Journal Article

Reflection of Pragmatic Knowledge in Iranian High School English Textbooks (Vision Series)

Tabatabaei, Omid, Salehi, Hadi, Jamshidian, Fateme, Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi

2023

Overview

Pragmatic competence is an essential language pedagogy component represented in English textbooks. The paper attempts to examine the extent to which pragmatic knowledge was reflected in Iranian high school English textbooks (Vision series). Hence, Halliday’s (1973) model and Halliday, et al.’s (1964) model were used to investigate subcategories of functional knowledge and sociolinguistic knowledge. The data was described by descriptive statistics. The findings revealed the Iranian culture-deprived representation (e.g., traditional customs, and ceremonies such as Nowruz, Chaharshanbesori, and Yalda). Moreover, the results highlighted only a limited number of pragmatic components implicitly introduced in the Vision series, and attention was given to their representation and problematic distribution. Furthermore, the English sociocultural patterns were limited and attempts were made to reflect the Iranian culture and convection of daily communication. Thus, some pedagogical implications were offered to improve the Vision series, using authentic pragmatic content instead of proclaiming the fictitious prescription of its authors.

• Publisher: Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch,Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch
• Subject: Culture / English as a second language teaching materials / English language / Fictitious / halliday’s model / Iranian culture / iranian high school english textbooks / Knowledge / Language textbooks / pragmatic knowledge / Pragmatics / Rites & ceremonies / Secondary schools / Sociocultural factors / sociocultural knowledge / Sociolinguistics / Statistics / Teaching / Textbooks / Vision / vision series