LANGUAGE IN INDIA

The Effect of Transfer on Requesting in English -
A Study on ESL Speakers of Hindustani

Kausar Husain, Ph.D.
Rizwana Wahid, Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

A quantitative case study comprising thirty undergraduates ESL students of Aligarh Muslim University with a Hindi/Urdu background was conducted to investigate the role of socio-cultural and socio-linguistic transfer on the speech act of requesting. The study revealed that Indian ESL students mostly make use of direct requests in speech as well as in writing. This makes their speech appear abrupt and rude in speech. However, in writing, the requests are softened by some formulaic terms transferred from the L1 sociolinguistic background, but which result in making the requests appear overly formal or artificial and strange according to native-speaker standards. The pedagogical implication of the study is that students need to be taught native speaker request forms in order to avoid embarrassment and offence when communicating in an L2 setting.

Introduction

Pragmatic competence or the ability to use speech acts appropriately and correctly according to the context is an essential component of communicative competence. Requesting is an important speech act which initiates a large number of interactions in our daily lives and needs to be taught to ESL students. Indian ESL students are found lacking in making their requests appropriately and often expressions such as “I want to take this book”, which apparently seem to be an effect of transfer from their mother tongue, are heard from them and result in offending the hearer. An improper request may also result in the very failure of a transaction. Thus, it is important to understand the differences and similarities between requesting in English and in the students’ mother tongue, in order to remedy the ills which are the results of transfer.

A number of studies have been conducted on the speech act of requesting in the past. Similarities and differences in the judgement made by native and non-native speakers have been studied by Carrell & Konneker (1981), Tanaka & Kawade (1982) & Kitao (1990). Some other studies have focused on transfer from L1 in requesting (Takahashi 1996; Kobayashi & Rinnert 2003). Others have related successful use of requests to proficiency level in the target language (Rinnert 1999 & Cook & Liddicoat 2002). Most of these studies are however on Japanese ESL speakers, and sometimes on speakers from other Asian countries. Studies on Indian speakers are conspicuous by their absence. The present empirical piece of research was conducted on the Hindi/Urdu speaking Indian ESL students investigating the role of transfer from L1 in their requests in English. The study clearly has a pedagogical orientation and is based on the premise that an understanding of corresponding speech acts in L1 and L2 will be extremely helpful in the teaching of speech acts efficiently in the classroom, and making our students more able and successful communicators.

Aim of the study

Investigating the role of transfer in the speech act of requesting by ESL learners with a Hindi/Urdu linguistic background through a quantitative case study, the study attempts to find answers to the following questions:

1. Does transfer have a role in the speech act of request made by ESL speakers of Hindustani?
2. If transfer does have a role, what are its positive and negative effects in the performance of ESL learners?
3. Should speech acts be made the focus of teaching in ESL pedagogy?

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