خلاصة:
The present investigation sought to comparatively explore the effect of length of residence (LOR) as well as EFL instruction on the pragmatic competence of Iranian learners. The participants were 45 EFL learners in Iran and 45 learners in Canada selected based on snowball sampling and each group was divided into three sub-groups based on the years of learning English in an EFL or a natural setting. The instrument used to collect data was a Pragmatic Test developed by Roever (2006) consisting of three subtests i.e. implicature, routines, and speech act sections, each containing 12 items. Initially, the participants in classroom settings in Iran were asked to complete the Pragmatic Test. As for the learners in the natural setting, the participants were requested to complete the test which was sent to them through social networks such as instagram, and submit it. The results of independent samples t-test and ANOVA indicated those residing in Canada were more competent in terms of pragmatic competence; however, the length of residence in Canada and also years of classroom experience did not have any significant effect on learners’ pragmatic competence. The findings of the current study have implications for material developers, syllabus designers, and EFL teachers
ملخص الجهاز:
The Effect of Natural and Classroom Settings on Iranian Learners' Pragmatic Competence: Length of Residence Versus Intervention Samaneh Alemi Neis/, Mohammad Alipour' 1 Department of English Language Teaching, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.
Some researchers such as (Bardovi- Harlig, 2001; Boxer & Pickering, 1995; Bouton, 1996; Kasper, 1997) have stated that even students with high level of grammatical ability cannot be sure that they can obtain a pragmatic competence similar to native speakers.
In contrast, for EFL learners, the classroom provides a setting for pragmatic instructions since the teachers are able to model and determine the way to do particular tasks based on several speech acts (Tagashira, Yamato, & Isoda, 2011 ).
J. J Research Questions and Hypotheses The present study seeks to find reasonable answers to the following questions: Question 1: Is there any significant difference between natural and classroom settings in developing Iranian learners' pragmatic competence?
In line with the research questions the following null hypotheses are stated: H01: There is not any significant difference between natural and classroom settings in developing Iranian learners' pragmatic competence.
3. 1 Investigating the First Research Question Initially, in order to explore any significant difference between natural and classroom settings in developing Iranian learners' pragmatic competence, pragmatic scores of the two main groups, namely Iranian and Canadian regardless of their years of experiences or length of residence, were compared.
(View the image of this page) Accordingly, it was concluded that years of classroom experience did not have any significant effect on Iranian EFL learners' pragmatic competence.