The Importance of Teaching Culture in Building EFL Students’ Pragmatic Competence: Evidence from a Telecollabration between ECU (USA) and Tlemcen University (Algeria).

Abstract

This study delved into the impact of pragmatic competence on English as a Foreign Language learner's communication, particularly exploring the role of cultural knowledge in overcoming pragmatic failure. Many English Language learners experience misunderstandings while interacting with natives of the English language that arise due to factors like limited cultural awareness. This investigation aimed to understand the reasons behind these failures and explore how integrating cultural teaching into Foreign Language Teaching could be a potential solution. The research employed a qualitative approach, in addition to conducting classroom observation and conversation analysis. Classroom observation captured the dialogue between the American participants and the Algerian participants, while conversation analysis focused on identifying pragmatic failures within the corpus. Thus, thematic analysis was then applied to the data to uncover patterns and causes of the failure. The research findings indicate a connection between cultural awareness and pragmatic competence. The non-native participants who had a deeper understanding of the target culture's social norms displayed an advanced ability in navigating the intercultural conversation. Conversely, instances of pragmatic failure were often linked to a lack of cultural knowledge. In conclusion, this work displays the essential role of integrating cultural elements into English Language Teaching to enhance student's pragmatic competence and educators can equip learners with the necessary tools to facilitate real-world interactions.