Pragmatic Competence in Business Context: A Case Study of Thai EFL University Students
Main Article Content
Abstract
The present study investigated the development of pragmatic competence of Thai EFL university students majoring in business studies. Data were collected from two groups of participants, 40 first-year and 40 third-year EFL students, all majoring in business studies in a university in Thailand. The participants’ pragmatic competence was evaluated by employing a Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) which covered 16 business scenarios aiming to elicit 4 face-threatening acts: refusal, request, complaint, and advice. Comparisons between the two groups’ WDCT data revealed that when confronting the 4 face-threatening acts in business interactions, the third-year participants demonstrated a statistically noticeable improvement compared to their first-year counterparts and were proved to have a relatively wider access to typical expressions, appropriate amount of information and politeness strategies in the business situations under examination. Finally, based on the interviews with selected informants from the two groups, 6 potential factors, i.e. explicit instruction, textbooks, input from multimedia sources, L1 transfer, language proficiency and output, were identified for the intricate roles they each played in accounting for the participants’ development in pragmatic competence.
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References
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Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1999). Exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: A research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. Language Learning. 49: 677-713.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., Hartford, B. A. S., Mahan-Taylor, R., Morgan, M. J., & Reynolds, D. W. (1991). Developing pragmatic awareness: Closing the conversation. ELT Journal. 45: 4-15.
Bilbow, G. T. (2002). Commissive speech act use in intercultural business meetings. IRAL. 40(4): 287-304.
Bornmann, G. (2001). “Where you go?”. Teaching Thai students about speech acts. 14(20): 16-20.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage (Vol. 4). Cambridge University Press.
Chakorn, O. O. (2006). Persuasive and politeness strategies in cross-cultural letters of request in the Thai business context. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. 16(1): 103-146.
Chinnery, G.M. (2006). Emerging technologies - Going to the MALL: Mobile assisted language learning. Language Learning & Technology. 10(1): 9-16.
Cohen, A. D. & Ishihara, N. (2013). Pragmatics. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Applied linguistics and materials development. London: Bloomsbury.
Cohen, A. D., Olshtain, E., & Rosenstain, D. (1986). Advanced EFL apologies: What remains to be learned. International Journal of Sociology of Language. 62: 51-74.
de la Fuente, M. J. (2014). Learners’ attention to input during focus on form listening tasks: the role of mobile technology in the second language classroom. Computer Assisted Language Learning. 27(3): 261-276.
Harwood, N. (2014). Content, consumption, and production: three levels of textbook research. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production (pp. 1-41). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
House, J. (1996). Developing pragmatic fluency in English as a foreign language: Routines and metapragmatic awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 18(2): 225-252.
Hudson, T., Detmer, E., & Brown, J. D. (1995). Developing prototypic measures of cross-cultural pragmatics. (Technical Report 7). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Ikoma, T. (1993). Sorry for giving me a ride: the use of apologetic expressions to show gratitude in Japanese. M. S. thesis, University of Hawaii.
Intachakra, S. (2004). Contrastive pragmatics and language teaching: apologies and thanks in English and Thai. RELC Journal. 35(1): 37-62.
Ishihara, N. & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Learners’ pragmatics: Potential causes of divergence. In N. Ishihara, & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (pp. 75-96). Harlow, England: Longman/Pearson Education.
Jeon, E. H., & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development. In J. M. Norris, & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp.165-211). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
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Koester, A. (2014). “We’d be prepared to do something, like if you say…” hypothetical reported speech in business negotiations. English for Specific Purposes. 36: 35-46.
Koike, D. A. (1989). Pragmatic competence and adult L2 acquisition: Speech acts in interlanguage. The Modern Language Journal. 73(3): 279-289.
Koike, D. A., & Pearson, L. (2005). The effect of instruction and feedback in the development of pragmatic competence. System. 33(3): 481-501.
Kong, K. C. C. (2009). Pragmatics. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini (Ed.), The handbook of business discourse (pp. 239-255). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Leelaharattanarak, N. (2015). Face manifestations in Thai hospitality settings: an investigation of interpersonallysensitive activities. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Surrey).
McConachy, T. & K. Hata. (2013). Addressing textbook representations of pragmatics and culture. ELT Journal. 67(3): 294–301.
Muthusamy, P., & Farashaiyan, A. (2016). Situational variations in request and apology realization strategies among international postgraduate students at Malaysian universities. English Language Teaching. 9(3): 181-186.
Ochs, E. (1996). Linguistic resources for socializing humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Olshtain, E., & Weinbach, L. (1987). Complaints: A study of speech act behavior among native and nonnative speakers of Hebrew. In Verschueren, J., & M. Bertucceslli-Papi (Eds.), The pragmatic perspective: Selected papers from the 1985 international pragmatics conference (pp. 195-208). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Prachanant, N. (2016). A cross-cultural study of apology speech act realisations. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities. 2(3): 146-151.
Pöchhacker, F. (1995). Simultaneous interpreting: A functionalist perspective. HERMES-Journal of Language and Communication in Business. (14): 31-53.
Rousell, S. (2011). A computer assisted method to track listening strategies in second language learning. ReCALL. 23(2): 98-126.
Rovinelli, R. J., & Hambleton, R. K. (1977). On the use of content specialists in the assessment of criterion-referenced test item validity. Dutch Journal of Educational Research. 2: 49-60.
Salaberry, M. R. (2001). The use of technology for second language learning and teaching: A retrospective. The Modern Language Journal. 85(1): 39-56.
Salsbury, T. & K. Bardovi-Harlig. (2000). Oppositional talk and the acquisition of modality in L2 English. In B.
Swierzbin, F. Morris, M. Anderson, C. A. Klee, & E. Tarone (Eds.), Social and cognitive factors in second language acquisition (pp. 56-76). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Scupin, R. (1988). Language, hierarchy and hegemony: Thai Muslim discourse. Language Sciences. 10(2): 331-351.
Sirikhan, S., & Prapphal, K. (2011). Assessing pragmatic ability of Thai hotel management and tourism students in the context of hotel front office. Asian EFL Journal Professional Teaching Articles. 53: 72-94.
Soler, E. A. (2005). Does instruction work for learning pragmatics in the EFL context? System. 33(3): 417-435.
Srinarawat, D. (2005). Indirectness as a politeness strategy of Thai speakers. In R. T. Lakoff, & S. Ide (Eds.), Pragmatics and beyond new series (pp.139-175). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Srisuruk, P. (2011). Politeness and pragmatic competence in Thai speakers of English. Doctorate thesis, Newcastle University.
Swain, M. (2008). The output hypothesis: Its history and its future. Foreign Language Teaching and Research. 40(1): 45-50.
Taguchi, N. (2007). Task difficulty in oral speech act production. Applied Linguistics. 28(1): 113-135.
Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching. 48(1): 1-50.
Takahashi, S. (2010). The effect of pragmatic instruction on speech act performance. In A. M. Flor & E. U. Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical and methodological issues (pp.127-142). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Trosborg, A. (2003). The teaching of business pragmatics. In A. M. Flor, E. U. Juan, & A. Fernández (Eds.), Pragmatic Competence in Foreign Language Teaching (pp. 247-281). Castelló de la Plana: Universitat Jaume I.
Trosborg, A., & Shaw, P. (2017). “Sorry does not pay my bills”: The handling of complaints in everyday interaction/cross-cultural business interaction. HERMES-Journal of Language and Communication in Business. 11(21): 67-94.
Ukosakul, M. (2005). The significance of ‘face’ and politeness in social interaction as revealed through Thai ‘face’ idioms. In R. T. Lakoff, & S. Ide (Eds.), Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness (pp. 117-139). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Vandermeeren, S. (2005). English language needs of business firms. In M. H. Long (Ed.), Second Language Needs Analysis. (pp.169-181). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vellenga, H. (2004). Learning pragmatics from ESL & EFL textbooks: how likely? TESL-EJ. 8(2): 1-17.
Wannaruk, A. (2008). Pragmatic transfer in Thai EFL refusals. RELC Journal. 39(3): 318-337.
Wongwarangkul, C. (2000). Analysis of the nature of interlanguage pragmatics in choice making for requesting strategies by Thai EFL learners. Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University.
Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1999). Exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: A research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. Language Learning. 49: 677-713.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., Hartford, B. A. S., Mahan-Taylor, R., Morgan, M. J., & Reynolds, D. W. (1991). Developing pragmatic awareness: Closing the conversation. ELT Journal. 45: 4-15.
Bilbow, G. T. (2002). Commissive speech act use in intercultural business meetings. IRAL. 40(4): 287-304.
Bornmann, G. (2001). “Where you go?”. Teaching Thai students about speech acts. 14(20): 16-20.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage (Vol. 4). Cambridge University Press.
Chakorn, O. O. (2006). Persuasive and politeness strategies in cross-cultural letters of request in the Thai business context. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. 16(1): 103-146.
Chinnery, G.M. (2006). Emerging technologies - Going to the MALL: Mobile assisted language learning. Language Learning & Technology. 10(1): 9-16.
Cohen, A. D. & Ishihara, N. (2013). Pragmatics. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Applied linguistics and materials development. London: Bloomsbury.
Cohen, A. D., Olshtain, E., & Rosenstain, D. (1986). Advanced EFL apologies: What remains to be learned. International Journal of Sociology of Language. 62: 51-74.
de la Fuente, M. J. (2014). Learners’ attention to input during focus on form listening tasks: the role of mobile technology in the second language classroom. Computer Assisted Language Learning. 27(3): 261-276.
Harwood, N. (2014). Content, consumption, and production: three levels of textbook research. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production (pp. 1-41). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
House, J. (1996). Developing pragmatic fluency in English as a foreign language: Routines and metapragmatic awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 18(2): 225-252.
Hudson, T., Detmer, E., & Brown, J. D. (1995). Developing prototypic measures of cross-cultural pragmatics. (Technical Report 7). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Ikoma, T. (1993). Sorry for giving me a ride: the use of apologetic expressions to show gratitude in Japanese. M. S. thesis, University of Hawaii.
Intachakra, S. (2004). Contrastive pragmatics and language teaching: apologies and thanks in English and Thai. RELC Journal. 35(1): 37-62.
Ishihara, N. & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Learners’ pragmatics: Potential causes of divergence. In N. Ishihara, & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (pp. 75-96). Harlow, England: Longman/Pearson Education.
Jeon, E. H., & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development. In J. M. Norris, & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp.165-211). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Kasper, G. (1997). Can pragmatic competence be taught? Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center [Online]. Available: www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/NetWorks/Nw6/
Kasper, G., Nguyen, H. t., & Yoshimi, D. R. (2010). Introduction. In G. Kasper, H. t., Nguyen, D. R. Yoshimi, & J. K. Yoshioka (Eds.) (2010), Pragmatics &Language Learning Vol 12 (pp. 1-11). Honolulu: National Foreign noa.
Koester, A. (2014). “We’d be prepared to do something, like if you say…” hypothetical reported speech in business negotiations. English for Specific Purposes. 36: 35-46.
Koike, D. A. (1989). Pragmatic competence and adult L2 acquisition: Speech acts in interlanguage. The Modern Language Journal. 73(3): 279-289.
Koike, D. A., & Pearson, L. (2005). The effect of instruction and feedback in the development of pragmatic competence. System. 33(3): 481-501.
Kong, K. C. C. (2009). Pragmatics. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini (Ed.), The handbook of business discourse (pp. 239-255). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Leelaharattanarak, N. (2015). Face manifestations in Thai hospitality settings: an investigation of interpersonallysensitive activities. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Surrey).
McConachy, T. & K. Hata. (2013). Addressing textbook representations of pragmatics and culture. ELT Journal. 67(3): 294–301.
Muthusamy, P., & Farashaiyan, A. (2016). Situational variations in request and apology realization strategies among international postgraduate students at Malaysian universities. English Language Teaching. 9(3): 181-186.
Ochs, E. (1996). Linguistic resources for socializing humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Olshtain, E., & Weinbach, L. (1987). Complaints: A study of speech act behavior among native and nonnative speakers of Hebrew. In Verschueren, J., & M. Bertucceslli-Papi (Eds.), The pragmatic perspective: Selected papers from the 1985 international pragmatics conference (pp. 195-208). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Prachanant, N. (2016). A cross-cultural study of apology speech act realisations. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities. 2(3): 146-151.
Pöchhacker, F. (1995). Simultaneous interpreting: A functionalist perspective. HERMES-Journal of Language and Communication in Business. (14): 31-53.
Rousell, S. (2011). A computer assisted method to track listening strategies in second language learning. ReCALL. 23(2): 98-126.
Rovinelli, R. J., & Hambleton, R. K. (1977). On the use of content specialists in the assessment of criterion-referenced test item validity. Dutch Journal of Educational Research. 2: 49-60.
Salaberry, M. R. (2001). The use of technology for second language learning and teaching: A retrospective. The Modern Language Journal. 85(1): 39-56.
Salsbury, T. & K. Bardovi-Harlig. (2000). Oppositional talk and the acquisition of modality in L2 English. In B.
Swierzbin, F. Morris, M. Anderson, C. A. Klee, & E. Tarone (Eds.), Social and cognitive factors in second language acquisition (pp. 56-76). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Scupin, R. (1988). Language, hierarchy and hegemony: Thai Muslim discourse. Language Sciences. 10(2): 331-351.
Sirikhan, S., & Prapphal, K. (2011). Assessing pragmatic ability of Thai hotel management and tourism students in the context of hotel front office. Asian EFL Journal Professional Teaching Articles. 53: 72-94.
Soler, E. A. (2005). Does instruction work for learning pragmatics in the EFL context? System. 33(3): 417-435.
Srinarawat, D. (2005). Indirectness as a politeness strategy of Thai speakers. In R. T. Lakoff, & S. Ide (Eds.), Pragmatics and beyond new series (pp.139-175). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Srisuruk, P. (2011). Politeness and pragmatic competence in Thai speakers of English. Doctorate thesis, Newcastle University.
Swain, M. (2008). The output hypothesis: Its history and its future. Foreign Language Teaching and Research. 40(1): 45-50.
Taguchi, N. (2007). Task difficulty in oral speech act production. Applied Linguistics. 28(1): 113-135.
Taguchi, N. (2015). Instructed pragmatics at a glance: Where instructional studies were, are, and should be going. Language Teaching. 48(1): 1-50.
Takahashi, S. (2010). The effect of pragmatic instruction on speech act performance. In A. M. Flor & E. U. Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical and methodological issues (pp.127-142). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Trosborg, A. (2003). The teaching of business pragmatics. In A. M. Flor, E. U. Juan, & A. Fernández (Eds.), Pragmatic Competence in Foreign Language Teaching (pp. 247-281). Castelló de la Plana: Universitat Jaume I.
Trosborg, A., & Shaw, P. (2017). “Sorry does not pay my bills”: The handling of complaints in everyday interaction/cross-cultural business interaction. HERMES-Journal of Language and Communication in Business. 11(21): 67-94.
Ukosakul, M. (2005). The significance of ‘face’ and politeness in social interaction as revealed through Thai ‘face’ idioms. In R. T. Lakoff, & S. Ide (Eds.), Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness (pp. 117-139). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Vandermeeren, S. (2005). English language needs of business firms. In M. H. Long (Ed.), Second Language Needs Analysis. (pp.169-181). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vellenga, H. (2004). Learning pragmatics from ESL & EFL textbooks: how likely? TESL-EJ. 8(2): 1-17.
Wannaruk, A. (2008). Pragmatic transfer in Thai EFL refusals. RELC Journal. 39(3): 318-337.
Wongwarangkul, C. (2000). Analysis of the nature of interlanguage pragmatics in choice making for requesting strategies by Thai EFL learners. Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University.