Yasemin Aksoyalp

Interlanguage Refusals: the Case of Turkish-efl Learners: a Cross-cultural Investigation Yasemin Aksoyalp

As it has been mentioned by many researchers, most of the problems that EFL learners encounter are mainly pragmatic due to restricted exposure to authentic language use and pragmatic component is often neglected in instructional settings. Thus, EFL learners often complain that they fail to use pragmatically appropriate expressions. Taking this issue into account, arranging learning opportunities which are conducive to the development of pragmatic competence is considered as one of the effective ways to improve EFL learners' pragmatic development. To achieve the aim mentioned above, the present study aspires to examine the pragmatic productions of the Turkish EFL learners(Interlanguage-IL group)and find out if there is any evidence of pragmatic transfer in their refusal performances. The results indicated that the IL group were observed to fall back on Turkish pragmatic knowledge in their refusal responses. In order to help learners to become pragmatically competent in English, this study offers learner-based instructional techniques and strategies which aim to guide foreign language students in their journey towards developing their pragmatic competence.