7.1 Oral Communication and Speech Acts

Why Speech Acts Appear on the USTET

The University of Santo Tomas Entrance Test English subtest is not limited to grammar drills. Official OFAD-aligned preparation and the Grade 11 Oral Communication curriculum that feeds college readiness both emphasize how language functions in real interaction. A multiple-choice item may quote a short dialogue or a single sentence and ask what the speaker is doing—requesting, promising, asserting, apologizing, or performing an official act.

In pragmatics, a speech act is an utterance that performs an action. Saying "I apologize" does not merely describe regret; it is the apology. Saying "I promise to submit the lab report tomorrow" creates a commitment. USTET items often hide this force under everyday Filipino-English phrasing, so you must classify by purpose, not by sentence length or politeness markers alone.

Philosophers J. L. Austin and John Searle distinguished three layers of any utterance:

• Locutionary act — the literal words and their sense ("Close the window.").
• Illocutionary act — the force or intended function (a command or request).
• Perlocutionary act — the effect on the hearer (the window gets closed; someone feels ordered around).

Entrance-exam questions almost always target the illocutionary layer: What kind of act is this speaker performing?

Searle's Five Categories at a Glance

Memorize the five names and the one-line test in the rightmost column. Under Mental Ability time pressure you will still meet English items that reward this map.

Assertives: Claiming How the World Is

Assertives (also called representatives) present a proposition as true, false, or probable. The speaker takes responsibility for the accuracy of what is said.

Examples aligned with campus life:

• "The USTET includes Mental Ability, English, Mathematics, and Science." (statement of fact)
• "I believe the experiment failed because of contaminated samples." (claim / opinion framed as belief)
• "Enrollment will likely open earlier this year." (prediction)
• "That rumor about the schedule change is false." (denial)

Exam tip: Assertives can be wrong in content and still be assertives. "Water freezes at 100°C" is still an assertive—it is a false claim, not a directive or promise.

Watch for soft assertives that look polite: "It seems the library closes at nine" remains assertive; the speaker is still advancing a truth-claim, even with hedging.

Directives: Getting Someone Else to Act

Directives aim to make the hearer do (or stop doing) something. Force ranges from gentle to blunt:

Questions and requests are both directives: "What time is the orientation?" seeks an answer (an action of informing). Imperatives without "please" are still directives.

Common trap: A sentence that looks like information can be a directive in context. A proctor saying "Bags belong at the front of the room" may function as an order, not a casual assertive. Use context clues (authority, urgency, expected response) when the item provides a setting.

Commissives: Binding the Speaker's Future

Commissives commit the speaker—not the hearer—to a future course of action.

• Promise: "I will text you the answer key after class."
• Offer: "I can tutor you in trigonometry this weekend."
• Threat: "If you cheat, I will report you to the prefect."
• Vow / guarantee: "We guarantee a refund if the seminar is cancelled."
• Refusal (negative commissive): "I will not join the protest."

Contrast carefully with directives. "You must finish the worksheet" directs the hearer. "I must finish the worksheet" (said as a personal resolve) is closer to a commissive self-commitment, though many exams treat first-person future commitments as the clearest commissives.

Offers sit at the edge: "Shall I open the window?" commits the speaker if accepted. Classify as commissive when the speaker is volunteering their own action.

Expressives: Attitude, Not New Facts

Expressives make the speaker's psychological state public—gratitude, regret, joy, blame, sympathy—without primarily changing institutional status or binding future action.

• "Thank you for the scholarship tip."
• "I'm sorry I missed the group meeting."
• "Congratulations on your USTET result!"
• "I hate how noisy the jeepney terminal gets at noon." (complaint)
• "Welcome to the Freshman Orientation."

Expressives often use conventional formulas. "Excuse me" before squeezing past someone is expressive (acknowledging minor imposition), not a request for forgiveness of a moral fault—though "I'm sorry I broke your calculator" is a fuller apology expressive.

Do not confuse expressives with assertives that merely report emotion: "She feels sad" describes someone else's state (assertive). "I feel terrible about the delay" performs the expressive of regret.

Declarations: Words That Change the World

Declarations succeed when social or institutional rules give the speaker authority. The utterance itself alters status:

• A judge: "I now pronounce you married."
• A principal: "You are hereby suspended for three days."
• A meeting chair: "I declare this session adjourned."
• An employer: "You're fired."
• A priest or authorized officer at a christening: "I baptize you…"

Without the right role, the same words fail as declarations (a classmate saying "You're suspended" is a joke or empty claim, not a successful declaration). Exam writers love authority cues: titles, ceremonies, official settings.

Declarations differ from assertives: "The meeting is over" can be a report (assertive). "I declare the meeting adjourned," said by the chair, makes it over.

Indirect Speech Acts and Exam Strategy

Real speakers often package one force inside another form. "Can you open the door?" looks like a yes/no question (directive seeking information) but usually functions as a request (directive seeking action). "It's cold in here" may be an indirect directive to close a window.

USTET-style items usually keep classification straightforward, but when options split between "asking a question" and "making a request," prefer the intended social function if context makes the request clear.

Speed checklist for classification items:

1. Who must act—speaker, hearer, or an institution?
2. Is the goal truth, action, commitment, feeling, or status change?
3. Match to assertive / directive / commissive / expressive / declaration.
4. Ignore politeness words (please, kindly)—they soften force but rarely change category.

Mastering speech acts also supports later critical-language items: once you know what a speaker is doing, you can spot when an argument is actually an emotional appeal or a directive disguised as a fact.