The speech act of refusals has been studied widely either alone or in relation to such areas as apology, requests, promotion, and invitation. The present study aims to investigate the strategies employed by Iraqi females in refusing marriage proposals. It attempts to explore their preferences to respond directly or indirectly in relation to their ages and educational background of the parents. The sample of the study consists of 25 participants; they are learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at the College of Education for Women/ University of Baghdad. The data are collected by using a discourse completion task (DCT) followed by a follow up interview. The researchers used a Google form shared via emails to get responses from the participants. The items of the completion task are mainly designed by the researchers after surveying the literature so as to have the situations in the final shape. Beebe’s et al. (1990) taxonomy is selected as the most comprehensive modal for the analysis of refusal strategies of the respondents. The results indicated that the Iraqi females tend to use more indirect strategies to refuse the marriage proposals. The most frequently used order of responses began with an apology followed by gratitude and then the reason for refusal, as a typical Iraqi way of expressing their refusal. Based on the fact that the study sample are EFLs, there were signs of pragmatic failure as some of the responses carry some negative transfer, thus, the researchers recommend that future studies have to focus on teaching the methods of refusing appropriately by incorporating the teaching of speech acts, including the speech act of refusals, with more details in their Bachelor Program.
Racism changes its meaning, shape, purpose or function according to various factors such as time, place, motives, and backgrounds; among others. It seems, however, to have deep roots back in the history of mankind. Such a concept stems from a perceived difference with the other. It is fed by the feeling of being hierarchically superior in opposition to another party that is depicted as inferior. Since ancient times, racism is disguised in different forms and manifests itself on various levels. It is a truism that this ideology can be best presented via language.
Due to its negative implication, racism lends itself to a critical kind of research. As such, this paper is a critical pragmatic investigation for this phenomenon a
... Show MoreRap songs often feature artists who utilize explicit language to convey feelings such as happiness, sorrow, and anger, reflecting audience expectations and trends within the music industry. This study intends to conduct a socio-pragmatic analysis of explicit, derogatory, and offensive language in the songs of the American artist Doja Cat, employing Hughes’ (1996) Swearing Word Theory, Jay’s (1996) Taboo Words Theory, Luhr’s (2002) classification of social factors for sociolinguistic examination, Salager’s (1997) categories of hedges for pragmatic assessment, and Austin’s (1965, 1989) theory of speech acts. The researchers collected the data using the AntConc corpus analysis tool. The data shows the singer’s frequent use
... Show MoreEven though in recent decades a bulk of studies have been accomplished on the use of communicative language teaching (CLT) in English as a foreign language (EFL) environments, fairly a limited numbers of studies precisely dealt with investigating the attitudes of language teachers, students and supervisors concerning the principals of CLT in the context of Iraq. Henceforth, this study was designed to delve into the attitudes of teachers, learners and supervisors about the implementation. To this end, the study was accomplished using a mixed method design. The present study was carried out in two phases: designing and using a questionnaire plus interviewing the teachers, students and supervisors (51 language learners, 41 teachers and
... Show MoreThere are a number of obstacles in the field of work of social workers that prevent them from performing their full role. Their tasks may sometimes be easy and manageable and at other times they may be difficult and complex, however professional roles are mostly the latter, contribute to the feeling of the inability to provide the work required at the level expected by others. In such cases, the relationship binding specialists to their work is affected negatively and this has devastating effects on the professional process as a whole, including their professional practice. This feeling of helplessness and depletion of energy and effort leads to a state of fatigue and emotional exhaustion that can be defined as job burnout, our study aims t
... Show MoreVarious theories on learning have been developed with increasing frequency in the last
few decades. In tandem with this, Multiple Intelligence theory appeared as a new approach to
education as well as an important theory in the field of language learning. Gardner explains
that all human beings have different intelligence fields and a potential to develop them. These
intelligences are (verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical, bodilykinesthetic,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and Existential).
This study aims at investigating Multiple Intelligences of Iraqi college EFL students. To
achieve the aims of the study, a questionnaire is adopted according to Birmingham model
which incl
Online learning is not a new concept in education, but it has been used extensively since the Covid-19 pandemic and is still in use now. Every student in the world has gone through this learning process from the primary to the college levels, with both teachers and students conducting instruction online (at home). The goal of the current study is to investigate college students’ attitudes towards online learning. To accomplish the goal of the current study, a questionnaire is developed and adjusted before being administered to a sample of 155 students. Additionally, validity and reliability are attained. Some conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions are offered in the end.
The present study aimed to investigate the Listening anxiety level among Iraqi preparatory students who study English as a foreign language . The sample of the present study consists of (165) students from Iraqi EFL preparatory school students chosen randomly from Baghdad city, to achieve the aim of the study, an adopted instrument ;English Foreign language listening anxiety scale, after ensuring the validity and reliability of the instruments, it applied and the data collected. Then a number of statistical tools to analyze the data. The researcher found that Iraqi EFL students have a high degree of listening anxiety. Finally, some conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions have been exposed
This study examines postgraduate students’ awareness of pragmatic aspects, including Grice Maxims, Politeness, and Direct and Indirect forms of speech. According to Paul Grice’s theory of implicature, which is considered one of the most important contributions to pragmatics, this paper discusses how postgraduate students can meet the cooperative principle when communicating effectively. It also outlines how does politeness principles influence obeying or violating the maxims and how is the use of direct or indirect forms of utterances prompted by politeness. Sixteen master’s students of Linguistics and Literature were asked to take a multiple-choice test. The test will be represented along with the interpretation of each optio
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