PRESUPPOSITION AND ITS IMPLICATION IN TEACHING EFL

By:

Mulia Zalmetri (2223042011)

Sefira Sefriadi (2223042012)

MASTER OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY

2023
 INTRODUCTION

Transmitting a message or piece of information to another person is the process of

communication. At least two people are involved in this speaking and listening process. The

speaker expresses their thoughts and views that they want to convey, while the function of the

listener is to transform the speaker's words into a notion in order to comprehend them (Clark,

1977). The relationship between the two roles is very important for understanding each other.

This is intended to ensure two-way communication occurs, so that the goals of the

communication are achieved.

In its application, there are sometimes obstacles faced in transforming the implied

meaning. To obtain the appropriate meaning, assumptions can be made. As in Pragmatics which

has a definition as an interpretation expressed by the speaker and understood by the listener

(Yule, 1996). Listeners must evaluate the contexts in which the speaker uses his or her utterances

in order to understand them. Something that is assumed to be true is referred to as a

presupposition. This is an initial guess about what will be discussed before the speaker conveys

something in the communication (Manurung, 2020).

Presuppositions are related to assumptions that can be expressed verbally or nonverbally.

Its function is to emphasize the meaning of the speaker's point of view to the interlocutor

regarding the topic being discussed. The importance of this presupposition is to help the listener

understand what the speaker is talking about, so that communication can run appropriately. In

other words, this can be used as a tool to minimize ambiguity about something.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

One study in pragmatic studies called the presupposition which refers to the speaker's initial

guess regarding a topic of conversation. Itself derives from the verb "to presuppose," which

means to "suppose in advance." (Siahaan, 2020). This implies that a speaker or writer has an

initial assumption about what is being discussed before disclosing anything to the interlocutor.

Furthermore, presupposition is the idea that the listener is aware of the topic and the

information's context. The shared understanding of the environment, culture, beliefs, and

worldview constitutes the context. This permits the listener to evaluate a piece of information

correctly and draw the appropriate conclusion or assumption. In addition, Yule (1996) explains

presupposition is anything that the speaker believes to be true before making a statement. It

refers to how people may represent the use of cognition in the investigation of an intangible

meaning's component parts. Hence, Yule (1996) classifies the form of presupposition into six

categories, they are:

1) Existential

It is a form of assumption that claims the ownership or existence of something in the speaker's

utterance. This kind of presupposition demonstrates how the existence of a thing can be

conveyed by pre-existence. Certain characteristics here, such as the use of a possessive adjective

and specific certain phrases that indicate the existence of an object. Such examples are:

Jane’s bag is new.

Presuppose: Jane has a new bag and She had a bag before.

His cat looks cute.

Presuppose: He has a cat.

This kind of assumption relates to the information that contains a verbal vocabulary that can be

taken as factual or real. It is supported due to the presence characterized by the use of

vocabulary, including: know, realize, regret, glad, odd and aware. Those vocabularies make the

reader or writer believe the information conveyed in the facts provided by the speaker. Such

examples are:

Theresia realizes that he will never come back.

Presuppose: He does not come back.

All her classmates know that those girls are proud.

Presuppose: Those girls are proud.

3) Lexical

Lexical presupposition can be viewed as the speaker's expression and interpretation of meaning,

with the result that the listener can understand the confirmation of the assumption only after the

statement has been stated. In other words, the speaker can act as though a different meaning (or

word) will be understood. When a sentence is spoken, word forms like start, end, continue, carry,

leave, and stop can be employed as lexical presupposition indications. Such examples are:

Mark stopped his studies because of his family's financial problems.

Presuppose: Mark does not come to school anymore or he used to school.

The cat will start meowing when it is hungry.

Presuppose: Previously the cat did not meow or the cat will start to meow when it is hungry.
4) Structural

It is the presumption implied by the use of particular words and phrases. For instance, wh-

questions in English are conventionally interpreted with the presupposition that the information

after the wh-form (e.g. when and where) is already known to be the case. Instead of only the

person asking assumptions, the listener believes that the information presented is necessarily

true. Such examples are:

When did she write the book?

Presuppose: She wrote a book.

Where did you go on holiday?

Presuppose: She went somewhere on holiday.

5) Counterfactual

It is the assumption that what is presupposed is not only untrue, but is the opposite of what is

true, or contrary to facts. For instance, some conditional structures, mostly called counterfactual

conditionals, presuppose that the information, in the if- clauses, is not true at the time of

utterance. Moreover, the word“if” makes a contradictory presupposition from the utterance

delivered. Such examples are:

If you were my sister, I would not allow you to go camping.

Presuppose: You are not my sister.

If I had a lot of time, I would come to your house every day.

Presuppose: You do not have a lot of time.

This type is an assumption that has the opposite meaning of factive presupposition. It refers to an

assumption not to be true. The forms of the words indicate that the condition does not happen.

The following verbs are used with the presupposition, including: dream, imagine, likely and

pretend. Such examples are:

Jessica dreamed that she was in the first position in the class.

Presuppose: She is not in the first position.

It is likely he never comes early.

Presuppose: He is always late.

Those are the six types in presupposition, involving: Existential, Factive, Lexical, Structural

Counterfactual and Non-factive. All of these classifications have their own meaning and form in

conveying assumptions between the speaker and listener.

There are many studies that have been conducted related to presupposition. First, a study by

Merliyani Putri Anggraini and Ratih Novita Sari (2023) entitled “Teacher Talk: A Pragmatic

Analysis of Presupposition in English Teaching Classroom ''. The main focus of this study is a

pragmatic analysis of presuppositions made by an English instructor of university students at one

of Indonesia’s universities. This research uses qualitative methods. The findings show that the

English teacher employed a variety of presuppositions. Structural Presupposition and

CounterFactual Presupposition are the most frequently used types of presupposition. It could be

said that in the English teaching-learning activity, the teacher primarily used WH questions to

communicate the material and rarely used whether conditions to explain it to the students.

The second study is entitled “A Presupposition Analysis of Sea Foam Short Story in The Jakarta

Post on Monday, October 23rd, 2017”. This research has been completed by Anandya Syafirti

Sharil. The purpose of this research is to identify the types of presupposition and also the

dominant types of presupposition in the short story “Sea Foam” in The Jakarta Post on Monday,

October 23rd, 2017. The method uses a qualitative method and data collection techniques using

bibliographic techniques, and the use of research instruments using data cards. The findings

found there were 20 presuppositions, consisting of 8 lexical presuppositions, 5 factive

presuppositions, 3 existential presuppositions, 2 structural presuppositions, and 1 data for non-

factive presupposition and counterfactual presupposition per each.

The third study is conducted by Ricco entitled “An Analysis of Presupposition Used in Novel

Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows” (2012). To collect data, the researcher only used non-

participant observation and the research focused on the utterance in the novel as the primary data

of the research, but they do not use the entirety of the utterance in the novel. Based on their
research it can be concluded that in the “Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows” novel, the

presupposition that is most often raised is structural presupposition. As the data result, they

presented the data as follows: 5 lexical presuppositions, 12 existential presuppositions, 14

structural presuppositions, 11 factive presuppositions, and counterfactual presuppositions.

From the studies above, it can be concluded that studies on presupposition analysis can be done

by analyzing all types of presuppositions and also can focus on more or only one type of

presupposition in depth. The data sources of presuppositions analysis are also various. It can be

in the form of novels, articles, books, even teachers and students’ conversation in the classroom.
 THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PRESUPPOSITION IN TEACHING EFL

Presuppositions are necessary to comprehend because they aid the listener in

understanding the writer's or speaker's intended meaning. A presupposition is a beneficial tool

for managing information. This is proved when a speaker says a sentence to the audience and the

listener may infer what the sentence means from the sentence, whether it is true or not.

Therefore, during the teaching and learning process, it is also necessary to understand the

presuppositions that teachers make in utterances. In the context of classroom learning, there will

be the same or different presuppositions between teachers and students. Both teachers and

students infer more information because of the wider discussion of responses. The way of the

goal can be achieved in the delivery of material or conversations that occur between teachers and

students especially for English students who learn about foreign languages. Understanding what

the speaker assumes is very important to be explored more deeply so that an understanding of

what the speaker means in his utterance can be achieved.

Selinker (1974) states that to understand utterances, the speaker and listener have to

resort to various kinds of general knowledge. Both the participants should have prior knowledge

to be the case. It could not be understood independently by a single-way understanding.

Misunderstandings often occur when an implicit utterance is not caught or known by the listener.

Same prior information is required to understand the implicit intent of the speaker. That is why

presuppositions need to be learned. Holmes (1984) states that a correct interpretation is also

obtained from the students’ recognition teacher’s role in the classroom. When they are success in

recognizing the situation, they may respond with appropriate act. If both the teacher and the

students perform appropriate utterances and responses, there will be no miscommunication, and

the teaching and learning process will run well.

In conclusion, presuppositions play an important part in human language, daily life,

communication, and education. It is very important for teachers and students to be able to use

presuppositions in the classroom interactions to make sure that the learning process will run well.

For instance, students and teachers can use appropriate presuppositions through communication

in the teaching and learning process. Therefore, there will be no miscommunication or

misunderstandings in processing learning material. Thus, an understanding of presupposition and

the context of the situation when the communication process takes place is needed to understand

what the speaker conveys through his or her utterance that is conveyed implicitly.
 REFERENCES

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H. H, Clark, E. V. Clark. (1977). Psychology and Language. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

R. M. Manurung, D. E. Silalahi, and Herman. (2020) “Presupposition Analysis on Talk Show

Ricco Febrian, H. A. (2012). An Analysis of Presupposition Used in the Novel Harry Potter and

The Deathly Hallows. English Language and Literature, 1(1).

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