Thanks Giving and Responding among Iraqi EFL Learners of English: An Inter Language Pragmatics Study

Abstract

This study investigates the realization strategies of thanks giving and responding by Iraqi EFL Learners. Three research questions are formulated to achieve the aim of this study, and these questions are (i) how do Iraqi EFL learners realize the speech act of thanks giving? (ii) how do Iraqi EFL learners realize the speech act of thanks responding?; and (iii) does pragmatic transfer occur when Iraqi EFL learners realize the speech act of thanks giving and responding?. To answer these questions, a random sample of 50 Iraqi EFL learners are tested on 20 discourse completion situations. Results reveal that to realize the speech acts of thanks giving and responding, Iraqi EFL learners use nine and seven strategies respectively. Besides, evidence of both pragmatlinguistic and sociopragmatic transfers are found. Due to the limitations of the present study, future research is suggested.