Grice’s Cooperative Principle in Talk Active 2 Textbook Dialogues

Elvaretha Lintang Novita, Christianti Tri Hapsari

Abstract


Pragmatic competence is essential in EFL learning because students need to understand how meaning is used appropriately in context. Although many studies have examined pragmatics in English textbooks, limited research has investigated the representation of Grice’s maxims in Indonesian EFL textbooks, particularly Talk Active 2. This study aims to examine how Grice’s Cooperative Principle is represented in the dialogues of Talk Active 2 and to identify cases of maxim observance and non-observance. A descriptive qualitative design with content analysis was used. The data consisted of all 18 dialogues found in the textbook, which were analyzed based on the maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner. The findings show that most dialogues observe the maxims, while limited cases of non-observance appear as flouting and opting out. The study concludes that Talk Active 2 mainly presents cooperative and pedagogically simplified communication for EFL learners.


Keywords


Grice’s Cooperative Principle; Conversational Maxims; Textbook Dialogue; EFL Textbook; Pragmatic Competence

References


Ariani, M., Basthomi, Y., & Prayogo, J. A. (2021). The role of pragmatic socialization in building learners’ pragmatic competence from English teachers’ perspectives. Pegem Egitim ve Ogretim Dergisi, 11(4), 197–208. https://doi.org/10.47750/pegegog.11.04.19

Bengtsson, M. (2016). How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. NursingPlus Open, 2, 8–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.npls.2016.01.001

Berutu, H., & Daulay, S. H. (2023). Pragmatics teaching barriers in EFL classroom. Tell-Us Journal, 9(2), 348–363. https://doi.org/10.22202/tus.2023.v9i2.6725

Bui, L. T. N., & Nguyen, M. T. T. (2023). A pragmatic analysis of Vietnamese EFL textbooks: The case of disagreement. The Journal of AsiaTEFL, 20(4), 754–772. http://journal.asiatefl.org/sub/journal_detail.html?code=441325

Elo, S., Kääriäinen, M., Kanste, O., Pölkki, T., Utriainen, K., & Kyngäs, H. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: A focus on trustworthiness. Sage Open, 4(1), 2158244014522633. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014522633

Erlinda, R., Afrinursalim, H., & Dinarta, F. (2023). The positive politeness strategies used in “English for Nusantara” textbook. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 8(3), 265. https://doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v8i3.1158

Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and Conversation (pp. 41–58). Brill. https://doi.org/ 10.1163/9789004368811_003

Halenko, N., & Wang, J. (2022). Pragmatics in English language learning. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894241

Hu, Y. (2024). A socio-cognitive reinterpretation of Grice’s theory of conversation. Intercultural Pragmatics, 21(1), 99–119. https://doi.org/doi:10.1515/ip-2024-0004

Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. (2014). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833842

Jiang, S., & Deng, L. (2022). Pragmatic analysis of EFL textbooks: The explicit representation of speech acts in senior high textbooks in China. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies, 126–145. https://doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v6i2.392

Li, M., & Chen, Y. (2025). In the wild? Evaluating the authenticity of conversation openings and closings in EFL/ESL textbooks. Linguistics and Education, 86, 101392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2025.101392

Lin, M.-F., Chen, Y., & Rau, M. (2025). Pragmatic content in Taiwan’s EFL junior high school textbooks. English Teaching & Learning, 49(4), 651–681. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-024-00198-5

Meiratnasari, A., Wijayanto, A., & Suparno, S. (2019). An analysis of politeness strategies in Indonesian English textbooks. ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 2(4 SE-Articles), 529–540. https://doi.org/10.34050/els-jish.v2i4.8393

Nur Ardini, S., Senowarsito, S., Suwandi, S., & Musarokah, S. (2022). Pragmatics based textbooks: Do they fulfil the needs of teachers and students? KnE Social Sciences, 2022, 520–531. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v7i14.12005

Pan, M. X., & Zhu, Y. (2022). Researching English language textbooks : A systematic review in the Chinese context. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-022-00156-3

Ren, W., & Han, Z. (2016). The representation of pragmatic knowledge in recent ELT textbooks. ELT Journal, 70(4), 424–434. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccw010

Schauer, G. A. (2022). Teaching L2 pragmatics to young learners A review study. Applied Pragmatics, 2(April), 137–158. https://doi.org/10.1075/ap.00006.sch

Sersanawawi, L., & Daulay, S. H. (2023). Indonesian junior high school EFL textbook: Intercultural pragmatic perspective. Journal of English Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Literature Studies, 3(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.30984/jeltis.v3i1.2315

Sudartini, S., Sutrisno, A., & Roselani, N. G. A. (2024). Speech acts in Indonesian high school EFL textbooks: Representation and learning implications. Jurnal Kependidikan: Penelitian Inovasi Pembelajaran, 8(1 SE-Original Article), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.21831/jk.v8i1.73925

Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91–112. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/4.2.91

Wang, Y., Al-Shaibani, G., & Jiang, N. (2024). Pragmatic competence of EFL and ESL learners and its influencing factors: A systematic review. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10, 122–140.

Yalew, M. Y., Amogne, D., & Simegn Chanie, B. (2024). The ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of pragmatics pedagogy in EFL/L2: meta-analysis review. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 42(4), 467–494. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2024.2316678

Yang, H. (2022). Second language learners’ competence of and beliefs about pragmatic comprehension: Insights from the Chinese EFL context. 12(January). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.801315




DOI: https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v11i3.2527

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 Elvaretha Lintang Novita, Christianti Tri Hapsari

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.