Request Strategies: Cross-Sectional Study of Iranian EFL Learners and Australian Native Speakers

Alireza Jalilifar

doi:10.5539/elt.v2n1p46

Abstract

This study was a cross-sectional investigation into the request strategies used by Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language and Australian native speakers of English. The sample involved 96 BA and MA Persian students and 10 native speakers of English. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was used to generate data related to the request strategies used by each group. Selection of request situations in DCT was based on two social factors of relative power and social distance. Although results revealed pragmatic development, particularly in the movement from direct to conventionally indirect strategies on the part of EFL learners, learners with higher proficiency displayed overuse of indirect type of requesting; whereas the native group was characterized by the more balanced use of this strategy. The lower proficiency learners, on the other hand, overused the most direct strategy type. In terms of the influence of the social variables, the findings of this research revealed that as far as social power is concerned EFL learners display closer performance to native speakers. But considering social distance, it seems that Iranian EFL learners have not acquired sufficient sociopragmatic knowledge to display proper social behavior.

Highlights

Successful communication entails knowledge of grammar and text organization as well as pragmatic aspects of the target language
In order to find the relationship between language proficiency levels of Iranian learners and type and frequency of request strategies, the Chi-square test was applied
The findings of this study provide some evidence of correlation between learners' level of language proficiency and type of requesting

Summary

Introduction

Successful communication entails knowledge of grammar and text organization as well as pragmatic aspects of the target language. According to Kasper (1984), what second language (L2) learners must know for successful speech act performance has been presented in a "top down processing" manner: Learners first have to recognize the extra-linguistic, cultural constraints that operate in a native speaker's choice of a particular speech act appropriate to the context. They have to know how to realize this speech act at the linguistic level and in accordance with the L2 sociocultural norms (p.3)

Methods

Results

Conclusion