The Pedagogical relance of metapragmatic discourse in Algerian EFL Secondary school texbooks

Abstract

Thisstudyrevolves around thenotionofpragmaticcompetenceasaskillofknowinghowtocreateandunderstandmeaningsincommunication,whichininterculturalinteractionrequiresmore extra-linguisticknowledgethanlanguageskills.TheaimofthisresearchistoexplorethepedagogicalrelevanceofmetapragmaticdiscourseinAlgeriansecondaryschooltextbooks of Englishforthe development ofpragmaticawarenessand competenceinEnglish.Toaccomplishtheaimsofthisstudy,ataingulation ofresearchinstruments namely; the teachers'questionnaire,contentanalysisandclassroomobservationareusedalongthedatacollectionphasetocrosschecktheresultsandvalidate or refutethem.Thehypothesespostulatedatthebeginningofthestudyindicatethattheapplicationoffruitfullanguagestrategieswithsomepragmaticelements canhelpAlgerianlearnersofEnglishlearnalanguagemoreeffectivelyandbecomemoreproficientlanguagepractitioners.TheteachingmaterialsthatareusedatthelevelofAlgeriansecondaryschoolsdonotmeetthelearners’needsbecausemanytextbookslackexamplesofactivitiesthatteachorassessbothpragmaticandcommunicativeskillssincepragmaticawarenessitselfis anarealargelyignoredbytextbookswritersandcurriculumdesigners. It canbesaidthattheresearchhypotheseswere confirmed;theEnglishtextbooksthatarecurrentlyusedinallAlgeriansecondaryschoolsdonotofferclassroomlearnersadequateopportunitiesforlearningauthenticlanguage.ThisisduetomanyreasonssuchasthechoiceofonetypeofEnglishattheexpenseofanother, whichismoredictatedbybothpoliticalandeconomicalconsiderationsratherthanbypedagogicalones. MostEnglishadoptedversionslackEnglishnessbesidesthemechanicalwayinwhichthetasksare presentedintheprescribedtextbooks.Despitethefactthatthereseemstobeaneffortstoincorporateextra-linguisticinformationandcommunicativeactivities, theresultsof the currentresearchindicatethatthequantityandthequality ofmeta-pragmaticinformationintheAlgeriansecondaryschooltextbooksofEnglishwereinadequateasasourceofgainingpragmaticcompetence.Therefore,drawingfromthestudyfindings,asetofrecommendationsandpedagogicalimplicationswereputforwardinordertohelpimprovethelanguagelearningoutcomesfromapragmatic perspective.