Evaluation of English language teaching departments of Turkish and Iranian universities in terms of politeness strategies with reference to request

Abstract

The ultimate objective in post-method pedagogy is developing language learner’s communicative competence to enable them to participate in communication acts. Effective oral communication entails observation of a number of conversational principles and appropriate use of various strategies to avoid violation of mutually recognized rules, e.g. politeness strategies. Some researchers believe that politeness strategies have a number of universal Features (Goff man, 1967, 1971: Goody, 1978 a). In line with previous research studies, the present study set out to investigate whether nationality would influence the use of request politeness strategies by Iranian and Turkish EFL learners at the same proficiency level. Participants in this study included 448 students at four different levels of proficiency who were majoring in English language teaching at Gazi University in turkey and Islamic Azad University - Tabriz Branch. 224 Turkish students at four different grade levels and the same number of Iranian students participated directly in this phase of the research. Each grade level group consisted of 56 students. The researcher administered a questionnaire enquiring their preferences in selecting the proper forms of requests (Blum - Kulka & Olshtain, 1985).The statistical analysis revealed a strong correlation in intra-groups while the inter - group results displayed relatively significant differences. The Turkish participants used request politeness strategies more appropriately than Iranians which support the role of culture in the use of such strategies. The findings highlight the necessity of observing cultural background in teaching communication strategies such as request politeness strategies particularly in EFL contexts.