The Realization of Complaint Strategies among Iranian Female EFL Learners and Female Native English Speakers: A Politeness Perspective

Atefeh Eshraghi,Mohsen Shahrokhi

doi:10.5539/ijel.v6n2p9

Abstract

<p>Speech acts are interesting areas of research and there has been much research on speech acts. Complaint is a type of speech act and how to use it in interaction is important to EFL learners. The complaint strategies employed by Iranian female EFL learners and female English native speakers were compared in this study. Also, the effects of contextual variables (Social distance and Social power) on the choice of complaint strategies by Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers were studied in this research. Thirty Iranian female EFL learners and thirty female native English speakers participated in this study. The two instruments which were used in this study included Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The (DCT), as an open-ended questionnaire was administrated to them to elicit complaint speech acts. Then, the collected data were analyzed according to a modified taxonomy of complaint strategies proposed by Trosoborg (1995). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers in terms of using complaint strategies. Iranian female EFL learners used indirect complaint, while female native English speakers used the direct complaint more frequently; and contextual variables had a great influence on complaint strategy choice by participants of two groups.</p>

Highlights

1.1 Background to the StudyDuring recent years, communicative competence has been paid more attention in the field of second/foreign language teaching and learning
The data gathered through the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and Discourse Completion Test (DCT) provided the researchers with adequate and acceptable information based on the participants’ ideas
The main objective of the current study, as it was stated, was to investigate what kinds of complaining strategies female native English speakers and Iranian female EFL learners employ in order to cope with different complaint contexts

Summary

Introduction

Communicative competence has been paid more attention in the field of second/foreign language teaching and learning. Heyms (1972) states that second language learners must learn to speak grammatically, and “appropriately” to achieve communicative goals. Tank (2002) states speakers who seem fluent in a foreign language due to their command of the grammatical rules of that language and its vocabulary may still lack pragmatic competence as a component of communicative competence, and as a result they may not be able to produce language that is socially and culturally appropriate. Speech acts have traditionally been regarded as one of the major areas of pragmatic studies (Levinson, 1983). The theory of speech acts was first proposed by Austin (1962) and later developed by Searle (1969). The theory of speech acts was first proposed by Austin (1962) and later developed by Searle (1969). Austin (1962) views “saying something” as “doing” things, performing actions such as paying compliments, making requests, extending invitations and others

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Conclusion