Requests strategies encountered by Iraqi students in Australian Universities - Dissertation Example

?Request’s strategies encountered by Iraqi in Australian Universities Introduction This thesis is a preliminary study of the strategies of Iraqi students as ESL speakers. It provides additional, comparative data, building on previous work by Ha Cam (1998). Request strategies basically helps the students to clear their idea and concept regarding any reading they are doing of the text and then ask questions to the instructors in order to understand the key concepts of it and to clear all the queries. Sometimes requesters may hesitate to make any requests because it creates nuisance for the requester and for the recipient to answer it. Iraqi culture which is suppose to be the most influential culture in terms of protecting their values, beliefs and cultural positions follow their own language in order to communicate. Language is the first medium to communicate with the intercultural and the cross cultural variations and it is seems to be the barrier if the proper communication is not performed. For Iraqi’s, English is suppose to be the second language because they give priority to their own language first, whereas pragmatic competence is the ability beyond the understanding of the grammar and to understand the clear levels of any language. This short research thesis basically discusses few issues and tribulations that are faced in the studies of pragmatic in order to create the idea of clear understanding of the communication and the politeness factor into it (Cook, & Liddicoat, 2002, Introduction, Para. 1). It also discuses the inter language issues that are faced by all of those for whom English is not their first language and due to this they do face threatening acts and unable to use appropriate strategies and politeness into their speech (Chen, 2006, Brown and Levinson’s Concept of Face and Politeness Theory, Para. 3). As for Iraqi students, English is the second language and for them it creates difficulty in communicating and following requests strategies with the teachers and the instructors there in Australia. The use of pragmatic inter language is used for all those who want to learn and to use L2 pragmatic knowledge (Kasper, 1996, Introduction, p. 147). The speaker should create the politeness factor in order to build strong perception of the listener for understanding the context. To overcome various gaps between the communication and general pragmatics knowledge in order to understand English as second language the process of acculturation facilitates because bilingualism always helps students to understand the environment and helps in learning when such students like Iraqi’s go to some other place to acquire education. Now the pragmatic competence and knowledge of the learner is obligatory then the grammatical competence of any student. Pragmatics involve all the important factors including the style, conversational structure and various aspects that helps in building communication effectively (Quraishi, 1994, Personal Experience with L2 Politeness, p. 1). The importance of using and learning request strategies is that it helps the bilingual and monolingual learners to bring politeness into inter cultural communications so that it gets easier for others to feel comfortable while dealing with them (Quraishi, 1994, The importance of Politeness Strategies in Effective Communication, p. 2). For those who are monolinguals it gets difficult for them to communicate if they are not polite or rude, therefore there are certain techniques and strategies that are important for them to learn which includes the politeness and request strategies and the certain pragmatics also help them in understanding the intercultural communication(Chen, 2006, Sociolinguistic Competence & Transfer, Para. 1). Rationale of the study The purpose of the study is to identify two things: How Iraqi learners of English realize their request strategies in relation to the social dimensions of power (P) and distance (D)?  How Australian native speakers and Vietnamese learners of English reported in Ha Cam’s (1998) study differ, in particular with respect to the Iraqis’ choice of strategy in relation to the social dimensions of P and D?  Accordingly, two specific yet inter-related research questions guide this thesis and answer the whole scenario that is defined in this research. The first research question that informs this study concerns the choice of requests strategies used by Iraqis for whom English is a second language under the following circumstances:  Where the speaker has greater power than the addressee (+p)  Where the speaker has less power than the addressee (-p) Where the speaker has equal power to the addressee (=p) Where the speaker and the addressee are familiar with each other (-D)  Where the speaker and the addressee are unfamiliar with each other (+D).  The second research subject relates to the comparative aspect of the research:  Is there a difference between Iraqis speech strategies and the Australian native speakers and Vietnamese learners of English reported in Ha Cam’s (1998) study, in particular with respect to the Iraqis’ choice of strategy in relation to the social dimensions of P and D?  This study is considered highly important because of the changing need of the time. As this century and so on the phase of globalization is highly increasing. The cross cultural interaction is now more vivid and day by day the need of it is increasing. Students and learners from all over the world needs to understand the importance of bilingual learning as well as ESL (English as Second Language) and EFL (English as Foreign Language) because when they move from their region to some other region they face a lot of difficulties in learning and dealing with the teachers and people there because most of the time people are monolingual (Cook, & Liddicoat, 2002, Introduction, Para. 4). According to the research the Australians use more request strategies in order to gain the confidence and trust of the addressee and they prefer the hearer’s ability more. Research also proved that Vietnamese also consider the hearer’s ability and use the request strategy whereas the Iraqi learners of English either make similar or dissimilar selection of strategies. Communication is a challenge while moving into the diverse cultures because of the variation of languages and meanings assigned to every act as if one act is followed in one culture then it’s not obligatory that the same act will also be supported in other cultures. Robson in 1995 stated that English for the Iraqi’s is like a foreign language and their grip on this language is not too much and they have limited ability of speaking this language. They do read more but the ability of understanding and speaking English is lesser. Even the learners of English face lot of difficulties due to the surrounding that revolves around their own culture and language and they don’t get chance to show up their skills they have lack of opportunities because learners of English in Iraq learn and practice English in their own cultural contexts and pattern (Sattar, Lah, & Suleiman, 2009, Introduction, Para. 5, P. 57). Due to the newness of English as foreign language they prefer to learn things in their own cultural context. They face difficulty due to syntax and other phrasal issues because they are not so good in its learning and this is for all Arabs too (Sattar, Lah, & Suleiman, 2009, Rationale for the Study, p. 57). They also feel lack in pronunciation of the words. This is due to the linguistic practices into their cultures and use of the appropriate skills. This inappropriate response generates the feeling of awkwardness and rudeness into Arabs and its associated places because it reduces the impression while communication. Due to this issue of EFL it creates difficulty for Iraqi’s in understanding the speech. These all leads to the failure of understanding of pragmatics and that is why Iraqi students fails to use appropriate strategies in order to create healthy communication and building acculturation(Kasper, 1996, Introduction, Para. 3&4 ,P 145-146). This all is due to the level of directness that is use in request making strategy, the understanding of cultural sensitivity and social variables that differs in every culture and the request according to it. This research will help in understanding the issues those Iraqi students face related to linguistics and the approaches they use to overcome with such situations. It also gives a view of those strategies that are helpful in dealing with the sensitivity of the culture and situations (Sattar, Lah, & Suleiman, 2009, Studies on Request, Para. 3, p. 59). Issues that build Gap in this study When we talk about social interaction we face many issues and a huge gap between the cultures. In case of Iraqi students the gap is of the language because they taught English as the foreign language (EFL). There are certain cultural variables that need to be studied while communicating with different people; Communication Variables Mind-set It means stereotyping. Usually people when they move from one country to another for the purpose of gaining education, these types of problems arise. When diversified cultures come under one roof then mostly there is a conflict that students start over generalizing. As Iraqi’s are much more into their religious beliefs and for those English is secondary language therefore they sometimes get rude to coordinate with people around them. It reduces their politeness and they also fail to follow requesting strategy because of the fear that maybe other person won’t respond them positively and that’s why they feel uncomfortable to communicate and to deal with the western word including Australia. Social Organization When natives work in team, they get closer to one another and they are likely to fill gaps between two unlike cultures. It means that cooperatively consortium can bring a change in cultural variations and it also lessens stereotyping which is socially adequate. Thought Patterns Every individual who belong from different cultures are different in nature. There are some Iraqis who are bilingual learners whereas some are monolinguals and for such people the means of acculturation changes due to the adaptation of various strategies and learning general pragmatics. Same with the Australian learners as their thought patterns are different. Language Language is a bridge between various cultures. It basically eradicates the difference between the two cultures as this gap causes increase in stereotyping. When we talk about the places like high schools or universities we came across with the factor that diversified cultures meet together and try to learn and adapt several things from surroundings. Some acts create bond between people like if two friends are of different culture, their lifestyle is different and they speak different languages. The way of communication and dimensions people use varies from culture to culture. But if once the language barrier is eliminated then it gets easier for people to perform strong intercultural activities. The purpose of this study is to identify the key points and pitfalls that cause Iraqi learners in communicating with the Australian natives. Further this research identifies few strategies that can help learners in dealing and coordinating with the people in Australia. As Iraqi’s feel uncomfortable in communication in such circumstances therefore, they need to follow certain strategies. Moreover, these strategies are defined in this research too with the proper ratio that to what extent Iraqi’s accept it or not. During the intercultural communication we see many problems in the interpretation of the messages. People point out that maybe medium is not appropriate but the fault is at the sender’s side. If sender is not sending message properly in the clear words then it gets difficult to decode the message at receiver’s side. For any communication especially when the culture and language is barrier then sender should keep in mind that message should be clear and s/he should use proper strategies (request, Politeness) and should keep in mind general pragmatics that can change the meaning of the message (Sattar, Lah, & Suleiman, 2009, Conclusion, Para. 1 & 3, p. 68). Medium is the secondary thing but at initial level it is the duty of sender to build strong message by keeping in mind all the realistic issues. Usually the noise is created which is actually the cultural difference. Failure of Understanding General Pragmatics Most of the students (Iraqi’s) fail to understand the general pragmatics that could help them in understanding the basic gap of intercultural communication and can built acculturation and makes easier for them to deal into different places. General Pragmatics is divided into three types that define the various strategies while communicating with the hearer and these three types are used while making request (Cox, 2004, Why Pragmatic Communication Skills are so Important, Para. 2, Table: Pragmatic (Practical) Communication Skills). I. Verbal II. Thinking III. Non-Verbal Verbal It includes the following realistic approaches that Iraqi’s and most of the Arabs fail to follow while they are communicating with the western World Giving Compliments Taking Turns Affect of time and place and conversation according to it Voice Intonation Using Request Strategies Politeness and courtesy Thinking These includes the fears and thoughts that Iraqi’s think while they make communication with the Australians Predicting others behavior Conducting conversational transactions Using appropriate humor Non-Verbal It includes the non-verbal pragmatic skills that Iraqi students fail to make and with their faces they give a feeling of rudeness that creates their uncomfortable impression on others Eye Contact Facial Expressions Maintaining distance while communication Making gestures Choice of Strategy based on Social Status and Distances As the major part of this research focuses on the Hofstede’s dimension (Basabe & Ros, 2005, Introduction, Para. 4 & 5, p 191-192) which is power and distances in the social status that tends to create barrier in the communication. While communicating in intercultural situations learners feel uncomfortable due to unpredictable behavior or response from the hearer. This difference of power is defined ad when someone asks any favor or any help from friend or the people with whom they can easily communicate, they tend to be more relax and feel easier to communicate. For this they don’t even tend to make high request because they know that the other person will respond to them but if someone want any favor from superior then it gets difficult to communicate due to the social distance that is between the addressor and the addressee. Same with Iraqi’s want help of any teacher when they are studying in Australia or nay foreign country they feel uncomfortable to ask for help from teachers due to the gap in status (Umar, 2004, The Communicative Act of Request and Face Wants, Para. 7, p. 50). When Iraqi’s or in general people communicates with the stranger their face is quite threatening because they feel that maybe stranger wont respond them in helpful manner but when they communicate with their own natives they are quite sure that to some extent that person will help them and they also show politeness (Umar, 2004, The Communicative Act of Request and Face Wants, Para. P, 48-49). This research highlights the points where the addressor and the addressee are in power and who is more dominating while making the communication in cross cultural situations. For the diversified communications there is highly focus on the dimensions of Hofstede’s and Trompenaar’s (Basabe & Ros, 2005, Discussion & Conclusion, p. 214) that defines the cultural attributes with respect to the dimensions. Power and distance is yet the major gap in the interlanguage communication because people tend to be more inflexible when they communicate with the people of diversified cultures. Transfer of Language in Interlanguage Language is the bridge between two cultures and one who is bilingual for him it is easier to understand the pragmatics of the communication. The factor of interlanguage helps the person to build strong relationship. For such individuals who are planning to seek education into some place where the culture and language is different then that person should learn different languages and should know the basic concepts of the cultures. Acculturation is yet another way of socialization where the factor of interlanguage tends to be more helpful in order to communicate and learning manners and practicing them is yet more important while making cross cultural communication (Chen, 2006, Proficiency Level on Interlanguage, Para. 2, p. 14). Learning the second language creates many difficulties initially but later on it tends to be more helpful. Politeness while Communication Politeness shows the deference and honor for the other people while making communication and gives priority to the other person so that it creates good impression on the other person (Alfattah, 2009, On Politeness and Politeness Strategies, p. 25). The absence of politeness while communicating with the other person especially when that person is not the native of their area it creates difficulty. People often make mistakes when they communicate to someone who is stranger because they fail to maintain the politeness in their communication (Umar, 2004, Politeness Theory, p. 46). Being polite does not only means to be bilingual or to understand the language of the other person but it also means that the person should know that what are the norms and values of the other one and the cultural beliefs so that it makes easier for the addressor to communicate and by keeping in mind the basic pragmatics. Many linguists tend to focus on the politeness factor in order to value the hearer. Due to the social differences it is therefore very important to understand the basic pragmatics because the social relationships cannot be separated from the pragmatics (Umar, 2004, Politeness Theory, p. 46). The factor of politeness basically directs the communication style and the conversation tends to be more accurate and less in frustrating (Miller, Wu, Funk, Jgonson & Vilhjalmsson, 2007, Politeness for Social Interactions). The face threatening act can be lesser if the clarity is maintained properly while communication in interlanguages. For all the good linguists there are two rules that they follow while communication To maintain clarity To be polite While communication and in acculturation it is important to be clear with the message that is send to the receiver so that s/he could interpret the message properly and politeness should be maintain so that one feels less burden while understanding the message and also to take interest in the conversation without any fear because addressor faces fear while making request, so by effective politeness one can remove the barrier in communication. This helps Iraqi’s in communicating with the Australian instructors. Conclusion This research is about the Iraqi’s use of strategies while communicating with the Australian’s and the use of pragmatics in order to deal in intercultural variations. The purpose of this study was to highlight those areas where we find the roots of this imbalance situation. Students from Iraq are basically the learners of their now native language. For them English is considered as either the foreign language or the second language. There culture is highly revolves around their own thought patterns, beliefs, values and culture therefore, it is quite difficult for them to understand the other languages and values. Due to this cultural variation they are not the effective learners of English and they feel uncomfortable while communicating with the western world as they think that the syntax they using maybe wrong. This creates a feeling of rudeness and awkwardness in them while communicating with the other person. Moreover they fail to understand the basic pragmatics as well as the time of making request strategies. Therefore, the pragmatics from culture to culture should be transfer in order to understand those things that are different in every culture and teachers should emphasize on such learning (Kasper, 1996, Introduction, Para. 11, p. 147). Most of the Iraqi’s when go to Australia fails to maintain the request and politeness into their conversations because their norms and beliefs differ from the beliefs and conversation style of Australians. They fail to maintain the proper request because they feel that maybe others will not respond to them due to their lack of understanding of English language and the syntax they are using is either appropriate or not. All the discussion that generally goes between two people (the addressor and the addressee) revolves around their beliefs and attitudes towards each other. Therefore, for every individual it is important to remove all the biases and negativity in order to build strong communication. Even if Iraqi’s feel that they are not good in communicating in English they should use strategies like politeness so that if other person don’t understand their improper language even then through their gestures and politeness others can help them out. It is not necessary that everyone is in this situation; maybe some are there who know the techniques to communicate with other who doesn’t belong to their own culture or language but if someone does not understand the language then Indirect approach can be very helpful in communication. The research also shows that Australians are more indirect in communication either conventionally or non-conventionally even communicating with their own natives whereas; Vietnamese’s are more direct and imperative while communicating with others. Same strategy Iraqi’s uses as of Australians as they use to communicate in indirect approach. Iraqi’s communicate in this similar way in order to avoid in conflict or imposing their will by using direct approach. They focus on indirect strategy because it is more towards seeking permission from the hearer so that s/he may not find uncomfortable to answer. As direct strategy is more straight-forward and it also reduces politeness therefore they use indirect method to communicate as it focuses on polite behavior and permission seeking and more complementary type. The culture of Iraq is more collectivist and interdependent as they live in the society where they belief on helping people around them whereas; when we talk about western societies they are more individualist and independent. Iraqi’s focus on conventional indirect approach because it is more suitable while making request with the Australians and the western world. This creates the balance in the conversion and provides the idea for others regarding the topic they want to discuss as it is mentioned earlier in this research. Through this they create simplicity and yet more convincing foundation of the conversation. There is also the involvement of semantic communications that leads to understand the socio linguistic behavior and prototyping of the society (Sattar, Lah, & Suleiman, 2009, Perception of Request, Para. 2, p. 67). While communicating and negotiating in studies and trade, there are several dimensions that should be considered with respect to diversification of cultures. To reduce the diversification in managing communication it is important for the learners to study the cultural differences to avoid any unethical act. Cross Cultural understanding is important because it makes people to recognize, react, perceive and to interpret the situations and dilemmas that causes misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Dimensions that were given by Hofstede focused on the Power and Distances based on cultural and social variation. Australian’s when use request strategy they tend to be in less power so that other fell comfortable while communicating with the other non-native, Iraqi’s also focus on this strategy and as status is also maintained properly due to avoid any uncertain awkward situation whereas, Vietnamese use high power while communicating with others as they use direct strategy. Power and Distances is mostly use when there is difference of status in terms of wealth, cultural variations, population and climatic changes. When there is high power distances it leads to the face threatening acts and lead the narrator in awkward situation (Umar, 2004, The Communicative Act of Request and Face Wants, p 48-50). Iraqi’s while communicating with the instructor/teacher they are liable to understand the thought of the teacher and then according to their will they should make the request so that their query could be solve without any awkwardness. The basic process of acculturation let the learners to understand the other languages like English besides their own native language. It is therefore very important for the Iraqi learners to understand the syntax and grammar of English language so that they could easily communicate with the rest of the world. Being bilingual will increase their intellectual ability while communicating and creates the confidence while dealing with Australians and it doesn’t give harm to their own culture. To preserve any culture does not means that not letting the learners to understand new things but telling and informing them with new thing with respect to their own culture. Iraqi teachers should give knowledge and clear the basic concepts of the students regarding English but on the other hand they should keep telling students their own norms and values so that wherever they go they keep their culture into their hearts without violating boundaries of their own native language and culture. The awareness of these types of studies can be built when teachers in the class room consider all the students as equal and by teaching the pragmatics of different cultures in order to create strong cross-cultural activities (Sattar, Lah, & Suleiman, 2009, Implication, p 69). Bibliography Kasper, G. (1996). Inter language pragmatics in SLA. Cambridge University Press, 18, 145-148. Sattar, H, Lah, S, & Suleiman, R. (2009). Iraqi postgraduate’s production and perception of requests: a pilot study. The International Journal of Language Society and Culture, (29), 56-70. Chen, Y. (2006). An interlanguage study of the speech act of disagreement made by Chinese EFL speakers in Taiwan. Foreign and Language Literature, 1-172. Cook, M, & Liddicoat, A. (2002). The development of comprehension in interlanguage pragmatics: the case of request strategies in English. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 25(1), 19-39. Quraishi, S. (2009). 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