A Pragmatic Analysis of Pragmatics of Speech Acts in English Language Classrooms at Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University

Abstract

This research is a pragmatic study aimed at identifying speech acts performed by Saudi English language teachers based on Searle's (1979) model of classifying speech acts focusing on the employment of illocutionary acts. The research applied a mixed research method to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data. The subjects of this study were five Saudi teachers who were giving classes to Level one and two students. The researcher played the role of a participant observer as the main first instrument. The second instrument was a digital recorder, and the secondary instruments were observation card and data sheet. The data were transcribed into written form, selected to fit the objectives of the study, recorded on the data sheet to complement the observation cards, and finally analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using the interactive qualitative method proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994). The research findings show that four kinds of speech acts were performed by the teacher: (a) representatives, (b) directives, (c) expressive, and (d) commissives. The most frequent speech acts used by all participants were directives with 426 instances. Representatives appeared in 213 utterances and occupied a second place among the other types. Expressives were used 84 times and therefore occupied third place. Commissives were revealed in only three instances. Throughout the analysis of the data, no instances of declarations were produced by any of participants. Therefore, the study found that Saudi teachers use speech acts during English language skills classes, and they employ four illocutionary acts out of the five types.