Problems in the presentation of speech acts in ELT materials: the case of complaints

TLDR

The study surveys seven ELT texts to expose problems in how speech acts are presented, focusing on complaint/commiseration to illustrate the mismatch between textbook developers' intuitions and spontaneous speech data. The authors analyze the complaint/commiseration sequence and provide a sample lesson based on spontaneous speech to contrast with textbook presentations. They find that textbook intuition often diverges from naturalistic speech patterns and that key social strategies underlying speech acts are frequently omitted.

Abstract

This article surveys seven ELT texts that are organized around the teaching of functions in order to explicate several problems evident in their presentation of speech acts. A specific speech act sequence, that of complaint/commiseration, is the focus of the analysis. This speech behaviour is highlighted in order to demonstrate the mismatch between data from spontaneous speech, and data that is contrived through the native speaker intuitions of textbook developers. A first problem is that intuition about speech act realization often differs greatly from the way in which naturalistic speech patterns out. Second, it is demonstrated that important information on underlying social strategies of speech acts is often overlooked entirely. A sample lesson on complaining/commiserating based on spontaneous speech is offered, to draw a contrast with the lessons on complaining presented in the texts surveyed.