Challenges in Teaching Interlanguage Pragmatics at Private EFL Institutes in Iran

This study explored the challenges faced by instructors in integrating pragmatics instruction in their language classes. The participants of the study comprised 20 EFL Iranian instructors. Semi-structured interviews were used as the instrument for data collection and the data were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. Some pertinent and important challenges emerged from the data. Learners’ lack of cultural literacy, lack of instructional media facilities, instructors’ low implicit and explicit pragmatics knowledge and insufficient time in implementing the language syllabus were some. Other factors included the high volume of textbooks and lack of materials or input in teacher’s guidebooks, which contributes to lack or ignorance of interlanguage pragmatics instruction among instructors. The implication of the findings is that it is necessary to include pragmatics information in instructor’s guides, thereby enabling the teaching and dissemination of explicit information in relation to pragmatics issues in the language classroom. Instructors should be given sufficient input in guides and relevant materials to facilitate the teaching of this significant construct so that learners can acquire intercultural communicative competence and due emphasis can be given to pragmatics in teacher training courses.