scholarly journals Speech Act of Greeting for American Native Speakers of English and Saudi Native Speakers of Arabic: A Comparative Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 243
Author(s):  
Rehan Almegren
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Saudi Arabic

This study focuses on comparing the speech acts of native Arabic speakers of Saudi region and English speakers of America, which help depict the impact of the variables involved, namely status, setting, social distance and situation formality. This paper makes a significant contribution for future researchers, as it is of help to researchers in the speech act area specifically in terms of Saudi Arabic and American English. It will be also of help to those learning Arabic or English and those who teach it in these two countries. Thus, the outcome of this research will contribute to depict the differences and the similarities in the use of greeting strategies between two different groups of respondents from diverse linguistic and cultural domains. Data was collected using the discourse completion test (DCT), developed by Cohen, Olshtain & Rosenstien (1985). Fifty female respondents within the age group of 20-25 years were selected from each group to participate in research procedures. Although the inclusion of male respondents would have made the process complex, it would have provided with comparatively more accurate outcomes if managed properly. The findings showed that linguistic and cultural differences, variables of social distance, social status, settings and situation formality greatly influenced the decision-making of Saudi Native Speakers of Arabic and American Native Speakers of English, pertaining to their usage of greeting strategies as part of their speech acts. For example, differences can be observed between these two speakers in terms of their greeting strategies; American English speakers attach less significance to social and physical distance and hierarchy compared to Saudi Arabic speakers. Similarly, both the groups attach almost equal importance to their initiation words when greeting others. These differences and similarities help determine social status and the relationship between speakers. 

scholarly journals Impoliteness in the Realization of Complaint Speech Acts: A Comparative Study of Iranian EFL Learners and Native English Speakers

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atefeh Nikoobin ◽  
Mohsen Shahrokhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study was conducted to investigate the impolite complaint strategies that are used by Iranian EFL learners and native speakers in relation to social distance. This study also aimed at determining if there were significant differences among the strategies used by each group and if there was a significant difference between Iranian native speakers of English. To this end, 40 Iranian EFL learners and 20 Americans who were native speakers of English participated in this study. To make sure about the homogeneity of Iranian participants the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was conducted. A questionnaire containing 12 different situations was designed by the researchers and was given to the participants to express their complaints for each situation. The results revealed that there were significant differences among the strategies used by each group; the most common strategy that was used by both groups of participants was positive impoliteness and the least common one was bald-on-record. Although the most and least common strategies used by both groups were the same, Iranians had a stronger tendency for using sarcasm in low social distance situations while natives had a stronger tendency for using bald-on-record in high social distance contexts. This study has implications for EFL curriculum designing in Iran and can make Iranian EFL instructors familiar with the importance of impoliteness as an indispensable part of language.

scholarly journals Strategies and mitigation devices in the speech act of disagreement in American English

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-39
Author(s):  
Hassen Khammari
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Strategy Selection ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Completion Test ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

The present study aimed at exploring the strategies of disagreement and hedging devices used by native speakers of English. The study elicited the informants’ reactions when disagreeing with higher, equal, and lower status. The responses were analyzed using Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness model and Hyland’s (1998) hedging taxonomy. Discourse completion test data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed that native speakers of American English used positive politeness strategies considerably with higher and equal status interlocutors (father, teacher, and friends). The respondents were concerned with saving their interlocutors’ positive face regardless of their social distance and power. The only significant difference, in terms of strategy selection, was identified in highly face-threatening contexts (accusation), where the informants opted for bald on record politeness strategies because of the seriousness of the interlocutor’s (supervisor) claims (plagiarism). The data showed also that native speakers relied on hedges considerably to mitigate their disagreements.

Effects of task complexity on L2 suggestions

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-265
Author(s):  
Daniel Márquez ◽  
Júlia Barón
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
American English ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
And Task

Abstract This exploratory study aims at determining whether increased task complexity affects performance of second language (L2) pragmatics. 34 Spanish learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) undertook simple and complex interactive tasks targeting the speech act of suggesting. Although previous analyses of learner-learner interaction have demonstrated that increasing the cognitive load of a task may affect the number of speech acts in conversation, not enough evidence to support this premise was found. In addition, the assessment of suggestions as provided by native speakers of American English shows that increased task complexity along number of elements, social distance, and degree of imposition is likely to promote accuracy and complexity of pragmatic moves without making L2 learners trade off either accuracy or complexity. Pedagogical implications in the fields of L2 pragmatics and task-based language teaching (TBLT) are further discussed.

scholarly journals Request Strategies in Everyday Interactions of Persian and English Speakers

SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401667947
Author(s):  
Shiler Yazdanfar ◽  
Alireza Bonyadi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
American English ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Cross Cultural Study ◽  
Daily Interactions ◽  
Request Strategies ◽  
American English Speakers

Cross-cultural studies of speech acts in different linguistic contexts might have interesting implications for language researchers and practitioners. Drawing on the Speech Act Theory, the present study aimed at conducting a comparative study of request speech act in Persian and English. Specifically, the study endeavored to explore the request strategies used in daily interactions of Persian and English speakers based on directness level and supportive moves. To this end, English and Persian TV series were observed and requestive utterances were transcribed. The utterances were then categorized based on Blum-Kulka and Olshtain’s Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Pattern (CCSARP) for directness level and internal and external mitigation devises. According to the results, although speakers of both languages opted for the direct level as their most frequently used strategy in their daily interactions, the English speakers used more conventionally indirect strategies than the Persian speakers did, and the Persian speakers used more non-conventionally indirect strategies than the English speakers did. Furthermore, the analyzed data revealed the fact that American English speakers use more mitigation devices in their daily interactions with friends and family members than Persian speakers.

scholarly journals Disagreement: a speech act analysis and classroom implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 24-35
Author(s):  
Panha Song
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Nonnative Speakers Of English ◽  
Authentic Data ◽  
Speech Act Analysis

Disagreement has been widely regarded as one of the most interesting speech acts in EFL context since the way the speaker expresses her or his opposing view can affect the addressee’s self-image and view of the addressor. This article attempted to identify various strategies native speakers of English realized this speech act through a qualitative method by analyzing two sets of authentic data from two half-hour interviews. Next, it investigated the lack of emphasis on disagreement in EFL materials before offering possible suggestions to equip non-native learners of English with pragmatic competence to disagree effectively. The findings and recommendations had implications for EFL teachers, course designers, and materials developers in how and why speech acts and pragmatic competence should be emphasized in order to ensure that nonnative speakers of English could communicate effectively without being perceived as pragmatically inferior.

scholarly journals SPEECH ACTS PREFERENCE IN COMPUTER – MEDIATED INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION VIA FACEBOOK MESSENGER: A NETNOGRAPHIC STUDY

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehezkiel Adhi Nugraha
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Indirect Speech Acts ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

<p>People will not only use language for sharing message but also due to do an action. Through language, people will ask, promise, refuse, greet, invite, thank, and so on. The purpose of this research is to identify the speech acts preference used by Indonesian and Filipino non – native speakers of English via Facebook Messenger. Besides, to identify the similar or different of speech acts preference they used.</p><p>             The source of data are utterances of conversation in Facebook Messenger. The researcher applies documentation and an observation (reading the book and internet as the references) in collecting the data. After collecting the data, the researcher analyzes the data by focusing the speech acts theory. In order to support the evidence of the result, the researcher needs to describe and compare the high context-cultures and low context-cultures by Hall (1976) and also cultural dimension of Indonesia and Philippines by Hofstede.</p>The result of the analysis shows that the most speech acts preference used by Indonesian and Filipino non - native speakers of English is direct speech act. Similar and different types of speech acts are found. The similar speech act preferences are found in declarations and representatives. The different speech acts preferences are found in expressives, directives, commissives, direct, and indirect speech acts. The result of this research also shows that the communication of Indonesian and Filipino are included into low contex-cultures. It is contrary with the theory of Hall and Hofstede which shows that Indonesia and Philippines factually should be high context-cultures.

A comparative Analysis of apology Speech acts between American English and Iraqi Kurdish

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Rawshan Ibrahim Tahir ◽  
Ambigapathy Pandian
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Explicit Expression ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
New Strategies

The present study is a comparative analysis of apology speech acts in both native speakers of Kurdish and native speakers of American English. It aims at finding out the similarities and differences in the strategies used to apologize in both languages. Therefore, a Discourse completion Task (DCT) questionnaire consisted of 15 situations was used to collect the data from 50 native speakers of English and 50 native speakers of Kurdish language. The findings revealed that both languages used similar five main strategies to apologize which confirm the universality of speech acts. However, the differences came out in the use of sub-strategies of an explicit expression of apology; native speakers of English used more an expression of regret strategy to perform an apology while native speakers of Kurdish used offer of an apology strategy more to apologize. Furthermore, the differences occurred in the frequency of strategies used to apologize in both languages. The study also revealed the occurrence of other new strategies in Kurdish Language that did not exist in English languag

Realization of Speech Act of Permission by Kurdish EFL University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Yaseen Alzeebaree
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Private University ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
State Universities ◽  
Completion Test ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Convenience Sampling

This study aims to examine Kurdish EFL university students’ development of L2 pragmatic competence by investigating their performance of the speech acts of permission. The methodology of this study was a combined research method, which comprises a quantitative and a qualitative method (mixed method). Total of 97 participants were involved in this research study. 83 (33 males and 50 females) were from four state universities and one private university in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and 14 were native speakers of English. A discourse completion test (DCT) was used to elicit the required data from participants. The study used convenience sampling for the participants because both native and non-native participants were selected on the basis of their availability. The data were coded and analysed quantitatively in terms of overall strategy use and strategy patterns. The findings revealed that there were differences in the frequency and percentages of strategies and semantic formulae in performing the speech act. KEFLUS tended to use more direct and explicit. There were more politeness and implicitness in NSE' behaviours in performing the speech act, which might have resulted from the lack of pragmatic competence of KEFLUS.

scholarly journals Attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-Accented English among Native and Non-native Speakers of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-29
Author(s):  
Mohammed Nour Abu Guba ◽  
Bassil Mashaqba ◽  
Anas Huneety ◽  
Omer AlHajEid
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Jordanian Arabic ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Accented English

This paper explores attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-accented English among native and non-native speakers of English. Three groups of listeners (native English speakers, Jordanian Arab specialists and non-specialists in English) were asked to rate three groups of speakers (a group of native English speakers and two groups of Jordanian Arabic bilinguals) reading a short story in English on the degree of foreign accentedness, friendliness, pleasantness and clarity. The results showed that the Jordanian Arabic speakers, especially those with a lower level of English, were perceived less favourably than the native speakers. Furthermore, the English native listeners generally had more favourable perceptions than the non-native listeners with regard to the non-native speakers. The degree of foreign-accentedness was highly correlated with attitudes toward non-native speakers, especially among the non-native speakers themselves. The results confirm that a native English accent is preferred over non-native accents.

scholarly journals Sequence Organization of Requests among Australian English and Saudi Arabic Speakers: A Contrastive Study

Arabica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 761-784
Author(s):  
Saad Al-Gahtani
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Interlanguage Pragmatics ◽  
Sequence Organization ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Saudi Arabic

Abstract Previous research on cross-cultural pragmatics has primarily focused on how native speakers of different languages perform speech acts in relation to politeness and directness. However, Gabriele Kasper (2006), among others, has called for adopting a more discursive approach rather than analyzing data according to the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (ccsarp) coding scheme. Therefore, this paper used Conversation Analysis for Interlanguage Pragmatics to investigate sequence organization of requests in Australian English and Saudi Arabic using role-play scenarios. It specifically examined pre-expansions, pre-pres, accounts in request turn, insert-expansions, and post-expansions, and the extent to which the social variable power affects them. The results showed that both languages shared some regularities in aspects of sequence organization but differed in others. Power influenced the production of some regularities in both languages.

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