A Corpus-Assisted Investigation of (In) Directness in Pakistani Students’ Email Requests

Abstract

The power of language in human affairs cannot be overstated, which drives us to communicate strategically. For instance, research suggests that request strategies, such as indirectness, help build positive interpersonal relationships. This research examines (in)directness in computer-mediated communication (CMC) within the Pakistani academic setting. More precisely, the aim of this investigation is to recognize the request strategies in students’ email requests. The present research utilizes a sequential mixed-methods investigation framework. A corpus of 32358 tokens was assembled from the emails received by four instructors of public-sector universities between 2021 and 2023. Specimens from the corpus were qualitatively scrutinized using the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984). The outcomes guided the formulation of the hypothesis, which was subsequently tested using corpus analysis software to triangulate findings. The integrated findings illuminate request strategies in student email requests to faculty. The discoveries fill a gap in the literature by investigating (in)directness in the Pakistani academic context, contribute to the expanding corpus-assisted research, and provide insights for educational policy formation in Pakistan.