Learning Pragmatics through Computer-Mediated Communication in Taiwan

This study investigated the effectiveness of explicit pragmaticinstruction on the acquisition of requests by college-levelEnglish as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Taiwan. Thegoal was to determine first whether the use of explicitpragmatic instruction had a positive effect on EFL learners’pragmatic competence. Second, the relative effectiveness ofpresenting pragmatics through two delivery systems—faceto-face, in-class activities and computer-mediatedcommunication (CMC) via e-mail and WebCT—was compared.One hundred and eighteen Taiwanese undergraduate studentscompleted the entire study. There were 40 students in thecontrol group, 36 students in the experimental/ TeacherInstruction group and 42 students in the experimental/CMCgroup. The results showed that explicit pragmatic instructionhad a positive impact on the EFL learners in both the TeacherInstruction and CMC groups. Learners who received explicitpragmatic instruction performed better on the DiscourseCompletion Task posttest than those who did not. Thefindings also indicated that technology can be a valuable toolfor delivering pragmatics instruction.