development of a multiple-choice test of pragmatics: assessing l2 (im-)politeness knowledge through popular webcomics

An array of online and offline resources (e.g., comics and webcomics) can be used to further the learners’ pragmatic competence (including their knowledge of politeness and impoliteness strategies) as an indispensable component of communicative competence. however, there are few contextualized pragmatics tests of (im-)politeness prepared exclusively with regards to the needs and background of iranian learners of english. here we present the first phase of a more elaborate pragmatics assessment and development study. the aim of this phase was developing a reliable and valid multiple-choice discourse-based test to measure efl learners’ (im-)politeness knowledge based on the scenarios present in popular webcomics. discourse analysis methods and stringent frameworks (e.g., brown and levinson’s as well as culpeper’s models) were used to determine the types and frequencies of l2 politeness and impoliteness strategies characterizing two popular webcomics. next, to ensure content validity, a pertinent table of specifications was established to develop situations similar to those in the webcomics. subsequently, an elaborate questionnaire containing the situations was prepared and administered to around 30 native english speakers—who were requested to evaluate the items in terms of (im-)politeness, appropriateness, and quality; the instrument was iteratively revised according to their comments. ultimately, the finalized version of the questionnaire—in the form of a situation-based multiple-choice test with demographics section—was given to a group of iranian efl learners. the results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that the instrument can be an efficient and adequate measure of (im-)politeness knowledge. our presentation of the findings will elucidate the details of the webcomics’ politeness and impoliteness strategies, qualitative findings from the pilot stage with native speakers and iranian participants, excerpts from the developed situations, and pertinent descriptive data. this presentation will conclude with implications and applications of webcomics as well as pragmatic tests of (im-)politeness for language educators, course and materials developers, and assessment specialists interested in l2 pragmatics.