The Iraqi EFL Learners’ Ability to Use Speech Acts in MA and Ph.D. Theses Defense

The present study investigates the Iraqi EFL (IEFL) learners’ ability to use Speech Acts (SAs) in MA and Ph.D. theses defense. It aims at analyzing utterances (Us) made by the MA and Ph.D. IEFL learners in terms of SAs, the class to which those SAs belong, the type of tone the learners use, and the errors committed by the learners and their types. It is hypothesized that the learners use the SA of stating more than the other types of SAs in their MA and Ph.D. defence, the learners use directives more than other SA categories, the EFL learners use the falling tone more than the other types of tones. The researchers record the defense of six IEFL learners: four MA and two Ph.D. during the Academic year 2019-2020. They put the recorded data into an orthographic form showing the tone type for each tone unit, and check each recorded utterance (U) for the SA used, the SA category to which the SA belongs, the type of tone used and if any, the types of errors the participants commit. The study concludes that the MA IEFL learners use more SAs than the Ph.D. ones, the most frequently used SA is the SA of asserting, the most frequently used category of SAs is the representative one, and the learners use the falling tone more than the other types of tones.