The Pragmatics of Korean University Practical English Composition

Abstract

The significance of pragmatics relating to writing acquisition within South Korean universities is apparent as practical English writing courses are becoming increasingly more popular. This signifies ambitions by administration, students, and society as a whole to acquire real-world compositional skills. Unfortunately, writing instruction has been neglected thus creating contextual production deficiencies. Furthermore, underlying pragmatic factors affect perceived genre practicality, topic relevancy, and overall authenticity, which can decrease motivation. Therefore, this study will first reveal the current inadequacies of South Korean English composition instruction. It will then explore the shared values and social perceptions of practical English writing by revealing the student desired writing genres through the use of an in-depth survey. Lastly, the results of learner preferred academic situations will be examined by means of student interviews. The results will allow an educator to design practical English writing courses that are more relevant to their learners thus increasing student compositional competencies.