A Sociopragmatic Study of Requests Used by Iraqi Undergraduate and Postgraduate University Students of English

Social aspects are essential for comprehending EFL learners' tactics in performing requesting speech acts. Ignorance of these factors could result in a practical inability to understand the requested speech acts. The study examines how Iraqi undergraduate and postgraduate university students of English express their requests similarly or differently regarding power and solidarity at the university level. Data were gathered from 130 Iraqi undergraduate students and 60 postgraduate students of English through a written discourse completion task. The participants were chosen usingboth random and non-random convenience sampling methods. The data were analyzed statistically using the request speech act taxonomy proposed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989). The data indicate that power and solidarity affected the polite requests of both respondent groups. The study's findings recommend that English educators instruct on suitable ways for doing speech acts of request. This would improve the EFL learners’ pragmatic knowledge, leading to efficient communication with their interlocutors.