بررسی مقابله‌ای ارزیابی واکنش به تحسین‌ و تمجید و راهبردهای سپاسگزاری در کتاب‌های سطح پیش‌متوسط کانون زبان ایران و تاچ‌استون 3

در حال حاضر، مقولۀ کنش های گفتاری به یکی از موضوعات موردبحث در حوزۀ منظورشناسی تبدیل شده است. با این حال، شمار پژوهش هایی که به مقایسۀ نحوۀ آموزش کنش های گفتاری در کتاب های آموزشی بین المللی و کتاب های داخلی چاپ شده در ایران پرداخته باشند، بسیار معدود است. بنابراین، هدف پژوهش حاضر بررسی دو کنش گفتاری مهم، یعنی سپاسگزاری و واکنش به تحسین‌ و تمجید، در بخش مکالمۀ کتاب های سطح پیش متوسط کانون زبان ایران و کتاب تاچ استون 3، است. 12 دیالوگ از کتاب تاچ استون 3 و 27 دیالوگ از کتاب های سطح پیش متوسط کانون زبان ایران مورد تحلیل و بررسی قرار گرفته و مصادیق هر کدام از کنش های گفتاری موردنظر شناسایی و استخراج شده اند. نتایج نشان داده اند که میان بسامدهای ابراز سپاسگزاری در کتاب های سطح پیش متوسط کانون زبان ایران و کتاب تاچ استون 3، تفاوت معناداری وجود دارد؛ اما میان بسامد واکنش های کلامی به تحسین ‌و تمجید در این دو کتاب، تفاوت معناداری شناسایی نشده است. علاوه بر این، نتایج به دست آمده حاکی از آنند که مقدار میانۀ آماری برای واکنش کلامی به تحسین ‌و تمجید در کتاب تاچ استون 3 بالاتر بوده است؛ و درمقابل، مقدار میانۀ آماری برای کنش گفتاری سپاسگزاری در کتاب سطح پیش متوسط کانون زبان ایران بالاتر ارزیابی شده است. این یافته ها و نتایج، ارزش های آموزشی مهم و کاربردی ای برای معلم های آموزش زبان انگلیسی (به منزلۀ زبان خارجی) و توسعه دهندگان مواد آموزشی دارند.

The Contrastive Study of Evaluating Compliment Response and Thanking Strategies Used in ILI pre-intermediate vs. Touchstone 3 Textbooks

One of the hotly debated topics within the field of pragmatics is the evaluation of speech acts. However, few studies have attempted to compare the inclusion of speech acts in international published books and internal publishing books in the Iranian context. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating two important speech acts of compliment responses and thanking in preintermediate Iran Language Institute (ILI) and Touchstone 3 books. 12 dialogues of Touchstone 3 and 27 dialogues of ILI preintermediate textbooks were analyzed and the number of the instances and the mean of each speech act was tallied. The results indicated that there was statistically significant difference between the frequencies of the thanking expressions in ILI preintermediate textbooks and Touchstone 3, while no statistically significant difference was found between the frequencies of the compliment responses in ILI preintermediate textbooks and Touchstone 3. The findings also revealed that Touchstone 3 enjoyed a higher mean in the compliment responses than ILI preintermediate textbooks, whereas the mean of thanking in ILI preintermediate textbooks was higher than that of Touchstone 3. The findings have important implications for EFL teachers, material developers, and policy makers to be aware of pragmatics issues in textbooks. IntroductionLearners rsquo; communicative competence is the ability to express expeditiously what they mean in the target language to achieve communication in reallife situations (Hymes, 1972). To be competent, learners must have profound knowledge of pragmatics because L2 proficiency is positively correlated with pragmatic transfer (Takahashi Beebe, 1987). In addition, nowadays, textbooks are an important element in most language programs as the most common educational tools in classroom to practice the communicative functions of language (Cutting, 2002; Halliday, 1978).Therefore, due to the role of textbooks in the process of learning and teaching , the present study aims to investigate the compliment responses and thanking expressions in ILI preintermediate series and Touchstone 3 through two textanalytic tools namely, Holmeschr('39') (1988, 1993) framework of compliment response categories, and Chengchr('39')s (2005) taxonomy of thanking. Research QuestionsBased on the purpose of the current study the following two questions are raised:1) Are there any significant differences in the proportion of speech act of compliment response in ILI preintermediate textbooks and Touchstone 3 based on Holmeschr('39') (1988, 1993) representational framework?2) Are there any significant differences in the proportion of speech act of thanking in ILI preintermediate textbooks and Touchstone 3 Chengchr('39')s (2005) taxonomy of thanking? LiteratureOne of the most hotly debated issues within the field of applied linguistics is pragmatics which is defined by Brown (2007, p. 388) as conventions for conveying and interpreting the meaning of linguistic strings within their contexts and setting . A central concept in the study of pragmatics and pragmatic competence is speech act.In this respect, learnerschr('39') knowledge of speech acts is of particular significance to achieve pragmatic competence. Two of the most commonly used speech acts are thanking expressions and compliment responses (e.g., Cheng, 2005; Hinkel, 1994; Ohashi; 2008). Thanking or expressing gratitude is a complex act potentially involving both positive as well as negative feelings on the part of the giver and receiver. Herbert (1989, p. 38) defines compliment responses as hellip; anything that follows an identifiable compliment .An important factor that is taken into account when evaluating a textbook is the frequency of the language functions. So far, some studies have linked textbook evaluation with speech acts (e.g., Jalilian Roohani, 2016; Meihami Khanlarzadeh, 2015; Nu Anh, 2018; Vellenga, 2004). In order to compare local and global ELT textbooks, Meihami and Khanlarzadeh (2015) attempted to compare three speech acts, namely apologizing, refusing, and requesting in American English File, Interchange, and Top Notch as global textbooks with ILI series as local textbooks. The results showed that both local and global ELT textbooks were successful in providing the speech acts of refusal and request, however, both failed in providing adequate strategies for apology. As indicated, the above studies have mostly reflected a general assessment of such textbooks and a small proportion has explored the speech acts. Therefore, this study is of novelty as it explores the speech acts of compliment response and thanking based on Holmeschr('39') (1988, 1993) representational framework of compliment response and Chengchr('39')s (2005) taxonomy of thanking in Touchstone 3 and ILI preintermediate textbooks in the context of Iran. MethodologyFor the purpose of this study, 12 dialogues of Touchstone 3 written by McCarthy, McCarten, and Sandiford (2005) and 27 dialogues of Iran Language Institute ( ILI ) preintermediate series were selected and analyzed based on the Holmeschr('39')s (1988,1993) and Chengchr('39')s (2005) frameworks. ResultsTouchstone 3 had higher number of compliment responses with 111 as compared with ILI preintermediate series with 64 compliment responses; however, there was no statistically significant difference between the frequencies of the compliment response in ILI preintermediate textbooks and Touchstone 3.Comparing the proportions of different thanking strategies, it can be concluded that there are higher number of thanking expressions in ILI preintermediate textbooks (45) in comparison with Touchstone 3 (19). There was also significant difference between the frequencies of the thanking expressions in ILI preintermediate series and Touchstone 3.