Testing Pragmatics; a Critical Insight

This paper is aimed to open a critical discussion regarding pragmatics tests by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of the most common data collection techniques; Discourse completion tasks, role plays, self-assessment tasks, and picture and video prompts. The paper also discusses the complexities associated with testing second language pragmatics in view of the contextualized and the social nature of pragmatics tests, variations in contextual and individual factors, and learners’ subjective choices which are interwoven with their identities and values as individuals. Moreover, it is argued that measuring learners’ pragmatic ability involves considering both comprehension and production modes of discourse because pragmatic failure results from a misunderstanding about what the speaker of the target language is saying or a failure to produce appropriate responses in relation to target language pragmatics norms (Thomas, 1983). The paper then concludes with critical reflections for the scoring criteria by considering issues of reliability, validity, and ethicality.

Keywords:

pragmatics tests , second language pragmatics , comprehension and production modes of discourse , scoring criteria