Iraqi EFL Learners' Comprehension of Indirect Speech Acts in Literary Texts

Abstract

EFL learners exhibit differences in their ability to communicate successfully in English language. More specifically, they may respond differently in their quest to determine the intended meaning of indirect speech acts in literary texts. Even though, EFL learners have knowledge in the grammar and word meaning of the L2 or the FL, they are assumed to suffer in identifying the intended meaning due to their lack of the necessary functional information. Accordingly, the current study is an endeavor to examine the pragmatic competence of Iraqi EFL learners at the university level, more specifically, their ability to identify intended meanings behind indirect speech acts in the novel ''Jane Eyre'' by Charlotte Bronte (1847). Based on its objectives, the type of research methodology used is qualitative and quantative one as it analyzed the data numerically and the utterances qualitatively. The research design includes five parts: the introductory part, the previous studies part the literature review part, the methodology part, and the analysis part. The study utilized a recognition test to be the study instrument applied to a sample of participants who were selected randomly including (20) EFL learners at fourth stage. The Relevance Based Approach to Speech Acts was followed with some modifications made to suit the study objectives. The study findings revealed that Iraqi EFL learners encountered difficulties when identifying the intended meaning of indirect acts. In addition, they tend to choose the direct and relevant information to represent the intended meaning. The unsatisfactory comprehending ability of indirect utterances can be ascribed to the learners' lack of pragmatic competence.