Parviz Birjandi - Professor of Applied Linguistics, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Mehdi Soleimani - Ph.D. Candidate, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran

Very few attempts have been made in the past to develop instruments to measure pragmatic knowledge of second language (L2) learners. The absence of such instruments in the literature of English language teaching (ELT) underscores the need for the researchers to develop new tests that are specifically designed to assess this crucial but less explored aspect of language learners’ (LLs) knowledge. In line with this objective, the present study was conducted to develop and validate four tests of pragmatic knowledge that measured LLs’ knowledge of speech acts. The following steps were taken in this study to develop the written discourse completion tests (WDCTs) and the multiple-choice discourse completion tests (MCDCTs) that respectively measured the test takers’ ability to produce and comprehend request speech act. During the prototype step the researchers identified the content and thenumber of items for each designated test battery. At the test construction step the sociolinguistic variables of power (P), social distance (D), and absolute rank of imposition (R) were inserted into the content of the test items. Finally, at the validation step the reliability of the tests was examined. The finding of the study showed that the constructed test batteries were sufficiently reliable and valid for measuring pragmatic knowledge of L2 learners

pragmatic competence, interlanguage pragmatics, test development,speech acts