How successful are requests performed by Turkish English teacher candidates?
What is it about?
The study investigates to what extend Turkish English teacher candidates are knowledgeable about speech acts, namely requests. It important that teacher trainees are aware of the effects of contextual factors such as social distance and weight of imposition on the choice of linguistic structures. The data analysis shows that they are more successful when they were provided with a set of options. But when they asked to produce a full request from in a given context of situation they failed to choose appropriate forms. This shows us that they need an awareness raising training and more guidance so that they can teach their students how to langugae appropriately in the future. The ultimate aim is to incorporate a course component to teach this aspect of language.
Why is it important?
This topic is important because when learners learn English as a foreign language the likelihood for them to use language outside the classroom is very limited. Thus, what they learn in the classroom is vital to guide them. When teachers are not aware of importance of appropriacy or when they do not know appropriate language use in context, they cannot teach it to their students. For this reason it is upmost important for teacher to know about this aspect of language.