An investigation into the interlanguage pragmatic competence of learners at Eenhana Secondary School

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dc.contributor.authorNamundjebo, Ndeutila Uunyuni
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-08T12:13:23Z
dc.date.available2025-04-08T12:13:23Z
dc.date.issued2025-04-08
dc.descriptionTHESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUPERVISOR: PROF. HAILELEUL ZELEKE WOLDEMARIAM
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate the interlanguage pragmatic competence of learners at Eenhana Secondary School. The study sought to analyse the strategies employed by learners when performing the speech acts of request, apologising and refusal, as they interact with their teachers and fellow learners. The causes of interlanguage pragmatic failure among the learners were examined, and the different strategies to enhance the learners’ pragmatic competence were also assessed using the interlanguage pragmatics theoretical framework. A mixed method approach was used for data collection and analysis. The study made use of a random sampling method to collect quantitative data, while purposive sampling was employed to gather qualitative data. The study employed two instruments for the data collection process; A Written Discourse Completion Test which was administered to a study sample of 165 Grade 11 learners, and an interview guide containing structured questions was given to 7 English teachers to elicit data for the factors of interlanguage pragmatic failure and the linguistic strategies to enhance pragmatic competence. The findings of the investigation revealed that interlanguage pragmatic failure is present at Eenhana Secondary School, as learners tend to use direct strategies when formulating the speech acts of request and refusal. Moreover, the findings showed that learners are able to offer expressions of apologies, however, they tend to overuse one particular strategy the most. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that there is a limitation of pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge as well as a lack of sociocultural awareness among the learners, resulting from ineffective language teaching and limited exposure to the target language. The study concluded that for effective interactions to take place, then the learners need to develop a culture of reading English literature, as it reflects real life interactions, incorporate pragmatic content into the four English language skills and to use multimedia content, as they offer authentic instructional input.
dc.identifier.citationNamundjebo, N. U. (2025). An investigation into the interlanguage pragmatic competence of learners at Eenhana Secondary School [Master's thesis, Namibia University of Science and Technology].
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10628/1052
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNamibia University of Science and Technology
dc.subjectinterlanguage pragmatic competence
dc.subjectlearners
dc.subjectsecondary school
dc.subjectNamibia
dc.titleAn investigation into the interlanguage pragmatic competence of learners at Eenhana Secondary School
dc.typeThesis

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