Korean EFL Learners’ Development of Interlanguage Pragmatics in Speech Act of Request

The present study investigates the developmental aspect of interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) by exploring the speech act of request performed by the learners in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. In particular, the study has employed the discourse completion test (DCT) with situations containing different social variables, such as power and distance. The request strategies of Korean female college and university students differed with respect to their proficiency level. Results demonstrate that EFL learners use (1) both direct and conventionally indirect strategies regardless of their proficiency level, (2) both hearer-oriented and speaker-oriented perspectives when making a request, and (3) more mitigating supportive moves as a speaker’s proficiency level increases. Moreover, it has been shown that the learners’ request strategies are not influenced by social variables. This suggests the importance of raising awareness of pragmatic competence which can be beneficial for learners in EFL contexts.