A Pragmatic Study of Acknowledgments in Selected Theses by Iraqi EFL Learners

الملخص

Acknowledgments in academic writing serve as a platform for expressing gratitude, recognition, and social bonds. In line with this, the present study investigates the pragmatic aspects of acknowledgments in selected theses by Iraqi EFL learners to identify how politeness strategies influence the structuring of gratitude and the types of acknowledgment acts are most frequently employed. Five acknowledgments are selected from different Iraqi universities to be analysed according to Yule’s (1996) strategies of politeness (solidarity and deference) along with Bach and Harnish’s (1979) taxonomy of acknowledgments acts and by means of qualitative method of research analysis. The study reveals- in regard to strategies of politeness- that the deference strategy is frequently employed when addressing academic figures such as supervisors and professors, while the strategy of solidarity is identified when writers acknowledge family, friends, and colleagues. Regarding the acts of acknowledgments, the study shows that thanking is the most frequently used act, followed by the act of accepting, whereas acts like apologizing, condoling, congratulating, greeting, bidding, or rejecting are not existed in the provided acknowledgments. Notably, the study uncover that in some acknowledgments, the act of thanking can function or imply an act of accepting when it acknowledges received support or guidance.

The study finds out that Iraqi EFL learners strategically balance hierarchical respect and personal closeness in their acknowledgments, reflecting both academic conventions and cultural values.