Problems and Diffculties Encountered by EFL University Students in Using Adjective Intensifiers

Abstract

Adjective intensifiers play an important role in the process of communication in conveying the attitude of the speaker or writer. They are used to focus the reader’s attention as well as to enhance the meaning of adjectives in their writing. The main problem is that English foreign language learners lack the ability to use these intensifiers in relevant register. Also, these intensifiers may perform syntactic and semantic functions and it may overlap and cause ambiguity. This study aims at highlighting the importance of using these intensifiers in written discourse. This study hypothesizes the following:1. English foreign language learners use adjective intensifiers in their writing.2. English foreign language learner’s vocabulary is insufficient, and thus they try to use the intensifiers in order to hide their lexical insufficiency.3. Misuse of intensifiers may lead to semantic or pragmatic misunderstanding and affects negatively on communication.4. The grammatical proficiency of English foreign language learners does not confirm the appropriate use of intensifiers in written production.This work is limited to the fourth-year students in translation department, college of Arts, Tikrit University. The researcher takes the following procedures:1. Constructing T-Test.2. Dividing the test into: a Pre-Test, and a post test.3. Calculating the mean score statistically in both of the two tests.4. The researcher discusses the results of both test in order to prove the hypotheses.In this study, the researcher adopts Quirk et al. (1999) model concerning the intensifiers.