An Investigation into the Effect of Authentic Materials on Improving Intermediate EFL Learners' Pragmatic Competence

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of authentic materials on improving intermediate EFL learners' pragmatic competence. To this end, 140 female Iranian EFL learners were originally employed out of which 60 participants were selected as a homogeneous sample based on their performance an OPT and then they were divided into equal groups; an experimental and a control group. Having received a diagnostic pragmatic test, the former group was exposed to authentic materials, while the latter one to conventional pedagogic materials. Afterwards, they received a posttest identical to the pretest; measuring pragmatic competence. The data analysis through an independent sample t-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed on the posttest of pragmatic competence. In other words, teaching authentic materials showed to have a significant effect on improving learners' pragmatic competence.