How do Saudi EFL learners realize the speech act of request?

Abstract

AbstractThe current study aimed to examine the realization of the speech act of request by Saudi EFL learners, in Arabic as their first language and English as their foreign language. To this end, 240 Saudi undergraduates completed a discourse completion task consisting of 12 situations, six of which were presented in Arabic while the other six were presented in English. The participants’ responses were coded for the request strategies in addition to internal/external modifiers and initiators. The results showed a clear dominance for the conventionally indirect strategy of “query preparatory” in both languages. However, other statistically significant differences emerged. For instance, while the participants used more direct requests in Arabic than in English, they employed more nonconventionally indirect requests in English than in Arabic. Additionally, the participants apologized significantly more often in English than in Arabic whereas they promised and offered prayers to the hearer more frequently in Arabic than in English. Moreover, the participants used a significantly higher number of downgraders in English than in Arabic. Regarding social variables, the participants exhibited sensitivity to social dominance in the two languages.

Keywords

• speech act
• request
• social dominance
• EFL learners
• pragmatic competence
• politeness