Examining Iraqi EFL Learners' Use of the Speech Act of Advice at the University Level

Abstract

This study is concerned with “Assessing Iraqi EFL Learners’ Ability in Performing the Speech Act of Advice”. The study seeks to find answers to the following questions; To what extent Iraqi EFL learners able to recognize the speech act of advice? To what extent Iraqi EFL learners able to produce the speech act of advice? What type(s) of strategies do those learners use when performing the speech act of advice? The study aims at: determining the extent to which Iraqi EFL learners are able to recognize the speech act of advice, determining the extent to which Iraqi EFL learners are able to produce the speech act of advice and examining the type(s) of strategies Iraqi EFL learners use when performing the speech act of advice. The sample of this study is seventy Iraqi EFL learners at Thi-Qar University, College of Education for Human sciences, Department of English Language. The data collection tool that is used to collect data is a test that has been designed to test students’ recognition and production level. Results of the study reveal that the frequency of the wrong alternatives and the unanswered items are the most frequently used by the students in all situations, those learners have an average level of ability to recognize and produce the speech act of advice, they associate their performance of advice with Direct strategy in general and Declarative in particular more than they do with other strategies, They are not sufficiently aware of the equal importance of utilizing all types of strategies in performing advice in English language. They have serious problems in their attempts to produce certain strategies like ‘Hints’ or strategies like ‘Interrogatives’, ‘Probability’, ‘Declarative’ or ‘Conditional’.