Written Discourse Completion Test Research Articles

Vietnamese Speech Act Realization and Some Factors Influencing Refusal Strategies: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this pilot research was to explore the refusal strategies and factors influencing speech act realization of refusals employed by a group of Vietnamese language learners when making refusals to invitations, requests, offers, and suggestions by 5 participants at Tien Giang University to shed light on the possible problems leading to cross-cultural differences in communication. A Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and 5 interview questions in English versions developed by the researcher were used to collect the data and analyze it qualitatively and quantitatively. The results illustrated that the participants frequently used indirect strategies for refusing each context given in the WDCT. Furthermore, based on the participants’ answers via the interview records, it could be concluded that social contexts, distance, and cross-cultural differences influenced L2 learners of English as a Foreign Language. The findings of this study highlight some strategies to help learners understand and gain more strategies in speech act realization of refusals and misunderstanding can be avoided. Besides, the interlocutors can receive appropriate responses to refusing invitations, requests, offers, and suggestions.

The Pragmatics of Refusal: A Study of Parent-Daughter Communication Dynamics in Saudi Arabia

This study examines the realization of refusal speech acts by female Saudi Arabic speakers in response to parental requests, focusing on the potential impact of parental gender and request imposition on refusal strategies. Sixty participants from (anonymous) University completed a written discourse completion test (DCT) containing six scenarios with varying degrees of imposition (low, medium, high) featuring either a mother or a father. Findings revealed significant variations in refusal strategies directed toward mothers and fathers, influenced by gender expectations and imposition levels. Saudi females predominantly employed the "Excuse, reason, explanation" strategy with both parents but demonstrated distinct strategies in high-imposition request situations when interacting with fathers versus mothers. Females tended to use the "Attempt to dissuade interlocutor" strategy with fathers and the "Statement of alternative" approach with mothers. Furthermore, Saudi daughters were less inclined to use direct refusals when responding to fathers compared to mothers. These findings highlight communication, power, and relationship dynamics within Saudi families, potentially leading to distinct communication patterns and expectations among interlocutors.

The Interplay of Contextual Variables and Language Proficiency in Request Realization

The significance of producing socially appropriate utterances, not just linguistically correct ones, has given rise to a plethora of studies on speech acts. In this regard, the performance of second and foreign language learners against the norms of the target language and the factors affecting them have yet to be thoroughly investigated. To contribute to this ongoing research, this study aimed to elicit pragmatic requestive features of Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners with respect to (a) request directness, (b) request perspective, (c) internal modification, and (d) external modification in eight social situations. This study also examined whether language proficiency and two contextual factors of social power and social distance affect Iranian EFL learners’ requests in English. Participants were a total of 60 university students or graduates who had taken TOEFL in the past 2 years and were thus categorized into low and high proficiency levels. A Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) was employed to elicit requests. To achieve the objectives of this study, both descriptive statistics and two-way ANOVA were employed. The results showed a significant main effect for contextual factors; participants’ choice of requestive features was affected by the two social factors of power and distance. Proficiency, however, did not have a significant effect on the pragmatic performance of participants. The findings of this study showed pragmatic development of participants on the one hand and some evidence of their underdeveloped pragmatic performance on the other hand, which makes explicit instruction a necessity.

English learning motivation and pragmatic competence: Correlational study of non-English major postgraduate students in java

This research aims to investigate the significant relationship between English learning motivation and pragmatic competence of non-English major postgraduate students and their current pragmatic competence. 350 non-English major postgraduate students from Javanese provinces (West, Central, and East Java) participated in this study. This study was quantitative research in the form of a correlational study by using one adapted questionnaire (Attitude and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB)) for English learning motivation and two kinds of adapted pragmatic competence tests (Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT) and Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT)). The data were analyzed by using Normality Test, Linearity Test, Bivariate Pearson Product Moment, and Descriptive statistical analysis by IBM SPSS 26. The finding indicated English learning motivation correlated with English pragmatic competence. Although the correlation degree was 0.563 which had a moderate degree of correlation, they have a positive correlation which means the English learning motivation has contributed to the pragmatic competence. The current level of the non-English major postgraduate students’ pragmatic competence in Javanese provinces was categorized as still developing because the students hardly understand responses in the pragmatic competence test, especially in pragmatic awareness.

Apologies and Compliment Responses: A Case of Pre-service EFL Teachers

Apology may be defined as “a compensatory action for an offense committed by the speaker which has affected the hearer” (Marquez-Reiter, 2000, p. 44), and a compliment is another speech act "which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker... which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer" (Holmes, 1986, p. 485). The focus of this paper is to find out which strategies are employed by Turkish pre-service EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers while apologizing and responding to compliments especially with equal-status interlocutors, and whether these strategies show differences between females and males. Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) was administered to 27 pre-service EFL teachers. The WDCT included six apology and seven compliment response scenarios. The data were analyzed mainly by using the framework of Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984) for apologies, and the coding scheme by Ruhi (2006) for compliment responses. Main findings of the study suggest that the participants frequently used the strategy of regret while apologizing, and they preferred to use appreciation strategy while responding to compliments. In addition, chi-square test was applied to see any significant differences between the strategies of females and males in apologizing and responding to compliments. This gender-based comparison resulted in no statistical difference except for only one of the apology scenarios. The overall results imply that investigating pragmatic knowledge of students majoring in ELT through their speech act realizations is vital and may be the first step for organizing appropriate interventions aiming at improving and expanding their pragmatic knowledge.

Impact of instruction based on movie and TV series clips on EFL learners' pragmatic competence: Speech acts in focus.

This study attempts to investigate the role of movie and TV series clips in enhancing EFL learners' pragmatic competence by utilizing an experimental design. The sample of the study was 42 students from the English language department at Cihan University-Duhok, Iraq. The experiment lasted one academic semester. The participants' English language proficiency, as determined by an IELTS test sample, was intermediate, and then they were randomly split into two groups, namely experimental and control. Before and after the treatment, a Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) served as a pre-and post-test given to the two groups to assess statistically significant differences between them. The experimental group received direct instruction on request and suggestion speech acts via the presentation of the carefully chosen movie and TV series clips. In contrast, the control group was exposed to a minimal amount of pragmatics through printed texts. The findings demonstrated that the experimental group outperformed the control group. More precisely, the findings revealed that movie and TV series clips had a significant influence on learners' production of requests and suggestions. Considering the above findings, the researchers propose EFL teachers apply movie and TV series clips to improve their Students' pragmatic competence in class.

Politeness in a Moroccan EFL Classroom: How Students of High School Using Apologizing Strategies in English?

This qualitative/quantitative study investigates Moroccan high school EFL learners’ apologizing strategies based upon a theoretical framework of politeness strategies and the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) model. It investigates whether they approach native speakers’ apology norms or their own cultural way of apologizing. To achieve this goal, four first-year baccalaureate classes (Science Experimental Physics major) were observed and then a sample of 64 subjects was randomly selected to fill in a written discourse completion test which had 6 apology situations. All the responses are classified according to both politeness strategies and CCSARP model used by Blum-kulka et al. (1989). The observed classes during the training showed that Moroccan first-year baccalaureate students used an off-record super strategy while apologizing (the use of hints) to the teacher, whereas the teacher used positive politeness while addressing his pupils. The results of the discourse completion test (DCT) revealed that Illocutionary indicating devices (IFIDs) plus an explanation of account (IFIDs + Account) is the most frequently used apology strategy by the subjects. More than 60% employed this semantic formula in all six situations. The use of IFIDs and explanation of account were significantly linked to the effect of subjects’ L1 and due to the impact of their own collective-agency culture. Hence, choosing to use that strategy by the subjects was pragmatically unsuccessful and would be inappropriate by the apologizer since it does not meet the apology norms of native speakers of English, and it indicates and follows the Moroccan culture norms and rules. The paper concludes with some practical suggestions for improving the teaching of apologies.

PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE OF ADVANCED SERBIAN EFL LEARNERS: A STUDY OF REFUSAL STRATEGIES

The present study explores refusal strategies used by advanced Serbian EFL learners and compares them to refusal strategies produced by English and Serbian native speakers in a relevant study (ŽIVKOVIĆ 2021). The aim is to identify potential pragmatic difficulties learners might have as well as the potential transfer of pragmatic norms from their native language. The participants completed a written Discourse Completion Test which introduced twelve everyday situations to which the participants were expected to respond by making refusals to requests. The situations were generated based on different combinations of two sociological variables: social distance and power. The results showed that while the frequency of direct and indirect refusals was similar for all three groups of participants, there were some differences in terms of the frequency and content of particular strategies. For instance, the EFL learners tended to overuse statements of regret/apology. They also provided more family-oriented excuses and used explanations that were less specific than the ones produced by the English native speakers. Furthermore, they produced fewer expressions of willingness and gratitude/appreciation. Apart from describing similarities and differences between the participants’ refusal strategies, the results also highlight the importance of incorporating pragmatics in EFL classrooms and working on learners’ pragmatic competence even when it comes to high-proficiency learners.

How do Saudis ask for a favor? A Pragmatic Analysis

This study focused on the speech act of asking for a favor in Saudi Arabic due to the lack of studies done on Saudi Arabic in general and favor asking in specific. The core strategy and modification strategies used in each response were investigated. It also examined whether degree of imposition has an influence on the shape of the act. Data were collected using a written discourse completion test (DCT) in which 90 female native speakers of Saudi Arabic were asked to request a favor in 8 situations that varied in the degree of imposition. It was found that both core strategy and modification use in favor asking in Saudi Arabic were significantly influenced by degree of imposition. It is hoped that this study would help to understand some aspects of the spoken language in Saudi society.

The Study of Native Surabaya Young People Refusal Strategy in English

Refusal often ends in misunderstanding and even anger, so people organize and maintain their refusal to avoid face threats. The people of Surabaya use the native Surabaya language, which is known as an open and blunt language, so a rejection strategy is assumed similar to this characteristic. This thesis aims to analyze what types of refusal strategies of native Surabaya young people use and how they use them in English. It examines how respondents refused invitation, request, offer or suggestion in various situations. This is a qualitative study with 21 native Surabaya young people, the EFL learners completing a Written Discourse Completion Test or WDCT, which contains several scenarios based on power and social distance. Data were analyzed using SPSS and the results showed that although the respondents came from Surabaya, which is known for its outspoken speaking style, in fact only 12.6% respondents used the direct refusal strategy, conversely most respondents used indirect refusal strategy (79.7%) in expressing their rejection, while the least used strategy was Adjunct (7.7%). The respondents continued to use the indirect refusal strategies, even though they had more power and less closeness or have the equal power and closeness to the interlocutors.

The Investigation of Request Strategies By EFL Learners of The International Institute of Tourism and Business Denpasar

Communicative competence has been the goal teaching of a second or foreign language. In acquiring the language, speakers of language also acquire the rules of knowledge and choose the speech acts when communicating with others. This study aimed to investigate the act of request strategies and request perspectives produced by the student of The International Institute of Tourism and Business Denpasar. There are fifty students’ involved in the study with intermediate level in their English proficiency. The data is collected with a written Discourse Completion Test (DCT) which has ten request situations. Soshana Blum Kulka and Olshtain’s (1984) theory is used to categorize the speech acts produce in analyzing data. The result of the project showed that most of the students use internal modification and the number of students external modification in their speech acts.

The production and comprehension of apology strategies: Effects of English language proficiency

This cross-sectional study examined the effects of English language proficiency on Jordanian EFL students’ production and comprehension of apology strategies. The participants were 270 Jordanian EFL learners and 90 native speakers of English. Data were collected using Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT). Descriptive statistics and the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rho) test were used to analyse the data. Results showed that Jordanian EFL learners’ production and comprehension of apology strategies are influenced by their levels of English language proficiency. A small to large negative correlation relationship was reported between Jordanian EFL learners’ language proficiency and the production of explicit apology strategies and non-apology strategies. On the other hand, the study revealed a small to medium positive correlation relationship between Jordanian EFL learners’ language proficiency and the production of less-explicit apology. The study also showed a significant correlation relationship between proficiency and the comprehension of apology strategies. Thus, teachers of English at Jordanian schools may need to consider focusing on classroom activities that can help EFL learners enhance their pragmatic knowledge of apology strategies.

The production and comprehension of apology strategies: Effects of English language proficiency

This cross-sectional study examined the effects of English language proficiency on Jordanian EFL students’ production and comprehension of apology strategies. The participants were 270 Jordanian EFL learners and 90 native speakers of English. Data were collected using Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT). Descriptive statistics and the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rho) test were used to analyse the data. Results showed that Jordanian EFL learners’ production and comprehension of apology strategies is influenced by their levels of English language proficiency. A small to large negative correlation relationship was reported between Jordanian EFL learners’ language proficiency and the production of explicit apology strategies and non-apology strategies. On the other hand, the study revealed a small to medium positive correlation relationship between Jordanian EFL learners’ language proficiency and the production of less-explicit apology. The study also showed a significant correlation relationship between proficiency and the comprehension of apology strategies. Thus, teachers of English at Jordanian schools may need consider focusing on classroom activities that can help EFL learners enhance their pragmatic knowledge of apology strategies.

STUDENTS’ PRAGMATIC AWARENESS IN COMPREHENDING WRITTEN DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF IAIN BUKITTINGGI

Knowledge of pragmatic has been crucial element to the students English Department. The main focus of the research to find out the level of students pragmatic awareness by using percentage, the research was due to the problem found some students still used inappropriate respond to the pragmatic situation. The design of this research was a descriptive quantitative research in which the sample was taking by using random sampling technique with 25 samples at IAIN Bukittinggi of English Department. Additionally, the analyzing of the data was done by Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) test which is consist of 17 situation, made the description about the students pragmatic awareness in comprehending written discourse, analyzing the data using percentage, describe the data, found the level and making conclusion. The result showed that students pragmatic awareness in comprehending term in deixis is 61% it means the level is good. In performing term of speech act is 79% it means the level is good. Moreover, in understanding maxim is 62% it means the level is good. All of the students pragmatic awareness in comprehending written discourse is 67% it means the pragmatic awareness in comprehending written discourse of English Department of IAIN Bukittinggi is good. The implication of this study to know the level of pragmatic awareness in written discourse of English Department of IAIN Bukittinggi.

Variation in refusal strategies produced by English and Serbian speakers

ABSTRACT The aim is to investigate refusal strategies used by English and Serbian native speakers in terms of two sociological variables: social distance and power. To this end, the participants of the conducted experiment completed a written Discourse Completion Test which introduced 12 everyday situations to which they were expected to respond by making refusals to requests. The obtained data were categorised and analysed statistically. Overall, the results indicated both similarities and differences between the two groups. Both groups reported significantly more indirect refusal strategies than direct ones – the most common ones being excuse and statement of regret. There were, however, some differences between the groups in the frequency of particular refusal strategies such as adjuncts, which were employed more frequently by the English participants. Furthermore, unlike their counterparts, the Serbian participants were shown to be sensitive to the power variable, reflected in the significantly higher percentage of direct refusals used when addressing a subordinate interlocutor than when addressing an interlocutor of equal or higher power. The obtained results not only describe the similarities and differences between refusal strategies in English and Serbian, but also highlight different properties of the two cultures reflected in the use of these strategies.

Apologies in EFL: An Interlanguage Pragmatic Study on Moroccan Learners of English

This study explores the strategies Moroccan Learners of English (MLEs), American English Speakers (AEs)), and Moroccan Arabic speakers (MAs) use when performing the speech act of apology. The study basically investigates the interlanguage of MLE as compared to other groups. Equally important, the aim is to study whether MLEs displayed pragmatic transfer when using apology strategies. To this end, A written discourse completion test/ task was administered to the participants both native and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in order to elicit apologies through five hypothetical situations. The productions of Moroccan EFL learners were analyzed to see where they stand between native speakers norms and Moroccan Arabic norms in terms of strategies choices. In the analysis of the data, all responses were categorized according to Trosborg’s (1995) apology speech act set. The results show that Learners of English in higher education significantly deviated the overall desired strategies as compared to American native speakers of English. Meanwhile, some developmental patterns towards native like norms were perceived.

The Interlanguage of Moroccan EFL learners: The Case of Complaints

The present study aims to compare complaint realizations of Moroccan learners of English (MLE) with American English speakers (AE) and Moroccan Arabic speakers (MA) through an interlanguage pragmatic analysis. The study is carried out with reference to the degree of directness. The study involves 135 subjects: 108 of them are Moroccan students from Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Ibn Toufail. Kenitra. 45 MLE participants were recruited from the English department as the second group of informants, while the 45 MA group were recruited from the department of History and Geography. The 45 American participants included some volunteers from American Peace Corps Morocco and students from Duke university, North Carolina. A written discourse completion test/ task was administered to the participants both native and EFL learners in order to elicit their complaint speech act productions through five hypothetical complaint situations. Responses of Moroccan EFL learners were reviewed to verify whether they approach native speakers complaint norms or Moroccan Arabic norms in terms of directness. In the analysis of the data, all responses were categorized according to Trosborg’s (1995) complaint speech act set. The results show that Learners of English in higher education do not possess the desirable norms of complaint strategies as compared to native speakers of English. Additionally, MLEs exhibit pragmatic transfer from Moroccan Arabic in their use of high complaint strategies. The study ends up with a series of suggestions and recommendations that aim to enhance linguistic and cultural understanding of the target language.

Polite Requests of Indonesian Learners of FLE and French Native Speakers: An Interlanguage Study

This study anchored in the field of Interlanguage Pragmatic (ILP). The approach taken is speech act based. The investigation focuses on realization of polite requests produced by Indonesian learners of Français langue étrangère (FLE) (henceforth abbreviated as ILF) and native speakers of French (henceforth abbreviated as NSF). The model used for the investigation is the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) model formulated by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989), modified by Warga (2005) and Bae (2012). The model applied to the analysis of the data is based on three politeness systems of social relationship between speaker and addressee proposed by Scollon and Scollon (2001). Data was be collected by using Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT). Six out of twelve request situations formulated by Reiter (2000) categorized into each politeness system were selected to be analyzed. The WDCT were tested to 20 ILF; 1 learner of Universitas Negeri Medan and 19 learners of Universitas Negeri Jakarta. The 20 participants are those who are certified of Diplôme d'études en langue française (DELF) of B2 level (advanced level). As the baseline data of the study, the e-mailed data of 20 NSF were also collected. The study found that there is a preference of Indonesian learners of FLE and native speaker of French to use Conventional Indirect strategy in their requests. This strategy, even realized in slightly different number of use, was highly used and considered to be the most polite request by the two groups.

Pragmatic Competence in Business Context: A Case Study of Thai EFL University Students

The present study investigated the development of pragmatic competence of Thai EFL university students majoring in business studies. Data were collected from two groups of participants, 40 first-year and 40 third-year EFL students, all majoring in business studies in a university in Thailand. The participants’ pragmatic competence was evaluated by employing a Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) which covered 16 business scenarios aiming to elicit 4 face-threatening acts: refusal, request, complaint, and advice. Comparisons between the two groups’ WDCT data revealed that when confronting the 4 face-threatening acts in business interactions, the third-year participants demonstrated a statistically noticeable improvement compared to their first-year counterparts and were proved to have a relatively wider access to typical expressions, appropriate amount of information and politeness strategies in the business situations under examination. Finally, based on the interviews with selected informants from the two groups, 6 potential factors, i.e. explicit instruction, textbooks, input from multimedia sources, L1 transfer, language proficiency and output, were identified for the intricate roles they each played in accounting for the participants’ development in pragmatic competence.

A Pragmatic Transfer in the Speech Act of Congratulations by Korean L2 Learners’ English

This study investigated pragmatic transfer in the speech act of congratulations realized by Korean L2 learners of English, Taking a cross-cultural pragmatic approach, the study compared the speech act of congratulations as realized by Korean L2 learners of English with that of English native speakers. For the purpose, 111 participants were asked to take part in the study, who were divided into four groups: a group of native English speakers and three groups of Korean L2 learners with different proficiency levels. The data consisted of responses to twelve situations of written discourse completion test to elicit the speech act of congratulations. The responses were coded using the taxonomy of congratulations proposed by Elwood (2004). The results showed the presence of negative pragmatic transfer in the use of strategies to realize congratulation speech act. Findings indicated the cultural influence on the use of congratulation strategies by Korean L2 learners of English. Possible explanation for the results and educational implications are provided within Korean context. (Kongju National University)