Request Speech Research Articles

The Effect of Explicit Metapragmatic Instruction on Request Speech Act Awareness of Intermediate EFL Students at Institute Level

This study deals with the application of the pragmatics research to EFL teaching. The need for language learners to utilize a form of speech acts such as request which involves a series of strategies was significance of the study. Although defining different speech acts has been established since 1960s, recently there has been a shift towards empirical studies which focus on perception and production of various speech acts by EFL or ESL learners. The present article reveals the researcher’s interest in a set of strategies in which native speakers of target language use for performing speech activities. The study intended to enhance EFL learners’ awareness of request speech act by teaching the materials used for speech acts. To achieve the aim, the teacher used some sorts of educational activities such as teacher-fronted discussions; role plays, cooperative grouping, and other pragmatically oriented tasks were used to increase the learning of speech acts. Discourse Completion Test was developed as a pretest and posttest to measure the effects of instruction on the pragmatic awareness of the students. The results revealed a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the use of request speech act in experimental group.

A Pragmatic Study of Requestive Speech Act by Iranian EFL Learners and Canadian Native Speakers in Hotels

This study was an attempt to shed light on the use of requestive speech act by Iranian nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English and Canadian native speakers (NSs) of English to find out the (possible) similarities and/or differences between the request realizations, and to investigate the influence of the situational variables of power, distance, context familiarity, and L1’s (possible) influence. Participants were 4 different groups: Canadian NSs of English, Persian NNSs, Iranian hotel staff, and Iranian English learners. Data were obtained by a discourse completion test (DCT) including 12 situations and was translated into Persian to elicit the data from the Persian NNSs. Then, data were analyzed and codified based on the cross-cultural speech act realization pattern (CCSARP; Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984). Findings indicated that the Persian culture is more direct and positive-politeness oriented, whereas the Canadian culture tends to be indirect and negative-politeness oriented. The Iranians revealed more variations in their request performance and were more sensitive to power differences. The Canadians were fixed and used conventionally indirect strategies in most situations.

The Impact of Deductive, Inductive, and L1-Based Consciousness-Raising Tasks on EFL Learners' Acquisition of the Request Speech Act

The necessity and importance of teaching pragmatics has come to light by many researchers (e.g. Rose & Kasper, 2001). Due to the consensus over the need to teach pragmatic competence, the main issue now centers on the question of how we should teach this competence in the most effective way. Consistent with this line of research, the present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of deductive, inductive, and L1-based consciousness-raising instructional tasks on EFL learners' acquisition of the request speech act during a seven-week instruction period. The results obtained through a written DCT administered to 140 EFL learners indicated that instruction had a significantly positive effect on learners' acquisition of the request speech act. The comparison of the task types demonstrated that, all in all, the deductive task was the most effective one. Furthermore, the results showed that the learners were generally receptive to L1-based awareness-raising tasks and that these tasks were more effective than inductive tasks. This study suggests that consciousness-raising instructional tasks could be utilized in raising students’ sociopragmatic awareness and be applied in helping them develop their interlanguage pragmatics.

Critical Analysis of Teaching-Learning of the Korean Request Speech Acts －Focused on the Beginner Level Materials－

Critical Analysis of Teaching-Learning of the Korean Request Speech Acts －Focused on the Beginner Level Materials－

A Comparative Study on Request Speech Acts between Korean Language and Japanese Language Shown in Remake Dramas

A Comparative Study on Request Speech Acts between Korean Language and Japanese Language Shown in Remake Dramas

A Study on the Implementation Patterns of Request Speech Acts by Korean Learners in Spoken Discourse.

There are relatively many researches on request speech acts of the various fields of Korean education, but many of them employed a questionnaire-type discourse completion test for data collection and thus provided no information on how Korean learners actually made request speech acts in a spoken language environment. Although a discourse completion test is useful for examining the patterns and strategies of using polite expressions by many learners according to their social relationships, it is difficult to get an overall picture of how the primary and auxiliary speech acts are performed in request speech acts with such a test. It is also difficult to discuss whether request expressions learned by many learners can be put to immediate use in a spoken language situation with a discourse completion test since it is a writing task in many cases. This study thus set out to examine how request expressions and strategies learned in the classroom were utilized and whether there would be differences in expressions and strategies according to the content of request by analyzing the materials of learners who performed a task of leaving a message by phone in order to supplement the lacking aspects of a discourse completion test suggested in previous discussions.(Dong-A University)

(Mis)use of e-mail in student-faculty interaction: Implications for university instruction in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Japan

This paper examines student-faculty communication by email and the lack of clear guidelines that leads to misuse of email in student-faculty interaction, whereby status-incongruent pragmatic markers are employed, resulting in impoliteness and inappropriateness. The main objective is to bridge the gap in research on other than requestive speech acts in this particular type of e-interaction, taking into account various pragmatic markers and cultural determinants of the subjects’ email communication styles. The main purpose of the study was to determine whether and to what degree the use of pragmatic markers by students is congruent with the English netiquette in this specific domain. Moreover, the aim was to investigate the relation of the usage of speech acts and pragmatic markers by students to politeness, as well as to cross-culturally compare the data obtained. The research questions were as follows: Which pragmatic markers distinguish students of different nationalities and in different university settings? What are other than requestive purposes for which students deploy email communication? Which pragmatic markers, in general, are associated with student-faculty email? Is there a correlation between the three countries represented in the corpus and (im)politeness based on the data found in all the emails? What are the implications of the study for computer-mediated language learning? The corpus consisted of 1,200 student-faculty emails written in an academic domain by university students from a German university, a Saudi Arabian university, and two Japanese universities (400 emails per country). The research method employed was of mixed qualitative-quantitative nature, with the focus on pragmatic analysis of speech acts with their illocutionary force and functions, as well as on their impact on the receiver (perlocution). It was determined that the impolite acts occurred most frequently in the corpus. This shows that students appear not to be aware of the role their email messages play in creating an impression on faculty and that structured instruction in email writing is required to improve the situation. The lack of pragmatic competence was found in all three groups of students, independent of the proficiency level and seniority; whereby explicit course guidance in email writing and its netiquette had a clear positive effect on the student-faculty interaction in terms of appropriateness and the level of politeness.

Study Abroad and Interlanguage Pragmatic Development in Request and Apology Speech Acts among Iranian Learners

This research study empirically investigated the impact of study abroad context on L2 learners’ pragmatic development compared with study at home group in Iran. For the study abroad group the participants were selected from the Iranian students who registered in a six-month program in language institutes in India (Mysore) and for the study at home group the participants were chosen from the language learners at the most outstanding language institute in Iran (Iran Language Institute) at the intermediate level. A Discourse Completion Task (DCT) including request and apology speech acts was used to measure the gains in the two groups. The DCT was administered one at the beginning as a pre-test and then at the end of the six months course as a post-test. Overall, the study revealed significant development in study abroad learners’ pragmatic knowledge, whereas this change in at home group was meager. It was also found that a correlation governs the growth in apology and request proficiency in language learning. This comparative study moreover yielded this finding that gender is not a determining factor in the acquisition of pragmatic knowledge specifically in request and apology speech acts in language learning.

Delving into Speech Act of Requests of Iranian Turkish Informants

This paper reports the findings of a study designed to investigate the notion of indirectness in the speech act of requests among native speakers of Iranian Turkish. 180 respondents took a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) with ten scenarios, and returned 1800 requestive speech acts. The acts were then analyzed according to the directness categories introduced by Blum-Kulka et al. (1984) and politeness strategies suggested by Brown and Levinson (1987). Results, after analyses of the data indicated that Blum-Kulka's scale and Brown and Levinson's classification are not complete to measure all the responses made by this study informants. There seems to be a considerable number of informants who have deliberately chosen strategies which are not in Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) and Brown and Levinson (1987). At the end, a finer scale has been introduced by the authors to overcome the mentioned shortcomings.

Transfer of Requestive Speech act from L1 to L2 in Iranian EFL Learners

The present paper is an investigation of cross-cultural differences in requestive speech act between Persian and English. The study is an attempt to find whether Iranian EFL learners would transfer their L1 requests into the L2, and if there would be any differences between English request strategies by Iranian EFL learners and English native speakers (ENSs). In order for the learners’ language proficiency to be gauged, the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to select 20 Iranian high proficient EFL learners and 20 low proficient ones out of 64 EFL learners. The EFL learners filled out the English and Persian versions of the DCT (Discourse Completion Test). In addition, 20 monolingual Persian native speakers (PNSs) and 20 English native speakers (ENSs) were also selected. The request strategies were classified into three different categories of Direct, Conventionally Indirect, and Non-conventionally Indirect strategies. The results revealed the significant differences in the use of request strategies between EFL learners and ENSs. Lastly, the results also showed that pragmatic transfer of requestive speech act does not occur from L1 to L2 in Iranian EFL learners.

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of English Request Speech Acts in Native Speakers of English and Chinese

This paper aims at comparing the uses of the English request speech acts in native speakers of English and Chinese. An oral discourse completion task (ODCT) was used to collect data and the chi-square analysis method was applied to examine the data. From the results, the comparisons of request strategies and internal modifications between Chinese and English native speakers showed no significant differences; both groups frequently used indirect strategies. However, with regard to the use of alerts and external modifications, significant differences were found between these two groups. Further results also indicated the effects of social status and familiarity on both groups. To interlocutor in higher status, both groups showed significantly different usages of internal and external modifications. As to interlocutors in equal status, they performed different request strategies, alerts and external modifications. In addition, significant differences were found in the use of alerts to interlocutors in lower social status. To familiar interlocutors, both groups showed different usages in alerts and external modifications. To unfamiliar interlocutors, significant differences were also found in the use of alerts and external modifications. At last, Chinese native speakers with high and low proficiency levels showed significantly different usages in alerts. Key words : English request speech act; Oral discourse completion task; Chi-square analysis; English native speaker; Chinese native speaker

The effect of using mitigation devices on request compliance in Persian and American English

Strategies used in requestive speech act and their effects on compliance have been the focus of a number of studies. Previous research, however, has dealt mainly with perceptive data elicited from one of the interlocutors involved in the use of mitigation. A sociolinguistic study could explore the perception of both the requestor and the requestee with respect to using such strategies. This article aims to study the possible correlation between request compliance and the use of mitigation devices. The question is what observable effects using mitigators have both on the requestor’s judgment of compliance and on prohibiting the requestee from rejecting the request. Four role-play interactions followed by stimulated recall procedures were used to collect the required data. The results obtained from the analysis of data revealed that, in similar situations, American requestors are comparably more certain than Iranians that the addressee would comply with their requests using fewer mitigation devices; while, as far as the requestees are concerned, Americans are more influenced by the use of mitigation devices on the part of requestors than Iranians.

Perception of Dominance, Distance and Imposition in Persian Males' Request Speech ACT Strategies

This study indicates how request speech acts are formulated with regard to the face needs of Persian male native speakers. To this end, the respective request speech acts were collected through the administration of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) which also facilitated the assessment of such contextual variables as social dominance, social distance and imposition of a request. The analysis of the data resulted in the categorization and tabulation of universal and culture-specific request strategies performed by Persian males. The data was also analyzed to reveal the interaction between contextual variables and Persian males' linguistic choice as far as request speech acts are concerned.

Effects of Culture and Gender in Comprehension of Speech Acts of Indirect Request

This study investigates the comprehension of indirect request speech act used by Iranian people in daily communication. The study is an attempt to find out whether different cultural backgrounds and the gender of the speakers affect the comprehension of the indirect request of speech act. The sample includes thirty males and females in Gachsaran(a city in the province of Kohgiloye va Boyerahmad in Iran) and thirty participants (males and females) in Farokhshahr(a city in the province of Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari in Iran). A questionnaire is used to elicit data related to the responses used by each group. The questionnaire consists of twenty situations. The participants write their reaction to each situation. The results reveal that culture has significant effect on the interpretation of indirect request of speech act. But gender doesn’t affect the comprehension of indirect request of speech act.

A Study on a Plan for Education of the Request Speech Acts in Korean

A Study on a Plan for Education of the Request Speech Acts in Korean

Request and apology speech acts in email discourse of KFL/KSL students*

Request and apology speech acts in email discourse of KFL/KSL students*

First and Second Language Pragmatics in Third Language Oral and Written Modalities

Abstract: This study examines the transfer of first language (L1) and second language (L2) pragmatic expression—realized in the request speech act—in oral and written modalities by Spanish‐speaking third language (L3) Portuguese learners (bilingual Spanish heritage speakers, native English speakers who are proficient in L2 Spanish, and native Spanish speakers). Research questions ask if learners differ in the transfer of pragmatic knowledge from the L1 or L2 in an oral versus written modality, and if the three learner groups differ in pragmatic expression in the two modalities. Results indicate that the groups respond differently in the two modalities, showing sensitivity to contextual constraints. Few instances of clear transfer are seen, mostly from Spanish at the single‐word level. A picture more complex than Kellerman's hypothesis emerges, addressing creative L3 pragmatic and lexical construction.

한국어 학습자의 공손 표현 습득 연구－말레이시아 학습자의 요청 화행을 중심으로－

Lee Jeongdeok. 2010. 10. 30. A study on Korean language learner’s polite expressions acquisition: Focus on request speech act of Malaysian learners. Bilingual Research 44, 217-246. This longitudinal study was designed to investigate the polite expressions acquisition of L1 Malaysian learners of Korean. During 9 months 3 Malaysian learners participated in oral discourse completion tasks which examined learner’s use of polite expressions in Korean. At the same time I examined polite expressions use of 30 Korean native speakers and observed various devices to express politeness in Korean discourse. The polite expressions use of the 3 learners showed differences from the native speakers of Korean, especially learners transferred from their L1 expression to Korean polite expressions. And learners’s polite expressions showed individual differences between learners in the development process. In order to help learners develop their polite expressions use teachers need to provide various Korean polite expressions input. (Ewha Womans University)

Perspective and politeness in Finnish Requests

This study makes use of elicited request speech act data in Finnish to view variability of personal perspective and T/V forms across a variety of situations. The speakers exhibited a great deal of congruency when they were scripted as addressing someone familiar, being in a position of equal or higher status than the interlocutor, and when the request was considered a low imposition. In such situations, speakers tended to use a second person perspective, with informal T/V forms. The Finnish T-forms were found to be the default form, showing up in half of the request utterances. The Finnish V-forms showed up in only 10 percent of the requests. A variationist analysis using Varbrul complemented the main findings, but was found to not be a reliable tool for elicited pragmatic data, using sociopragmatic factors as independent variables.

A Contrastive Study of Request Speech Acts in Korean and Chinese

A Contrastive Study of Request Speech Acts in Korean and Chinese