Open or Traditional Education : Requesting in Interlanguage Pragmatics

Abstract

This paper is a comparative pragmalinguistic, sociopragmatic study of L2 request performance between learners in open and classical learning settings in Palestine. With the assumption that learners in both settings are driven by their L1 speech norms (L1 interference), the researcher tried to explain learners’ English language performance both pragmalinguistically, in regards to the level of indirectness and types of modification, and sociopragmatically, in regards to the impact of social parameters (status, distance and degree of imposition) on the level of indirectness and amount of modification. Since English and Arabic are distinct linguistically and culturally, the researcher tried to explain the extent of such influence with reference to language learning in both settings. The study was carried out at Al-Quds Open University (QOU) and the Arab American University (AAUJ) in Palestine. Discourse completion task (DCT) was used to collect relevant data, which were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings suggested that while QOU learners approximate L1 requesting norms pragmalinguistically and socipragmaically, AAUJ learners tend to play it safe through preference for norms that are less face threatening and more conforming to the English language traditions. The differences between the request performance of both groups of L2 learners could be attributed to the different methods of instruction and language learning policies at both universities. The study recommends a greater emphasis on face-toface meetings and the application of more interactive media for teaching and learning English as a foreign language in the open education settings.