Meaning-Making in Invitations in Global Englishes: A Cross-Cultural Systemic Functional Study of Indonesian and Yemeni EFL Learners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v26i2.671Keywords:
Direct Invitation, Indirect Invitation, SFL, Indonesian EFL Learners, Politeness, Yemeni EFL LearnersAbstract
This paper explores the meaning-making in performative speech acts of invitation in Global Englishes, with particular reference to Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory, focusing on comparing EFL learners from Indonesia and Yemen. Using a quantitative descriptive research design, thirty EFL students from Indonesia, namely Airlangga University, and thirty EFL students from Yemen, Sana’a University, took part in a Discourse Completion Task (DCT). From the analysis, it is revealed that Indonesian students preferred using ‘indirect strategies,’ such as ‘Yes/No questions,’ ‘asking for willingness,’ and ‘Wh-questions,’ as they carry ‘ordered density,’ whereas EFL students from Yemen used ‘direct strategies,’ i.e., ‘imperatives,’ ‘Yes/No questions,’ as it is ‘acceptable’ in social practice. There is an influence of L1 transfer in both groups, as they preferred transferring ‘utterances’ from L1 English, ignoring ‘syntactic differences.’
References
Agbo, I. I., Anya, M. E., & Kadiri, G. C. (2026). A speech act analysis of selected dialogues in Nigerian home movies. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2025.2587070
Al-Hamzi, A. M. S., Ni, W. S., Hapsari, N. F., Gougui, A., & Al-Nozili, R. M. A. (2020). A cross-cultural pragmatic study of invitation strategies as produced by Indonesian and Yemeni EFL language learners. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 9(6), 42–49.
Al-Hamzi, A. M. S., Wiratno, T., Anis, M. Y., Jamal, M., & Cahyaning, A. (2023). A socio-pragmatic study of a sincere invitation in Yemeni spoken Arabic. PAROLE: Journal of Linguistics and Education, 13(1), 43–55.
Al Marrani, Y. M. A., & Suraih, N. S. (2019). Invitation strategies as produced by Yemeni EFL learners. Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 3(2), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.14744/alrj.2019.19483
Austin, J. L. (1975). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Crystal, D. (2019). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Dlali, M. (2001). Politeness theory and requests in Xhosa (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Stellenbosch.
Eggins, S. (2004). An introduction to systemic functional linguistics (2nd ed.). Continuum.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face interaction. Aldine.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2013). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.
Hancher, M. (1979). The classification of cooperative illocutionary acts. Language in Society, 8(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500005911
Isaacs, E. A., & Clark, H. H. (1990). Ostensible invitations. Language in Society, 19(4), 493–509. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500014780
Jakučionytė, V. (2020). Cross-cultural communication: Creativity and politeness strategies across cultures. Creativity Studies, 13(1), 164–178. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2020.9025
Jenkins, J., & Panero, S. M. (2024). Global Englishes: A resource book for students. Routledge.
Kapoor, S. (2022). “Don’t act like a Sati-Savitri!”: Hinglish and other impoliteness strategies in Indian YouTube comments. Journal of Pragmatics, 189, 4–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.12.009
Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.
Leech, G., & Larina, T. (2014). Politeness: West and East. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 18(4), 9–34. https://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/article/view/9380
Li, Y., & Wongwaropakorn, W. (2024). Analyzing politeness and refusal speech acts in popular Chinese television drama series. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2367327. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2367327
Llinares, A., & McCabe, A. (2023). Systemic functional linguistics: The perfect match for content and language integrated learning. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 26(3), 245–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1635985
Lu, D. (2001). Cultural features in speech acts: A Sino-American comparison. Language Culture and Curriculum, 14(3), 214-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310108666623
Pandharipande, R. (1992). Defining politeness in Indian English. World Englishes, 11(2–3), 241–250. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1992.tb00068.x
Pateda, M. (1990). Sosiolinguistik Suatu Pengantar. PT Gramedia.
Pizziconi, B. (2003). Re-examining politeness, face and the Japanese language. Journal of Pragmatics, 35(10–11), 1471–1506. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00200-X
Rahmayanti, I., Rokhman, F., Mardikantoro, H. B., & Pristiwati, R. (2025). Language, strategy, and influence: A pragmatic analysis of Indonesian YouTube influencers and their impact on social media. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1), 2531180. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2531180
Rahayu, N. W. (2021). Speech act of pragmatic. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 9(2), 538–542. https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v9i2.1926
Revita, I., Oktavianus, O., Anindya Zalfikhe, F., & Syaputri, W. (2025). Cultural nuances in pre-request speech acts: a pragmatic analysis of the Minangkabau language. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1), 2449285. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2449285
Rose, H., Sahan, K., & Zhou, S. (2022). Global English medium instruction: Perspectives at the crossroads of global Englishes and EMI. Asian Englishes, 24(2), 160-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2022.2056794
Sadeghpour, M., & D’Angelo, J. (2022). World Englishes and ‘Global Englishes’: Competing or complementary paradigms? Asian Englishes, 24(2), 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2022.2076368
Schleppegrell, M. J., & Oteíza, T. (2023). Systemic functional linguistics: Exploring meaning in language. In M. Handford & J. P. Gee (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 156–169). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003035244
Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning. Cambridge University Press.
Sembiante, S. F., & Tian, Z. (2021). Culturally sustaining approaches to academic languaging through systemic functional linguistics. Language and Education, 35(2), 101–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2021.1896538
Spradley, J. P. (2016). The ethnographic interview. Waveland Press.
Sukesti, L. A. (2014). Interlanguage pragmatics of invitation by Indonesian EFL learners. Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta.
Teshaboyeva, N., & Erkaboyeva, S. (2025). Speech acts and their functions in communication. ACUMEN: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2(5), 272–279. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15524482
Widanta, I. M. R. J., Handayani, L. N. C., & Ardika, I. W. D. (2023). Invitation strategy and learners’ controlled politeness. Indonesian Journal of Educational Research and Review, 6(2), 266–280. https://doi.org/10.23887/ijerr.v6i2.65622
Widodo, H. P., Fang, F., & Elyas, T. (2022). Designing English language materials from the perspective of Global Englishes. Asian Englishes, 24(2), 186-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2022.2062540
Wolfson, N. (1989). Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Newbury House.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
Yule, G. (2022). The study of language (8th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ali Mohammed Saleh Al-Hamzi, Ni Wayan Sartini (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
