本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛A Survey about English “Requests”
Your Name (optional): Nationality: Mother Tongue:
Gender: Age: Occupation:
Part One
The following 10 situations are used to investigate the way in which people make a request in English. Suppose you were a college student, what would you usually say (or write) in each situation described below? Your reply will contribute to my knowledge of how native speakers of English usually express themselves in everyday life and will be of great help to the completion of my doctoral dissertation (and only for that purpose). Your reply can be of any length. If you have problem in finishing the situations, you may opt out any one.
Thank you for your participation! Yang Xian-ju yangxianju163@163.com
1. Situation: You need a very useful reference book for the final exam. You learn that Mrs. Rivers, whose course you are attending this term, has the book. So you write her a note/a short letter to borrow the book and ask her to bring it to you the next day.
2．Situation: You have two concert tickets of a famous pop band. You write to your close friend Peter/Mary to invite him/her to go to the concert in the coming Saturday.
3．Situation: Suppose you didn’t finish the math paper in time, so you decide to write a short letter/note to your professor, Mr./Mrs. Brown (who is very strict) to ask him/her to give you an extension on the deadline of the paper.
4. Situation: You are doing a part-time job, but you are a bit dissatisfied with the pay. So you write to the manager, Mr. Green (with whom you are not familiar), to ask him to increase the pay.
5. Situation: In the morning, you find your roommate Jack/Linda has left the kitchen in a mess after having a party last night. You want him/her to clean it up. Leave him/her a note before you go to school.
6. Situation: Your computer is out of order because of a virus, but you have an assignment to hand in tomorrow. You decide to ask your younger brother/sister, Simon/Sarah, (who is busy with games) whether you can use his/her computer for a while. What would you say to him/her?
7. Situation: You are looking for the nearest post office in the street. What would you say to a stranger (of your age) to ask him/her the way?
8. Situation: You are in a hotel and find there are no towels. You call the switchboard and ask them to bring you two towels. What would you say to them?
9. Situation: It is raining heavily outside. You are eager to go home, but you forgot to bring an umbrella. At that time, you see a student coming up with an umbrella (whom you don’t know) and want to share it with him/her. What would you say to him/her?
10. Situation: You go to buy an IBM computer. In IBM company, you ask one of the computer experts there to recommend one for you. What would you say to him?
Part Two Assessment of situations
Directions: Please finish the following table by ranking the social variables involved in each situation in Part One on a three-level scale.
One may consider some factors in making a request, e.g., distance, power and degree of imposition. Distance refers to the familiarity between the requester (speaker) and addressee (hearer); Power refers to the social power or status of the speaker; Imposition refers to the degree of the difficulty in fulfilling a request behavior in specific context (e.g., borrowing a book from a friend might be easier than borrowing him a large sum of money). You may make a choice on the continuum of 1, 2 or 3.
1------------------------------------- 2-----------------------------3
Not familiar---------------------------intermediate---------------very familiar
Low status/small power---------------equal----------------------high status (of the speaker)
Small imposition---------------------intermediate---------------large imposition (or difficulty)
Situation Distance Power/statusof the speaker Imposition of the request
1 reference book
2 concert
3 paper extension
4 pay increase
5 kitchen
6 borrowing computer
7 asking direction
8 towels
9 umbrella
10 buying computer
Thank you!更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Your Name (optional): Nationality: Mother Tongue:
Gender: Age: Occupation:
Part One
The following 10 situations are used to investigate the way in which people make a request in English. Suppose you were a college student, what would you usually say (or write) in each situation described below? Your reply will contribute to my knowledge of how native speakers of English usually express themselves in everyday life and will be of great help to the completion of my doctoral dissertation (and only for that purpose). Your reply can be of any length. If you have problem in finishing the situations, you may opt out any one.
Thank you for your participation! Yang Xian-ju yangxianju163@163.com
1. Situation: You need a very useful reference book for the final exam. You learn that Mrs. Rivers, whose course you are attending this term, has the book. So you write her a note/a short letter to borrow the book and ask her to bring it to you the next day.
2．Situation: You have two concert tickets of a famous pop band. You write to your close friend Peter/Mary to invite him/her to go to the concert in the coming Saturday.
3．Situation: Suppose you didn’t finish the math paper in time, so you decide to write a short letter/note to your professor, Mr./Mrs. Brown (who is very strict) to ask him/her to give you an extension on the deadline of the paper.
4. Situation: You are doing a part-time job, but you are a bit dissatisfied with the pay. So you write to the manager, Mr. Green (with whom you are not familiar), to ask him to increase the pay.
5. Situation: In the morning, you find your roommate Jack/Linda has left the kitchen in a mess after having a party last night. You want him/her to clean it up. Leave him/her a note before you go to school.
6. Situation: Your computer is out of order because of a virus, but you have an assignment to hand in tomorrow. You decide to ask your younger brother/sister, Simon/Sarah, (who is busy with games) whether you can use his/her computer for a while. What would you say to him/her?
7. Situation: You are looking for the nearest post office in the street. What would you say to a stranger (of your age) to ask him/her the way?
8. Situation: You are in a hotel and find there are no towels. You call the switchboard and ask them to bring you two towels. What would you say to them?
9. Situation: It is raining heavily outside. You are eager to go home, but you forgot to bring an umbrella. At that time, you see a student coming up with an umbrella (whom you don’t know) and want to share it with him/her. What would you say to him/her?
10. Situation: You go to buy an IBM computer. In IBM company, you ask one of the computer experts there to recommend one for you. What would you say to him?
Part Two Assessment of situations
Directions: Please finish the following table by ranking the social variables involved in each situation in Part One on a three-level scale.
One may consider some factors in making a request, e.g., distance, power and degree of imposition. Distance refers to the familiarity between the requester (speaker) and addressee (hearer); Power refers to the social power or status of the speaker; Imposition refers to the degree of the difficulty in fulfilling a request behavior in specific context (e.g., borrowing a book from a friend might be easier than borrowing him a large sum of money). You may make a choice on the continuum of 1, 2 or 3.
1------------------------------------- 2-----------------------------3
Not familiar---------------------------intermediate---------------very familiar
Low status/small power---------------equal----------------------high status (of the speaker)
Small imposition---------------------intermediate---------------large imposition (or difficulty)
Situation Distance Power/statusof the speaker Imposition of the request
1 reference book
2 concert
3 paper extension
4 pay increase
5 kitchen
6 borrowing computer
7 asking direction
8 towels
9 umbrella
10 buying computer
Thank you!更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net