Investigating the coverage of speech acts in Hong Kong ELT textbooks

Abstract

In this investigation, speech acts targeted for instruction in ELT (English Language Teaching) textbooks commonly used in Hong Kong were examined using relational content analysis. The aim was to discover which speech acts are frequently presented or not evident, so that this information could be compared to that which has been found in prior studies in other locations. This is important because, from a pedagogical viewpoint, teachers need to ensure textbooks help students learn to use as wide a range of speech acts as possible. As textbooks also need to provide clear examples and information to help learners understand how and when to use speech acts, in this research, the presentation of the speech acts was examined to identify the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic information. It was found that there was a tendency to include certain speech acts much more frequently than others, and that some were not included at all. There was also a general lack of clear pragmalinguistic (such as the presentation of indirect speech acts) and sociopragmatic information (such as dealing with high degrees of social distance) presented. This suggests that these factors could be given further consideration and that there are improvements that could be made to both the way that textbooks are written and selected for use. Therefore, this study contributes valuable information about the speech acts in Hong Kong ELT textbooks to and has important implications for both textbook writers and English teachers regarding the field of pragmatics.