Developing a multiple-choice discourse completion test of interlanguage pragmatics for Iranian EFL learners

Abstract

The researchers in this study developed a Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT) to assess the pragmatic knowledge of Iranian EFL learners in relation to the speech acts of request and apology in EFL classrooms. The development process involved several steps. The first step was exemplar generation. Ninety three Iranian EFL learners at two universities in Tehran were asked to write, in either English or Persian, the situations in which they would request or apologize. The second step was situation likelihood investigation in which the researchers investigated how far the situations suggested by the learners in step one were likely to occur in reality. The third step was scenario generation and initial piloting. For so doing, the generated open ended situations were given to a group of native speakers and nonnative intermediate and advanced learners to respond to the situations. The fourth step included the development of the multiple choices. The responses given in the previous step were used as distracters and correct options for the MDCT items. The fifth step was allocated to the final piloting of the MDCT which confirmed that all the native speakers chose the key as the most appropriate answer to the situations provided. Key Terms: Pragmatics Test, Apology, Request

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