ERIC Number: EJ1275813
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Nov
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1072-4303
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Pragmatic Content in EFL Textbooks: An Investigation into Vietnamese National Teaching Materials
Ton Nu, Anh T.; Murray, Jill
TESL-EJ, v24 n3 Nov 2020
Recent research studies in ESL/EFL contexts worldwide have shown a gap between the findings of pragmatics research and how the English language is actually taught and learnt in EFL classrooms, as well as a paucity of pragmatic information provided in ESL/EFL textbooks. Utilizing content analysis, this study explores the provision of pragmatic content in the current national EFL textbook series, which was first published in 2012 and has been used nationwide for Vietnamese upper-secondary school students since the school year 2018-2019. These materials include the aim of facilitating the development of students' communicative competence in English in their overall objectives, which, as we will argue in this paper, implies that pragmatic competence is also a goal. However, results from this study show that this series includes quite a low level of explicit information about pragmatics, which is present in only 5.5% of pages in the student books and does not appear at all in the teacher manuals. In addition, the explicit presentation of different elements potentially contributing to the learning of pragmatics was found to be quite infrequent. These findings suggest that there is a need for supplementing these EFL textbooks with additional materials and activities, for considering pragmatics as part of the textbook design process, and for enhancing teachers' ability to incorporate pragmatics in their classroom practices.
Descriptors: Pragmatics, Teaching Methods, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, English (Second Language), Teaching Guides, Learning Processes, Communicative Competence (Languages), Textbook Preparation, Instructional Materials, Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students, Content Analysis
TESL-EJ. e-mail: editor@tesl-ej.org; Web site: http://tesl-ej.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Vietnam
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

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