Exploring the role of strategy instruction on learners’ ability to write authentic email requests to faculty

This study used a pre-test post-test research design to investigate the role of explicit strategy instruction on Spanish English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ ability to write authentic email requests to faculty. Drawing on Taguchi’s (2018) classification of pragmatics learning strategies, the instructional intervention followed a strategy-based approach to help learners understand the form–function–context mapping of email requests in the academic context. A total of 110 naturally occurring email requests for action addressed to three faculty members were collected at two different times: as a pre-test (i.e. before engaging learners in the instructional period), and as a post-test (i.e. after learners’ participation in the treatment sessions). Learners’ email messages were analysed considering both their appropriateness of use as well the frequency of utilization of different structural (i.e. subject line, openings and closings) and content components (i.e. request strategies and internal request modifiers). Results showed that strategy instruction helped learners write more appropriate email requests after the instructional period. The findings suggest that arming learners with a variety of strategic tools may lead to pragmatic development in actual language use.

An Analysis of Mitigating Devices of Request Used by Saudi EFL Learners

This study aimed at exploring the linguistic mitigating devices of requests used by Saudi EFL learners. The participants of this study were 97 students enrolled in the English program at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. The data of this study were collected by Discourse Completion Test (DCT) questionnaire designed for the purpose of this study. The questionnaire contained five different situations of request and the factor of Social Distance (SD) was incorporated to investigate any differences of the learners’ request strategies attributed to this factor. The data were classified according to the Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984). The findings of this study revealed that the participants preferred to use internal mitigating devices more frequently than external ones. They also were more direct when making requests and it seems that social distance does not play a significant role in the students’ modification strategies of requests.

Request Strategies and Gender Differences among Bangladeshi Students within Online Classrooms

This research tried to identify the type of requests made by the students within a few Bangladeshi online classrooms. The study also aimed at focusing on possible gender differences between the students based on the requests they made. It adopted the research method used by Onem (2016), who investigated how men and women make requests and observed how they differ in the case of being polite and showing directness. Since there have been no previous studies conducted like this before, this paper analysed and categorized the types of requests by addressing the research gap. The theoretical framework relied on the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP), outlined by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984). Three video records of online classes of “London School of English, Keraniganj, Dhaka, Bangladesh” were undertaken as the main data which was observed naturally followed by analysis and interpretation. The data analysis framework was also undertaken from the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) theory by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984). To analyse the data gathered from the videos, a particular coding scheme of (CCSARP) was used. The result obtained showed that the female students made around 62.5% requests while the male students did only around 37.5%. The requests made by the female students were not only significantly higher but they were more polite than the males. Therefore, this small-scale study is expected to help teachers and both male and female students improve their communication skills. The types of requests identified in this study might help students of both genders become aware of their request-making techniques and help the researchers understand the process of request-making in the students' minds.

The impact of prep class education on effective English requestive e-mails written by students in Turkey

For the past years, cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics have focused on native and non-native speech act descriptions, and only a small number of studies have investigated the preparatory class effect involved in speech act productions. To bridge the gap, this study aims to investigate the degree of directness and amount of lexical / phrasal internal and external modifications of requestive e-mails employed by 25 first grade students of English Language and Literature department with preparatory education and 25 first grade students of English Language and Literature department without preparatory education in their in a state university. It also aims to explore whether there is a difference between two groups according to the degree of imposition while making requests. The participants were given discourse completion tests in e-mail format including two different situations with low and high imposition levels and asked to write two requestive e-mails to their non-native professor. The e-mails were analyzed and classified based on Economidou-Kogetsidis’s (2011) framework which relies on Blum- Kulka et al. (1989) and Biesenbach-Lucas (2006, 2007). Based on the percentages and frequencies, the students with preparatory class education were compared to the students without preparatory class education, with respect to their usage of request strategies, lexical/phrasal internal modification and external modification. The results indicated that these two groups had both similarities and differences with respect to the degree of directness, the amount of internal and external modifications. Turkish ELL learners with and without prep class education employed more direct strategies in both situations. However, the group without prep class education employed more conventionally indirect strategies than the group with prep class education. None of the participants used non-conventionally indirect strategies. The group with prep class education used more internal modification than the group without prep class education. The most common internal modification was the consultative device in both groups. As for external modification, the group with prep class education utilized more supportive moves than the group without prep class education. Grounder was the most preferred supportive move by both groups. Keywords: Turkish ELL learners; requestive e-mails; academic e-mails; directness.

A systematic literature review: Apology and request strategies in English by Libyan university students

Much research has been done in the realization of apology and request speech act but very few have explored this in the context of Arabic language. We perform a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) process in this paper to gather and analyze studies to identify the diverse apology and request strategies preferred by Arabic learners of English and the influence of culture and social distance on them. The strategies employed and the speech acts along with the native and foreign dialects and pragmatism involved are researched. Following a predefined review procedure, we identified 15 literature papers within the years 2016-2020 presenting research on apology and request strategies preferred by Arabic learners of English. The studies are gathered from various resources and illuminate the apology and request strategies in different contexts. We analyzed the papers to understand the preferred strategy method chosen and the logic behind it. Moreover, this study presents a related discussion and conclusions.

Influence of Social Power and Distance on Request Strategies in Saudi Arabic

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of social power and distance on the strategies involved in performing the speech act of request by native speakers of Saudi Arabic. The participants of this study are 26 males and 8 females; all are undergraduate students enrolled in different disciplines at Taif University, Saudi Arabia. Data for this study was collected through the use of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT). The results revealed that the direct strategy is the most preferred strategy employed in making requests by Saudi Arabic native speakers and the nonconventional indirect strategy is the least strategy. It is hoped that this study will facilitate the acquisition of Saudi Arabic pragmatics by non-native speakers in a way to eliminate the miscommunications they may encounter in relation to the sociocultural norms.

Request Strategies as Seen in the Movie Silver Linings Playbook

This research aimed to investigate the types of request strategies used by the characters in the movie Silver Linings Playbook (2012). It also identified the types of request goals made by the characters. The data were taken from dialogues in the movie, which contained request utterances. The data were then classified into nine strategy types of request according to Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984), followed by the classification of the data into four types of request goals according to the theory proposed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1985, as cited in Forgas, 1985, p. 118). The result showed that 202 request strategies were made by the characters. The most frequently used request strategy found in the movie was a direct request, which was mood derivable with 111 occurrences (54.9%). Meanwhile, for request goals, requests for action was the most frequently implored type by the characters, and it was dominated by mood derivable strategy with 103 occurrences (64.8%).

REQUEST STRATEGIES AS SEEN IN THE MOVIE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

This research aimed to investigate the types of request strategies used by the characters in the movie Silver Linings Playbook (2012). It also identified the types of request goals made by the characters. The data were taken from dialogues in the movie, which contained request utterances. The data were then classified into nine strategy types of request according to Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984), followed by the classification of the data into four types of request goals according to the theory proposed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1985, as cited in Forgas, 1985, p. 118). The result showed that 202 request strategies were made by the characters. The most frequently used request strategy found in the movie was a direct request, which was mood derivable with 111 occurrences (54.9%). Meanwhile, for request goals, requests for action was the most frequently implored type by the characters, and it was dominated by mood derivable strategy with 103 occurrences (64.8%).

Chinese EFL Learners’ Cross-cultural Pragmatic Competence: The Appropriateness of Request

The speech act of requesting has attracted a lot of attention in recent research. Previous studies reveal that conventionally indirect request strategies are commonly used by second language (L2) learners. This study is relevant because the findings would improve the requests strategies and its responses between Chinese EFL learners and foreigners. The study also examines the role of cross-cultural pragmatic competence in Chinese students in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) by considering the appropriateness of requests. It aims to find out the effects of knowledge of L1 culture on L2 pragmatic competence and how requests and its responses would contribute to pragmatic failure. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative approach to analyse data. The data were collected through a discourse completion test (DCT) from 72 undergraduates and postgraduate students. The modified DCT was composed of two parts. The first was mainly concerned with the demographic information of the participants and second was composed of 12 simulated situations eliciting the appropriateness of requests in various communication settings. The findings of present study revealed that Chinese learners do not differ markedly from native speakers in their use of strategies, but do differ significantly in the formulaic expressions they employ for making the requests. Unclear request strategies and responses were identified as contributing factors to pragmatic failures. However, the study recommended that instructors should engage learners of English as a second language in a lot of appropriate request strategies to build learners’ competence and ability to understand situations in different environments.