Handwritten Dialogues as Represented Interactional-Pragmatic Design in EFL: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Written dialogue occupies a distinctive position in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning because it is produced through writing while representing interaction between imagined speakers. This study examines independently authored handwritten dialogues as instances of represented interactional-pragmatic design, with particular attention to conversation-construction features, sequential organization, and communicative-pragmatic functions. Using a qualitative descriptive design and directed qualitative content analysis, the study analyzed 25 handwritten dialogue scripts produced by students in an English Education Study Program in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Two coders independently applied a 24-category binary coding framework to the complete dataset. Across 600 coding decisions, raw agreement reached 100%, with Cohen’s kappa of 1.00 for the 18 categories showing variation; for six invariant categories, agreement was reported using raw agreement only. A researcher-developed 20-item post-task perception questionnaire provided supplementary contextual data and was not treated as a measure of cognitive reflection or communicative competence. Topic introduction, topic development, and turn organization appeared in all scripts, while openings occurred in 92%, response relevance in 88%, and closings in 80%. Question-answer sequences occurred in all dialogues, followed in frequency by greeting-response (76%) and invitation-response (64%). The most frequent pragmatic functions were asking for information (100%), closing (80%), greeting (76%), and inviting (68%). These findings suggest that independently authored dialogue can serve as a stable textual artifact for examining how learners represent sequential and pragmatic organization. The study therefore treats written dialogue as a stable representation of interaction, distinct from spontaneous conversational competence.