MAKING REQUESTS IN CASUAL LEAVE APPLICATIONS: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI TEACHERS' APPLICATION DISCOURSE

This research explores the practices of Pakistani teachers in the use of internal and external modification strategies in the applications for casual leave addressed to the principals. The study is qualitative in nature and is based on a collection of authentic leave applications from two government colleges, selected through purposive sampling. The analysis is based on Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) framework, which has been modified by Economidou-Kogetsidis (2011) for written requests so that internal and external modification strategies are systematically identified. The results indicate that the internal modification of requests was more common, particularly the use of lexical and phrasal downgrader “humbly,” “kindly,” “with due respect” along with external modifiers like grounders and expressions of gratitude. The requests that teachers made showed differing degrees of mitigation which revealed varying levels of formality, deference, and in some cases, institutional hierarchy awareness. The implication of the study is that Pakistani teachers use a mix of internal and external modifications in leave applications to show politeness, respect, and pragmatic awareness of institutional norms; the study recommends focusing on pragmatic competence in teacher training programs to ensure smooth and effective communication in academic settings.