Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Gazi University, Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Turkey
Approval Date: 2014
Thesis Language: English
Student: Hande Çetin
Supervisor: Cemal Çakır
Abstract:In a world where there are no borders for communication, cultural differences gain so much significance in maintaining the harmony of the communication. English as a lingua franca serves as the medium of communication, so pragmatic competence as a part of communicative competence plays a crucial role in the communication between natives, natives and non-natives and also non-natives and non-natives. This study aimed to find out the cultural differences between non-natives in the use of the speech act of apology and discuss them in terms of individualism-collectivism, and tried to find out if it was possible to improve pragmatic competence with the help of task-based pragmatics teaching. This study was conducted in Turkey and Portugal as comparative research. The subject group was eleven 3rd grade students from Turkey, Ankara, Gazi University, Faculty of Education, English Language Program and seven 3rd grade students from Portugal, Coimbra, Coimbra University, Faculty of Letters, Modern Languages Department. This study was both qualitative and quantitative. The design of the study was Pre-test Post-Test Control Group Experimental Model. The data were collected through a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) which consisted of eight different apologetic situations, and a four-week task-based pragmatics teaching with a special focus on the speech act of apology was implemented by the researcher in both groups between the pre-test and the post-test. The data gathered with the DCT were analyzed and presented through frequencies and percentages along with the qualitative analysis. For the comparison, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Scheffé Test were applied in SPSS. The findings of the study indicated some significant culture-specific differences between these two cultures. They both have collectivistic cultures; however, they differed in the use of the speech act of apology in terms of individualistic-collectivistic tendencies. The percentage comparison of the pre-tests and post-tests of these two subject groups answered the other question of the current study positively which inquired the possible effect of the task-based pragmatics teaching on the pragmatics competence.