This paper investigated the extent to which Iranian EFL students are aware of the appropriate use of request speech act in English speaking contexts in terms of formality, politeness and indirectness. A researcher made discourse completion test (DCT) including 16 scenarios was distributed among 130 advanced students in private English institutes…

This paper investigates the issues related to code-switching/code-mixing in an ESL context. Some preliminary data on Bangla-English code-switching/code-mixing has been analyzed in order to determine which structural pattern of code-switching/code-mixing is predominant in different social strata. This study also explores the relationship of…

The current study analyzes discourse style differences between western and Japanese interlocutors in a group consensus-building task discussion. Four discussants (American male, Japanese male, German female and Japanese female) first created a ranking of 5 life values and then participated in a group discussion to arrive at a common group ranking.…

This article examines how healthcare professionals use encouragement. Focusing on GAMBARU ["to try hard"], forty-one scenes were collected from healthcare manga. Each scene of encouragement was analyzed from three perspectives; the contextual background of the communication, the relationship with the patients and the patients' response to the…

There have been long argumentations about this topic and people are still having difficulty in explaining precisely what the agreement values the mother NP phrase should have from two conjunct daughters which have different AGR (Agreement) values. Especially, this could be more complicated when the values of gender, number, and person of each…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what characteristics make American Native Speakers of English (ANSE) different from Korean Speakers of English (KSE) when they are asked to introduce themselves in English. In particular, components and topics of self-introduction, the use of word number and class, and the use of discourse markers (DM)…

Examines how apology speech act strategies frequently used in daily life are transferred in the framework of interlanguage pragmatics and sociolinguistics and how they are influenced by sociolinguistic variations such as social status, social distance, severity of offense, and formal or private relationships. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on promoting Korean English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers' communicative competence, particularly their sociolinguistic ability through inservice training programs. Describes a training program that sought to strengthen and deepen teachers' awareness of sociolinguistic uses of a second language. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the interlanguage pragmatic strategies used by Japanese and Korean learners of English. Data was collected from a project carried out jointly by Korean and Japanese university students. Observation, analysis, and discussion of student data suggest that interspeaker understanding and sensitivity to pragmatic variables of the target…

Examines some distinctive differences observed between Koreans and Japanese when presenting their papers at an international conference. The differences discussed include linguistic features as well as pragmatic features. Suggests that the most important factors in writing and giving a good presentation are to have a clear idea and to organize it…

Investigates expressions of gratitude in Japanese and American English, focusing on the sociocultural factors influencing the deeper level of these expressions. Data are collected through the written answers to the discourse completion test, which has ten different situations designed to elicit a variety of expressions of gratitude from the…

Discusses how English-as-a-foreign-language textbooks published according to the Korean Ministry of Education standards incorporate speech act behaviors of apology and compliments for Korean middle school learners of English and suggests what can be done to better equip students with pragmatic competence by analyzing 24 textbooks.(Author/VWL)

Analyzes the discourse completion data collected through Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language learners with reference to four speech functions--thanking, apology, request, and offering. Compares Japanese learners' expressions with expressions obtained by native speakers of English stored in the London-Lund corpus of Spoken English. (Author/VWL)

Compares apology speech acts of ten advanced Korean learners of English to those of 10 English native speakers and discusses similarities and differences observed between these two groups in their apology-use strategies. Data were collected by means of oral role plays.(Author/VWL)

Emphasizes the importance of sociolinguistically and pragmatically appropriate materials of the target language for second-language learners. Discusses whether there is any strong agreement between Japanese and Korean learners of English regarding their perceptions of status, obligation to apology, and the appropriateness of the situation.…