Effect of Explicit Separate and Explicit Integrated Pragmatic Learning Strategies-Based Instruction on EFL Learners’ Speech Act Comprehen-sion: Apology and Request in Focus

Despite the significance of comprehension of L2 pragmatic features, research into speech acts’ comprehension is at a premium. The present study sought to examine the impact of explicit sep-arate and explicit integrated strategies-based instruction (SBI) on Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' comprehension of apology and request speech acts. The participants consisted of 90 convenience-sampled intermediate EFL learners, who were randomly divided into 3 groups: an explicit separate SBI group (ESG; N = 30), an explicit integrated SBI group (EIG; N = 30), and a control group (CG; N = 30). Given the study’s counterbalanced design, ESG and EIG both had two 15-member subgroups, differing in the order of presentation of im-plicit and explicit strategies. ESG received explicit instruction and modeling of the strategies by the teacher before practicing them. Conversely, EIG engaged in pragmatic learning strategy use practice during pragmatic learning tasks. Speech act-containing video vignettes and predicting tasks were deployed as the means of practicing and presenting pragmatic learning strategies. CG, on the other hand, did not receive any pragmatics-focused instruction. A 20-item multiple-choice discourse completion test was deployed as the pre-and post-test with all the groups. ANCOVA results indicated the significant gain of both ESG and EIG from the pre-treatment to the post-treatment phase, with EIG outperforming ESG. These findings contribute to the under-standing of the effectiveness of explicit pragmatic learning SBI, whether separate or integrated, in enhancing learners' pragmatic comprehension, and have implications for attempts at facilitat-ing L2 learners’ interlanguage pragmatic development.