University of Isfahan Applied Research on English Language 2252-0198 4 2 2015 08 01 A comparative sociopragmatic analysis of wedding invitations in American and Iranian societies and teaching implications 62 77 15503 10.22108/are.2015.15503 EN Samaneh Mehdipour English Department, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Iran Zohreh Eslami Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture, College of Education and Human Development Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA Hamid Allami English Department, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran Journal Article 2016 06 14 Wedding invitations (WIs), as a uniquely socially and culturally constructed genre, provide a <br />distinct opportunity  to  compare  the  sociocultural values of different  speech  communities  as <br />reflected  in  the  textual  content  and  organization  of  the  different  moves.  Students  can  be <br />exposed  to  this  genre  and  its  different moves  using  a  genre-based  pedagogy. Genre-based <br />pedagogy can be used to provide the learners with an opportunity to study well-known genres <br />in  their  first  (L1)  and  second  language  (L2)  and  to  be  able  to  observe  the  common  and <br />distinctive moves  from  a  cross-cultural,  cross-linguistic perspective. This  study was  carried <br />out  to  investigate  the  wedding  invitations  in  American  and  Iranian  societies  through  two <br />complementary  approaches:  genre  analysis  and  critical  discourse  analysis  (CDA).  One <br />hundred wedding  invitation  (WI) cards  (50  from each  society) were  collected and analyzed <br />comparatively. The  findings  from  the genre analysis showed  that  the WIs of  the  two  speech <br />communities enjoyed both similarities and differences in their generic moves. Results of CDA <br />indicated  that  traditional  orientation,  religious  affiliation, masculine  power  and  educational <br />status were the most influential factors affecting WIs in both societies but the intensity of the <br />effect  of  these  factors were  not  similar  in  the  two  speech  communities. The  results  of  this <br />study  sheds  light  on  sociocultural  forces  dominating  Iranian  and  American  language <br />communities. https://are.ui.ac.ir/article_15503_28d45f3b776d0fe04d3a34e2f9f644c0.pdf