CORRELATION BETWEEN GRAMMATICAL
COMPETENCE AND PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
AMONG IRANIAN UNIVERSITY EFL LEARNERS
SEYEDEH SEPIDEH MOJABI
DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LINGUISTICS
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
KUALA LUMPUR
2014
ii
UNIVERSITI MALAYA
ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION
Name of Candidate: Seyedeh Sepideh Mojabi (Passport No: X95385550)
Registration/Matric No: TGC080002
Name of Degree: Master of Linguistics
Title of Dissertation:
Correlation between Grammatical Competence and Pragmatic Competence among
Iranian University EFL Learners
Field of Study: Applied Linguistics
I do solemnly and sincerely declare that:
(1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work;
(2) This Work is original;
(3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for
permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of
any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the
Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work;
(4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor ought I reasonably to know that the making of
this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work;
(5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of
Malaya (UM), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that
any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without
the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained;
(6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any
copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any
other action as may be determined by UM.
Candidates Signature Date: 17 March 2014
Subscribed and solemnly declared before,
Witnesss Signature Date: 17 March 2014
Name: Dr. Musaev Talaibek
Designation: Supervisor
iii
ABSTRACT
This study sought to determine the levels of pragmatic competence among Iranian EFL
learners and to correlate these levels with their levels of grammatical competence. In order
to do this, separate tests were devised. One set of tests was designed to measure pragmatic
competence. A second set of tests was devised to test grammatical competence. The
difference between their pragmatic competence and grammatical competence was
examined for any significant correlation between them. In addition, the effect of learning
methods on the pragmatic and grammatical competence was tested. The findings show that
there is a weak or no correlation between EFL Iranian university students grammatical
competence and their pragmatic competence. The findings also show that learning methods
do have a significant effect on the Iranian students pragmatic and grammar competence.
In addition, the study shows a predominance of traditional teaching and learning practices
in Iran.
iv
ABSTRAK
Kajian bertujuan untuk menentukan tahap kecekapan pragmatik pelajar EFL Iran dan
mengaitkan hasil ini dengan tahap kecekapan tatabahasa mereka. Dalam usaha untuk
melakukan ini, ujian berasingan telah direka. Satu set ujian direka untuk mengukur
kecekapan pragmatik. Satu set ujian kedua telah direka untuk menguji kecekapan
tatabahasa. Kemudian perbezaan diantara kecekapan pragmatik dan kecekapan tatabahasa
telah dikaji untuk melihat sama ada terdapat sebarang hubungan yang signifikan di antara
keduanya. Di samping itu, kesan kaedah pembelajaran ke atas kecekapan pragmatik dan
tatabahasa juga diuji. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat hubungan yang lemah
atau tidak ada antara kecekapan tatabahasa pelajar EFL Iran dan kecekapan pragmatik
mereka. Kajian juga menunjukkan bahawa kaedah pembelajaran yang mempunyai kesan
yang besar ke atas kecekapan pragmatik dan tatabahasa para pelajar Iran. Disamping itu,
kajian menunjukkan dominasi pengajaran dan amalan pembelajaran tradisional di Iran.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In particular, I would like to thank Dr Jawakhir and Ms Mac for their enduring and
faithful support throughout my time at University of Malaya. During the initial stages of the
thesis, when I experienced a lack of clarity in terms of direction, they provided invaluable
help in shaping the thesis and its aims. After that, whenever I needed support or I faced
academic or personal difficulties, they strengthened my resolve to overcome obstacles,
providing moral support and general guidance.
I would also like to thank Dr Talaibek, who, due to staff changes, had to read and
comment on this thesis, at a very late stage, without any prior introduction to the work. I
appreciate the time and effort he devoted to providing invaluable feedback and detailed
comment.
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4TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... iii
ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................................ iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................ vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the study .......................................................................................... 1
1.2 Perceptions of language competence ....................................................................... 2
1.2.1 English and status of teaching English in Iran .................................................... 3
1.2.2 Problems faced by Iranian students learning EFL .............................................. 7
1.2.3 Teachers perceptions of EFL learners ................................................................ 9
1.3 The problem statement ............................................................................................. 9
1.4 Purpose of study ..................................................................................................... 16
1.5 Research objectives ................................................................................................ 17
1.6 Research questions ................................................................................................. 18
1.7 Significance of the study ........................................................................................ 18
1.8 Summary ................................................................................................................ 19
1.9 Definitions .............................................................................................................. 20
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 22
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 22
2.2 A definition of communicative competence .......................................................... 23
2.3 Models of communicative competence ................................................................. 28
2.4 Theories of second language acquisition (SLA) .................................................... 30
2.5 Relationship between SLA theories and pedagogical practice .............................. 34
2.6 Teaching approaches and the development of grammatical and pragmatic
competence ............................................................................................................ 39
2.7 Factors in determining L2 pragmatic competence ................................................. 42
2.8 Theories of pragmatics: Speech act theory ............................................................ 44
2.9 The learning context of Iranians in Iran including past studies ............................. 46
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 52
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 52
3.2 Research design ..................................................................................................... 53
3.3 Sample selection .................................................................................................... 55
3.4 Research instruments ............................................................................................. 56
3.5 Data collection, coding and categorisation ..............................................
