Textbook Analysis: Pragmatic Inappropriateness in the Realization of Speech Acts

This study deals with the treatment of speech acts in the textbooks currently in use in Korea, with a focus on whether or not speech acts are realized in an appropriate and authentic manner in the textbook dialogues. To attain this purpose, a total of 18 middle school English textbooks were analyzed using a multi-rater assessment in which speech acts were evaluated by three groups of native speakers. The analysis demonstrates that the textbooks are pragmatically unsatisfactory as a primary source of language input, showing that pragmatic inappropriateness occurs in a wide array of speech acts: gratitude, permission, sympathy, wishes and hopes, happiness and excitement, orders, suggestions, appointment-making, and direction-giving. These problems are shown to be affected by many sociocultural variables such as social power, social distance, the degree of indebtedness or severity of events, the level of formality, and politeness norms. A major shortcoming underlying these pragmatic problems is that the explicit indication of interlocutor relationships is overlooked in many textbook dialogues. On the basis of the findings, this study provides pedagogical implications, together with helpful suggestions for the better presentation of speech acts in ELT materials.