Language Functions in Indonesian Junior Secondary School (SMP) Textbooks of English  

Oleh:

Nurdiana

Jenis: Article from Proceeding
Dalam koleksi: KOLITA 14 : Konferensi Linguistik Tahunan Atma Jaya Keempat Belas, page 504-507.
Topik: Speech acts; Language functions; Pragmatic competence; ELT materials
Fulltext: hal 504-507.pdf (18.75MB)

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Perpustakaan PKBB Nomor Panggil: 406 KLA 14 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 1) Tandon: 1

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One of the materials discussed in local English textbooks for Indonesian Junior Secondary School (SMP) students is language functions. They cover speech acts such as making invitations, requests, or giving opinions. These speech acts should be performed based on meta-pragmatic information—that is when, where, and to whom it is appropriate to perform a particular speech act and what expression would or would not be appropriate in a particular context of culture and context of situation. Meta-pragmatic information itself is part of pragmatic kowledge which results in pragmatic competence. Myriad studies on pragmatic competence in language teaching and learning have been conducted. The studies show that EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners are grammatically competent, yet they are pragmatically incompetent. This paper, thus, discusses whether or not the speech acts or the language functions are realized based on meta-pragmatic information. In addition, it talks about the types and the frequencies of speech acts based on Searle’s (1976) speech acts taxonomy.The research method used in this study is text analysis—that is the language functions discussed in several local (Indonesian) English textbooks for Indonesian Junior Secondary School (SMP)vstudents are observed and analysed to examine the types and the the frequencies of the speech acts and how they are realized in the dialogues or conversations in the textbooks. One of the findings of this research is based on Searle’s speech act taxonomy, most of the language functions covered in the textbooks are directives and expressives. Regarding the realization of the speech acts, however, they lacked of meta-pragmatic information. For example, there was no explicit information about the relationship between the speakers, for instance, how close they feel to one another. Since all of the local English textbooks analysed contain inadequate meta pragmatic information, the language expressions used in each function are inapproriately used. In other words, the realization of the language functions or the language use is pragmatically inadequate. This is line with the previous studies on pragmatic knowledge in English textbooks stating that local English textbooks lack of pragmatic information and consequently, learners can not gain pragmatic competence through ELT (English Language Teaching) materials.

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