PRAGMALINGUISTIC COMPETENCE AND COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN TESOL: INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS FOR EFL LEARNERS

In the context of globalization, communicative competence has become a central objective of English language teaching. However, many EFL learners demonstrate grammatical accuracy while lacking pragmalinguistic competence in real communicative situations. This study addresses the gap between linguistic knowledge and pragmatic performance by examining the effects of explicit pragmalinguistic instruction on learners’ speech act production. A quasi-experimental design was employed with 40 intermediate EFL learners recruited from social media learning groups and randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. Data were collected using Discourse Completion Tasks, role-play assessments, and a metapragmatic awareness questionnaire. The findings reveal that learners who received explicit instruction showed statistically significant improvement in pragmatic appropriateness compared to those receiving regular communicative instruction. The results indicate that targeted pragmatics instruction enhances communicative competence and interactional effectiveness. These findings imply that English language curricula should integrate pragmalinguistic components through role-play, reflection, and contextualized practice to prepare learners for authentic communication.