Evaluating speech acts elements in english as a foreign language textbooks published in Turkey

Pragmatic elements are an essential part of communication in a foreign language. EFL learners must be aware of pragmatic elements to communicate effectively in English. Therefore, teaching English as a foreign language should include pragmatic teaching. As textbooks are considered an indispensable guide to teaching English in EFL classes, pragmatic elements should be presented in EFL textbooks. To this end, this study investigates the use of pragmatic elements in A2-level textbooks used in public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education. Specifically, speech acts presentation in the textbooks for the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades and the contributions and relations as language functions were investigated. Searle's (1979) taxonomy and Celce-Murcia and Dörnyei's (1995) organizational framework for functional language instruction were employed. While page-by-page analyses were conducted to collect qualitative data, log-likelihood calculations were conducted to reveal statistically significant differences in the use of speech acts across the textbooks taught in these different grades and proficiency levels. Page-by-page analysis for the overall frequency distribution of speech acts revealed that representative speech acts have a higher frequency in all of the textbooks, followed by directive, expressive, and commissive speech acts respectively. The declarative speech act was not included in any of the chosen textbooks. Log-likelihood calculations were conducted by assessing the ratio of speech acts in each book relative to the total number of sentences and conducting pairwise comparisons. Each pair that is compared revealed statistically significant differences or no differences at all. 5th and 6th grade textbooks show significant differences in expressive and commissive speech acts. 5th and 7th grade textbooks show no significant difference. 5th and 8th grade textbooks show significant differences in the use of directive speech acts. 6th and 7th grade textbooks show a significant difference in expressive speech acts, while 6th and 8th grade textbooks show a significant difference in the use of commissive speech acts. 7th and 8th grade textbooks show more significant differences as they reveal that commissive, expressive, and directive speech acts show statistically significant differences. Based on all of the findings, implications for teachers, material designers, and researchers for further studies were proposed.