Communicative competence is use of correct grammatical syntax in communication. It’s about when to make correct grammatical utterances. According to Hymes (1972), since its introduction, Communicative competence has been important in demonstrating and teachingforeign language. Also, it has attracted importance in recent years since it was introduced in the 1960s. Also, communicative competence involves the use of language syntax and alignment of language as well as the knowledge (Hymes, 1972). Hymes asserts that the knowledge of language rules is actually determined by the commitment of using the language syntax appropriately when faced with different circumstances. As noted, speakers of the native language benefit in acquiring the new language. The level at which the understanding of the new language depends heavily on competence of learning the language. This is significant because it helps in acquiring the new language. However, learners find it hard to be competent in learning the new language. According to Wolfson (1989) and Harlow (1990), language barrier has been attributed as one of the hindrances in learning foreign language. Beebe (1990) indicated that learners of foreign language face several problems among them comprehending the syntax and speech acts. These learners are unable to incorporate the communication competence in a language that they do not understand. Different speech acts differ in the perspectives of languages used to express them. For example in expressing apology, the language communicated with will determine the expression. The research on existence of different cultures in the globe, done by Olshtain (1994) and Kasper (1990), illustrated that group L2 of new learners encounter several problems in understanding the usage of speech acts in the new environment
Interlanguage problems in learning a new or foreign language: Currently, there exist several literatures on the foreign language learning. Kasper (1993) and Rose (1999) demonstrate that those learners of the foreign language should have the capability and will to learn the new language. According to Bergman (1993), Learners of foreign language learn through the positive transfer of meaning of words. They learn through direct translation in their native language. According to Blum-Kulka (1991), individuals interested in learning foreign language believe that by directly relating the meaning of native language with foreign language, learners have an easy time to draw the meaning of different phrases. However, it is not always possible to learn new language through direct translation because of the syntax differences. Blum-Kulka in the year 1991 investigated those immigrantsfrom America to Israel, who understood the two languages of both American and Hebrew, showed that less than half were able to learn the foreign language through direct translation. Also, Blum contributed that adult are likely to receive a lotof L2 new knowledge than young learners. This could be attributed to level of understanding by adult than young. One characteristic of this pragmatic knowledge is that it is universal. However, the others are transferred from L1. Koike (1996) experimented the reactions of Spanish individualsconversing in English. The results indicated that understanding of the language native language is important because it helps in recognizing where to use speech acts during communication in foreign language.
Speech acts:
Speech acts are meant to serve a certain function in any communication phenomena. It involves actions such as offering an apology, requesting for something, how to greet someone with respect, tabling the complaints, complementing another individual in a good language, and how to refuse something in a more professional way. This means, there is certain phrase used in to express the intended information. For instance, to request, words such as please and kindly are frequently preferred. Using the words during communication depicts an element of requesting. As note, speech act literally can involve using single word or phrase in expressing different speech acts. Another example of type of speech act usedin phrase format is “kindly,we will talk later”. In exploring speech acts, Saussure (1959) demonstrated the differences between word Language andthe word Parole in the world of linguistics. He writes that language is the application of structured principles in communication. On the other hand, parole refers to the specific instances of a language for example the phenomenon in which the language is communicated. Chomsky (1965) gave a theory to define the performance and communication competence contributions towards the learning a new language. Austin (1975), in his book, “How to Do Things with Words,”emphasize on performative utterance. His conclusion was based on the perception that whatever an individual perform is influenced by the words of his or her mouth. Meaning that we virtually imagine several things but implementing them becomes a problem. On contrary, Searle disagrees with Austin, and he attributes talking as a way of performing acts.
Blum-Kulka (1993) indicated that an apology is determined by other speech acts used apart from apology. He asserts that “apology is a category of speech actthat seeks to give compensation to the victim by the offender”. However, the person who expresses the act of apologizing either verbally or in writing needs to be ready to be humiliated if not sever intimidation (Reiter (2000: 44). In fact, an individual apologizing for someone else has guilt of feeling as if doing a favor to that person. As a speech act, the apology must be said in a humble way and in a language that is understandable. According to Brown and Levinson, apologies are supposed to be polite. They argue that an apology is primarily and essentially an act meant to bring unity and avoid enmity. The first aim of an apology is maintaining good interaction and relation among the participants. Basically, from definition, to apologize is to act politely. In apologizing, the attention of both parties is essential. Essentially, making the eye contact with the addressee is paramount on both faces of participants, more so to the addressee. Brown together with a scholar in year 1987 says that an apology is socially acceptable that is encouraged for the benefits of the interlocutors.
Goffman (1967, pg. 14) related an apology to a remedy. He asserted that an apology was an essential tool, though not acquired, for communication ethics. This term when used nicely functions as a remedy for an offense committed to a party and hence restoring the situation the way it was before the occurrence of the disequilibrium (Edmondson 1981: 280, Leech and Holmes in year 1983 and year 1990 respectively explains apology to be one speech act that is addressed from person B from person A. Person A must have the intention to offer the apology, and thus apology helps in restoring order and relationship between both person A and person B. Unlike compliments, apologies are targeted to supporting the addressee (Goffman 1967). However, Brown and Levinson contradict Goffman that apologies are meant to threaten the apologizer. They also assert that apologies intimidate the apologizer.
The review of the above literature depicts that several related studies have been researched, but in different contexts and structure. The above review has added knowledge in the current study that aims at examining apology of Arab students in an ESL setting, which will act as a research gap in this research project. Also, the review has helped hypothesis the area of study which is proposed to be apology by Arab students. In addition, the proposed research study seeks to provethe kind of apologies adopted by Arab students.
The interviewee will be between 15 to 25 citizens of Arab ESL. In particular, young people not more than twenty seven years of age and reside in Indiana as students
The data collection procedures:
Data to be studied will be the responses by students after the use of open questionnaires. In particular, open questionnaires will be administered to the sample of 15 to 25 students. Further, each response by the student will be analyzed. In a scale of about five measurements, the final findings will be agreed upon by the researcher based on the responses by students. Unlike closed questionnaire, open questionnaire enables the respondents to give opinions without being restricted on the boundary. The researcher will design an openquestionnaire in data collection process.
Analysis of Data:
After data collection, responses to the open questionnaire by the respondents will be analyzed through coding and measurements. Later, the results will be fed into computer to store them in an automated manner. In this, the SPSS package will be used. For better analysis of the data, the focus will be on the key areas, such as what is the level of politeness used by Arab students. With this, the researcher will be analyzing whether the hypothesis proposed are correct or not. The use of analysis tools such as drawing graphs, pie charts, data flow diagrams, relationship diagrams, among others. All these tools are meant to get the accurate results. Further, the researcher will identify and make a table on all responses on apology strategies used by students.
