Enhancing Saudi Female EFL Learners' Complaint Strategies

Authors

  • Albandary Ibrahim Alhammad

    Prince Sattam Bin Abdelaziz University (PSAU), Al-Kharj 16273, Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i4.9005
Received: 7 March 2025 | Revised: 14 April 2025 | Accepted: 15 April 2025 | Published Online: 19 April 2025

Abstract

This study examined the impact of explicit instruction on the development of appropriate complaint strategies among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Specifically, it focused on students' ability to produce both direct and indirect complaints in various social and academic contexts. Given the importance of pragmatic competence in effective communication, the study aimed to determine whether explicit instruction could enhance learners' ability to formulate complaints that align with sociocultural norms in English. A true-experimental design was employed, involving 70 university students at the B2 CEFR level, randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. A Computer-Animated Production Task (CAPT) was used as a pre-test and post-test to measure differences in complaint production between the groups. Data were collected through a production task designed to assess students' ability to generate pragmatically appropriate complaints. The effectiveness of explicit instruction was measured immediately after the intervention. The findings revealed that students in the experimental group significantly improved their ability to produce appropriate complaint strategies, outperforming the control group in the post-test assessment. These results underscore the effectiveness of explicit instruction in fostering pragmatic competence among EFL learners, reinforcing the need for incorporating pragmatic instruction into language curricula.

Keywords:

Appropriate Complaint Choices; Explicit Instruction; Pragmatics; CAPT; EFL

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How to Cite

Alhammad, A. I. (2025). Enhancing Saudi Female EFL Learners’ Complaint Strategies. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(4), 1097–1108. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i4.9005

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 4 (April 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Albandary Ibrahim Alhammad

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.