The purposes of this study were to investigate Korean EFL learners’ use of request speech acts with respect to power (P) and distance (D) and to identify differences in request strategy patterns used by groups of leaners at different English profici... The purposes of this study were to investigate Korean EFL learners’ use of request speech acts with respect to power (P) and distance (D) and to identify differences in request strategy patterns used by groups of leaners at different English proficiency levels. There were three research questions. First, what are the differences and similarities in Korean EFL learners’, native English speakers’ and native Korean speakers’ use of request strategies? Second, do Korean EFL learners’ use of request strategies differ depending on their English proficiency level? Third, do different situational factors affect the use of Korean EFL learners’ request strategies? Forty Korean EFL learners, 20 native English speakers, and 20 native Korean speakers participated in the study. The Korean EFL learners were further assigned to one of two groups, the advanced-level group (n = 20 learners) or the intermediate-level group (n = 20). A discourse completion task (DCT) was used to elicit the data. The situations investigated by the DCT were categorized into six types: [/P, /D], [/P, -D], [=P, /D], [=P, -D], [-P, /D], [-P, -D]. Data analysis followed a coding scheme employed in Trosborg (1995) and Byon (2004). This study yielded several key results. First, every group showed high-frequency use of query preparatory of the hearer-based indirect strategies, and there were statistically significant differences in type and use of selected strategies as a function of situation. Second, the intermediate-level group used the widest variety of strategies. However, there were statistically significant differences between this group and native English speakers regarding the request strategies depending on situational factors. These results indicate that using a wide variety of strategies is not consistent with appropriate expressions according to situations. The results also revealed that the intermediate-level group did not know the proper expressions for given situations, so they became more verbose and varied in forms than native English speakers. Further, while native English speakers used hearer-based indirect strategies in every situation, Korean EFL learners used different patterns of strategies according to the situation, and the frequency with which individual strategies were used also varied according to situation. In high power situations ([/P]), regardless of distance, Korea EFL learners used indirect strategies, along with the ‘grounder / request’ (G/R) strategy of supportive moves. On the other hand, in equal power and low power situations ([=P], [-P]), different strategy use patterns emerged as a function of distance. In the equal- and low-power with no distance situations ([=P, -D], [-P, -D]), Korean EFL learners used imperative strategies, and usage frequency coincided with that of native Korean speakers. This is indicative of an L1 (first language) transfer effect. In Korean society, selection of speech act expressions is affected by gender, age, hierarchy, and the speaker’s familiarity with hearers. To enhance communicative competence, English learners should know the sociolinguistic features of the target language. Toward this end, the expressions used in real English conversational situations should be studied. ，韩语论文网站，韩语毕业论文 |
