Article published in:
Applied Pragmatics
Vol. 2:1 (2020) ► pp. 54–79

Email requests in an ELF academic setting

“Good luck to you, Doctor Judit…”

| University of Pécs
Email messages have become the prevalent medium in academic communication between students and faculty at Hungarian universities. Over the past decade communication with international students of diverse language and cultural backgrounds has made the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) typical in a previously culturally homogeneous setting. This paper analyzes email requests written by international students of various first language (L1) backgrounds (N = 37). The aim is to characterize requests in terms of directness, strategy use, request modification, address forms and closings. Findings shed light on three salient features of ELF requests: an overall preference for direct strategies, a limited range of internal modifiers, and uses of mostly formal, though not always academic address forms. Given the goal-driven nature of ELF interactions, the paper argues that these characteristics may serve as pragmatic strategies to preempt misunderstanding and to enhance intelligibility. Furthermore, interactants’ wish to express identity and their engagement in constructing new norms specific to their unique ELF contexts may also underlie their pragmalinguistic choices.
Keywords: email communication, interlanguage requests, ELF, intercultural pragmatics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Student-faculty email exchanges: An ILP perspective
    • 2.2ELF communication
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Participants and data
    • 3.2Procedure
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Degree of directness and strategy choice
    • 4.2Request modification
    • 4.3Forms of address and closings
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Directness and request strategy
    • 5.2Request modification
    • 5.3Forms of address and closings
    • 5.4Co-construction of new sociopragmatic norms
  • 6.Conclusions and directions for further research
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 10 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ap.18017.dom
References
Aribi, I.
(2018) Analysis of academic email requests written by Tunisian postgraduate students. Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 471, 1–11.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K.
(1999) Exploring the interlanguage of interlanguage pragmatics: A research agenda for acquisitional pragmatics. Language Learning, 491, 677–713. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barron, A.
(2016) Developing pragmatic competence using EFL textbooks: Focus on requests. Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), 7(1), 2172–2179. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, M., & Kasper, G.
(1993) Perception and performance in native and nonnative apology. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 82–107). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Biesenbach-Lucas, S.
(2006) Making requests in e-mail: Do cyber-consultations entail directness? Towards conventions in a new medium. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, J. C. Felix Brasdefer, & A. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (pp. 81–107). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
(2007) Students writing e-mails to faculty: An examination of e-politeness among native and non-native speakers of English. Language Learning and Technology, 11(2), 59–81.Google Scholar
Bjørge, A. K.
(2007) Power distance in English lingua franca email communication. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 60–80. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Björkman, B.
(2008) English as the lingua franca of engineering: The morphosyntax of academic speech events. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 7(3), 103–122. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2009) From code to discourse in spoken ELF. In A. Mauranen & E. Ranta (Eds.), English as a lingua franca: Studies and findings (pp. 225–251). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
(2011) Pragmatic strategies in English as an academic lingua franca: Ways of achieving communicative effectiveness? Journal of Pragmatics, 43(4), 950–964. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2013) English as an academic lingua franca: An investigation of form and communicative effectiveness. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E.
(1984) Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 196–213. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G.
(Eds.) (1989) Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Burgucu-Tazegül, A., Han, T., & Engin, A. O.
(2016) Pragmatic failure of Turkish EFL learners in request emails to their professors. International Education Studies, 9(10), 105–115. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chen, C-F. E.
(2006) The development of e-mail literacy: From writing to peers to writing to authority figures. Language Learning and Technology, 101, 35–55.Google Scholar
Cogo, A.
(2009) Accommodating difference in ELF conversations: A study of pragmatic strategies. In A. Mauranen & E. Ranta (Eds.), English as a lingua franca: Studies and findings (pp. 254–273). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Cogo, A., & Dewey, M.
(2006) Efficiency in ELF communication: From pragmatic motives to lexico-grammatical innovation. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 5(2), 59–94. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) Analysing English as a lingua franca: A corpus-driven investigation. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Cogo, A., & House, J.
(2017) The pragmatics of ELF. In J. Jenkins, W. Baker, & M. Dewey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of English as a lingua franca (pp. 210–216). Abingdon: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Deterding, D.
(2013) Misunderstandings in English as a lingua franca. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Economidou-Kogetsidis, M.
(2005) ‘Yes, tell me please, what time is the midday flight from Athens arriving?’: Telephone service encounters and politeness. Journal of Intercultural Pragmatics, 2(3), 253–273.Google Scholar
(2008) Internal and external mitigation in interlanguage request production: The case of Greek learners of English. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture, 4(1), 111–138. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Please answer me as soon as possible: Pragmatic failure in non-native speakers’ e-mail requests to faculty. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(13), 3193–3215. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) Modifying oral requests in a foreign language: The case of Greek Cypriot learners of English. In M. Economidou-Kogetsidis & H. Woodfield (Eds.), Interlanguage request modification (pp. 163–202). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2015) Teaching email politeness in the EFL/ESL classroom. ELT Journal, 69(4), 415–424. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) Variation in evaluations of the (im)politeness of emails from L2 learners and perceptions of the personality of their senders. Journal of Pragmatics, 1061, 1–19. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2018) “Mr Paul, please inform me accordingly”. Address forms, directness and degree of imposition in L2 emails. Pragmatics, 28(4), 489–516. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eisenstein, M., & Bodman, J.
(1993) Expressing gratitude in American English. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 64–81). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eslami, Z. R.
(2013) Online communication and students’ pragmatic choices in English. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 91, 71–92. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Faerch, C., & Kasper, G.
(1989) Internal and external modification in interlanguage request realization. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House, & G. Kasper (Eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies (pp. 221–247). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, C.
(2007) Pragmatic development in the Spanish as a FL classroom. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4(2), 253–286. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Firth, A.
(1996) The discursive accomplishment of normality: On “lingua franca” English and conversation analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 26(2), 237–259. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hallajian, A., & Khemlani, M.
(2014) “Hello and Good Day to you Dear Dr. …” Greetings and closings in supervisors-supervisees email exchanges. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1181, 85–93. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hartford, B., & Bardovi-Harlig, K.
(1996) “At your earliest convenience”: A study of written student requests to faculty. In L. F. Bouton (Ed.), Pragmatics and language learning. Monograph Series Volume 71 (pp. 55–69). Urbana, IL: DEIL.Google Scholar
Hendriks, B.
(2010) An experimental study of native speaker perceptions of non-native request modification in e-mails in English. Intercultural Pragmatics, 7(2), 221–255. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
House, J.
(1989) Politeness in English and German: The functions of please and bitte. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House, & G. Kasper (Eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. (pp. 96–122). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
(2003) English as a lingua franca: A threat to multilingualism? Journal of Sociolinguistics, 7(4), 556–578. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2010) The pragmatics of English as a lingua franca. In A. Trosborg (Ed.), Handbook of pragmatics VII (pp. 363–387). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
House, J., & Kasper, G.
(1987) Interlanguage pragmatics: Requesting in a foreign language. In W. Lörscher & R. Schulze (Eds.), Perspectives on language in performance (pp. 1250–1288). Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Huang, H.
(2016) Openings and closings in intercultural email communication: A case study of Taiwanese, Japanese, and Italian students. In Y. Chen, D. H. Rau, & G. Rau (Eds.), Email discourse among Chinese using English as a lingua franca (pp. 185–204). Singapore: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hülmbauer, C.
(2009) “We don’t take the right way. We just take the way we think you will understand” – The shifting relationship between correctness and effectiveness in ELF. In A. Mauranen & E. Ranta (Eds.), English as a lingua franca: Studies and findings (pp. 323–347). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Ishihara, N.
(2019) Understanding English language learners’ pragmatic resistance. In X. Gao (Ed.), Second handbook of English language teaching. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
Jenkins, J.
(2000) The phonology of English as an international language: New models, new norms, new goals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2011) Accommodating (to) ELF in the international university. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(4), 926–936. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kankaanranta, A.
(2005) “Hej Seppo, could you pls comment on this!” – Internal Email Communication in Lingua Franca English in a Multinational Company. Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla, Centre for Applied Language Studies.Google Scholar
Kasper, G., & Schmidt, R.
(1996) Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 149–169. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kecskés, I.
(2008) Dueling contexts: A dynamic model of meaning. Journal of Pragmatics, 40(3), 385–406. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014) Intercultural pragmatics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ko, S. W.-H., Eslami, Z. R., & Burlbaw, L. M.
(2015) Investigating non-native English speaking graduate students’ pragmatic development in requestive emails. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language, 3(1), 1–15.Google Scholar
Lorenzo-Dus, N., & Bou-Franch, P.
(2013) A cross-cultural investigation of email communication in Peninsular Spanish and British English – The role of (in)formality and (in)directness. Pragmatics and Society, 4(1), 1–25. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mauranen, A.
(2006) Signaling and preventing misunderstanding in English as lingua franca communication. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1771, 123–150.Google Scholar
(2007) Hybrid voices: English as the lingua franca of academics. In K. Flottum (Ed.), Language and discipline perspectives on academic discourse (pp. 243–259). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Mauranen, A. & Ranta, E.
(2008) English as an academic lingua franca – the ELFA project. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 7(3), 199–202. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Meierkord, C.
(1996) Englisch als medium der interkulturellen kommunikation: Untersuchungen zum non-native-non-native speaker-diskurs. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Pan, C.
(2012) Interlanguage requests in institutional e-mail discourse. In M. Economidou-Kogetsidis & H. Woodfield (Eds.), Interlanguage request modification (pp. 119–161). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ranta, E.
(2006) The “attractive” progressive – Why use the -ing form in English as a lingua franca? Nordic Journal of English Studies, 5(2), 95–116. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rau, D. H., & Rau, G.
(2016) Negotiating personal relationship through email terms of address. In Y. Chen, D. H. Rau, & G. Rau (Eds.), Email discourse among Chinese using English as a lingua franca (pp. 11–36). Singapore: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ren, W.
(2016) Strategies used in Chinese university students’ ELF emails to remedy or prevent problems in understanding. In Y. Chen, D. H. Rau, & G. Rau (Eds.), Email discourse among Chinese using English as a lingua franca (pp. 163–181). Singapore: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2018) Pragmatic strategies to solve and preempt understanding problems in Chinese professionals’ emails when using English as lingua franca communication, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(8), 968–981. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Savić, M.
(2018) Lecturer perceptions of im/politeness and in/appropriateness in student e-mail requests: A Norwegian perspective. Journal of Pragmatics, 1241, 52–72. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Seidlhofer, B.
(2011) Understanding English as a lingua franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taguchi, N., & Ishihara, N.
(2018) The pragmatics of English as a lingua franca: Research and pedagogy in the era of globalization. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 381, 80–101. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Waldvogel, J.
(2007) Greetings and closings in workplace email. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(2), 122–143. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y.
(2013) Non-conformity to ENL norms: A perspective from Chinese English users. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 2(2), 255–282. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Woodfield, H., & Economidou-Kogetsidis, M.
(2010) “I just need more time”: A study of native and non-native students’ requests to faculty for an extension. Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 29(1), 77–118. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Dombi, Judit, Tetyana Sydorenko & Veronika Timpe-Laughlin
2022. Common ground, cooperation, and recipient design in human-computer interactions. Journal of Pragmatics 193 ► pp. 4 ff. Crossref logo
SYDORENKO, TETYANA, STEVEN L. THORNE, JOHN HELLERMANN, AMBER SANCHEZ & VANESSA HOWE
2021. Localized Globalization: Directives in Augmented Reality Game Interaction. The Modern Language Journal 105:3 ► pp. 720 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 03 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.