Ali Jahangard; Neda Khanlarzade; Ashkan Latifi
Volume 8, Issue 18 , December 2016, , Pages 123-143
Abstract
Cross-cultural analyses of speech acts are among the hot topics in contrastive studies and up to now various researchers have explored this very issue. Despite the ample studies in this field, the speech act of congratulation, especially the subject of ‘birthday congratulation’ remains untouched. ...
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Cross-cultural analyses of speech acts are among the hot topics in contrastive studies and up to now various researchers have explored this very issue. Despite the ample studies in this field, the speech act of congratulation, especially the subject of ‘birthday congratulation’ remains untouched. The study investigates the possible effects of being an Iranian or an American typical Facebook user upon the kind of the category which is drawn upon to send an addressee a birthday congratulation note on Facebook. The data collected are 120 birthday congratulation notes issued by 60 Iranians and 60 Americans on Facebook. Seven dominant categories emerged from the study namely ‘Illocutionary Force Indicating Device’ (IFID), ‘Blessing Wishes’, ‘Divine Statements’, ‘Poem and Pieces of Literature’, ‘Endearments’, ‘Felling Expressions’ and ‘Compliments’. Moreover, the possible significant differences between the two groups within these categories were explored. The paper concluded that, in five categories, the differences between the two groups proved significant where the two categories ‘IFID’ and ‘Blessing Wishes’ did not show any significant differences.
Ali Akbar Ansarin; Mahsa Mohammadpour Yaghiny
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, , Pages 19-36
Abstract
Investigating transfer of one’s pragmatic knowledge of first language to his second or foreign language has been one of the areas of interest for researchers. However, there are contradictory results even within the scarce studies which have addressed transferability. This study was an attempt ...
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Investigating transfer of one’s pragmatic knowledge of first language to his second or foreign language has been one of the areas of interest for researchers. However, there are contradictory results even within the scarce studies which have addressed transferability. This study was an attempt to investigate perceived pragmatic transferability of L1 refusal strategies by Persian EFL learners. Specifically, the effect of degree of imposition of the context and eliciting act type on transferability rate was investigated. To this end, a DCT was developed with the help of 60 (male & female) Persian EFL learners. This DCT was then administered to 74 Persian EFL learners as the main participants of the study. The results showed the existence of the interactional effect of both degree of imposition and type of eliciting act on the learners’ transferability rate. This suggests that learners’ perception of the differences in conditions under which they refuse has an effect on their choices of the pragmatic aspects to be transferred to English
اسماعیل فقیه; محمدجواد انصاری
Volume 5, Issue 11 , November 2013, , Pages 31-52
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to find a practical solution for improving writing skill among Iranian high school learners of EFL. The main question was whether pragmatics had any priority over traditional methods in improving writing or not. Forty high school students were selected on the basis ...
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The purpose of this study is to find a practical solution for improving writing skill among Iranian high school learners of EFL. The main question was whether pragmatics had any priority over traditional methods in improving writing or not. Forty high school students were selected on the basis of their performance in PET (2009). In addition the following instruments were also used in this quasi-experimental research: California Standard Test (2008), Writing Discourse Completion Task, and Discourse Self-Assessment Task. The special treatment of the experimental group on the role of pragmatics lasted for about ten weeks, while the control group received only the traditional instruction on writing. The results show that there is a meaningful relationship between the pragmatic competency and the improvement of the EFL learners' writing skill. Paired t-test was utilized for analyzing the data. The study concludes that the teachers can use insights from pragmatics to teach writing skill appropriately and by improving writing skill through pragmatics, EFL learners will be able to communicate in a more appropriate way.