pragmatic competence: A learners-as-researchers approach. TESOL Journal, 6(3), 14-18.

* A possible online tool for journal writing is Penzu.