[ Investigating the errors of Iraqi EFL University students through the use of deictic expressions in the play of Shakespeare's Hamlet ]

الملخص EN

Deixis is a specific kind of reference in that it is more dependent on the situation.

There are five kinds of deixis: personal, temporal, spatial, social and discourse.

Throughout working as a lecturer in the university, the researcher has found that many Iraqi students have difficulties in determining the deixis and its kinds and how they function in language.

So, this study aims at searching the difficulties and investigating the errors of Iraqi EFL learners in determining the deictic expressions.

This study investigates specifically these deictic expressions in drama and the researcher has chosen 4th year students to test their difficulties in these expressions in the play of Shakespeare's Hamlet since this play includes many deictic expressions in that it can reflect clearly the difficulties of the students.

Besides, the students have read and studied this play in the third year.

It is hoped that this study can help the teachers in drama as well as those specialists in EFL to identify the difficulties of students and at the same time the students can understand this play clearly by using deixis and give them an idea about how the theme of the play can be understood more clearly through the use of deixis.