25 competence into three sub-competences.
Thus, Bachman and Palmer‘s model is really suitable for this study which focuses on pragmatic features of English text
books.
3. Pragmatic Competence
The ability to use language appropriately includes pragmatic competence. It is defined as ―an aspect of communicative competence [which] refers to the
ability to communicate appropriately in particular contexts of use‖ Jaworski in
Muller, 2005: 37. Another definition was also proposed by Crystal. He defines pragmatic competence as what people must know in order to interpret and convey
meaning within communicative situations: knowledge that accounts for ―the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social
interaction, and the effects their use of language has on other participants in the act of communication‖ Crystal in Savile-Troike, 2006: 134.
Currently, linguists and language teachers have already been aware of the importance of pragmatic competence or proficiency in language development of
learners Glaser, 2009. Paulston as cited in Glaser 2009 says that in order to be a competent speaker and a successful L2 learner, the mastery of social usage of a
language- pragmatic competence mastery- is equally necessary as the mastery of the linguistic forms of a language. ―Probably, one of the most important aspect of
pragmatic competence is that it does not necessarily develop parallel to lexico- grammatical proficiency,‖ Glaser, 2009. This fact of pragmatic competence is
reported by Bardovi-Harlig and Dörnyei 1998: 234. They report that grammatical development does not guarantee a corresponding level of pragmatic
26 development. It can be seen in some cases of language learners who have a high
proficiency of grammar, but still have problem in using those correct sentence forms socially and culturally acceptable. If I may say, the position of pragmatic
competence is little bit higher than lexico-grammatical competence since in the real life, people still give toleration to speakers who make grammatical mistakes
rather than those who make pragmatic failure. People who make pragmatic failure will be misinterpreted and even be considered rude by the interlocutors.
McKay 2009: 73 says that the acquisition of pragmatic competence covers two skills. The first one is the ability to understand the illocutionary force of an
utterance, that is, what the speaker means by saying the utterance. The second one is the ability to know which form for expressing a particular meaning is most
appropriate for a particular context e.g Pass me that salt vs ‗Would you mind passing me that salt?‘. This ability is crucial since selecting incorrect form for a
particular situation will be considered rude, even misunderstanding. McKay‘s
model of pragmatic competence‘s coverage is too simple. Bachman and Palmer propose another model which is more rigid and detail. The following lists are list
of pragmatic compete nces which are adapted from Bachman and Palmer‘s model
and Celce- Murcia, Dornyei, and Thurrel‘s model.
a Knowledge of the meanings of words and the ability to use figurative
language b
Knowledge of the relationship between utterances and the intentions, or communicative purposes of language users
27 c
The knowledge and ability to determine how they talk and are talked to based on participants‘ age, gender, office profession, rank and public position,
status social standing, social distance from and relations to each other d
The ability to use stylistic appropriateness strategy; like politeness conventions, degrees of formality, and field- specific registers
e The knowledge of socio cultural background of target language community
f Awareness of major dialect or regional differences
g Cross cultural awareness; like differences, similarities, and strategies for
cross- cultural communication h
The knowledge and ability to use non- verbal communication like kinesthetic factors body language, prosemic factors use of space, haptic factors
touching, paralinguistic factors acoustical sounds and nonvocal sounds, and silence
Competences a and b are pragmatic competences proposed by Bachman and Palemer, and the rests are proposed by Celce-Murcia, Dornyei, and Thurrel
1995. Competence a and competence b can be classified into linguistic factors. Competences c to h are classified under four components.
Competence c is referred to social contextual factors, competence d is referred to stylistic appropriateness factors, competences e, f, and g are referred to
cultural factors, and competence h is refreed to non-verbal communication factors. Those terminologies are used by Celce-Murcia, Dornyei, and Thurrel to
describe pragmatic competences. Those two pragmatic competence models can be synchronized in the following figure.
28
Figure 2.4: Pragmatic Competence Model
4. Pragmatic Features in English Textbooks
