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Title: Evaluating the pragmatic competence of Croatian business English students
Vol. 14(1), 2026, pp. 70-87.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46687/JMMK3439
Author: Mirna Harwood
About the author: Mirna Harwood is a lecturer at Faculty of Tourism and Rural Development, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, where she teaches Business English and English for Enogastronomy. Her courses focus on developing students' professional communication skills in specialised contexts, with emphasis on real-life language use in business and hospitality settings. Research interests include pragmatics, sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics, especially the role language in professional and intercultural communication. She is a PhD student at Doctoral School of J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek in the Interdisciplinary Programme in Culture and Arts, where her research investigates how language, culture and existential space converge.
E-mail: mharwood@ftrr.hr
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7734-9110
Link: http://silc.fhn-shu.com/issues/2026-1/SILC_2026_Vol_14_Issue_1_070-087_18.pdf
Citation (APA): Harwood, M. (2026). Evaluating the pragmatic competence of Croatian business English students. Studies in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT, 14(1), 70-87. https://doi.org/10.46687/JMMK3439
Abstract: The study investigated the pragmatic competence of Croatian Business English students and it focused on participants’ ability to utilise appropriate, polite, and clear language in business communication. Thirty-seven participants completed a mixed-methods questionnaire comprised of self-assessment, discourse completion task, an email completion task, role-play scenario, and multiple-choice questions. The responses were evaluated using a fifty-point scale based on three criteria: appropriateness, politeness and tone, and grammar and clarity. Findings indicated that participants generally demonstrated a solid understanding of pragmatic strategies, especially in requests and refusals. Some challenges were detected in expressing disagreement and directness softening. Participants demonstrated a high level of self-awareness, particularly in apologies and recognising differences between formal and informal language. Findings show differences between perceived and actual performance in more subtle tasks. There is also an indication that exposing students to communicative teaching approaches such as direct method, communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching may encourage pragmatic awareness. This study emphasises the importance of integrating explicit teaching of pragmatics in Business English and suggests further research on the use of pragmatic strategies and changes in development over a longer period.
Key words: pragmatic competence, Business English, politeness strategies, appropriateness strategies, workplace communication
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