norma saad

The study was aimed at understanding the EFL Iraqi students’ perspective on speaking anxiety. Specifically, the study investigated the causes of speaking anxiety based on data collected for a pilot study involving two Iraqi EFL postgraduate students in Universiti Utara Malaysia. Pseudonyms were used to refer to the participants as Omer and Sarah. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants. The interview sessions took approximately 15-20 minutes for each participant and were videotaped and audiotaped. Semi-structured interviews with 15 questions and probes were used. The results showed that the speaking anxiety experienced by the two Iraqi students were due to the class atmosphere, the teacher’s attitudes, lack of vocabulary, rate of speech, different accent and long conversation, fear of being embarrassed, and fear of failing to perform. The causes identified are rooted in Iraqi status of English as a foreign language and method of teaching English as ...

Politeness is an essential part in human communication. It plays a pivotal role in establishing and maintaining good relationships and social harmony. It is reflected by linguistic and non-linguistic behavior through which we indicate that we take others’ feelings of how they should be treated into account.  The present study investigated the application of politeness strategies through the linguistic behaviour of twelve Malay English as a second language (MSE) undergraduate students when refusing their higher status interlocutor’s scholarship offer to pursue their studies at an overseas university. Selection of participants was based on a purposive sampling and on the students’ MUET results.  The study examined how these students employed politeness strategies as they struggled to find an equilibrium between defending their stance of not accepting the scholarship and at the same time maintaining civility towards a persistent university officer. Data on refusal interactions between ...

The present study investigates similarities and differences of a speech act of refusal in English as realized by Malay Speakers of English (MSE) and Native Speakers of English (NSE). The study examined the types and also the contents of the strategies used by the two groups when refusing a request made by a higher status interlocutor. An Enhanced Open Role-play was utilized to obtain data on the types and content of refusal strategies. Participants of the study comprised 12 MSE undergraduate students from a local university and 12 NSE who were IGSCE and Diploma Baccalaureate students from an international school who had refused to the higher status interlocutor’s request. Qualitative data analytic methods were used to analyse the data which were classified into semantic refusal strategies and politeness strategies. Brown’s and Levinson’s politeness theory, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Hall’s high- and low-context cultures were used to guide the study. The findings revealed tha...