The purpose of the paper is to investigate L2 learners` perception of contextual factors embedded into various situations, and the effect of perception on the use of strategies in the performance of the act of requests. To this end, a study was undertaken in which both Korean students of English and native speakers of English participated as subjects, and data were gathered via two differing methods. In the study, subjects were asked to read the description of each item of discourse completion test, and to write down what they would say in a given item. Right after completing each item, subjects were asked to assess three contextual factors (social power, familiarity, and degree of imposition) embedded into that item by answering three rating questions in terms of a four-point scale. The analysis of data indicated that in some situations two groups showed similarities while in other situations they differed in the perception of contextual factors. Also two groups differed greatly from each other in that learners tended to rely mainly on direct requests in most situations in which English native speakers preferred conventionally indirect requests with appropriate downgrading, which demonstrated that native speakers were far more polite than learners. In addition, EFL learners differed considerably from ESL learners in the use of request strategies and downgrading. The latter was more proficient than the former in employing conventionally indirect requests, and using downgrading for the expression of politeness. Finally, some teaching suggestions were provided for helping learners in an EFL context to promote their socio-pragmatic competence.

Jae-Suk Suh. 2003. The process-based writing activity framed on CALL: Its effect on writing attitudes and writing proficiency of EFL learners. Studies in Modern Grammar 32, 169-203. The paper investigated the effects of the process-based writing activity designed with the frame of CALL on both EFL learners` attitudes toward writing in English and their writing proficiency. 52 college students participated in a study in which they worked in pairs to write about a topic chosen by themselves by going through various stages of writing from the beginning to the end for six weeks. Data were collected via two differing methods: questionnaires and writing samples (i. e., first and final drafts). To find out the effect of the process-oriented writing activity within CALL on subjects attitudes toward writing in English, two differing kinds of questionnaires were administered to subjects before and after the writing activity. To determine whether the writing activity plays a facilitating role in the improvement of subjects writing activity plays a facilitating role in the improvement of subjects writing ability, 26 sets of the first and final drafts were compared analytically to each other in five aspects of writing. The results of the study indicated that though there existed some aspects of writing remaining unchanged irrespective of the writing activity, overall, subjects showed more positive attitudes toward writing in English after the writing activity than they did prior to the activity. Similarly, though subjects were not able to fully succeed in improving their writing ability in all the five aspects of writing, they did show the promotion of writing skill in such aspects of writing, as fluency, organization, and mechanics. Based on the findings, some suggestions were given for the creation of positive writing attitude and for the improvement of writing ability in EFL classrooms.