Senior High School

Grade 11

Oral Communication

ENGLISH LEARNING KIT

First Semester – Week 7

Types of Speech Acts

Grade 11 – Oral Communication

Grade 11 – Oral Communication
1
Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
(EN11/12OC-Ifj-20)
(EN11/12OC-Ifj-20)
 English – Grade 11
English Learning Kit
Types of Speech Acts
First Edition, 2020

Published in the Philippines

by the Department of Education
Schools Division of Iloilo
Luna Street, La Paz, Iloilo City

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reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical
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Mark T. Dasa

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Dr. Ruby Therese P. Almencion

Grade 11 – Oral Communication 2

Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 Types of Speech Acts

BEGIN

Communication is a process of sharing and

conveying messages or information form one person to
another within and across channels, contexts, media, and
cultures. Verbal communication or interaction through
words is a very much familiar way that we use to convey
our ideas to the person/s we are talking to. An example
for this is speech.
Communication speech does not only intend to
achieve verbal or word-response; it is also used to fuel an
action response. From short verbal phrases to lengthy
statements in our day-to-day conversation, some of it
have intentions to mechanize actions or performance.
These intentions of our utterances have respective
meaningful action responses that must be considered to
effectuate effective communication. These are
encapsulated under the topic Speech Acts which will
eventually help you learn how to respond appropriately
and effectively to speeches that need and intended action.
Roll your sleeves up and let us get to know more
about Speech Acts.

TARGET

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. define speech acts;

2. distinguish types of speech acts;
3. respond appropriately and effectively to a speech act (EN11/12OCIfj-20)
and;
4. recognize that communicative competence requires understanding of speech
acts.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 TRY THIS

Activity 1. MULTIPLE CHOICE

I. Directions: Take the short quiz below and check if you can point out the meaning
behind the sample utterances. You have five minutes to answer
the exercise. Choose and write the letter of your answer in your
activity notebook.

1. Consider the phrase: “I now declare our Intertown Sports Fest, open!” Who
among the following can say this phrase and make a sport activity actually
happen?
A. A retired doctor
B. A newly promoted cop
C. The mayor of the town
D. My friend’s OFW mother

2. What do you think does the speaker mean when he/she says, “It is raining
very hard outside. I cannot go home with this weather condition.”
A. The speaker is just over reacting.
B. The speaker wants to play under the rain.
C. The speaker intends to borrow an umbrella.
D. The speaker wants to know the weather forecast.

3. Your friend arrives at your house and he or she tells you that he or she
has plans to go on a vacation because it is already summer. How would
you interpret what he or she said?
A. My friend does know how to make me happy.
B. My friend is inviting me to go with him/her for a trip.
C. My friend wants to spend the summer at your house.
D. My friend is just telling me that we have no class anymore.

4. Based on the scenario in item number 3, what would your next action be?
A. I will ignore him/her.
B. I will go with him/her because I also want to unwind.
C. I will not entertain him/her because I want to be alone.
D. I will thank my friend for reminding me that it is summer.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 5. Which of the following is not an example of speech act through an
utterance?
A. “It is cold in here.”
B. “The house is color green.”
C. “I want to treat myself a delicious ice cream.”
D. “I cannot see anything because your room is so dark.”

II. Directions: Read the given scenarios below and identify the person/s, profession/s
or a job title/s that can only perform the speech act. See the first
example.

Example: “I now baptized you as Christian.” Priest

1. “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” ________________________
2. “You are fired! “ _____________________________________________
3. “May I know your order, Sir/Ma’am?” ____________________________
4. “Please go to the principal office and explain the reason of your absence
yesterday.” ________________________________________________
5. “Patricio, please wash the dishes. It’s your schedule today.” __________
6. “Lily, are you done with our assignment?” ________________________
7. “Give way, give way! This is an emergency!” ________________________
8. “Hello, good morning! This is Amaya Hotel. May I help you.” ___________
9. “Fish! Fish! Who wants fish!” ____________________________________
10. “Aling Maring, can you please give me two (2) kilos of fish?” ___________

DO THIS

Activity 2. QUICK RESPONSE!

Directions: Read first the given scenarios below and think of an appropriate
response you will make to achieve effective communication. Write your
own response in your activity notebook.

1. Your mother tells you “Buknoy, the plants are not yet watered!”
Your response:

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 2. It’s raining really hard outside and you live near the riverbanks. Suddenly you
heard a loud shout outside saying the water level is continuously rising.

Your response:

3. At 4:30 in the afternoon, a flash TV news reports that the curfew hours will
start at 6:00 PM effective today and you are still at your friend’s house up to
this time.

Your response:

EXPLORE

You did great! Your answers in the

previous discussions show that you already have
basic knowledge about the topic.
Now to add more on your communication
concepts and skills, here are few questions that
you can surely answer. Go!

1. What is speech act?

2. Does every speech have an intended action to perform?
3. What are the different types of speech act?
4. What are utterances?
5. As many as you can, give examples of short speeches or utterances
that need an action response.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 KEEP THIS IN MIND

Affirmative! What you have done is

extremely amazing. At this point, you are ready to
fully discover Speech Acts, its types and
classifications. Happy reading and good luck!

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 “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 ACTS

According to John Langshaw Austin (1962), a philosopher, linguist and the
proponent of the Speech Act Theory, there are three types of acts in every utterance.

These types are the following:

1. LOCUTIONARY ACT- the actual act of uttering. It is the utterance or the words
said by the person.

Teacher: “Students, the classroom is so dirty.”

2. ILLOCUTIONARY ACT- the social function or intention of the utterance.

By uttering the teacher’s locution, “Students, the classroom is so dirty,” the

speaker intends to request the students to clean their classroom because it is
dirty.

3. PERLOCUTIONARY ACT -the performed action intended by the utterance.

The students will then clean the classroom after the utterance has been said by
the teacher. This is the performed action expected to be done by the students.
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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 PERFORMATIVES VS. CONSTATIVES
J.L. Austin also introduced the concepts of performatives and constatives.
Performatives are utterances of statements that enable the speaker to perform
something just by stating it. In this manner, action verbs are mostly used in these
statements. A performative utterance said by the right person under the right
circumstances results in a permanent change. One example for this is the phrase “ I
now pronounce you as husband and wife.” The only person who has the capacity to
authorize the binding of a couple in marriage can be a priest or a judge. The validity
of the change is only dependent on the person who is authorized to do so.
On the other hand, statements that only describe a thing or two according to
their physical attributes or characteristics are called Constatives. A constative
statement does not denote an action and usually does not include an action word.
“The sky is blue” is an example of a constative statement because the person who
says this is just plainly telling that the sky is blue and does have a corresponding action
to be performed by another person who listens to it.

SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH ACTS

As a response to J.L. Austin’s speech act theory, John Searle (1976), a

professor from the University of California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into
five distinct categories.

1. ASSERTIVE - a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker expresses belief

about the truth of a proposition. Suggesting, swearing, boasting,
and concluding are examples.

Example: “I believe that when we unite, we can accomplish the

task.”

2. DIRECTIVE – a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker tries to make the
listener perform an action. Some examples are asking,
ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, and begging.
Example: “Please be advised that the authorities will penalize
those who do not follow the standard health protocols.”

3. COMMISIVE – a type of illocutionary act that commits a speaker to doing

something in the future. Examples are promising, planning,
vowing, and betting.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 Example: “Starting today, I will wear my facemask and face
shield and observe physical distancing when I go outside of our
house.”

4. EXPRESSIVE- a type of illocutionary act that makes the speaker express

his/her feelings or emotional reactions. Thanking, apologizing,
welcoming, and deploring are examples.
Example: “ I would like to apologize having been absent for two
consecutive days.”
5. DECLARATION- a type of illocutionary act that brings a change in the
external situation. Some examples are baptizing, blessing, firing,
bidding, passing a sentence, and excommunicating.

Example: “Now, I baptize you with the name, Anjelika Martir.”

Note: Only the priest in the Roman Catholic church can only
have the authority to perform this.

SUM UP

You are almost done with this module. You

have defined speech act, and identified its types and
classifications. Furthermore, you have also
distinguished the difference between performatives
and constatives. For recapitulation, let us once again
check speech act in a nutshell.

Speech act is an utterance that a speaker makes to achieve an intended effect.

A speech act might contain just one word or several words or sentences. An utterance
of a speech act always has an intention and should be performed by the person to
whom the speaker is addressing to.

According to John Langshaw Austin in his Speech Act Theory, Locutionary

Act, Illocutionary Act, and Perlocutionary Act are the types of Speech act.

a. Locutionary Act is the actual utterance.

b. Illocutionary Act is the intention of the utterance.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 c. Perlocutionary Act is the performed action after an utterance is spoken.

Highlighted also in this module is the difference between a performative

statement and a constative statement. The former speaks about a statement that
denotes an action while the latter is just a plan description of a person, a thing, an
event or a place without an intention to initiate an action to be performed.

As for John Searle, there are different classifications of Illocutionary Acts.

These are Assertive, Directive, Expressive, Commissive, and Declaration. Each
of their function depends on the intention of the addressee who is making an utterance
whether he or she is expressing belief about the truth of a statement, requesting,
promising, thanking, or firing a person in a workplace.

APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

ACTIVITY 3. CHECK THIS OUT!

Directions: Identify each statement whether it is performative or constative. Write P
for Performative and C for Constative in your activity notebook.

1.” I have the best dream last night.”

2. “Will you please open the door for me?”
3. “Carlo, your classmates are waiting for you outside.”
4. “The trash bin reads ‘Recyclable.’ “
5. “The wall is painted with yellow.”
6. “The alcohol I use everyday is soothing in my hands.”
7. “Your room is so dark, Khalil.”
8. “I am very sorry for not bringing potted plants yesterday, Ma’am.”
9. “This is such a sunny and very hot day.”
10. “Do not ever go outside of the house during curfew hours or else, the
authorities will detain you at the police station.”

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 ACTIVITY 4. THINKING TIME!
Directions: Tell the ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS or the intention of each of the following
utterances. Write your answer in your activity notebook.

1. “Can I have a cup of coffee, please?”

Illocutionary act: _______________________________
2. “Hello. I am new here. And I do not know exactly where the comfort
room is.”
Illocutionary act: _________________________________
3. “Tomorrow, your mother will be receiving a prestigious award for
being one of the outstanding teachers in town.”
Illocutionary act: _________________________________
4. “I have called your attention because your child has been tardy for
almost a week.”
Illocutionary act: _________________________________
5. “To make our surroundings cleaner and greener, we will be having
our Brigada Eskwela next week.”
Illocutionary Act:__________________________________

ACTIVITY 5. DO IT YOURSELF!
Directions: Identify the classification of speech act used in each speech act.
Choose among Assertive, Directive, Commissive, Expressive, or
Declaration.

1. “No one can climb that bamboo tree than I do.”

2. “You are requested by the Mayor to proceed to his office now.”
3. “I welcome you all to the 2020 Anti-COVID19 Webinar!”
4. “You are promoted as the Branch Supervisor of Bamboo Haven
Inc. Congratulations! “
5. “I promise to stay at home during these unprecedented times.”

REFLECT
REFLECT

Great job! By coming this far and by

accomplishing the different tasks, it entails that you
have dedicated your time and effort in answering
them. Now it’s time to check if you can relate the
lessons to your daily conversation.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 ACTIVITY 6. LISTEN AND RECORD!
Directions: Try to listen to the daily conversations at home. Then list down three
situations or nonverbatim statements from any of your family members.
Make sure that these statements intend to make a performed action.
These statements are already Locutionary Act so identify their
Illocutionary and Perlocutionary Acts.

1. Locutionary Act:_________________________________________________
Illocutionary Act: ________________________________________________
Perlocutionary Act: ______________________________________________

2. Locutionary Act:_________________________________________________
Illocutionary Act: ________________________________________________
Perlocutionary Act: ______________________________________________

3. Locutionary Act:_________________________________________________
Illocutionary Act: ________________________________________________
Perlocutionary Act: ______________________________________________

ACTIVITY 7. MESSAGE ME!

Directions: Accomplish the infographic. Write your answers in your activity notebook.

Speech act is also an important component of effective communication

because________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________.

To respond appropriately and effectively to a speech act requires a person to

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 ACTIVITY 8. LET’S PONDER ON THIS!
Directions: Ponder on what you have learned after taking up this lesson by
completing the boxes boxes.

1. What were your thoughts or ideas about speech acts prior to our discussion
on this module?

I thought…

2. What new additional ideas did you learn after taking up this lesson?

I learned that…

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

ACTIVITY 9. POWER ON SELF-TEST

Directions: For numbers 1-5, identify the word that corresponds to each item.
1. Examples of this classification of speech act is firing, baptizing,
passing a sentence and excommunicating.
2. Examples of this classification of speech act is ordering, requesting,
advising, asking and inviting.
3. Examples of this classification of speech act is planning, vowing and
promising.
4. Examples of this classification of speech act is suggesting, putting
forward, boasting and concluding.
5. Examples of this classification of speech act is apologizing, thanking,
welcoming and deploring.

Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answer in your
notebook.

6. Who is the proponent of the Classifications of Illocutionary Acts?

A. J.L. Austin C. John Wick
B. John Searle D. John Cena

7. What is a kind of statement that does not convey an action?

A. Speech Act C. Constative
B. Illocutionary Act D. Performative

8. Which of the following statements denotes an action?

A. “Your t-shirt has a moving picture.”.
B. “The clouds look like cotton candies and I want to eat
them.”
C. “It’s raining very hard and my father is already looking for
me."
D. “On this mural, Lydia De Vega had her first run in the Sea
Games.”

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 9. Which of the following is an example of a speech act that expresses
DECLARATION.

A. “I’m tired.”
B. “You are fired!”
C. “I suggest that everybody falls in line before getting their
card”
D. “From now on, I will prepare a planner to set my activities for
next week.”

10. All of the following are true about Speech Act EXCEPT?”
A. Speech Act is a statement that entails an action to perform.
B. Illocutionary Act is the actual utterance before an action to
perform.
C. Constatives are only descriptive statements of the
surroundings.
D. Perlocutionary Act is the performed action after the
utterance is made.

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 GLOSSARY

assertive - a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker expresses belief about the
truth of a proposition.

commissive - a type of illocutionary act that commits a speaker to doing something

in the future.
constatives - statements that only describe something and do not denote an action

declaration - a type of illocutionary act that brings a change in the external situation.

directive - a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker tries to make the listener
perform an action.
expressive - a type of illocutionary act that makes the speaker express his/her
feelings or emotional reactions.
illocutionary act – a type of speech act which refers to the function or intention of
the utterance
locutionary act – a type of speech act which refers to the actual act of uttering

performatives - statements which include verbs that execute speech act that they

intend to effect

perlocutionary act – a type of speech act which refers to the resulting act of the

utterance

utterance – the statement that is being said

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 ANSWER KEY

TRY THIS
Activity 1. MULTIPLE CHOICE
I. 1. D 2. C 3. B 4. D 5. A
II. 1. Priest Or Judge
2. Employer/ Ceo/ Head of a Company
3. Waiter/ Owner of a Restaurant or Carinderia
4. Teacher/ Adviser
5. Parents/ Guardian/ Manager/ Employer
6. A classmate/ a friend
7. Doctor/ nurse
8. Hotel Front desk personnel
9. Fish Vendor
10. Buyer/ Consumer

DO THIS
Activity 2. QUICK RESPONSE

Answers may vary.

EXPLORE

Answers may vary.

APPLY WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED

Activity 3. CHECK THIS OUT!

1. C
2. P
3. P
4. P
5. C
6. C
7. P
8. P
9. P
10. P

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 Activity 4. THINKING TIME!
1. The speaker requests for a cup of coffee.
2. The speaker would like to see the comfort room by the assistance of
anyone who has heard his utterance.
3. The speaker would like to request the addressee to attend the event with
her mother.
4. The speaker intends to tell the parents to constantly remind their child that
he or she should go to school on time.
5. The speaker requests the listeners to participate in the Brigada Eskwela
next week.

Activity 5. DO IT YOURSELF!

1. Assertive
2. Directive
3. Expressive
4. Declaration
5. Commissive

Activity 6. LISTEN AND RECORD

Answers may vary.

Activity 7. MESSAGE ME!

Answers may vary.

Activity 8. LET’S PONDER ON THIS!

Answers may vary.

Activity 9. POWER ON SELF-TEST

1. Declaration
2. Directive
3. Commissive
4. Assertive
5. Expressive
6. B
7. C
8. D
9. A
10. B

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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 REFERENCES

Sipacio, P.J. and Balgos, A. R. (2016). Oral Communication in Context for Senior
High School. C & E Publishing,Inc. Philippines pp. 4-14

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Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act
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