cultivating iranian university students’ interlanguage pragmatic comprehension through online inquiry-based instruction

Though a body of the research has offered strong evidence in support of the effectiveness of inquiry-based instruction to cultivate second language (l2) learning in conventional classes, its effectiveness in virtual learning environment has received scant attention in the efl context of iran. thus, this study is an attempt to disclose the effects of inquiry-based instruction on cultivating interlanguage pragmatic comprehension among english as foreign language (efl) learners in iran. to meet this purpose, two intact classes of sophomore students at ayatollah ozma borujerdi university were selected and randomly assigned as an experimental group (n = 24) and a control group (n = 26). afterward, the two groups took an interlanguage pragmatic comprehension pre-test, received instruction for 18 one-hour sessions (i.e., the experimental group was instructed based on the principles and procedures of inquiry-based instruction), and took an interlanguage pragmatic comprehension post-test. the results of the independent samples t-test documented that the experimental group outperformed the control group concerning the gains of interlanguage pragmatic comprehension after the interventions. the findings demonstrated that online inquiry-based instruction could be implemented in efl contexts to foster university students’ interlanguage pragmatic comprehension. finally, in accordance with the findings, a range of implications is offered for pertinent stakeholders.