How Appropriately Do Korean College Students Make Email Requests in English?

Abstract

The present study examined email requests made by Korean college learners of English in terms of the level of directness, the amount and type of internal and external modifications used to soften the requestive force, and the types of request perspectives taken. For this study, 151 emails were collected over a period of three years. Data analysis reveal that in making email requests the students relied more on direct strategies, which are considered less polite, than conventionally direct or indirect strategies. Among several subcategories of direct strategies, imperatives and want statements were the two most frequently used ones. On the other hand, the students frequently used both internal modifiers and external modifiers with preference for internal modifiers, which helped to soften the requestive force. Of external modifiers, the grounder or a combination of the grounder and the sorry statement was frequently used. Results of the study indicated that an inappropriate use of imperatives, upgraders, or aggravating moves could lead to pragmatic failures by making the email requests sound impolite and coercive. Finally this study calls for an instruction for appropriate use of politeness features in making requests.