Exploring Pragmatic Competence of EFL Master Students in Performing the Speech Act of Inviting The Case of EFL Master Students at Ibn Khaldoun University.

Abstract

The primary aim of the present study is to examine the pragmatic competence of EFL master students at Ibn Khaldoun university in performing the speech act of inviting. The study seeks to determine the English and the Algerian Arabic strategies used by these students to produce inviting speech acts and find out whether the EFL master students use appropriate English strategies, or they transfer them from their mother tongue into English. To conduct this study, two discourse completion test were used. The first one includes eight hypothetical situations written in English, while the second one consists of the same situation used in the first discourse completion test, but these situations were translated into Arabic. Each situations elicits an invitation to be filled in by the 100 EFL master students at Ibn Khaldoun university. The situations are meant to gather information on the performance of inviting in relation to two social variables, which are power relation and social distance. The findings reveal the complexities involved in the pragmatic competence of EFL students when engaging in the speech act of inviting. Various factors such as cultural backgrounds, language proficiency levels, and exposure to target language and culture influence the students’ pragmatic performance. The study also highlights common challenges faced by EFL students, including inappropriate language choices, failure to consider contextual factors, and difficulties in expressing politeness appropriately.