English language learners’ pragmatic knowledge: Do motivation type and proficiency level matter?

Communicating appropriately in English is one of the most valuable assets among EFL learners all over the world and respectively in Iran. However, learners with a high proficiency level and a great desire toward learning a foreign language face many primary problems due to their lack of pragmatic knowledge and not being aware of this capacity. To this end, this article is based on a study which examined the differences among EFL learners’ pragmatic knowledge with regard to their motivation types and proficiency level. The focus of this study was on 56 B.A students majoring English Translation and English Language and Literature. The participants were selected Non-randomly and during the first session, they were asked to administer the motivation questionnaire (mini–AMBT) and Oxford Placement Test (OPT). In the second session, the participants completed a Written Discourse Completion Test. The collected data was analyzed through different independent sample t-tests and one-way ANOVA. The results indicated that EFL learners with different types of motivation performed differently in their pragmatic knowledge test. Another finding of this study showed that even high level of proficiency does not support pragmatic knowledge and learners with different proficiency levels performed almost the same.