Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Region VII- Central Visayas
DIVISION OF BOHOL

ACTIVITY SHEET IN ORAL COMMUNICATION

Quarter : 1 Week : 8 Day : 1 Activity : 1

No.
Competency : Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
EN11/12OC-Ifj-20
Objective : Identify the social function of an utterance.
Topic : Speech Acts
Materials : Activity Sheet
Reference : Philippe John Fresnillo, Anne Richie Garcia Balgos. Oral
Communication in Context for Senior High School. Quezon City:
C & E Publishing, Inc. , 2016.

Copyrights : For Classroom Use Only

Concept Notes
Definition of Speech Acts
A speech act is an utterance that a speaker makes to achieve an intended effect. Some
of the functions which are carried out using speech acts are offering an apology,
greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act might
contain just one word or several words or sentences. For example, “Thanks” and
“Thank you for always being there for me. I really appreciate it” both show
appreciation regardless of the length of the statement.

Three Types of Speech Act

According to J. L. Austin (1962), a philosopher of language and the developer of the
Speech Act Theory, there are three types of acts in every utterance, given the right
circumstances or context. These are:

1. Locutionary act is the actual act of uttering.

“Please do the dishes.”

2. Illocutionary act is the social function of what is said.

By uttering the locution “Please do the dishes,” the speaker requests the addressee
to wash the dishes.

3. Perlocutionary act is the resulting act of what is said. This effect is based on the
particular context in which the speech act was mentioned.
“Please do the dishes” would lead to the addressee washing the dishes.

There are also indirect speech acts which occur when there is no direct connection
between the form of the utterance and the intended meaning. They are different in
force (i.e., intention) from the inferred speech act. For example, read the following
utterance.

“Can you pass the rice?”

Inferred speech act: Do you have the ability to hand over the rice? Indirect speech act:
Please pass the rice. So, while the utterance literally asks the addressee if he or she
has the ability to hand a plate of rice, it actually indirectly requests the addressee to
pass the rice to the speaker.
Activity No. 1

Directions: Check if you can discern the meaning behind the utterance.
Encircle the letter of your answer.

1. Consider the phrase: “I now declare Martial Law.” Who among the following
can say this phrase and make martial law actually happen?
a. President of the country
b. My pregnant neighbor
c. A retired veterinarian
d. A famous rock star

2. What do you think does the speaker mean when he/she says, “Can you open
the door?”
a. The speaker wants to know if I have the ability to open the door.
b. The speaker is requesting me to open the door.
c. The speaker does not make sense.
d. The speaker is asking me a question.

3. You and your friend who has a fever enter your room. She shivers and tells
you, “It’s cold in here!” How would you interpret what she said?
a. She feels cold.
b. She wants me to increase the temperature in the room.
c. She does not feel well because of the cold.
d. She is complimenting the temperature in my room.

4. Based on the scenario in item number 3, what would your next action be?
a. I will thank my friend.
b. I will agree with her and say that the room is cold.
c. I will increase the temperature to decrease the coldness.
d. I will ignore my friend.

5. In which of the following statements is the speaker making a commitment?

a. “I checked her Facebook profile yesterday.”
b. “I’m in love and I’m happy!”
c. “I promise to love you for better or for worse.”
d. “I think following my suggestion will get us a high grade.”