Study of Request Strategies Employed By Libyan and Malay POSTGRADUATE Students at USM

Abstract

There has been considerable attention from the cross-cultural pragmatics literature towards the various strategies speakers use when performing the requesting speech act. Speech acts are often used when communicating verbally in either the first language or a second language.

This paper presents a study into the similarities and differences in the request strategies by Malaysian and Libyan postgraduate students at USM. The study majorly uses information from existing literature on what other people have written on this topic. The study findings will give new insights to the directness and requesting behaviors within Libyan and Malaysian students and the challenges of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication.

This study has cultural implications such as awareness of the request strategies used in one culture compared to another culture. This study tackles the ability of Libyan and Malay learners to apply requests in English.  Furthermore, this study attempts to provide explanations for pragmatic errors that Libyan and Malay learners may perform.

Keywords: Cross-Cultural, Strategies, Modifications, Linguistic.