GIVING FEEDBACK STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH LITERATURE PRESENTATIONS OF STUDENTS OF PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY,HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF
POST GRADUATE-STUDIES
****************************************

ĐẶNG THỊ KIM DUNG

GIVING FEEDBACK STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH
LITERATURE PRESENTATIONS OF STUDENTS
OF PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY
(Chiến lược sử dụng hành động ngôn từ trong việc đưa ra
thông tin phản hồi cho các bài thuyết trình môn Văn Học
Anh của sinh viên trường Đại Học Phương Đông)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis
Linguistics
Code: 602215

Hanoi-2010


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY,HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF
POST GRADUATE-STUDIES
****************************************

ĐẶNG THỊ KIM DUNG

GIVING FEEDBACK STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH
LITERATURE PRESENTATIONS OF STUDENTS
OF PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

(Chiến lược sử dụng hành động ngôn từ trong việc đưa ra
thông tin phản hồi cho các bài thuyết trình môn Văn Học
Anh của sinh viên trường Đại Học Phương Đông)

M.A. Thesis – Program I
Linguistics
Code: 602215
SUPERVISOR: Assoc.Prof. Nguyễn Xuân Thơm, PhD

Hanoi-2010


i

DECLARATION
I hereby certify that this minor thesis is the result of my own work submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, except where reference is
made in the text of the thesis and that the thesis in whole or in part has not been submitted
for a higher degree in any other tertiary institution.
Dang Thi Kim Dung
2010, September


ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study could not have been completed without the support, help and encouragement of
a number of people, who all deserve my deepest gratitude.
Firstly, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to my supervisor Assoc.Prof. Nguyễn
Xuân Thơm, PhD for his invaluable guidance, comments and supports.

I am also greatly indebted to the teachers at the Department of Foreign Language, English
Division, Phuong Dong University, who have given me precious advice for my thesis as
well as provided me with valuable materials and enthusiastically answered my survey
questionnaire.
My thanks also go to my students in classes of K13A1, K13A2, K13B1, K13B2 for their
enthusiasm and willingness in taking part in the interviews and answering the questions in
the survey questionnaire.
My special thanks go to my friends: Le Bich Thuy and Pham Thi Ha Trang, who patiently
and enthusiastically gave me insightful comments and advice so that my study could
satisfactorily be finished.
Last but not least, I owe the completion of this study to my beloved husband, who has
constantly given me encouragement and understanding throughout the study.


iii

ASTRACT
This study focuses on the strategies used by teachers in giving feedback for oral English
Literature of English majors of Phuong Dong University, especially; it highlights the use
and impacts of speech acts in teacher feedback. In order to answer the four research
questions raised at the beginning of the study, a survey questionnaire done on 120 students
and another done on 12 teachers, who have involved in teaching English Literature at
Phuong Dong University for years, have been conducted. The results of the survey
questionnaire and the face-to-face interviews with 10 students reveal that both teachers and
students agree that teacher feedback has great impacts on the improvement of students in
designing and performing oral presentations. The study also points out teachers’ habits in
using feedback types and their favorite patterns of speech act being used when giving
feedback. In the mean time, the survey and face-to-face interviews with students show
their opinion on the feedback they receive and their assessment of their own enhancement.
On this basis, the study offers some recommendations and suggestions for teachers to make

their feedback really useful and effective to students.


iv

TABLE OF CONTENT
Declaration
Acknowledgements
Abstract

PART I: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1
1. Rationale for the study...............................................................................................1
2. Objectives of the study...............................................................................................2
3. Research questions ....................................................................................................2
4. Methods......................................................................................................................2
5. Scope of the study......................................................................................................3
6. Design of the study.....................................................................................................3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT.......................................................................................5
Chapter 1: Literature review .............................................................................................5
1.1 Teaching English Literature .............................................................................5
1.1.1 Definition of English literature..............................................................5
1.1.2 Why teaching English Literature? ........................................................6
1.1.3 Motivating students in English literature lessons……………………..7
1.2 Teacher feedback ...............................................................................................8
1.2.1 Definition of feedback...........................................................................8
1.2.2 Types of feedback.................................................................................9
1.2.3 The importance of feedback to students’ improvement .....................11
1.3 Speech act theory .............................................................................................12
1.3.1 General concepts.................................................................................12

1.3.2 Speech Act classifications by Austin and Searle ................................14
1.3.3 Some prominent speech acts used in giving feedback........................15
1.3.3.1 The speech act of suggesting................................................15
1.3.3.2 The speech act of complaining.............................................16
1.3.3.3 The speech act of criticizing…………………………... .....17
Chapter 2: The study ............. ..........................................................................................19
2. 1. Situational analysis.........................................................................................19
2.1.1. Setting.................................................................................................19
2.2.2. The English literature course in Phuong Dong University ................20


v

2.2.2.1 Teaching materials ..............................................................21
2.2.2.2 Objectives of the course.......................................................21
2.2.2.3 Oral presentations by students...........................................22
2.2.2.4 Requirements and assessments...........................................22
2.2. The study .........................................................................................................23
2.2.1. Methodology .....................................................................................23
2.2.1.1. Subjects................................................................................23
2.2.1.2. Instrumentations..................................................................23
2.2.2. Data collection ...................................................................................24
2.2.3 Data analysis........................................................................................25
2.2.3.1 Data analysis of the questionnaire done by teachers...........25
2.2.3.2 Data analysis of the questionnaire done by students...........30
2.3. Findings ...........................................................................................................36
2.3.1. Research question 1............................................................................36
2.3.2. Research question 2............................................................................37
2.3.3. Research question 3............................................................................38
2.3.4. Research question 4...........................................................................39

Chapter 3 – Recommendations.........................................................................................41
3.1. Teachers should balance their use of different types of feedback..............41
3.2 Teachers should be more specific in giving feedback...................................41
3.3 Teachers should provide extra suggestions or guidance..............................41

PART III: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………..….42
References
Appendices


i


1

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
English literature is as diverse as the varieties and dialects of English spoken around the
world. To learners of English as a foreign language, English literature, though difficult,
brings information about the cultural life of the country. This subject can also facilitate oral
discussions and exchanges of opinion among students, which can do a great deal to help
students improve their language competence.
To teachers of English, Literature is a very versatile subject and it has long been
considered one of the most difficult subjects to teach. There is no right or wrong way to
teach Literature. And the job of the teacher is, generally believed, not to teach the students
but to lead them.
The author of this study has involved in the English teaching career for over 6 years since
2004, among which the last 4 years are spent mostly for studying and teaching English
literature for English majors of Phuong Dong University. There is one thing that most
teachers agree when teaching this subject: students will learn best when they freely and

creatively read and prepare for an oral presentation on English literature themselves before
the lessons are actually taught and explained by teachers. However, the skill of students in
designing and performing presentations is limited. They are restrained by the lack of social
and cultural knowledge, poor analyzing and organizing skill….Thus, teacher feedback is
vital to help students avoid mistakes and enhance achievements.
Despite the importance and necessity of teacher feedback, there has been rare research on
this issue, even if it is the subject of any study; most of them deal with the matter of
corrective feedback and written feedback in writing lessons. Work on oral feedback and
especially on immediate oral feedback is quite small in number. In addition, the studies
which have been done lack consensus and focus on how and what kind of feedback should
teachers use, needless to mention the use of speech acts in feedback giving for literature
oral presentation. It appears that what teachers response to students’ oral presentation are
based on his or her personal judgments and experience, not on any specific theoretical
foundations.


2

These reasons above have urged the author, who has been involving in teaching
English literature for English majors of Phuong Dong University for 4 years, to investigate
this important but somewhat neglected area. In the mean time, the author also hope to offer
teachers, who are involving in teaching English literature for English majors of Phuong
Dong University , ways to response to students’ oral presentation, especially ways in
which speech acts can be used in feedback giving. It is also hoped that this study will show
the impacts of teacher feedback on students’ achievement.
2. Objectives of the study
The study aims at investigating the use of speech acts by teachers in giving feedback for
English Literature presentations of Phuong Dong University fourth year language students.
It is directed to achieve these four purposes:
(i) To study the techniques used by teachers when giving feedback for literature oral

presentations of fourth year English students in Phuong Dong University: their responding
practices, feedback focus, language uses and especially the application of speech acts in
feedback giving.
(ii) To investigate students’ attitude and opinion on the way they are responded after
having finished their presentations
(iii) To judge students’ enhancement after receiving feedback from teachers
(iv) To offer some recommendations and suggestions for teachers to improve their practice
so that their feedback will be effective and useful to students
3. Research questions
In order to achieve the goals above, there are four research questions and sub questions
raised in the study:
(i) What are the strategies used by teachers when giving feedback for English Literature
presentations?
(ii) What types of speech acts do teachers use when giving feedback?
(iii) What are the students’ opinions on the feedback they receive from their teachers?
(iv) How do students assess their enhancement?
4. Methods
There are three sources of collecting the data:
(i) A survey questionnaire done on 120 fourth year students of 4 groups in English
Division, Department of Foreign Languages, , Phuong Dong University to get their opinion


3

on the feedback they received and their judgment on their enhancement. The questionnaire
also aims at getting students’ recommendations and suggestions to make teacher feedback
more effective and useful.
(ii) A survey questionnaire done on 12 teachers who are currently involving in teaching
English literature and Country studies of Phuong Dong University to explore the ways they
give feedback for students’ oral presentations. This questionnaire also aims at finding

teachers’ difficulties in giving feedback, their use of speech acts in giving feedback, as
well as their recommendations to overcome their difficulties.
(iii) An interview with 10 students selected randomly from the survey population to get
further information on the matter being studied.
5. Scope of the study
The study is conducted within the following scope:
(i) Feedback is a broad issue and cannot be thoroughly discussed within the framework of
this study. Therefore, only one aspect of feedback is focused on: teacher oral feedback for
oral presentations.
(ii) Mentioning strategies used by teachers when giving feedback, there are lots of things
to be discussed. However, this study is restricted to the use of speech acts, especially the
acts of complaining, suggesting, praising, questioning…in giving feedback by teachers
only.
(iii) The subjects of this study are constrained to final year English majors of Phuong Dong
University. Even though feedback is vital for every student, this study does not aim at
students of English in general but at final year English majors of Phuong Dong University,
who are studying English as their second language.
(iv) In Phuong Dong University, there are only two subjects that often require oral
presentations from students: English Literature and country studies. This study focuses on
teachers’ techniques to give feedback for English Literature oral presentations as typical
examples for oral presentations in general.
6. Design of the study
This study consisted of three parts, namely: introduction, development and conclusion.
The introduction focuses on the rationale, objectives, research questions as well as the
scope and design of the study
The development includes three chapters:


4

Chapter 1 presents the theoretical background of the study. This includes reviews on the
works done by linguistics, researchers…on feedback, speech acts and English literature
teaching.
Chapter 2 introduces more details about the setting, methods, data analysis and most
importantly, the findings of the study
Chapter 3 attempts to give some recommendations to teachers, students and further study.
The conclusion aims at summarizing the main points of the study.


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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter attempts to provide the theoretical background within which the study is
conducted. It includes three parts. Part 1 reviews the key notions and aspects of speech act
theory. Part 2 and 3 will survey teacher feedback and teaching English Literature
respectively.

1.1 Teaching English Literature
1.1.1 Definition of English literature
As it was stated by Ronald Carter, a Professor of Modern English Language in The
University of Nottingham, the teaching of literature in foreign language classes is an
activity whose justification was “assumed to be obvious”. Before the eighties, there was
surprisingly little about the teaching of English literature. This was partly due to the fact
that in some places where literature continued to be taught for the old reasons, there was no
need for justification, and in other places, it did not come to any significant degree at all.
However, during the eighties, the situation changed rapidly. Literature in general and
English Literature in particular underwent thorough consideration, which provoked
numerous articles and studies. The question is what is English Literature? Even though
English Literature has been defined in a number of ways, there is a relative consensus

among the definitions.
The web page Wikipedia defines English Literature as “ the literature written in the
English language”. This obviously means the writers of English Literature are not
necessarily from England. Joseph Conrad, for example, was polish-born and could not
speak English very fluently until his twenties but was still considered to be one of the
greatest novelists in English.
Ronald Carter and Michael N. Long in their book Teaching Literature(1991), on the other
hand, introduced a different way of using the term. According to them, many teachers of


6

literature preferred the term literature in English to the term English literature because the
term English literature carried very specific associations of literature written by authors of
English nationalities within the geographical confines of Great Britain. They suggested that
the term English Literature was narrow and exclusive. They provided a definition of
literature in English as: “the considerable diversity of literature produced in the English
language not only in the more obvious context of American literature, but also literature in
the following contexts: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa…”( p.156). In this
sense, Literature in English also includes a growing and important body of work produced
in countries where English is an institutionalized second language or where it is a foreign
language but carries important social and cultural functions within the society. Such
countries as Nigeria, Kenya, and India…can be cited as examples.
1.1.2 Why teaching English Literature?
Rodrigo Fernandez Carmona in his article How to Teach English Literature (2004) listed
many interesting reasons for teaching literature in general and teaching English literature in
particular. The reasons can be summarized as follow:


English literature transmits information about cultural life of the country



Literature provide authentic language-literary works that have not been written
specifically for language students



Literary offers a wide variety of language. The literary text is one of the few
contexts where different varieties of language can be used simultaneously



Literature is interesting as it can be interpreted in many different ways. This will
facilitate oral discussions and the exchange of opinion among students.



English Literature can be a source of pleasure and stimulus towards the students’
personal development.
( />pdf)

Obviously, these reasons show the importance and necessity of teaching English literature
for students of English. When learning this subject, not only can students widen their
background cultural and social knowledge but they can also improve their language
competence quickly and find another source of entertainment.


7

Besides, Ronald Carter and Michael N. Long in their book Teaching Literature also
confirmed that “the study of certain classic pieces of English Literature is considered a
sine qua non-a condition without which it could not be-for the truly educated person”(p.1).
They pointed out the three important models which were embraced by teachers as reasons
or purposes for the teaching of literature in general and of English literature in particular:
(i) The cultural model: literature expresses the most significant ideas and sentiments of
human beings and teaching literature represents a means by which students can be put in
touch with a wide range of expression-often of universal value and validity-over a
historical period or periods. This means that teaching literature within a cultural model
enables students to understand and appreciate cultures and ideologies different from their
own in time and space and to come to perceive tradition of thought, feeling and artistic
form within the heritage the literature of such cultures endows.
(ii) The language model: teaching literature means putting students in touch with some of
the more subtle and varied creative uses of the language. According to teachers of
literature, the main impulse of language center literature teaching is to help students find
ways into a text in a methodical way and for themselves. The proponent of this model
argue that language is the literary medium, that literature is made from language and that
the more students can read in and through language, the better able they will be to come to
terms with a literary text as literature.
(iii) The personal growth model: for teachers who are committed to personal growth
model, the main goal of teaching literature in general and English literature in particular is
to help students to achieve an engagement with the reading of literary texts. Teachers’
success in teaching this subject is the extent to which students carry with them beyond
classroom an enjoyment and love for literature which is renewed as they continue to
engage with literature throughout their lives. Students’ personal growth in such cases is a
lasting pleasure in reading and a deep satisfaction in continuing growth of understanding.
To encourage personal growth, teachers has to stimulate students in literature class by
selecting texts to which students can respond and in which they can participate, by
promoting the kind of conditions for learning in the classroom which will make the reading
of literature a memorable, collective experience and, above all, by enthusiasm for and

commitment to the teaching of literature as literature.
1.1.3 Motivating students in English literature lessons


8

Motivating students is a challenge that almost all teachers face, not only in English
literature subject but also in others. Students need to be motivated in order to focus on the
task they will accomplish. According to Ronald Carter and Michael N. Long, in English
literature, students must see the point to reading, particularly to reading extended
texts(p.9). They suggested that the media tend to provide students with short term
satisfaction. Topics are switched rapidly and they do not demand sustained concentration.
Reading literary works in general and English literary works in particular, however,
requires concentration over a period of time. It asks for a hard work from readers and it
requires considerable patience. Thus, many teachers of this subject immediately see the
task of encouraging and motivating students as a difficult and demanding one.
There are numerous techniques applied by teachers when dealing with the task of
motivating students in English literature. One important principle that they recognize is
that students will be motivated to read and learn if the process of reading and learning is
related to them as individuals. This means that a good starting point for a lesson is to elicit
as many of students’ own ideas, predictions and feeling as possible before they begin
reading. This method is especially effective because it wakens students’ curiosity and
imagination. Preparing for an oral presentation is also a good idea that has been applied by
many teachers. By this way, students can actively and enthusiastically participate in the
lesson and freely show off their competence and ability. The lesson will therefore be easier
to understand to them.
Last but not least, Ronald Carter and Michael Long also believed that “students will be
better motivated to read a literary text if they can relate it to their own experience” (p. 9).
In the first instance this means they should be able to relate it to themselves as an
individual, that is to their own ideas, feelings, opinions and perceptions; then they should

be able to relate it to their own experience of the world and of the society in which they
live.

1.2 Teacher feedback
1.2.1 Definition of feedback


9

Although there have been numerous attempts to define the term feedback, most of them
appear to reach a somewhat consensus of the nature and function of feedback.
The most general definition of feedback can be found in the web Wikipedia: Feedback is
information about actions returned to the source of the actions. According to this web
page, the term feedback can be used in many different fields such as biology, climate
science, mechanical engineering……In education, there is a tendency that young students
will look up to instructors as experts in the field and remember most of the things that they
say. Therefore, it is believed that for teachers to spend a fair amount of time and effort
thinking about how to respond to students may be a worthwhile time investment.
Longman Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics defines feedback as
“any information which provides a report on the result of behavior” (p 137). In teaching,
feedback is viewed as “comments or information learners receive on the success of a
learning task, either from the teacher or from other learners”.
In foreign language teaching and learning, feedback from teachers plays a vital role in
students’ enhancement. Without proper feedback, learners can be confused and be at loss
of specifying their position in the process of learning language. For long, feedback has
been considered as a means of communication between teachers and students about their
works.
Showing his attention to the same field, Penny Ur in his A Course in Language Teaching
stated that “in the context of teaching in general, feedback is information that is given to
the learner about his or her performance of a learning task, usually with the objective of

improving this performance” (p.242). This means, the key function of feedback is to help
students make progress and avoid mistakes in their language learning. The same view has
also been confirmed by Davies (2000): the purpose of giving feedback is to provide
opportunities for the learner to make adjustments and improvements toward mastery of a
specified standard
1.2.2 Types of feedback
Teachers provide feedback to students in their classrooms every day. When used properly,
feedback is a powerful tool for improving academic and behavioral performance. There are
many ways of categorizing feedbacks, one of which is to divide feedback into oral and
written feedback. Konold in his Using Teacher Feedback to Enhance Student Learning
(2004) stated that feedback can be provided verbally, nonverbally, or in written formats


10

and can be either reinforcing or punishing to the person who receives it. Verbal feedback
is feedback presented in a form that is spoken or capable of being spoken concerns not
only words used but also tone of voice, non-verbal feedback, on the other hand, refers to
the one made in silence with cues like facial expressions. There is one important thing to
note here: non –verbal feedback does not mean written feedback. Written feedback is the
kind of feedback delivered to students in the form of notes
Another way of categorizing feedback and its purposes can be found in the article Effective
Feedback

( />
whatis.htm)
The category can be demonstrated as follow:

Type

Purposes
 Corrective feedback is intended to correct an error.

Corrective Feedback

 The correction should be made in a direct and positive
manner.
 Instructional

feedback is

intended to

provide

new

information.
Instructional Feedback

 Instructional feedback should be detailed and specific. This
information should be provided in a direct and positive
manner.
 Evaluative feedback is intended to provide a student with

Evaluative Feedback

information about the quality of his/her performance.
 It should be as immediate as possible, and serve as a guide
for future performance.

These three types of feedback appear to take different names and functions but they all aim
at improving students’ learning and language competence.
Besides, there are other names for feedback classification:
Positive and negative feedback


11

As their names imply, positive feedback shows teacher’s interest in student’s work. The
teacher, in this case, gives feedback to encourage the student and sometime, make some
nice comments or praises on student’s work. Negative feedback, in contrary, expresses
teacher’s disagreement or discontent. Sometimes this kind of feedback involves some
correction or even punishment.
Immediate and delayed feedback
Researchers believe that immediate feedback is often employed when the aim of the
teacher is to promote accuracy, particularly during the guided practice. Immediate
feedback refers to teachers’ comments delivered on the spot when a mistake or a good
point is made by students. It enables teachers to give support or encouragement when
students are confused about their making mistakes or in need of being motivated. On the
other hand, if the aim of the teacher is to promote fluency, not accuracy, immediate
feedback is not recommended. In this case, delayed feedback should take place because
interruption may distract the student and make it difficult for him/ her to come back to the
point he/ she stops before being interrupted. Researchers believe that immediate feedback
should be used for individual’s performance and delayed feedback should be used for
group work.
Explicit and implicit feedback
Explicit feedback means that teachers show an error and provides the correction, while
implicit feedback refers to the situation when teachers point out an error without providing
the correct form.

1.2.3 The importance of feedback to students’ improvement
Many researchers and educators have agreed that for students to work without feedback is
similar to setting out an important journey without a map or signposts because a great
sense of direction may not be sufficient to keep one on track.
In their article The Power of Feedback (2007), John Hattie and Helen Timperley asserted
that though the impact of feedback can be either positive or negative, it is still one of the
most powerful influences on learning and achievement. The two writers also stated that the
type of feedback and the way it is given can be effective in different ways although
feedback in general is among the major influences.
In language learning and teaching, the role of teacher feedback to students’ improvement
can be seen from the fact that teachers’ feedback reflects to students what and how they


12

perform, showing them their strong points to strengthen as well as the weak points to
improve. More importantly, if teachers leave mistakes untreated, they might serve as an
input model and therefore, may be acquired by other students in the class. Besides, the
provision of corrective feedback “can significantly speed up the process of language
learning by providing information about rules and the limits of language use” (Hugh
Moss- the correction of students’ oral errors-p. 27)
In brief, if the person receiving the feedback is motivated, and the feedback is given in a
useful way, it is obvious that feedback can be an effective way for students to draw
conclusions on how to achieve a better knowledge of a second language. As confirmed by
Tunstall and Gipps, teachers’ feedback is considered a prime requirement for progress in
learning (1996); therefore, giving feedback is one of the key roles that teacher play in
classroom. (Al Fahdi, 2005).
Lastly, it is noticeable that feedback is not appropriate in all situations. For example, when
a student is speaking, there is no use interrupting and giving feedback since the learner is
focusing on his/her speech, and therefore not able to concentrate on any feedback given or

if he/ she does concentrate, he/ she may be distracted from what is being spoken.

1.3 Speech act theory
1.3.1 General concepts
In language teaching and learning, the term speech act is not at all a new one and in fact, it
has become one of the most challenging but compelling concepts in the study of numerous
linguistics and researchers. John H. Austin is considered to be the person who initiated the
notion of speech act by stating that by saying something, one is actually doing something
in his series of lectures the William James Lectures at Harvard, which were later published
as a book entitled How to Do Things with words (1962). According to him, utterances can
be found, satisfying the conditions:
(i) They do not “describe” or “report” or constate anything at all, they are not
“true or false”; and
(ii) The uttering of a sentence is, or is part of, the doing of an action, which again
would normally be described as, or “just”, saying something
(Page 5)


13

For example: By saying “I name this ship Queen Elizabeth” (page 5), the speaker actually
names the ship, not just makes any kind of statement that the hearer(s) can regard as true or
false. This can be viewed as a breakthrough in linguistics as it indicates that through many
everyday utterances, people perform certain linguistic actions like promising, requesting or
apologizing…This type of sentence or utterance is proposed the name performative. Austin
categorized the acts as locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary, the acts that constitute
what people do with words.
A locutionary act is the act of saying something. Quite simply, it is the ordinary sense of
meaning of what is said of a speech act.
An illocutionary act is the act performed in saying something. It is its real, intended

meaning which is what the person really means. The illocutionary act is not in one-to-one
correspondence with the locution from which it is derived.
A perlocutionary act is the act performed by saying something in a particular context. It is
a speech act which gets someone to do or realize something following on from the
illocutionary act. It represents the change achieved each time, in a particular context
Speech act theorists after Austin, Generally speaking, focus on explaining illocutionary
acts in a narrow sense. John Searle, the prominent linguist, inherited his ideas from Austin
and developed the theory in his own way (1969). He particularly paid attention to what we
call indirect speech acts. The matter is which acts can be seen as indirect speech act? There
are some examples taken from Wikipedia:
(i) “Can you open the window?”
In this example, the speaker is asking the hearer whether he/ she will be able to open the
window, but at the same time requesting that he /she do so. Since the request is performed
indirectly, by performing a question, it counts as an indirect speech act.
(ii) - “Would you like to meet me for coffee?”
- “I have class.”
The second speaker used an indirect speech act to reject the proposal. This is indirect
because the literal meaning of “I have class” does not entail any sort of rejection.
Searle suggested that we are able to derive meaning out of indirect speech acts by means of
a cooperative process out of which we are able to derive multiple illocutions: “In indirect
speech acts the speaker communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by way of
relying on their mutually shared background information, both linguistic and


14

nonlinguistic, together with the general powers of rationality and inference on the part of
the hearer.”(1979)
Concerning indirect speech acts, Searle also introduced the notions of “primary” and
“secondary” illocutionary acts. The primary illocutionary act is the indirect one, which is

not literally performed. The secondary illocutionary act is the direct one, performed in the
literal utterance of the sentence (p.178).
Kent Bach in his Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998) believes that making a
statement may be the paradigmatic use of language, but there are all sorts of other things
we can do with words. Some of the things that people can do with words, in his opinion,
are making requests, asking questions, giving orders, making promises, giving thanks,
offering apologies, and so on. Moreover, he also points out that almost any speech act is
really the performance of several acts at once, which are distinguished by different aspects
of the speaker’s intention.
1.3.2 Speech Act classifications by Austin and Searle
According to Ken Bach, the theory of speech acts is partly taxonomic and partly
explanatory. It must systematically classify types of speech acts and the ways in which
they can succeed or fail. There are numerous linguists attempt to classify speech acts, most
of them, however, do not reach a kind of consensus.
Despite feeling far from equally happy about all of the terms used, Austin classified
illocutionary force into five classes, namely verdictives, exercitives, commissives,
behabitives and expositives ( page 150).
As explained by Austin himself, verdictives are typified by the giving of verdict by a jury,
arbitrator or umpire. They may be an estimate, reckoning or appraisal. Exercitives are the
exercising of powers rights or influence. Examples of this type can be voting, urging,
advising and warning….The third type, commissives are typified by promising or
otherwise undertaking. They commit one to doing something but also include declarations
or announcements. Behabitives do with attitudes and social behavior. Examples of these
are congratulating, commending, apologizing, cursing….Lastly, expositives make plain
how utterances fit into the course of an argument or conversation. John Austin admitted
that he found the last two classes behabitives and expositives the most troublesome and that
perhaps they are not clear or are cross-classified. In fact, many researchers claim that
Austin seemed to base on no clear principle to construct his classification. Therefore, many

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speech acts may fall into two different categories. Besides, this category based on the
performative verb, through which a speech act is expressed. Many other linguists pointed
out that the number of speech acts in every language exceeds the number of their
corresponding performative verbs so this classification may exclude many speech acts.
Not feeling content and happy with the classification of Austin, Searle proposed another
way of categorizing:


Representatives: They commit the speaker to something being the case. Some
types are: suggesting, swearing, boasting, concluding…
Example: “No one makes a better cake than me”.



Directives: They try to make the addressee perform an action( direct he/ she
towards doing something). The different kinds are: suggesting, asking, inviting,
ordering, requesting, advising, begging……
Example: “Could you open the door?”.



Commisives: They commit the speaker to doing something in the future. The
different kinds are: vowing, promising, planning, betting, opposing.
Example: “I will return it to you tomorrow”.



Expressives: They express how the speaker feels about the situation (psychological

state). The different kinds are: thanking, apologizing, welcoming, deploring….
Example: “I am sorry for being late”.



Declaratives: They change the state of the world in an immediate way. In this type,
no psychological state is expressed and any proposition can occur
Examples: “You are fired”

However, Jacob L Mey in his book Pragmatic: An Introduction (1993) pointed out that
searle’s classification is more or less similar to that of Austin. He believes that even though
Searle’s classification mainly rests on features of “meaning”, some of them are rather close
to what traditional syntax would refer to as “mood” such as indicatives ( representatives) or
imperatives ( directives) (p.105)
1.3.3 Some prominent speech acts used in giving feedback
1.3.3.1 The speech act of suggesting
Suggestions belong to the group of directive speech acts which, according to Searle (1976),
are those in which the speaker’s purpose is to get the hearer to commit him/herself to some


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future course of action. Bach and Harnish (1979) when proposing their definition of
directives also implied that the speaker’s attitude and intention when performing an
utterance must be taken as a reason for the hearer’s action.
Schmidt and Richards (1980) claimed that directives contain speech acts such as requests,
commands and suggestions… They pointed out that the main goal of these speech acts was
to get the hearer to do something, although the force of the attempt could differ from one
speech act to another. Haverkate (1984) distinguished between impositive and
nonimpositive directives. The impositives include more threatening acts, such as

requesting, pleading and ordering, whereas non-impositive directives refer to suggestions
and instructions. The main difference between these two groups lies in the fact that the
benefits obtained by carrying out an impositive speech act are exclusively for the speaker
(the teacher), whereas the objective of the non-impositive speech acts is to benefit the
hearer ( the student)
However, although suggestions are made in the best interest of the student, Brown and
Levinson (1987) regarded this speech act as a facethreatening act since the teacher is in
some way intruding into the student’s world by performing an act that concerns what the
latter should do. Banerjee and Carrell (1988) believed that, in this sense, suggestions are
regarded as an imposition upon the student by affronting his/her negative face. As these
authors claimed, if a speaker decides to make a suggestion, there are some factors to take
into consideration: the urgency of the suggestion, the degree of embarrassment in the
situation, and the social distance and power between the speaker and the hearer. For this
reason, and depending on these factors and the extent to which the situation can be more or
less threatening, the teacher might try to soften this speech act through the use of specific
politeness strategies in order to minimize, as far as possible, the chances of the student’s
being offended.
Suggestions have often been believed, by many authors and linguists, to be termed as
advisement by Searle
1.3.3.2 The speech act of complaining
Complaint is an expression of a psychological state of being dissatisfied or unhappy about
something. According to Tanck (2002), the speech act of complaint occurs when a speaker
reacts with displeasure or annoyance to an action that has affected him/her in an
unfavorable manner.


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Olshtain and Weinback (1987) specify the necessary preconditions for the speech act of
complaint as follows:

- The speaker expects a favorable event to occur, or an unfavorable event to be
prevented from occurring, the action results, therefore, in the violation of speaker's
expectations by either having enabled or failed to prevent the offensive event.
- The speaker sees an action as having unfavorable consequences for him/her-self.
The action is therefore the offensive act.
- The speaker holds the hearer responsible for the action.
- The speaker chooses to express his/her dissatisfaction and frustration verbally.
Some researchers stated that the speech act of complaint is facethreatening to the student.
When the teacher makes direct complaints, he/she is more likely to threat the student’s face
1.3.3.3 The speech act of criticizing
Similar to complaining and suggesting, criticizing also has a high potential of threatening
the face. According to Thuy Minh, Nguyen in her learing to give and respond to peerfeedback in the L2: the case of EFL criticisms and responses to criticisms(2007) ,
criticizing may be composed of different acts, each of which carries a different
illocutionary force and none of which is the head act. She believed that neither of the
taxonomies given by Austin or Searle may apply to this type of speech act. Instead,
criticism could be better described in terms of speech act sets which were made up by
multiple components.
Tracy, et all. (1987) explored the characteristics of good and bad criticism and found out
five characteristics to distinguish between good and bed criticisms.


A good criticism needs to display a positive language and manner



The changes suggested in a good criticism must be specific enough and the critic
must offer to help make them possible



The reason for criticizing must be justified and made explicit



A good criticism is compensated for by being placed in a larger positive message



A good criticism does not violate the relationship between interlocutors

In short, researchers have reached an agreement that criticisms should be simple, specific
and well-grounded in the lesson. They should be for the purposes of student’ improvement
and need to be softened. The softening strategies include “measuring words” to avoid