English Requests Research Articles

Problematising Discourse Completion Tasks: Voices from Verbal Report

Abstract Written discourse completion tasks (WDCTs) have frequently been employed in pragmatics research as a key research instrument in eliciting the production of speech acts by second language learners while studies incorporating verbal report have provided evidence of the processes involved in second language speech act production. This study responds to the call to include native speakers in verbal protocol research and focuses on the paired concurrent verbal report of six English native speakers, elicited in conjunction with their responses to 18 WDCTs eliciting English requests. The study aimed to identify the focus of participants’ attention while on task and employed content analysis to identify themes emerging from the participants’ verbal protocols. Findings from the analysis suggest that participants’ attention may be directed to perceived deficiencies in the elicitation instrument, reflecting criticisms in the research literature relating to the design and authenticity of WDCTs. Secondly, the...

A comparative study of requests in heritage speaker Spanish, L1 Spanish, and L1 English

Although requests are the most widely studied speech act, there has not been extensive research on the requests produced by heritage speakers of Spanish in the United States. This study compares the requests of three groups: Spanish heritage speakers, Mexican native speakers of Spanish, and native speakers of English. The first research question examines the level of directness of the requests combined with the frequency of downgraders. The following two research questions analyzed separately the level of directness of the head act and frequency of downgrading mechanisms. Differences between the two L1 groups are found to be statistically significant for all three of the categories investigated. In contrast, the heritage speakers differ significantly from their Mexican monolingual counterparts in the level of directness of the head act, producing Spanish requests more in line with the tendency in English to employ indirect strategies. Although the heritage speakers differ from the L1 Spanish group on this one dimension, the fact that they share other characteristics with both L1 groups suggests the existence of a unique intercultural style. The findings of this study also indicate that heritage speakers display many of the same characteristics as L2 learners reported in previous research.

Analysis of appropriateness in a speech act of request in L2 English

Fifty-nine Japanese college students of English at two different proficiency levels were evaluated for their ability to produce a speech act of request in a spoken role play task. Learners’ production was analyzed quantitatively by rating performance on a six-point scale for overall appropriateness, as well as qualitatively by identifying the directness levels of the linguistic expressions used to produce requests. Results revealed a significant L2 proficiency influence on overall appropriateness, but only a marginal difference in the types of linguistic expressions used between the two proficiency groups. Moreover, grammatical and discourse control encoded in the rating scale seemed to have affected the quality of speech acts.

A cross-linguistic study on the linguistic expressions of Cantonese and English requests

This study investigates the cross-linguistic devices of requests written by native English-speaking (NSE) and native Cantonese-speaking (NCS) respondents in an academic context on the basis of 197 discourse completion tests. Both groups asked in a direct sequence accompanied by a different proportion of syntactic and lexical devices to reduce directness. NES used a higher frequency and a wider range of syntactic downgraders than NCS. NCS, however, used a higher frequency of lexical downgraders and a greater number of combinations of lexical devices than NES. The cross-linguistic comparison of the linguistic features of Cantonese and Engish requests demonstrates how the distinctive linguistic properties of each language and social factors combine to constitute a request. Further investigation could be made between idealized and authentic English and Cantonese requests for a range of age groups and contexts, or to compare the linguistic forms of requests made by NCS in English with the linguistic forms of requests made by NES in Cantonese.

Noticing in task performance and learning outcomes: A qualitative analysis of instructional effects in interlanguage pragmatics

Abstract This study aims to provide an in-depth qualitative analysis of instructional effects in L2 pragmatics by exploring the manner in which Japanese EFL learners’ noticing of target English request forms is constrained by different types of treatment tasks and the subsequent effect of the learners’ noticing on their learning outcomes. Following the pretest, 49 learners were assigned to one of the two instructional (treatment) conditions: a form-comparison condition and a form-search condition. The treatment data were examined with regard to the extent to which the learners had noticed the appropriate manner of request realization in English. The treatment data were further compared with the posttest self-reports, which revealed the learners’ primary concerns regarding their L2 request realization. The results indicated that during the treatment, the learners in the form-comparison condition noticed the target request forms to a greater extent than those in the form-search condition. Further, the learners’ higher awareness of the target forms tended to ensure the emergence of these forms during their posttest performance.

"Insightful" string-pulling in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is affected by vocal competence.

Four Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were tested on their ability to obtain an item suspended from a string such that mutiple, repeated, coordinated beak-foot actions were required for success (e.g., Heinrich 1995). Those birds with little training in referential English requests (e.g. "I want X") succeeded, whereas birds who could request the suspended item failed to obtain the object but engaged in repeated requesting.

Intercultural sociolinguistics and communication research in South Africa: Its relevance to academic settings and the service industry

The increase in inter-ethnic and/or inter-racial communication in South Africa recently warrants concomittant increased attention, through intercultural communication research, to difficulties encountered in face-to-face interaction, such as: pragmatic failure and misunderstanding in same-language different-culture interaction. Pragmatic failure may lead, in the long term, to resentment, which, in turn, may lead to ethnic (cross-group) stereotyping and negative labelling. Misperceptions of non-native speakers of English has often contributed to the perpetuation (unintentionally though it may sometimes be) of exclusion and discrimination of the non-native speakers by native speakers, as observation in academic settings and the job market has shown. In this article, I use observational and elicited data of requests in English by university students to highlight the difficulties (and risks) posed by their lack of pragmatic competence in intercultural interaction. I tentatively discuss the teachability of speech act realisation and argue for the inclusion of pragmatic instruction in English language teaching and of pragmatics in teaching/learning materials, with two aims in mind: (i) to sensitise learners to the importance of pragmatic issues and heighten their metapragmatic awareness; and (ii) to alert 'gatekeepers' to the inevitability of variation in pragmatic competence due to the learners' or users' first language (L1), individual choices and preferences.

Informed Parent Consent and Proposition 227

After the passage of Proposition 227 in California, the State Department of Education issued specific regulations for informing the parents of English language learners (ELLs) about program options so that they could decide, as the new law permits, whether to accept English language immersion or request a parent exception waiver. This study was conducted among parents in three geographically-distinct school districts which did their utmost to inform them. The study compared the responses of parents who requested waivers and bilingual education with those of parents who did not request waivers. Parents were asked for their level of agreement with factual statements on language acquisition/development and each program option (English language immersion, mainstream, and bilingual education). They also responded to open-ended questions, which were later categorized for analysis. The results clearly show that the best informed parents in an atmosphere of complete disclosure were those who chose a waiver and bilingual education.

Requestive hints in Japanese and English

The analysis of elicited questionnaire judgments and naturally occurring data on Japanese and English requests revealed an apparent contradiction between the perception of decontextualized hints (except for the very formal Japanese hint) as relatively impolite and the high frequency of actual use of hints in a university office setting. Further analysis of requestive hints using Weizman's (1989) categories showed that Japanese hints are generally more opaque than English hints. These findings suggest that Blum-Kulka's (1987) notion of politeness as a balance between pragmatic clarity and avoiding coerciveness is affected by contextual (i.e., standard vs. non-standard situations) and cultural variables. At the same time, the results also point to the need to determine how ‘off-record’ requestive hints may differ from ‘on-record’ hint-like request formulations (Brown and Levinson, 1987). In addition, the finding that the use of requestive hint formulations apparently serves to build solidarity in a standard situation in different ways in the two cultures suggests that the idea of simultaneously achieving less coerciveness and less distance by means of the same strategy should be further explored cross-culturally.

Requests in English by second-language users

Abstract The study of learners' pragmatic and discourse knowledge, also known as "interlanguage pragmatics", is now an important preoccupation of second-language acquisition (SLA) research. Spurred by this growing interest in interlanguage pragmatics and with a view to contributing to this field of research I conducted a study of requests in English produced by English as a second language (ESL) university students in their daily interaction mainly with lecturers. I collected the data for this study by means of observation and by recording "golden episodes of requesting behaviour in students' spontaneous speech. For comparative purposes, I elicited additional data by means of a discourse-completion task (DCT). One finding is that the students' knowledge of contextual use of requesting strategies in English is inadequate because their requests are of (very) limited range and inappropriate in context. The in-appropriacy of the requests was confirmed by native speakers' judgments. One explanation of the inadequacy of the students' pragmatic knowledge is the lack of exposure to the whole gamut of requesting devices. Another may have a strategic dimension. Also important is the explanation of transfer from the first language/s (Ll/s) : learners may be simply carrying over into English structures translated from their L1. From a pedagogical point of view, it is suggested that discourse and pragmatic knowledge be systematically taught to avoid miscommunication and negative reactions from native and competent non-native speakers of English. The suggestion of teaching pragmatic knowledge seems to be supported by the finding about one subject who, after exposure to a variety of requesting expressions, seemed to modify the pattern of her requests.

Are simple business request letters really simple? A comparison of Chinese and English business request letters

This cross-cultural study of Chinese and English business request letters, and of English letters written by native English speakers and Chinese non-native speakers is aimed at examining the rhetorical differences between them. By using Swales'move structure analysis and Mann and Thompson's rhetorical structure theory, the comparison between Chinese and English business request letters reveals that they have a rather different rhetorical structure although they share the same communicative purpose of expressing a wish for something. This is probably due to two factors: first, the inherently different discoursal patterns of the two languages, and second, the different readers' and writers' expectations regarding making a request in the two cultures. In the Chinese letters, a deference face system is predominant, including features such as the inductive introduction of requests (justification + request), an absence of face-threatening moves, and a greater proportion of and flexibility in the use of rapport-building strategies throughout the whole text. On the other hand, in the English letters, a solidarity face system is employed in making business requests, with features such as the deductive introduction of the request, greater emphasis on the ideational content, and frequent occurrence of face-threatening moves. The English request letters by Chinese writers show patterns similar to those found in the Chinese request letters, such as the preferred pattern of justification followed by request, greater emphasis on interpersonal or rapport-building strategies, and an absence of face-threatening moves. Certain possible areas of discoursal transfer in English business request letters by Chinese writers have been identified for further investigation. Lastly, move structure analysis and rhetorical structure theory are compared for their relative strengths and weaknesses for textual analysis

Polite requests in English and Chinese business correspondence in Hong Kong

This paper examines the use of polite requests in both English and Chinese business correspondence in Hong Kong. The analysis makes use of the three factors of imposition, social distance and relative power in Brown and Levinson's (1987) theory of politeness. It is found that only the factor of imposition has a statistically significant impact on linguistic choice in the English data. There is also a significant effect when all three factors are combined. But none of the factors, either alone or combined, shows any statistically significant effect in the Chinese corpus. The results are attributed to the special characteristics of the type of discourse investigated, the particular socio-cultural factors involved, as well as the way the three factors are defined conceptually.

Pragmatic Transferability

This study examines the transferability of five Japanese indirect request strategies to corresponding English request contexts. Pragmatic transferability was operationally defined as transferability rate. This rate was established through the summation of the perceived contextual appropriateness of a Japanese request and the perceived similarity in contextual appropriateness between a Japanese request and its English equivalent. The Japanese request strategies were found to be differentially transferable. The learners' transferability perception was influenced by their L2 proficiency; however, there was no definite tendency for a positive correlation nor for a negative correlation between L1 transfer and proficiency. Furthermore, the transferability of each L1 request strategy seemed to be determined by the interaction between the politeness and conventionality encoded in each strategy and the degree of mitigation required in each imposition context.

Keeping the peace: A cross-cultural comparison of questions and requests in Australian English and French

Keeping the peace: A cross-cultural comparison of questions and requests in Australian English and French

Communicating with operating systems in natural language

We aim to conduct a dialogue with a machine in a natural manner without having to learn an artificial language. With the goal of supplying a natural language interface to a variety of operating systems, we have developed a TURBO-PROLOG®-based system called NLDOS that facilitates the communication with the well known operating system MS-DOS®. NLDOS is capable of understanding English requests, providing an automatic spelling correction facility, resolving ambiguity, and discovering and locating logical errors. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Business Letter Writing: English, French, and Japanese

This article examines the form and content of business letters of request in English, French, and Japanese, focusing on prescriptive accounts in the respective languages. Since writing is the process of creating meaning, the examination of a highly prescriptive form of written communication increases our understanding of the varied interpretations of the writer's purpose and reader's expectations in different cultures. The rhetorical differences of note in this comparative exercise were that despite amazingly similar surface characteristics, American business letters are reader oriented, French business letters are writer oriented, and Japanese business letters are oriented to the space between the writer and reader.

An English language question answering system for a large relational database

By typing requests in English, casual users will be able to obtain explicit answers from a large relational database of aircraft flight and maintenance data using a system called PLANES. The design and implementation of this system is described and illustrated with detailed examples of the operation of system components and examples of overall system operation. The language processing portion of the system uses a number of augmented transition networks, each of which matches phrases with a specific meaning, along with context registers (history keepers) and concept case frames; these are used for judging meaningfulness of questions, generating dialogue for clarifying partially understood questions, and resolving ellipsis and pronoun reference problems. Other system components construct a formal query for the relational database, and optimize the order of searching relations. Methods are discussed for handling vague or complex questions and for providing browsing ability. Also included are discussions of important issues in programming natural language systems for limited domains, and the relationship of this system to others.

Appendix II English requests for restitution of lands occupied by the French and compensation for damages (1327, before 6 October)

Appendix II English requests for restitution of lands occupied by the French and compensation for damages (1327, before 6 October)