GEC1033 - ENGLISH FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

SPEECH ACTS
Speech Acts

- Speech acts can be defined as an act to say something in terms

of the speaker's intention of doing the speech and as well as the
effects to the listeners.
- Speech acts play a very important role as it gives you the main
idea of what the speaker is actually trying to say.
- There are lots of speech act types such as informing, persuading,
complimenting, etc.
Informing

- Informing is a type of speech act whereas it conveys the listeners

with information.
- This means that this type of speech act is used when a speaker
wants to inform something to their listeners.
- It is one of the most common type of speech act during a lecture
and making an announcement.
- e.g. “ To class PPISMP TESL (SK) 2, I would like to inform to all of
you that the next class will be held in the library”
Persuading

- Persuading in speech acts can be defined as to persuade someone,

or in other words, trying to convince a person to do something.
- Persuading in speech acts is often used by promoter in which their
main goal is to attract people and convince them. For instance, a
make up product promoter uses the persuading speech act to
promote his/her product to someone.
- It is important that we must keep our good manners when it comes
to persuading someone as it can lead us to forcing or uttering
inappropriate words when we fail at persuading someone.
Complimenting
- Complimenting is a type of speech act where we politely express
our admiration towards others or in other words to give a flattering
remark.
- Complimenting in speech act is use so that the speaker can
reinforce the solidarity between the speaker and also the listener.
- e.g. “It is an honor to have a respected, sincere listeners as my
audience for my speech today”