The use of English language as an official mode of communication in Saudi Arabia has grown exponentially prompting the need to develop better mechanisms that help enhance the process of learning the English language among students (Alnatheer, 2013). However, according to Alnatheer (2013), the learning process of English to many Saudi Arabians is a major challenge due to the lack of prior exposure to the language. To help students in this country have a better grasp of the English language, teachers need to adopt better teaching techniques that facilitate the English comprehension process among students in Saudi Arabia.
Alnatheer (2013) argues that the achievement levels of the learning of English language in Saudi Arabia remain unsatisfactory, prompting the need for this study to examine the best way to enhance pragmatic competence in English in Saudi Arabia. The insistence of grammar in the teaching process of English has not helped enhance the students’ abilities to master the English language, hence the need to incorporate other authentic materials in the teaching process of the language (Gesuato, Bianchi, & Cheng, 2015). This study will help examine the phenomenon of difficulty in teaching additional languages (F2) when compared with the ease of mastery of first languages (F1). Thus, through this study, a comprehensive analysis of the best methods of enhancing pragmatic competence in the teaching process of English in Saudi Arabia will be discussed in detail.
Problem Statement
English language in Saudi Arabia is not a commonly spoken language and is mainly taught as a subject than a communication language. Sofi (2015) argues that teachers in Saudi Arabia are not well trained on how best to teach English in the country and as a result, employ methods that are often not effective in their respective setting to help enhance the mastery of the language among students. Of major concern, is the use of unproductive teaching methods, such as rote teaching and teacher-centred teaching methods, which derail the process of enhancing the success of teaching English in Saudi Arabia. The consistent use of grammar-translation and the use of L1 language to teach L2 has not helped enhance the realization of sound competence in English throughout Saudi Arabia, prompting the need to adopt authentic teaching methods. The unsatisfactory levels of success in the English language teaching process exhibit the inappropriateness of the current English language teaching techniques in Saudi Arabia in the current century (Sofi, 2015). Thus, there is a need to adopt modern effective teaching techniques that help enhance the pragmatic competence of English learners in Saudi Arabia using authentic materials.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia is a Muslim majority country. With most norms among Muslims focusing on not only the religious aspects of life, but also courtesy, it is critical to teach students how to apologize in English, which is a core component of pragmatic competence. The choice of words used while apologizing is critical in shaping the response from the offended party. Therefore, one must focus on the right choice of words.
Significance of the Study
The need to develop an effective English teaching mechanism in Saudi Arabia will largely help achieve the much-needed success of the language in the country. The demand for English proficiency, especially in Saudi Arabia, is high due to the increased need to use the language in global communication. With the help of modern authentic English teaching techniques, the success of the study of English in grammar, oral and written forms, will be highly boosted as the previous teaching methods have already seemed ineffective.
This study will help the Saudi Arabian government develop efficient mechanisms of enhancing the success of learning and communicating in English in the country. Enhancing the pragmatic competence of most Saudi students with regard to the learning and communication of English will help enhance the productivity of the immense resources already devoted to the program (Washburn, 2001). The government of Saudi Arabia through the Ministry of Education strengthened the learning of English by making it a compulsory study subject, leading to increased comprehension and mastery of the subject. The rote teaching technique and the insistency on grammar cramming has proved ineffective in realizing satisfactory scores in English in the country. This has prompted the need to fuse authentic materials into the ordinary English teaching programs to help enhance the success of English communication and mastery in Saudi Arabia. Through this study, Saudi Arabia is likely to achieve increased overall English competency the English language as the proposed authentic teaching materials and techniques will help enhance the comprehension and communication of the language in the country, especially while apologizing.
Research Questions
This study will be guided by a clear set of questions that will help form the study objectives. The main research questions include:
- Does integrating the use of authentic materials in teaching English help in the development of pragmatic competence of apologizing?
- How can the integration of authentic materials into English teaching programs help enhance the development of pragmatic competence of in learning English in Saudi Arabia?
- Which authentic materials (printed, visual, and audio resources) are best suited for integration into English teaching programs in developing pragmatic competence of apologizing in Saudi Arabia?
Definition of Terms
Pragmatic competence: “The knowledge of the linguistic resources available in a given language for realizing particular illocutions, knowledge of the sequential aspects of speech acts and, finally knowledge of the appropriate contextual use of the particular languages’ linguistic resources” (Barron, 2003, p.10)
Communicative competence: “The most general term for the speaking and hearing capabilities of a person – competence is understood to be dependent on two things: (tacit) knowledge and (ability for) use” (Hymes, 1972, p.16).
Both pragmatic competence and communicative competence are based on one’s knowledge of language.
Authenticity: “The language produced by native speakers for native speakers in a particular language community” (Gilmore, 2007, p. 98).
Authentic materials: Wallace (1992, p.145) notes that authentic materials are “real-life texts, not written for pedagogic purposes” and are usually written in ‘real’ language by native speakers.
Gilmore (2007, p.98) defines an authentic material as “an authentic text is a stretch of real language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience, and designed to convey a real message of some sort”, which is a definition adapted from Morrow (1977, p.13).
Apologizing: Garcia (1989, p.4) notes that people apologize when they “violate a social norm or when they fail to fulfil a personal expectation held by the offended individual”.
Methodology
This study will take a quantitative approach to help answer the mentioned research questions. The study will use a quasi-experimental design using an experimental and a control group. The researcher will use Al-Taif International School as the study centre and work with teachers in the school to randomly select students in their fourth year into two groups. Each group will have 20 students who will be separated into two different classes. One group will act as the experimental group and will learn apologizing in English using different authentic materials from books, other printed materials, audio recordings, and videos. The control group will use the traditional teaching styles. Since pragmatic competence is more concerned with the functional use of language while communicating, the researchers will test the effectiveness of the two learning methods through oral tests. The tests will involve the use of spelling tests, speeches, debating sessions, and reading tests. Teachers in the school and the researcher will assess the progress of the students over a period of four weeks and include weekly tests to ascertain the effectiveness of the use of authentic materials. After the research period, the researcher will compare the results from the different tests the students took over the four-week period. The results and feedback from teachers and students will help provide a detailed discussion and conclusion for this study.
Conclusion
There is increased demand for the use of English language in Saudi Arabia. The already employed English teaching techniques have been inefficient in helping achieve the study satisfactory scores among English learners, prompting the need to develop better teaching methods. The integration of authentic materials into the English language teaching programs is thought to be ideal in helping enhance the learning, comprehension, and communication of English in Saudi Arabia. Through this study, the integrated approach will be analysed in detail and its input tested to help gauge whether it is better suited to enhancing the mastery of English and developing pragmatic competence in Saudi Arabia when compared to the already existing teaching methods.
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