Request Strategies Research Articles

A Study on the Mandarin Chinese Request Strategies of Taiwanese College Students under the Influence of Gender, Social Distance, and Social Power

The aim of this study is to investigate the use of Mandarin Chinese request strategies by Taiwanese college students, the participants of this study were 52 males and 48 females, and the testing instruments include nine role-plays and Discourse Completion Task (DCT). The classification of request strategies proposed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) was used to analyze the collected data. The data indicate that the factor of gender and the gap in social power between requestors and requestees are not the main factors that affect college students’ use of request strategies, by contrary, the social distance between the two parties sometimes plays a primary role in influencing the use of the requestor’s request strategy.

한국어 요청 화행의 언어 유형론적 분석 시론(試論)

This study reviews recent contrastive works on speech acts of request between Korean and other languages and analyzes the data collected for the works in order to find commonalities and differences between the languages investigated. The results indicate that speakers in most languages prefer conventionally indirect strategies in requests. The results also demonstrate that people use less imperatives and use more supportive moves when speaking to an interlocutor of higher social position or of significant social distance, or when the imposition of a request is greater. As for differences, Korean speakers tend to use more direct strategies than their German, Spanish, English, and Japanese counterparts although they are less direct in requests than speakers of the Mongolian, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Thai languages. While indirectness is considered closely associated with politeness in language, this study argues that the Korean honorific, a distinctive mechanism of politeness realization, should be taken into consideration in determining how polite an utterance is.

Request strategies and modification devices as performed by Czech EFL learners: A focus on borrowing objects

This study presents an analysis of informal written requests from the national school-leaving exam and simulated spoken requests collected via Written Discourse Completion Task (WDCT) to describe pragmalinguistic features used by Czech EFL learners in requests for borrowing objects. In both types of data, the findings reveal strong preference for conventionally indirect strategies and external modification, but considerable underuse of softeners within head acts. The written requests show significant reiteration with a great deal of modification devices outside head acts and a higher proportion of face-threatening features, such as expectations and direct strategies realized by want statements and imperatives. The WDCT requests tend to employ more face-saving strategies but show less variability in request realization. Consequently, awareness raising activities, helping Czech EFL learners fully understand the face-threatening nature of requests, as well as explicit metapragmatic treatment, focusing on strategic use of requests constituents, are recommended.

Multiclass imbalanced and concept drift network traffic classification framework based on online active learning

The complex problems of multiclass imbalance, virtual or real concept drift, concept evolution, high-speed traffic streams and limited label cost budgets pose severe challenges in network traffic classification tasks. In this paper, we propose a multiclass imbalanced and concept drift network traffic classification framework based on online active learning (MicFoal), which includes a configurable supervised learner for the initialization of a network traffic classification model, an active learning method with a hybrid label request strategy, a label sliding window group, a sample training weight formula and an adaptive adjustment mechanism for the label cost budget based on a periodic performance evaluation. In addition, a novel uncertain label request strategy based on a variable least confidence threshold vector is designed to address the problems of a variable multiclass imbalance ratio or even the number of classes changing over time. Experiments performed based on eight well-known real-world network traffic datasets demonstrate that MicFoal is more effective and efficient than several state-of-the-art learning algorithms.

Age-Optimal Network Coding HARQ Transmission Scheme for Dual-Hop Satellite-Integrated Internet

In the upcoming satellite-integrated Internet, a noted limitation is the non-trivial propagation latency due to the long distances. To support the emergent timeliness applications, information must be transmitted within a short end-to-end latency. Hence, the traditional hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) strategies with frequent feedbacks do not fit anymore, because the reliable transmission needs retransmission of the lost packets, which inevitably leads to the low efficiency in the satellite-integrated Internet. In this paper, we propose an age-optimal network code HARQ (NC-HARQ) transmission scheme with the metric of information timeliness, i.e., age of information (AoI) to realize limited/no feedback dual-hop reliable transmission in the satellite-integrated Internet. We derive the closed-form expression for the average and peak AoI of the proposed dual-hop age-optimal NC-HARQ transmission scheme, and also the expression for the benchmark schemes through establishing a finite-state Markov chain. Then, by taking account of the time-varying channel and the characteristics of random update of data file, two dynamic forward transmission strategies are further designed. Simulation results illustrate that our dual-hop age-optimal NC-HARQ transmission scheme can achieve lower average and peak AoI in comparison with several state-of-the-art HARQ schemes.

Polite impoliteness? How power, gender and language background shape request strategies in English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) in corporate email exchanges

AbstractInternational business is increasingly conducted through the medium of English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF). Yet, little is known about interactional strategies in BELF, specifically in internal written business communications. Our study turns to this hitherto less explored area and investigates one of the most important speech acts in the context of workplace communication, i.e. requests. The data under study come from a unique corpus of 398 authentic internal emails produced by the multilingual employees of an international insurance corporation. Using a combination of corpus-linguistic and discourse-analytical methods, we identify and classify request strategies formulated by BELF users with ten diverse first-language (L1) backgrounds, and assess how their choice of pragmatic strategies might be influenced by their lingua-cultural background as well as extralinguistic factors, notably the email senders’ power position within the corporate hierarchy and their gender. Across the corpus, the level of directness in request strategies was high, suggesting that most BELF users prioritised ‘getting the job done’. Yet, the directness of email senders’ request strategies was modulated by a complex interaction between lingua-cultural factors, power position and gender. The most crucial observation was that high-power employees chose more direct strategies than low-power employees, but this pattern was modulated by their lingua-cultural background and by gender.

THE STRATEGIES OF REQUEST BY INDONESIAN AND AUSTRALIAN STUDENTS

Request is a kind of activity that is never separated from humans as social beings. It is also the form of interactional activities in our daily life. People deliver the request strategies depending on their identity, especially their culture. This study aims to explain the use of request strategies by two different cultures, Indonesian and Australian. Indonesia follows the eastern culture, while Australia follows the western culture. Both cultures are interesting objects of the research about request strategies. To define the strategy used by both cultures, the researcher has chosen the theory of request strategies by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain. After applying the theory to the data, the researcher found that both cultures resulted in different direct strategies. However, in other levels of directness, Indonesia and Australia have the same result.

A Cross-Cultural Pragmatics Study of Request Strategies and Politeness in Javanese and Sundanese

This study aims to examine and compare request strategies and politeness of two groups of native speakers from two different ethnic groups in Indonesia, i.e., Javanese and Sundanese. The data were collected by using Discourse Completion Task (DCT) with 60 participants from 30 Javanese (East Java) and 30 Sundanese (West Java) speakers. The data were analyzed by using the classification of request strategies by Blum-Kulka et al., 1989) and social contexts in terms of social power, social distance, and degree of imposition by Brown and Levinson (1987) to reveal the levels of directness and politeness of request employed by each group of speakers. The result of this study indicates that Direct Strategy in the form of mood derivable and Conventionally Indirect Strategy in the form of query preparatory are two request strategies that are mainly employed by both Javanese and Sundanese speakers. In particular, Javanese speakers employ a more Direct Strategy than Sundanese speakers. However, the patterns of request strategies employed by Javanese and Sundanese speakers in most social contexts are similar. In addition, both groups of speakers can also adapt to the situations and employ appropriate requests to the hearer. Therefore, politeness and appropriateness in requests employed by each group of speakers in their DCT responses can reflect the local wisdom of each culture.Keywords: requests; social contexts; politeness; Javanese; Sundanese

Request Strategies Used by English Language Learners: Student-Professor Email Communication

Request Strategies Used by English Language Learners: Student-Professor Email Communication

Reassessing Clarification Request Strategies within English-Speaking Japanese Business Discourse: Clarification of Message Delivery and Pragmatic Ambiguity

Objectives: English communication skills are becoming more important in the business context of Japan. To realise smooth communication, the use of clarification requests is considered facilitative. Many companies in Japan have introduced corporate in-house English training as a part of their English-speaking Human Resources development, and many focus on training in the use of clarification requests. However, not much has been understood about how the pragmatics are employed within the English-speaking discourse community by Japanese businesspeople. This study looks at how clarification requests are used by Japanese businesspeople and addresses how they can contribute to realising effective communication in English-speaking business discourse in Japan. Methods: The researcher analyses data retrieved from stimulated role-play. The participants are requested to engage in collective decision-making in their corporate in-house English training. There were 24 participants involved in this study, and they were placed into four teams for cross-sectional comparison. The interaction of the participants was videorecorded and later transcribed to allow for text-based discourse analysis. Results: Our data show that the use of clarification request strategies was observed in all teams. Participants used clarification requests for various kinds of discourse pragmatic functions. Conclusions: It was concluded that teaching clarification request strategies is beneficial for many Japanese businesspeople who wish to develop their English communication competence. However, the potential face-threatening aspect of the use of clarification requests by Japanese speakers of English has been overlooked. This aspect should be taken into consideration when designing/implementing corporate in-house English training in Japanese companies in the future.

المعرفة الاستيعابية والإنتاجية للطلب من قبل متعلمي اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية في جامعة الكوفة

إن فعل الطلب هو احد أهم الأفعال الكلامية في اللغة وان استخدامه بشكل الدقيق من قبل المتعلمين للغة الانجليزية إنما يدل على اكتسابهم القدر اللازم من المعرفة. إلا أن عدد كبير منهم لا يعكسون ذلك فيما يخص استخدام فعل الطلب. إذا جاءت هذه الدراسة لتحديد ما هي الأنماط المختلفة للطلب التي يستخدمها طلبة الجامعة, بينما تبرز أوجه الصعوبات في طرح واستيعاب هذا الفعل الكلامي من قبلهم, وتقييم استخدامهم له, و فيما إذا كان هناك أي تأثير للغة الأم_ أي العربية _على ذلك. وتفترض الدراسة لأجل ذلك كله إن الطلبة العراقيين كمتعلمين أجانب للغة الانجليزية, لا يمتلكون القدر اللازم من المعرفة لاستيعاب و طرح فعل الطلب في اللغة الانجليزية هذا أولا. ثانيا إن مستوى أدائهم أفضل في استيعاب فعل الطلب من ما هو الحال في طرحه. و تفترض الدراسة أيضا إن هؤلاء الطلبة ومهما اختلف الموقف يكررون استخدام ذات الأنماط للتعبير عن الطلب, لإلمامهم بعدد محدد من أنماطه. ولبرهنت مدى مصداقية هذه الفرضيات من عدمها تبنيت الدراسة الإجراءات التالية: (1) عرض الإطار النظري لنظرية فعل الكلام و مبادئ التأدب اللغوي ومحاور أخرى ذات صلة بفعل الطلب. (2) إدارة اختبار ذو شقين لقياس مستوى طلبه جامعه الكوفة/ كليه الآداب/ قسم اللغة الانجليزية في استيعاب وطرح فعل الطلب. (3) إجراء عدد من العمليات الإحصائية التي تبرهن صحة الفرضيات أعلاه أو تدحضها. وفي الختام تم التوصل إلى عدد من الاستنتاجات والتوصيات العلمية.

The Impact of Social Power and Social Distance on the Request Strategies Employed by Saudi Learners and Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

The Impact of Social Power and Social Distance on the Request Strategies Employed by Saudi Learners and Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

Developing spoken requests during UK study abroad

Abstract The present study tracks the longitudinal pragmatic development of spoken requests by Japanese, adult learners of English during an academic year abroad, and aims to examine whether and how their requestive performance develops over time in high and low-imposition situations. Data were collected at three points of the academic year using oral, virtual role plays, and semi-structured group interviews. Data analysis examined the type and frequency of request strategies and modification devices employed by the group over time. Findings revealed that there were only some pragmatic gains (e.g., a slight drop in the use of want statements) as learners were very slow in adopting a new form-function mapping and expanding their pragmalinguistic repertoire. They relied on (and overused) a limited set of request sequences and had clear preferences for particular ways to express (in)directness, confirming that pragmatic gains might often be small, and development may follow a non-linear trajectory.

Gender variation in the requestive behaviour of Early Modern Scottish and English letter-writers? A study of private correspondence

AbstractThis study applies the methods of variational pragmatics, a discipline situated at the intersection of pragmatics and variationist sociolinguistics, to historical data to explore the effect of the macro-social factors gender and region on request choices in Scottish and English private letters written between 1570 and 1700. It specifically examines gender variation regarding the choice of request strategies and of internal downgrading modification, e.g. the use of modal auxiliaries or hedges. Overall, the analysis only finds limited evidence for gender differences in the private correspondence data. The requestive behaviour of Scottish and English female and male letter-writers displays similar directness levels and both genders also employ mitigating modifiers to a similar degree. It is shown that the requestive style of women and men is determined by the situational circumstances of a letter rather than by gender. Moreover, when zooming in on the level of direct realisation strategies, the analysis provides evidence that the macro-social factor region has a greater impact on the choice of realisation strategies than gender.

A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of American Native Speakers of English and Moroccan EFL University Students’ Production of the Speech Act of Request

The purpose of this study was to investigate the production of request strategies, request sub-strategies, and request orientations by Moroccan EFL learners (MEFLLs) and American native speakers of English (ANSE). To achieve this objective, the researcher adopted a mixed approach by collecting data through a semi-structured interview and a discourse completion test. The DCT is composed of ten situations adopted from Blum-Kulka et al.’s (1989) Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns project and modified by Khamam (2012). Thirty MEFLLs and thirty ANSE responded to the discourse completion test, while four MEFLLs and three ANSE were interviewed. Furthermore, to analyse said and unsaid requests, this study relied on Blum-Kulka et al.’s (1989) coding scheme and Marti’s (2006) model. The results showed that MEFLLs differed from ANSE in several ways. MEFLLs were more direct than ANSE, as they used direct request strategies and hearer-oriented requests more than ANSE. However, the two groups preferred the conventionally indirect request strategy to the other request strategies. Regarding request sub-strategies, the two groups frequently selected the query preparatory strategy. Nevertheless, it was chosen by ANSE more than MEFLLs.

Saudi Politeness: Request and Apology in the Context of Study and Work at King Abdulaziz University:A Pragmatic Study

The present study investigates the frequently used speech acts related to positive and negative politeness techniques employed in requests and apologies by faculty members at King Abdulaziz University. Social interaction on University Campus reflects Hejazi culture located in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. The significance of the study arises from its focus on university-life interaction between faculty members as it provides an investigation of positive and negative politeness strategies. The paper tries to answer two questions: 1) Is there a relationship between the faculty’s years of experience and the request strategies employed? 2) Is there a relationship between the faculty years of experience and the apology strategies used? To answer these questions, a Discourse Completion Test was developed and given to 30 faculty members. The findings of the study show that social power, which is derived from having more years of experience, affects the request and apology strategies used among Saudi female faculty members. Faculty members of an older generation tend to use syntactically more extended sentences in requests compared to their younger colleagues, to alleviate the sense of their social power and save others’ sense of face. In contrast, the more youthful faculty members tended to use syntactically longer sentences in apologies compared to their older colleagues to show more respect. The study was conducted in Women Campus, and it is recommended to implement it on a larger scale with more participants to get more complete results.

Requesting Strategies in The Doorman Movie Using the Trosbrog's Theory (1995)

In conducting this research, the researcher uses the descriptive qualitative method. This research is qualitative because the data are in the form of words and are analyzed based on the natural setting or context. this research to show the division of request strategy in speech act in the doorman movie. The doorman movie is an action genre movie which mostly from the data obtained is imperative. , the results reveal eight of Trosbrog's (1995) seven types of speech act techniques used by the characters in dialog in the movie entitled "The Doorman". Questioning the imperative strategy type of request speech act has the most data that is 16 data, and the willingness about 7 data and mild request and suggestory formulae, Statement of Obligation, Requesting as a statement of wish, permission and Statement of Speaker Wishes have the fewest data. Furthermore, the imperative strategy is very dominant in this case because the movie that Researcher uses is in the action genre, and what is unique is that the interlocutor after being given an imperative sentence or phrase and willingness and there are several or even indicating that there is no verbal answer but in a non-verbal way or we can say it as action as the answer.

Request Strategies in Kuwaiti Arabic and British English: A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study

The study at hands is a cross-cultural exploration of request strategies in Kuwaiti Arabic and British English dialects. A mixed method approach of a qualitative and quantitative analysis was used (i.e., a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and semi-structured interviews). Data was collected from a total of five hundred participants, two hundred and fifty from each group. Sixty participants were chosen for the semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the collected data was based upon Brown and Levinson's (1987) social variables (e.g., power, distance, and ranking). Also, the data was analyzed following Blum-Kulka and Olshtain's (1984) Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP). The results of the study revealed that Kuwaiti Arabic and British English participants used the conventional indirect level in the form of query preparatory in most situations. Furthermore, power as a social variable affected Kuwaiti Arabic and British English participants’ flow of a request in conversations. Participants used direct request strategies when the power of the speaker was high. As for the semi-structured interviews, the results indicated that there is a sociocultural norm between the Kuwaiti society and the British society, which affected their use of requests.

E-politeness in student requests to faculty: А view from a regional Russian university in the midst of a pandemic

This paper explores pragmalinguistic strategies in the Russian language student requests made to faculty via email and Moodle learning management system (LMS) at Chelyabinsk State University, Russia, from March 2020 to March 2021, in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Drawing from the sample and a questionnaire, we focus on the type of request and its level of imposition, as well as the internal and external modification, following a modified Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns framework. The reported case study shows that students use LMS for making requests for action, and resort to email to request information. External modification is a dominant strategy used to mitigate the impositive force of the requests in the sample. LMS requests tend to be concise and directed at ‘getting stuff done’ with minimal mitigation strategies. This may illustrate a lack of essential pragmatic competence on the students’ part and be connected to the normalisation of a telegraph-style communication.

미국 드라마 “The Office”에 나타난 요청화행 전략

This study examines the request types and strategies used in American TV drama “The Office”. All requests have a head act. The head act is an essential factor to realize the speech act of request, so the 10 head act types are identified and divided by the level of directness. 10 head act types are analyzed from speaker-oriented, hearer-oriented, and speaker-hearer oriented perspectives. Head act types are as follows. 1)mood derivable, 2)explicit performative, 3)hedged performative, 4)obligation statement, 5)need statement, 6)want statement, 7)suggestory formulae, 8)query preparatory, 9)strong hint, 10)mild hint. The results show that the frequency of mood derivable is the highest among the request strategies. Explicit performative and hedged performative strategies are fewer used in the material. The hearer-oriented perspectives are frequently used in mood derivable, obligation statement, and query preparatory. Speaker-oriented perspectives are frequently used in need statement and want statement. The speaker-hearer oriented perspectives are frequently used in suggestory formula. Strong hint and weak hint requests suggest a variety of linguistic examples in sociocultural contexts.