A Study on the Use of Suggestion Strategies among Turkish EFL Learners

Abstract

Pragmatic competence can be regarded as one of the pillars of language competence and it involves the effective use of speech acts, which can be defined as carrying out actions through utterances. In second/foreign language contexts, using speech acts effectively grows highly significant mainly for two reasons: i) speech acts are fundamental to communication, ii) speech acts reflect the basic social norms and cultural values of the target speech community.  Although speech acts such as requests, apologies and refusals have been investigated in a plethora of studies, suggestions have received relatively limited scholarly attention in the English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts, and in particular, in a writing medium. As such, this qualitative study aims to investigate how Turkish EFL adult learners suggest in English in a writing medium. The data were collected by using a scenario-based task which helped elicit how the participants suggested and what kind of linguistic strategies and elements they used while making suggestions. The results of the qualitative content analysis demonstrated that the most commonly used suggestion type was “conventionalized” whereas “direct strategies” remained scarce. Moreover, it was found that the participants mostly used “possibility” and “should” as suggestion strategies. Overall, the findings suggested that the participants tried to render their suggestions as less face-threatening as possible by lessening the degree of imposition placed on the hearer while being as cooperative as possible, a tendency which can be deduced from the frequent use of “we can” structure.

Keywords

• Second/foreign language learning,pragmatic competence,speech acts,suggestions,Turkish EFL learners

İngilizce’yi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğrenen Türk Öğrencilerin Öneri Sözeylem Stratejileri Kullanımı

Abstract

Dil yeterliğinin temel bileşenlerinden biri olarak kabul edilen edimbilimsel yeterlik, sözeylemleri etkili kullanabilme becerisini içerir. İkinci/yabancı dil bağlamında, sözeylemlerin etkili bir biçimde kullanılması esas olarak iki nedenden ötürü önemlidir: i) sözeylemler iletişimin temel yapı taşlarından biridir, ii) sözeylemler hedef konuşma topluluğunun temel sosyal normlarını ve kültürel değerlerini yansıtmaktadır. Talep etme, özür dileme ve reddetme gibi sözeylemler pek çok çalışmada incelenmiş olsa da öneride bulunma sözeylemi ikinci/yabancı dil bağlamında ve özellikle yazma ortamında nispeten sınırlı sayıda çalışmada ele alınmıştır. Bu nitel çalışma, yetişkin Türk öğrencilerin öneri sözeylemini İngilizce’de yazılı ortamda nasıl gerçekleştirdiklerini irdelemektedir. Nitel veri, katılımcıların nasıl öneride bulunduklarını ve bu önerilerde ne tür dil stratejileri ve unsurlarını kullandıklarını anlamayı amaçlayan senaryo bazlı bir iletişimsel etkinlik kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Nitel içerik analizinin sonuçlarına göre, en sık kullanılan öneri stratejisi türü “konvensiyonelleştirilmiş” stratejiler iken, “doğrudan” stratejiler ise sınırlı sayıda kullanılmıştır. Ayrıca, katılımcıların öneri stratejisi olarak çoğunlukla olasılık ve gereklilik bildiren yapıları kullandıkları saptanmıştır. Buna ek olarak, katılımcıların mümkün olduğunca işbirlikçi bir söylemde bulundukları ve iletişim kurulan kişiye yöneltilen dayatmayı daha az tehdit edici hale getirmeye çalıştıkları katılımcıların sıklıkla kullandığı “yapabiliriz” yapısından da anlaşılmaktadır. 

Keywords

• İkinci/yabancı dil öğrenimi,edimbilimsel yeterlik,sözeylemler,yetişkin İngilizce öğrencileri

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