DEVELOPING PRAGMATIC FLUENCY OF YEMENI ENGLISH MAJORS THROUGH A CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE-ORIENTED PROGRAM

Abstract

This concluding chapter gives a summary of the dissertation; its purpose, questions, hypotheses, and procedures of collecting and processing the data. Based on the results of the data analysis and interpretation, this chapter presents some pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research in the area of pragmatics in relation to EFL instruction. 5.1 Summary of the Study The present study investigated the applicability of a conversational implicature-oriented instructional program in developing the pragmatic fluency of Yemeni EFL majors. It focused on answering this main question: “How effective is a Conversational Implicature-oriented program in developing the pragmatic fluency of third-level Yemeni EFL majors, in the Faculty of Education, Sana’a University?” An experiment was carried out in the Department of English, Faculty of Education, Sana'a University, in the first semester of the academic year 2014/2015. It involved a pre-/post-test with an experimental group and a control group. Three instruments for collecting data were implemented. The first instrument of data collection was the language background questionnaire designed to help gather information about the participants’ background in the English language. The second instrument was a pre-/post-test of two folds: a section including prompts to determine the participants’ comprehension and production of conversational implicatures; and another section containing a role-play to measure their pragmatic fluency. The third study instrument was a questionnaire concerning the participants’ satisfaction towards the proposed instructional program. The target population of this study was third-level students, Department of English, Faculty of Education, Sana’a University (2014/2015). A sample of 44 students (22 males and 22 females) were selected and assigned randomly into a control group, and an experimental group. 5.2 Findings of the study Based on the confirmed hypotheses and the results’ interpretation (as shown in Chapter Four), as well as the review of pertinent literature, the following conclusions were reached: 1. EFL Yemeni learners (like other learners of English) experience difficulty coping with implicatures resulting from flouting the Gricean Maxims. They also showed deficiency on the level of pragmatic fluency due to culture differences between Arabic and English, and the dearth of exposure to authentic input inside and outside the classroom. 2. Metapragmatic instruction improves learners' comprehension of conversational implicatures. This conclusion stems from the confirmation of the first hypothesis. 3. Confirming the second and third hypotheses led to concluding that the participants benefited from the proposed program in terms of producing appropriate conversational implicatures. 4. Since the fourth hypothesis was confirmed, it was concluded that the proposed instructional program proved to be effective in developing the pragmatic fluency of the participants. 5. The participants showed satisfaction towards the suggested program in terms of content, participants’ contribution, teaching methods, learning resources, instructor, and assessment. To summarize, the proposed instructional program proved to be effective in developing the comprehension and production of conversational implicatures, as well as developing pragmatic fluency of the participants who showed considerable satisfaction towards its content, methodology, resources and assessment method.