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The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the interlanguage behavior of Chinese2 learners of American English_, focusing on the ways in which they T*e'.requests' ln 3 seggnd lang,uage (L2). This paper identifies the pragmatió difficulties that distinguish thgse learners' behavior fróm that of speakeri oÍ their target and native languages (Ll), and discusses speech act performance from the perspectives of universality versus culture-specificity in speeêh act research. Chinese and English are culturally and typologically very different languages. There are two reasons why English requêsts mÏght constióte difficult forms for Chinese speakers to_ master. First, Chinese culture traditionally places a \igh valu9.o1l cgmmunal needs over individual preferences. This generÍl| makes Chinese think that in many situations where they ask for a favor, á direct,-concise form such as 'Please take it for me' can disp[ay their sincerity and politeness. However, this kin{ o{ direct.request may be perceived as impolité or evèn rude by English speakers, in that politeness for them is basically associated with individual desires to act freely, and thus it is the indirect form like ' Could you take it for me?' that is considered appropriate (Brown & Irvinson, t9'18,19S7). Second, English speakers 9an m_itigate the imposing force of their requests by using past tense fórms of verbs (e.9., 'rwanted to . . .') or modal verbs (".g., 'Couldl . . .);while there are no such parallel verbal devices in Chinese. Hence, for Chinese ESL learners who have not mastered these devices, their English requests with the 'Can I . . .' or 'I want . . .' form might be seen as improper or impolile under some circumstances. As requesting has _b9en $own to be closely related to speakers' linguistic and cultural norms (e.9., Blum,Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989; Wierzbicka,lggl;, Chinese learners' requestive behavior is worth studyíng in that it may be affected by their native language and culture so as to differ from that of English speakers. Also, research so {ar las rarely specifically focused on how Chinese -make iequests in their L2. We tlrus know_very little abóut how Chinese learners may expefrence {if{culti.es regarding tle ryl9s for performing this speech act. Hence,-this^study is designedto examin-9^lhe L2 speech act behavior óf an understudied group íhat fypically has quite different cultural conventions from the western.

Universalistic and culture-specific perspectives on variation in the acquisition of pragmatic competence in a second language