An Analysis of Mitigating Devices of Request Used by Saudi EFL Learners

Fadi Al Khasawneh

doi:10.32996/ijels.2021.3.11.7

Fadi Al Khasawneh

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.32996/ijels.2021.3.11.7

Copy DOI

Abstract

This study aimed at exploring the linguistic mitigating devices of requests used by Saudi EFL learners. The participants of this study were 97 students enrolled in the English program at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. The data of this study were collected by Discourse Completion Test (DCT) questionnaire designed for the purpose of this study. The questionnaire contained five different situations of request and the factor of Social Distance (SD) was incorporated to investigate any differences of the learners’ request strategies attributed to this factor. The data were classified according to the Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984). The findings of this study revealed that the participants preferred to use internal mitigating devices more frequently than external ones. They also were more direct when making requests and it seems that social distance does not play a significant role in the students’ modification strategies of requests.

Highlights

Fadi Maher Al Khasawneh Department of English Language, Faculty of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
Introduction1 Pragmatic competence has long been seen as the effective use of language to achieve a specific purpose and to understand language in context (Thomas, 1983) She breaks down pragmatic competence to pragma-linguistic competence, which refers to the use of proper language to recognize a certain speech act
The present study aims at seeking answers for the following research questions: 1. What are the mitigating devices of requests used by Saudi EFL learners? 2

Summary

Introduction

This study aimed at exploring the linguistic mitigating devices of requests used by Saudi EFL learners. The findings of this study revealed that the participants preferred to use internal mitigating devices more frequently than external ones They were more direct when making requests and it seems that social distance does not play a significant role in the students’ modification strategies of requests. Mitigating devices play a vital role in social function They are considered as strategic means for reducing or softening face-threatening that may arise in interlocution (Fraser, 1980). The previous literature has revealed very few studies that have investigated the use of mitigating devices of requests among Saudi EFL learners. How does the aspect of social distance affect the use of mitigating devices?

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion