manners. They should not only have sufficient linguistic resources to encode a request, but also know sociocultural rules that affect their choice of politeness
strategies in a given situation with taking into account a variety of situational factors. Suh 1999: 196.
Since the focus of language studies in second and foreign language teaching and learning of English is on grammatical competence of the language
learners at the level of phonology, morphology, and syntax, the communicative competence in using English will not be covered in whole. Thus, the pedagogical
challenge lies in the fact that second and foreign language teachers typically have far greater awareness and knowledge of linguistic rules than they do of the
sociocultural behaviors and expectations that accompany the use of language in the target language. Nevertheless, the teachers should be realizing that even if
good cultural descriptions are available, it is hard to get learners to change their native verbal behavior based on a new set of assumptions. Therefore, the present
study is conducted. The focus of the study is in the request strategies that the participants used in conveying their request in different degree of imposition, with
people from different social distance, gender, and power.
1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic
I choose the topic “The Realization Strategies of Request by Senior Students of The English Department of The State University of Semarang” owing to the facts
that:
1 Native speakers of English tend to use indirectness in conveying requests.
It is a fact which in itself requires some explaining. Second and foreign language learners should be aware of this phenomenon.
2 Most second and foreign language learners face problems to interpret and
react to use direct and indirect requests strategies appropriately. Therefore they need to see what strategy that they use in communication whether it
is appropriate or not. 3
Teaching and learning process of English as foreign language in Indonesia is focused on grammatical competence of the language learners
at the level of phonology, morphology, and syntax. Hence, the learners under study are more aware of linguistic competence than sociolinguistic
competence. In fact, when they use language, the sociolinguistic competence has a big influence in determining whether the
communication will be succeed. The present study will show how sociolinguistic competence affects the choice of request strategies in
communication.
1.3 Research Questions
Having found the general background of the problem as stated above dealing with the realization strategies of requests by English Department of Semarang State
University students on senior years, my research questions are:
1 How does the English Department of Semarang State University
students on senior years realize their requests? 2
Do the sociolinguistics competence aspects social distance, gender, degree of imposition, and power affect the students‟ request
strategies?
1.4 Purpose of the Study
In line with the research questions, the present study is aimed: 1
To figure out how the participants of English Department of Semarang State University students on senior years realize their
request strategies. 2
To figure out whether the sociolinguistic competence aspects social distance, gender, degree of imposition, and power affect the students‟
request strategies.
1.5 Significance of the Study
