An Investigation into Pragmatic Knowledge in the Reading Section of TOLIMO, TOEFL, and IELTS Examinations

The present study focused on the analysis of listening sections of two international English proficiency tests, i.e. IELTS and TOEFL tests, and one local English proficiency test, i.e. TOLIMO from pragmatic perspective. An attempt was made to explore the areas of pragmatic knowledge presented, and to assess test takers’ pragmatic knowledge. For this purpose, 250 items from each of these three proficiency tests were collected and analyzed. IELTS and TOLIMO tests were taken from preparation textbooks available in the market, and TOEFL tests were taken from the tests administered from 2000 to 2004. To elucidate what areas of pragmatic knowledge was involved in each item, Jung’s (2002) classification of components of pragmatic knowledge was used. In this study, pragmatic knowledge, includedthe ability to perform speech acts, the ability to convey and interpret non-literal meanings, the ability to perform politeness functions, the ability to perform discourse functions, and the ability to use cultural knowledge. The results of the study showed that TOLIMO, TOEFL and IELTS tests are able to assess test takers’ pragmatic knowledge; however, higher instances of pragmatic knowledge components were involved in TOEFL and TOLIMO test.