Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Education and Psychology
Doctoral Dissertation
Andrea Juhász
The Conceptualization of Communicative Competence in Secondary EFL Classrooms in Hungary
THESIS BOOKLET
Supervisor: Kata Csizér, PhD, habil.
Budapest, 2015
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
Foreign language communicative competence has always been a thoroughly researched area in the field of English language teaching (ELT), and a great deal of attention has been paid to its development in both English as a second (ESL) and foreign language (EFL) classrooms (Alami, 2014; Alibakshi & Padiz, 2011; Beebe, Takahashi & Ullis-Weltz, 1990;
Zha, Kelly, Park & Fitzgerald, 2006). In spite of the abundance of research on the development of certain facets of communicative competence, such as pragmatic, sociocultural or strategic competence (Bardovi-Harlig & Hartford, 1990; Boxer & Pickering, 1995; Dörnyei, 1995; Dörnyei & Thurrell, 1991; Faerch & Kasper, 1989; Olshtain & Blum- Kulka, 1985), other aspects, as important as they might be, have not been given sufficient attention.
Studies exploring discourse competence, for instance, have been few and far between (Jalilifar, 2010; Kathpalia & Carmel, 2011). Additionally, hardly any research projects have been undertaken to perform a comprehensive examination of communicative competence in the foreign language classroom (Nazari, 2007; Szenes, 2006). Equally few empirical studies have investigated the way EFL coursebooks attended to the development of communicative competence (Richards, 2005; Gómez-Rodriguez, 2010). Likewise, the investigation of teachers’ perception on this issue has also been a neglected research area (Nazari, 2006;
Nishino, 2007; Szenes, 2006). Therefore, the need to add new dimensions to previously conducted research is substantial.
1.2 Aims of the study
The present dissertation aims to fill the void indicated above by presenting a comprehensive picture of the concept of communicative competence. Different approaches to the construct, i.e., those of the student, the teacher, and the coursebook have been investigated to explore the way communicative competence is addressed in EFL classrooms in schools of secondary education in Hungary.
The scope of this research project is the investigation of the way communicative competence is conceptualized in the teaching and learning process. Within this broader scope, the following research questions have been formulated:
Q1 How do the components of communicative competence emerge in intermediate EFL coursebooks widely used in Hungarian secondary schools?
Q2 How do secondary school EFL teachers aim to develop their learners’
communicative competence?
Q3 What importance do intermediate level Hungarian secondary school EFL learners attach to the components of communicative competence?
To answer these research questions, different sources of data were collected and analysed.
First, EFL coursebooks were subjected to examination, with special emphasis on the way they aim to develop communicative competence, and the proportion and nature of the tasks they dedicate to its distinct components. Second, in-depth interviews were conducted with EFL teachers to explore their beliefs on developing communicative competence. Third, a questionnaire study was conducted to tap into students’ attitudes to the components of communicative competence.
2 Review of the literature
Owing to its complexity, the understanding of communicative competence has undergone considerable change since the appearance of the term and has been influenced by such disciplines as psychology, sociology and pedagogy. Most definitions, though, agree that communicative competence involves one’s linguistic skills as well as social knowledge about what, when and how to say something in certain situations. Nevertheless, since the term was used slightly differently by various scholars, it is necessary to examine it in more depth.
As communicative competence is a multifaceted construct, not surprisingly, it has been described by researchers in several ways, everyone putting the emphasis on a different aspect.
Hedge (2000), for instance, forms her definition on the basis of the term ‘authenticity’, defining communicative competence as a concept which “sets out to involve learners in purposeful tasks which are embedded in meaningful contexts and which reflect and rehearse language as it is used authentically in the world outside the classroom” (p.71).
2.1 The emergence of the concept of communicative competence
As it was mentioned above, the term communicative competence was suggested by the American socio-linguist Dell Hymes in 1971. Hymes first aimed at extending a major contemporary linguist’s, Chomsky’s (1965) definition of the term competence, claiming that learning a language should entail more than the simple memorization and application of grammatical rules. Hymes pointed out that Chomsky’s distinction between competence and
performance was superficial; it cannot be applied to properly describe linguistic behaviour.
According to Chomsky,
Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener in a completely homogeneous speech community, who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitation distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual performance.
(1965, p.3)
Hymes, though, also called attention to the fact that Chomsky’s theory only considered homogeneous speech communities, thus excluding sociocultural factors that also largely affect language acquisition and learning.
As opposed to Chomsky’s theory, Hymes brought the individual, not the communicative system, into focus. In Hymes’s words, “It cannot be assumed that the formal possibilities of a system and individual knowledge are identical. … I should take competence as the most general term for the capabilities of a person” (1972, p.282). Hornberger agrees with Hymes in defining communicative competence as “by definition variable within individuals, across individuals and across speech communities, and includes rules of use as well as rules of grammar” (Hornberger, 1989, p.216). It is clearly demonstrated in these quotes that what Hymes wanted to emphasize were the individual speaker’s underlying knowledge and the understanding of patterns of use.
In his model, Hymes made a clear-cut distinction between two kinds of competence. The first, linguistic competence, concerns the production and understanding of grammatically correct utterances, whereas the second, communicative competence, involves what is appropriate or acceptable to say in a particular situation. He incorporated the twin notions of knowledge and ability into his definition of communicative competence, defining them as the
“knowledge as to when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk about with whom, what, where and in what manner… and the ability to accomplish a repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, and to evaluate their accomplishment by others” (Hymes, 1972, p.277).
2.2 The pedagogical model
As Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei and Thurrell (1995) point out, it would be logical to presume that communicative language teaching (CLT) should be grounded covertly or overtly in some model of communicative competence. However, very little empirical data has been gathered to define the content of a communicative language syllabus. Thus, a pedagogically motivated model was proposed by the researchers, emphasizing the fact that although communicative
language teaching should mainly rely on a theoretical framework, “there has been no serious endeavour to generate detailed content specifications for CLT that relate directly to an articulated model of communicative competence” (Celce-Murcia et al., 1995, p. 5). They asserted that content specifications for a communicative syllabus were not linked with any comprehensive communicative competence framework.
The problem with previous models of communicative competence was their essentially theoretical nature, which made it difficult, if not impossible, to be taken as the basis of a communicative language teaching syllabus. Therefore, Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei and Thurrell proposed a new theoretical model for communicative competence, giving detailed descriptions of the scope its components from a pedagogical perspective.
Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei and Thurrell’s (1995) model has five major components, which roughly correspond to the constituents of Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) revised framework.
The central component of the model is discourse competence, in which “the lexico- grammatical building blocks, the actional organizing skills of communicative intent, and the sociocultural context come together and shape the discourse, which, in turn, also shapes each of the other three components” (p. 9). These four constituents are interrelated, and influenced by the speaker’s strategic competence, i.e., their ability to counterbalance deficiencies in the communication process. The dynamic nature of the model is established by one- and two-way arrows; for further details see Figure 1.
Figure 1 Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei and Thurrel’s dynamic model of communicative competence (based on Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei & Thurrell, 1995, p. 10)
The five components of the model are accurately defined by the authors, highlighting the differences from previous models and definitions (pp. 9-23).
discourse competence: the selection, sequencing, and arrangement of words, structures, sentences and utterances to achieve a unified spoken or written text
linguistic competence: the basic elements of communication (the sentence patterns and types, the constituent structure, the morphological inflections, and the lexical resources, as well as the phonological and orthographic systems needed to realize communication
actional competence: the competence in conveying and realizing communicative intent by performing and interpreting speech acts and speech act sets
sociocultural competence: the speaker’s knowledge of how to express messages appropriately within the overall social and cultural context of communication, in accordance with the pragmatic factors related to variation in language use
strategic competence: an inventory of skills that allows a strategically competent speaker to negotiate messages and resolve problems or to compensate for deficiencies in any of the other underlying competencies
Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei and Thurrell’s (1995) model is easily applicable to applied linguistics research and language teaching in general. Not only does it emphasize the dynamic and interrelated nature of communicative competence, but it is also the first to place pedagogic aspects in the focus. Additionally, the specifications of the scope of its components also help to understand the complexity of communicative competence.
Accordingly, it was chosen as the underlying theoretical framework for the current research project. The research instruments, the interview schedule and the questionnaire, were both constructed on the basis of this model. Similarly, the categories for the coursebook analysis reflected the components of communicative competence as defined by the authors.
3 Research design
The current research project was a mixed-methods study consisting of various means of inquiry, as advised by research theoreticians (Creswell, 1994; Dörnyei, 2007). Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were built into the project, which included document analysis, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire study, all contributing to gaining a better understanding of the construct of communicative competence. Different
perspectives of the issue in question were considered, i.e., the student, the teacher and the materials, in order to ensure data triangulation (Maykut & Morehouse, 2001; Miles &
Huberman, 1994).
The research study spanned over a period of five years between 2009 and 2014. Various projects of divergent nature, design and length were combined to complement one another.
Since a wide variety of data collection and data analysis techniques were used at different phases of the study, Table 1 offers an overview on how different sources of data and methods of analysis aimed to provide answers to the research questions.
Table 1 Methods of data collection and data analysis in relation to the research questions
RESEARCH QUESTIONS METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS
How are the components of CC conceptualized in intermediate EFL classes in Hungary?
Q1 How do the components of CC emerge in
intermediate EFL
coursebooks widely used in Hungarian secondary schools?
• analysis of EFL coursebooks
• interview with coursebook writers via email (optional)
document analysis
Q2 How do secondary EFL teachers aim to develop intermediate learners’
CC?
• interview with secondary EFL teachers
• classroom observations
constant comparative method
Q3 What importance do intermediate level Hungarian secondary school EFL learners attach to the components of communicative competence??
• questionnaire filled in by intermediate secondary EFL learners
statistical analyses
The analysis of EFL coursebooks served to identify how and in what proportion the components of communicative competence were intended to be developed by coursebook writers. The interviews with the teachers accompanied by classroom observations had a double purpose. First, they aimed at exploring teachers’ beliefs about how communicative competence should be developed in the EFL classroom. Second, the interviews were aimed to
investigate the way teachers exploited the coursebooks they used. Finally, the questionnaire study with intermediate learners of English helped to gain information about learners’
opinion on the importance of the different components of communicative competence.
3.1 Participants and materials
3.1.1 Coursebooks
Three EFL coursebook series were evaluated to find answers to the first research question (Q1), i.e., how the components of communicative competence emerge in intermediate EFL coursebooks widely used in Hungarian secondary schools. The goal of the analysis was to uncover the way communicative competence was meant to be developed in the coursebook and to explore the proportion and quality of the attention that was dedicated to its components. The criteria for selection were that they were used by the participating teachers and, at the same time, were also frequently used in EFL classrooms at secondary level of education. The second criterion was supported by the fact that each of the three coursebooks were registered in the 2012/13 official catalogue of coursebooks provided by the Ministry of Human Capacities, from which teachers can select the books they intend to use in the classroom (Ministry of Human Capacities, 2012). As a result, the following coursebook series were selected for analysis:
Falla, T., & Davies, P. A. (2008a). Solutions Intermediate series.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oxenden, C., & Latham-Koenig, C. (2006a). New English File Intermediate series. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Soars, L., & Soars, J. (2003a). New Headway Intermediate series (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3.1.2 Teachers
The participants of the interview study were selected by purposive sampling (Dörnyei, 2007; Fraenkel & Wallen, 1993), based on the judgement of the researcher. The criteria for selection were being a non-native speaker of English, having a minimum of ten years of teaching experience and teaching at a state-run secondary school. The reason for restricting teaching experience to a minimum of ten years was twofold. First, ten years of teaching practice was considered to be a reasonable amount of time for a teacher to develop and hold firm beliefs about language teaching (Gorsuch, 2011; Nishino, 2008). Second, considering
teacher training and ELT methodology, it was essential to have a sample of respondents who were familiar with modern ELT methodology and received instruction on such notions as communicative competence or communicative language teaching.
The sample (N=6) consisted of EFL teachers teaching at three different secondary schools in Budapest. Two participants were from the age group 30-39, the other four being in their 40s, and there was only one male respondent in the sample. Teaching experience ranged from 12 to 22 years, excluding maternity leaves of various lengths (2-6 years) for all female participants except for one. Three respondents had longer (half a year or more) experience in the target language community, studying at secondary or tertiary level, or participating in teacher exchange programmes. The other three participants took part in two-week student exchange programs or in-service training courses in different parts of the United Kingdom.
3.1.3 Students
The student participants of the questionnaire study were secondary school EFL learners (N=212), who were all studying English as a school subject at the time of the data collection and were at the same time students of the teacher participants. The student participants were between 14 and 19 years of age, with a mean age of 17.06.
Considering the gender of the respondents, there were 100 male and 109 female students, with missing gender data in three cases. The majority of the participants (n=162) was studying two foreign languages, with 34 respondents studying three, and 16 students studying only one foreign language, English in this case. Other foreign languages studied by the participants were German, Spanish, Italian, French and Russian, in order of frequency.
Although originally it was not a criterion for selection, from the biographical data it was revealed that for most of the respondents (n=184), English was the first foreign language they learned.
3.2 Instruments
The language of the instruments devised for this research was Hungarian, the shared mother tongue of the participants and the researcher. All the interviews were conducted in Hungarian to allow the participating teachers to express their thoughts with more ease and precision. The use of a Hungarian-language instrument was of even more importance in the case of the questionnaire study, where students may not have had the appropriate level of proficiency in English necessary to fill in a questionnaire.
3.2.1 Interview schedule
In order to answer the second research question (Q2), i.e., the way Hungarian secondary EFL teachers perceive the concept of communicative competence, individual interviews were conducted with a sample of secondary school teachers (N=6). The focus of this phase of the research was to explore the beliefs EFL teachers hold about their teaching practices, with an emphasis on developing communicative competence in the EFL classroom and to reveal which components of communicative competence are paid varying amounts of attention to by the teachers. In order to achieve this aim, an interview study was conducted.
The interview schedule was designed to be semi-structured. According to Fraenkel and Wallen, semi-structured interviews are formal in nature, and “they consist of a series of questions designed to elicit specific answers on the part of the respondents” (1993, p. 385).
As suggested by Patton (2002, p. 347), the semi-structured interview as a research tool ensures that the same initial questions are asked for the comparability of the results, however, the respondents are still given the opportunity to elaborate on any of the topics they regard as worthy of note.
3.2.2 Classroom observations
The interviews were accompanied by two classroom observation sessions during which the teachers’ actual performance in the language classroom was monitored. For the classroom observations, the official teacher trainee observation sheet of the Department of English Language Pedagogy at Eötvös Loránd University was taken as a starting point, which was slightly modified with the assistance of the author’s supervisor, on the basis of the theoretical frameworks of communicative competence consulted previously (Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei &
Thurrell, 1995).
3.2.3 Questionnaire
The research instrument in the quantitative phase of the research was a questionnaire consisting of 46 Likert-scale type items and some open-ended questions into respondents’
biographical data. The aim of the questions was to gather information about the participants’
beliefs on the importance of communicative competence and to explore the variables’ which determine their opinions. The first part of questionnaire was constructed by the author, whereas the subsequent sections were adopted from a standardized questionnaire (Kormos &
Csizér, 2008). The language of the instrument was Hungarian, the mother tongue of the participants.
The revised questionnaire had three main sections. As previously mentioned, the first section aimed to explore participants’ attitude to the components of communicative competence. Due to their complexity, two components of the construct, linguistic and discourse competence, were further divided into vocabulary and grammar, and spoken and written discourse competence, respectively.
For questions 1-30, the respondents were requested to assess on a five-point Likert scale the extent to which a statement concerning learning English is accurate about them. The items intended to cover the concepts detailed below, illustrated with a sample item:
Linguistic competence / Vocabulary (4 items): the knowledge of lexical items and rules of phonology and orthography
sample item: ‘I would like to know as many English expressions as possible.’
Linguistic competence / Grammar (4 items): the mastery of rules of morphology, syntax and semantics
sample item: ‘I think it is essential to know English grammatical rules.’
Spoken discourse competence (4 items): the ability to create cohesive and coherent texts in speaking
sample item: ‘I can easily use the words and expressions I learnt in spoken communication.’
Written discourse competence (4 items): the ability to create cohesive and coherent texts in writing
sample item: ‘For me it is important to learn how to write emails in English.’
Actional competence (4 items): the ability to perform and interpret speech acts and speech act sets
sample item: ‘I think it is useful to know how to make a phone call in English.’
Sociocultural competence (5 items): the knowledge of how to be appropriate in the social and cultural context of communication
sample item: ‘I think it is useful to learn slang expressions in the language class.’
Strategic competence (5 items): the inventory of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies
sample item: ‘When I don’t understand a word, I try to guess the meaning on the basis of the context.’
The second part of the questionnaire, i.e., items 31-47, concentrated on contact variables which might exert influence on learners’ beliefs. Respondents were asked to specify how often they are in different types of contact with the target language:
Direct spoken contact (5 items): students’ meeting and talking to native speakers of English
sample item: ‘How often do you use the English language during your holidays in Hungary?’
Direct written contact (3 items): electronic and traditional correspondence and chatting in English
sample item: ‘How often do you write emails in English?’
Indirect contact (4 items): seeing but not talking to native speakers of the target language
sample item: ‘How often does your English teacher talk about life in an English speaking country?’
Cultural contact (5 items): use of the English-speaking media sample item: ‘How often do you read magazines in English?’
The final section of the instrument included questions regarding certain biographical data of the participants, such as age and gender. Open ended items were also included to reveal the first, second (and third) foreign languages participants studied, and the contexts of learning these foreign languages.
3.3 Data collection and data analysis
This section describes the sources of data and the methods of analysis in the three phases of the research. Since various projects of differing nature of enquiry had been incorporated in this research, data collection and data analysis were ongoing and cyclical activities, as suggested by Maykut and Morehouse (2001) and Dörnyei (2007). This simultaneousness was of special importance in the case of the interview study. Each interview was analysed and coded before the next interview session, and certain apparently relevant topics were built into the next interview, allowing the researcher to focus on the most problematic and controversial issues.
3.3.1 Coursebook analysis
The selected coursebooks were evaluated in three stages. The first step in the analysis concentrated on the analysis of the aims and scope of the three EFL coursebooks, based on the introductory sections of the corresponding teacher’s books (Falla & Davies, 2008b;
Oxenden & Latham-Koenig, 2006b; L. Soars & J. Soars, 2003b). The purpose of this step was to get a general picture of the content and structure of the coursebooks, as well as the stated aims formulated by the coursebook writers.
The next step in the analysis, following Richard’s (2005) framework, intended to determine the proportion of three kinds of language practice found in most EFL coursebooks, namely mechanical practice, meaningful practice and communicative practice. The three types of practice were defined by Richards as follows (2005, p. 15):
mechanical practice: controlled activities that involve repetition and substitution drills, usually designed to practice the use of a particular grammar item
meaningful practice: activities in which language is still controlled and students are required to make meaningful choices when using the language
communicative practice: activities in which language is not predictable; language use is more spontaneous, taking place within a real communicative context
The final step of the analysis endeavoured to determine the proportion of the attention the components of communicative competence receive in the three coursebook series. With regard to each individual task, many activities had the potential to develop communicative competence, but only if used appropriately by the teacher. Therefore, the components to be developed were listed in two categories, i.e., ‘definitely’ and ‘potentially developing communicative competence’.
3.3.2 Interview study
The interviews with the teacher participants were conducted in 2013 and 2014. According to the selection criteria, the participants were non-native teachers of English, thus the interviews were conducted in Hungarian, their native language. During the interviews, however, the respondents often opted for using the English expressions for EFL teaching- related terms which had no proper Hungarian equivalent, such as ‘warmers’ or
‘brainstorming’. Quotes included in the dissertation were translated into English by the author.
The interviews were preceded by two classroom observation sessions, and the observation data was always analysed before the interviews, thus allowing the researcher to enquire about
certain aspects of the observed lesson as relevant to the development of communicative competence. The average length of the interviews was around 50 minutes, with the longest one lasting over an hour.
All the interviews were digitally recorded with the consent of the teachers and transcribed verbatim, yielding 27,862-word data. The analysis of the transcribed interview data was built on the traditions of the constant comparative method proposed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and Maykut and Morehouse (2001). This data analysis technique relies on the continuous comparison of the newly identified codes with the already established ones.
3.3.3 Questionnaire study
The process of data collection in the questionnaire study started with obtaining the official agreement of the headmasters of the selected secondary schools followed by the establishment of the date and time of data collection with the particular teachers. The questionnaires were filled in during one 45-minute English class, and the collection of data was conducted by the teachers who had previously been instructed about the data collection procedure.
The questionnaire was administered to 212 students altogether. Each session was followed by computing the collected data, which were subsequently analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 16.0. Since for more complex statistical analyses a minimum of 200 cases are necessary, 240 questionnaires were handed out in the first round, taking the probability of inadequate response rate into account (Dörnyei, 2007). Only 196 questionnaires were returned, furthermore, two had to be excluded from the analysis due to invalid responses. Consequently, additional questionnaires had to be distributed (20), out of which 16 were returned, thus obtaining enough cases (N=212) for the analyses.
The process of data analysis started with the establishment of the internal consistency estimates of reliability, i.e., Cronbach α-s, for the scales. Then, data was submitted to principal component analysis to examine whether the scales indeed cover one distinct dimension of the construct. This step was followed by calculating descriptive statistical measures, such as the mean values and standard deviation, for each scale. Finally, significant correlations were sought between the scales to reveal underlying connections between the components of communicative competence and the contact variables.
4 Results and discussion
4.1 Q1 How do the components of communicative competence emerge in intermediate EFL coursebooks widely used in Hungarian secondary schools?
To find answers to the first research question, the intermediate volumes of three coursebook series, New English File, New Headway and Solutions, were analysed, starting with the evaluation of the stated aims and scope of each coursebook. Although it was no original intention of mine to include distinct teaching methodologies in the analysis, the three coursebooks turned out to demonstrate three completely different approaches to EFL teaching. New English File was designed to be a communicative coursebook, whereas New Headway was based on a grammatical syllabus, and Solutions aimed to prepare students for the school-leaving exam.
On a general level, the results of the analysis reiterated the stated aims of the coursebooks.
New English File was observed to contain a high number of communicative activities. New Headway included a large proportion of mechanical practice tasks, while Solutions, reflecting the nature of exam task types, was found to include a high number of contextualized meaningful practice tasks.
The results of the analysis revealed that while each of the three coursebooks under inspection dedicated the highest number of activities to the development of linguistic and discourse competence, the percentages mirrored the primary nature of the coursebooks. The findings also indicated that although New English File and Solutions were excellent resources to target actional, sociocultural and strategic competence, active contribution was required from the teacher during the lessons to foster the development of these competences.
4.2 Q2 How do secondary EFL teachers aim to develop their learners’ communicative competence?
The first conclusion drawn from the interview data and tha data coming from the classroom observations was the fact that each of the participants acknowledged the multifaceted nature of communicative competence, and dedicated a varying degree of attention to its distinct components. The respondents all had firmly-grounded orders of preference, which reflected their teaching styles and were influenced by the coursebooks they used.
Considering the individual components of communicative competence, the majority of the participants indicated their preference for strategic competence and actional competence.
Linguistic competence and discourse competence received mixed rankings, probably due to the fact that these two components included two dimensions, vocabulary and grammar, and spoken and written discourse competence, respectively. The variation in the judgement of these two components might be due to this complexity.
The place of sociocultural competence was also somewhat varied, though for different reasons. While some of the participating teachers regarded it as s highly important component of communicative competence, others considered it the least important. Interview data revealed that those respondents who had assigned last position to sociocultural competence did acknowledge its importance; however, they did not feel the need to include it in their daily teaching practices. They were of the opinion that the input offered by EFL coursebooks was sufficient to achieve a high level of sociocultural competence.
Considering grammar and vocabulary building, the teacher participants demonstrated their preference for meaningful and communicative activities, and questioned the usefulness of mechanical practice tasks. Their opinion echoed the findings of the coursebook analysis, which indicated that only New Headway was observed to contain a large proportion of mechanical practice activities. New English File and Solutions placed the most emphasis on communicative activities and meaningful practice tasks, respectively.
Only about half of the participating teachers recognized the importance of correcting different typest of mistakes. Most of the participants paid the most attention to the correction of linguistic mistakes. This finding is all the more concerning given the fact that there is empirical evidence indicating the negative attitude to pragmatic and sociocultural mistakes (Bardovi-Harlig, Hartford, Mahan-Taylor, Morgan & Reynolds, 1996; Bardovi-Harlig &
Dörnyei, 1998).
4.3 Q3 What importance do intermediate Hungarian secondary school EFL learners attach to the components of communicative competence?
The questionnaire study with secondary school students shed further light on the multifaceted nature of communicative competence. Descriptive statistical values demonstrated that students gave priority to the spoken aspects of language use, such as vocabulary, strategic competence and actional competence. Written aspects of the language,
such as grammar and written textual competence, were considered to be significantly less important.
The Pearson correlation analysis of the questionnaire data also demonstrated the comprehensive and multi-layered nature of communicative competence. Several significant relationships were identifiable between the oral facets of the construct, such as actional, strategic, sociocultural and spoken discourse competence. A closer inspection of the effect of the frequency of different types of contact on the perceived importance of communicative competence indicated that even though there were strong relationships between Direct spoken contact, Cultural contact and the oral dimensions of communicative competence, no such correlation was observed between Direct written contact and the written aspects of the language.
Considering the perceived importance of the different components of the main construct, significant differences were observed between students learning English as a first foreign language and as a second (third, etc.) foreign language, with significantly lower mean values in almost all scales in the latter sub-sample. This observation is in accordance with previous empirical research (Csizér, 2003), which also indicated that learning a second foreign language might have a negative influence on the first foreign language to learn.
5 Conclusion
5.1 Summary of the findings
The first general conclusion to be drawn from the various sources of data is a certain mismatch between the content of EFL coursebooks and teachers’ and students’ expectations in terms of developing communicative competence. Both teachers and students indicated the importance of the oral facets of language use, strategic competence and actional competence in particular, nevertheless, coursebooks seemed to be lacking in this respect. Even in the more communicative coursebooks, New English File and Solutions, the explicit development of strategic competence hardly received any attention.
Two of the evaluated coursebooks, New English File and Solutions, were also found to be excellent sources for the development of sociocultural competence, on condition that an active role in the development is assumed by the teacher. However, neither the interview data nor data coming from the classroom observation sessions did reveal supplementary awareness raising or other practice activities included in the lessons. Even those participants
who acknowledged the importance of sociocultural competence did not feel the need to bring additional explicit cultural activities in the language classroom.
Finally, another issue worthy of note considers the development of the writing skill. Each of the three coursebooks under inspection introduced one written genre to be mastered in every unit. Considering the average number of lessons per week and the number of units in the coursebooks, it can be estimated that students have to write one longer written text per month, which is normally preceded by one preparatory lesson. This estimate was reinforced by data coming from the interviews. However, most of the teacher participants were in general agreement about the inadequate number of writing tasks throughout the coursebooks.
The fact that students perceived written discourse competence as the least important component of communicative competence might be a reflection of the way EFL coursebooks address writing.
5.2 Pedagogical implications
In this research project various issues have emerged which have certain implications to students, teachers, coursebook writers and other policy makers in the field of EFL teaching.
This section provides a summary of these issues.
The first general conclusion drawn from the various sources of data is the fact that present day language exams and language assessment keeps pace with major ELT methodological tendencies. The analysis of the three coursebooks as well as teachers’ classroom practices both indicated the end of, or at least a decline in, the traditional grammar-focused language exams. Even though students normally have to take a language exam at some point in their studies, EFL teachers do not have to choose between teaching the language communicatively or preparing for the exam.
Consequently, it was observed that an exam preparatory coursebook should not necessarily be a grammar-focused textbook with decontextualized practice tasks. This is partly due to the changing nature of language exams, which place increasing emphasis on measuring language proficiency on communicative exam tasks. However, some of the participating teachers in the interview study as well as participants in previous empirical research (Nazari, 2006; Nishino, 2007) claimed that they still tended to place more emphasis on teaching grammar due to exam requirements. Therefore, teachers’ awareness should further be raised to the more communicative exam requirements, since findings demonstrated that it is indeed possible to prepare students for different language exams AND teach communicatively. Similarly, grammar oriented coursebooks, such as New Headway, should
include a higher number of contextualized practice tasks, and consequently, less emphasis should be given to mechanical practice.
Considering coursebook content, coursebook writers and other materials designers should aim for a richer variety of activities dedicated to the development of each of the five components of communicative competence, with a special emphasis on sociocultural and strategic competence. Additionally, another area to be reconsidered is the teaching of writing, since both the coursebook analysis and the teacher participants’ dissatisfaction indicated the inadequate number of writing tasks in the three EFL coursebooks. A higher number of shorter writing tasks should be included in the lessons in addition to the one more complex piece of writing at the end of the coursebook units.
On the other hand, even though teachers doubtlessly recognized the comprehensive nature of communicative competence, more attention should be paid to the conscious and explicit development of sociocultural, actional and strategic competence in the foreign language classroom. To achieve this purpose, teachers should include considerably more additional awareness raising activities in the lessons. Additionally, raising teachers’ awareness to the comprehensive development of communicative competence might also be useful in pre- and in-service teacher training.
To raise teachers’, and in turn students’, awareness to the different types of mistakes would be of utmost importance. Teachers should place more emphasis on correcting pragmatic or sociocultural failures, since the judgement of these types of errors is much more negative by the target language community (Bardovi-Harlig & Dörnyei, 1998).
Finally, concernring Hungarian EFL students, questionnaire data revealed that students studying English as the second foreign language might also need special attention in terms of the way they perceived communicative competence. These students demonstrated a general tendency in attributing less importance to each of the components of communicative competence, with the exception of vocabulary and grammar than those participants for whom English was the first foreign language to learn. Therefore, teachers have to pay more attention to these students, since learning another foreign language might interfere (negatively) with learning English.
5.3 Limitations
Every research project has its limitations, and so does the current one. Considering the interview study, observing two lessons of each participant did not provide sufficient insight into teachers’ actual classroom practices. Data coming from the interviews certainly revealed
several aspects of the way EFL teachers addressed the development of communicative competence. However, in hindsight, repeated classroom observation sessions would definitely have identified factors which thus remained hidden.
A certain limitation of the questionnaire study lies in the relatively low internal reliability coefficients for some communicative competence scales. A careful reconsideration of the instrument and a repeated round of data collection would be advisable to obtain more reliable results. Likewise, collecting data from a larger representative sample would result in generalizable findings.
5.4 Directions for future research
During the research project, several future research areas have been identified. Previous research studies (Bardovi-Harlig & Dörnyei, 1998; Boxer & Pickering, 1995; Faerch &
Kasper, 1989) indicated a difference between the EFL and the ESL contexts in the treatment of the different components of communicative competence. Conducting interviews with ESL teachers or administering the questionnaire to students studying in an ESL context would certainly contribute to a better understanding of the construct.
Considering specific issues arising from the current research project, it was outside the scope of the current research project to explore the actual communicative competence of secondary school students. It would definitely be informative to EFL teachers to gather empirical data on and analyse language production from a communicative perspective.
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List of publications
Juhász, A. (2012). The curriculum of a Hungarian private language school: A case study. In É. Illés, & T. Eitler (Eds.), Studies in applied linguistics in honour of Edit H. Kontra (pp.
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