Advanced Chinese EFL Learners’ Performance on Request

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the performance of advanced Chinese EFL learners in making requests in different situational contexts. Request, as a sub type of directives, refers to attempts made by a speaker to persuade or dissuade the hearer from performing some kind of action for the benefit of the speaker (Ellis, 2008). According to Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, making a request is considered a face-threatening act since it involves imposing one’s will on the hearer. Consequently, indirect request strategies are generally preferred by speakers as they help mitigate any potential imposition on the hearer’s face. However, this is not always the case. Brown and Levinson (ibid.) argue that the specific semantic formula used by speakers depends on contextual factors such as power dynamics between speaker and hearer, social distance between them, and size of imposition involved. In other words, making requests requires language learners to consider various aspects including linguistic form, communicative function, and situational context; thus placing significant cognitive burden on them due to their limited working memory capacity. As a result, breakdowns in communication often occur when EFL learners attempt to make requests.