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

Year 2020, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 36 - 55, 30.01.2020

Tuğba Elif Toprak

https://doi.org/10.17569/tojqi.505686

Cited By: 1

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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