An EvaluatioAn of of Pragmatics in the Third Year Secondary School Textbook of English « New Prospects»

Abstract

The present research aims to examine the effectiveness of pragmatic competence in the third-year secondary school textbook “new prospects” in developing pupils’ pragmatic competence. Two research tools, an evaluation checklist and a teachers’ questionnaire, were self-designed and implemented. The teachers’ questionnaire which was administrated to 25 secondary school teachers teaching third-year classes selected on the basis of convenience. The checklist-based evaluation of pragmatic competence components in the textbook under study has revealed that the textbook does not follow a specific approach in developing this aspect and does not provide are liable tool for developing his aspect. In this regard, the weaknesses of the textbook under study include the luck of both specific objectives and a clear methodology. In addition to corroborating these findings, the teachers showed a clear dissatisfaction with the course book and its adequacy for developing pupils’ pragmatic competence. As far as this issue is concerned, teachers’ responses have singled out the inability to use language appropriately in different social contexts constitutes a major source of difficulty for students and the insufficient amount of dialogic situations as being the major weaknesses in the textbook