Introduces five papers concerning speech acts in world Englishes in which it is agreed that conversational interactions in indigenized varieties of English, whether in literary works or in real life, are different compared to the native varieties, and, in some sense, represent a cross-cultural phenomenon. (GLR)

Examines the current tradition of cross-cultural speech act research and concludes that each of the approaches so far proposed for analyzing cross-cultural speech acts is inadequate in one respect or another. (45 references) (GLR)

The current state of research on cross-cultural speech acts is examined, its applicability to the second language classroom is evaluated, and new directions for research, with more relevance for classroom practice, are recommended. Problems found with cross-cultural speech act research to date include questions it has raised about the universal…