Pragmatic competence of teachers: a contrastive case study of native and non-native teachers of English

Abstract

The existing studies on pragmatic competence of English teachers, e.g., J. Majer and Ł. Salski (2004), E. Krawczyk-Neifar (2004), M. Savič (2016), A. Szczepaniak-Kozak and E. Wąsikiewicz-Firlej (in press), indicate that it is not varied and requires improvement in certain areas. These deficiencies might be interpreted as a result of not only the absence of pragmatic competence (PC) modules in teacher-training education but also a relatively low frequency of English teachers’ contact with native speakers (NS) of English (A. Szczepaniak-Kozak 2010). Nevertheless, we know very little what shape teacher PC takes, including the way it differs from that represented by NSs. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies based on data collected in naturalistic settings (lessons of English). Consequently, this paper attempts to fill in this gap in research by presenting the methodology and conduct of a case study, based on classroom observation of teachers’ pragmatic performance, to investigate whether there are differences in the PC represented by non-native teachers (NNTs) and native teachers (NTs) of English. The findings indicate that NTs do not hold the upper hand in this regard and that a demonstrable linguistic and pragmatic competence, along with appropriate professional training, are better indicators of diverse pragmatic input. On this basis, we propose that some degree of proficiency in pragmatics and its teaching should be a requirement for a certificate or diploma for future foreign language teachers.