A Cootrastive Study Of Request Strategies Used By Uyguur English Learners And Chinese English Learners

On the basis of Searle’s speech act theory, Brown&Levinson’s polite theory, andinterlanguage pragmatic theory，this study aims at making a contrastive study of requeststrategies used by Uyghur English learners and Chinese English learners within the CCSARPresearch framework formulated by Blum-Kulka et al (1989). It analyzes the differences andsimilarities between the two groups of learners in the choice of request strategies andexamines the influence of social variables on the use of request strategies so as to explore howpragmatic transfer occurs from the native languages to the target ones in the use of requeststrategies by these two groups of learners.The data were collected from a questionnaire of Discourse Complete Test (DCT). Theparticipants were university students from different parts of Xinjiang. The investigated groupswere Uyghur English learners (UEL) and Chinese English learners (CEL), while thecomparison groups were Uyghur native speakers (US), Uyghur Chinese learners (UCL) andChinese native speakers (CS). Each group consists of60participants, totaling300, who weremainly chosen from four universities in Xinjiang. The DCT in the present study consists of18situations which were considered to be familiar to the participants in their daily life.Assessment of Social Variable Questionnaire was also used as the complement instrument inorder to detect the influence of social variables on the use of request strategies. Each variable(social distance, social power, imposition) in each situation was rated on a five-point scale.The coding scheme for the present study was a version of the CCSARP scheme adapted fromBlum-Kulka et al.(1989) and Faerch&Kasper (1989). The contrastive analysis of requeststrategies was examined on four different dimensions: strategy type, strategy form, internal(lexical modification and syntactic modification) and external modification.The main findings in the rearch are presented as follows:First, both Uyghur English learners and Chinese English learners shared much similarity,tending to use three request strategy types and nine request strategy forms. And the similartendency was also found in the use of internal and external modifications.Second, the contrastive analysis finds that preparatory was the most preferred strategyform by both Uyghur English learners and Chinese English learners. And there is a relativeconsistency in the use of lexical and external modifications, such as the use of politenessmarkers and grounds, while the differences were also found respectively in the form ofspeaker perspectives by Uyghur English learners and in the form of hearer perspectives byChinese English learners.Third, social variables (social distance, social power, imposition) exerted less influence on the use of request strategy forms and external modifications by both Uyghur Englishlearners and Chinese English learners. To be specific, the preparatory strategy form and theform of external modification for grounds were dominated by both groups of learners.However, social variables did exert a great influence on the use of lexical modifications invarious lexical forms.Fourth, the overall use of request strategy types and forms, especial preparatory requestof Uyghur English learners shows that the influence from Chinese (L2) and Uyghur (L1) iscomplicatedly manifested, with a stronger influence from Chinese (L2). The influence fromUyghur (L1) and Chinese (L2) was also found on the use of lexical modification with lesssignificant difference. The influence manily from Uyghur (L1) was found on the use ofexternal modification. As for Chinese English learners, the influence from Chinese wasmanifested on the use of the request strategy forms, lexical modification and externalmodifications. To be specific, the preparatory strategy form, politeness markers of internalmodification and grounds of external modification were mainly used by both Chinese Englishlearners and Chinese native speakers.Fifth，with the consideration of three social variables (social distance, social power andsocial imposition), the influence from both Uyghur (L1) and Chinese (L2) was found on theuse of request strategies by Uyghur English learners. To be specific, the influence fromChinese (L2) was found on the overall use of request strategy type and form. The influencefrom both Uyghur (L1) and Chinese (L2) was found on the use of lexical modification withless significant difference. The influence mainly from Uyghur (L1) was found on the use ofexternal modififcation. As far as Chinese English learners were concerned, the influence fromChinese was found on the use of request strategies, especial on the use of preparatory requeststrategy form, politeness markers of lexical modification and ground of external modification.