Strategies of persuasion in letters of complaint in academic context

The case of Jordanian university students’ complaints

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5965293
AutoresKawakib Radwan Al-Momani (Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan), Kawakib Al-Momani (Jordan University of Science and Technology, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen16
Número6
Páginas705-728
Fecha de publicación2014-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDiscourse Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-4456 • E-ISSN: 1461-7080
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1461445614546257
OpenAlexW2331556659
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas31

This study provides a critical discourse analysis of letters of complaint by Jordanian university students. It aims to investigate the rhetorical pattern in these letters and explore the main strategies students use to express their dissatisfaction about certain issues and persuade the addressee to take action. To this end, permissions were obtained to collect data from two universities in Jordan: Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and World University of Islamic Studies and Education (WISE). The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively through two analytic frameworks within critical discourse analysis (CDA): genre analysis to investigate the rhetorical (i.e. organizational) pattern of complaint letters, and discursive analysis to investigate the main strategies of persuasion. These strategies were then categorized according to Aristotle’s means of persuasion: ‘ethos’, ‘logos’ and ‘pathos’. The analysis showed that written complaint was a distinctive genre with distinctive moves. It also revealed that persuasion by means of pathos was more prevalent than the other two types. Socio-cultural values have been shown to be so powerful in Jordanian society even in neutral situations such as academic context. This study will hopefully contribute to the fields of genre analysis and CDA in cross-cultural communication

Complaint · Discourse analysis · Epistemology · Ethos · Linguistics · Logos Bible Software · Pathos · Persuasion · Political science · Pragmatics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology