Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number1 March 2021 Pp. 113-127
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no1.8
The Effect of Explicit Instruction of Requests on Saudi EFL learners using a pre-test,
post-test Approach
Israa A Qari
English Language Institute
King Abdulaziz University
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Email: iaqari@kau.edu.sa
Received: 9/28/2020 Acceoted: 2/1/2021 Published: 3/24/2021
Abstract:
The aim of the current study is to test whether explicit instruction of various L2 request forms can be a useful measure in developing Saudi learners’ linguistic and pragmatic competences. This study is based on the results obtained from a previous research investigating interlanguage requests. The findings in that study suggested that the second language learners were not aware of some of the request strategies which were exclusively employed by the British English native speakers. The aim and the question of this study is to find out whether explicit instruction of request strategies will be effective in helping Saudi EFL learners gain linguistic knowledge and achieve pragmatic appropriateness in making requests in L2. Thirty female foundation year students participated in this study. They were all EFL learners studying at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The group underwent three phases of instruction: pre-test, instruction/intervention, and post-test. The first and last phases consisted of written questionnaires which were distributed right before and after the instruction phase. The results showed that in the third phase, the students demonstrated great progress in their understanding of request forms in L2. Their improvement was manifested by the learners’ acknowledgement of these forms as proper employment of request strategies in English, recognition of request function names, ability to assign correct functions to linguistic realizations and their overall understanding of the appropriate use of these forms dictated by the weightiness of different request situations.
Keywords: explicit instruction, implicit instruction, metapragmatic information, pre-test post-test
requests, Saudi EFL learners, requests, speech acts
Cite as: Qari, I. A . (2021). The Effect of Explicit Instruction of Requests on Saudi EFL learners using a pre-test, post-test Approach.
Arab World English Journal, 12 (1) 113-127.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no1.8
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