apologizing strategies by american speakers of english and vietnamese speakers of english chiến lược xin lỗi bằng ngôn ngữ anh của người mĩ và người việt

NGUYỄN THÙY TRANG APOLOGIZING STRATEGIES BY AMERICAN SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH CHIẾN LƯỢC XIN LỖI BẰNG NGÔN NGỮ ANH CỦA NGƯỜI MĨ VÀ NGƯỜI VIỆT M.A... Choic

NGUYỄN THÙY TRANG

APOLOGIZING STRATEGIES BY AMERICAN SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

AND VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

CHIẾN LƯỢC XIN LỖI BẰNG NGÔN NGỮ ANH CỦA NGƯỜI MĨ VÀ NGƯỜI VIỆT

M.A COMBINED PROGRAM THESIS

HÀ NỘI, 2010

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15

Supervisor: Phan Thị Vân Quyên, M.A

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF PROJECT REPORT ……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……… ii

ABSTRACT ……… iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ……… vi

LIST OF TABLES ……… vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Problem statement and background ………. 1

2 Aims of the study ……… 2

3 Scope of the study ……… 3

4 Methods of the study ……… 3

5 The organization of the study ……… 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Cross-cultural communication 1.1.1 Cross-cultural communication ……… 5

1.1.2 Potential problems in Vietnamese-American cross-cultural communication ……… 7

1.2 Speech acts theories 1.2.1 Speech acts ……… 9

1.2.2 Three – dimension speech act ……… 10

1.2.3 Classification of speech act ……… 11

1.2.4 Apologizing as a speech act ……… 12

1.3 Politeness 1.3.1 Politeness theories ……… 15

1.3.2 Politeness in apologizing ……… 18

1.4 Situations which elicit apologies in American culture and Vietnamese culture ………

19 1.5 Apologizing strategies ……… 20

1.6 Previous studies on apologizing ……… 26

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research methods ……… 32

2.2 Data collection instruments ……… 33

2.3 The questionnaire ……… 34

2.3.1 Factors manipulated in the DCT ……… 35

2.3.2 The DCT ……… 34

2.4 The subjects ……… 39

2.5 Data collection and analysis procedure ……… 41

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Overview of the apologizing strategies used by two groups of subjects … 43

3.2 Choices of apologizing strategies by situations ……… 50

3.2.1 Choices of strategies by Vietnamese speakers of English ……… 50

3.2.2 Choices of strategies by American speakers of English ……… 52

3.2.3 A comparison of the strategies preferences by two groups of subjects 53

3.3 Preferences of apologizing strategies as seen from communicating partner’s parameters ………

58 3.3.1 Vietnamese’s apologizing strategies as seen from communicating partner’s parameters ………

58 3.3.2 American’s apologizing strategies as seen from communicating partner’s parameters ……… 60

3.3.3 A comparison of Vietnamese and American subjects’ apologizing strategies as seen from communicating partner’s parameters ……… 62

PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 1 Conclusion ……… 67

2 Implications for cross-cultural communication and TEFL in Vietnam …… 69

3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study ……… 70

BIBLIOGRAPHY 72 APPENDICES Appendix A: Discourse Completion Task (for American subjects) (DCT) ……

Appendix B: Discourse Completion Task (for Vietnamese subjects) (DCT) …

Appendix C: The coding system ………

Appendix D: Sample Coding Scheme of a DCT ………

I

IV VII

IX

iii

ABSTRACT

The study “Apologizing strategies by American speakers of English and Vietnamese speakers of English” is a cross-cultural pragmatics one concerning the production of apology with reference to strategy preferences done via a written DCT and analyzed for sociocultural features Seventy-six informants equally falling into two main groups, American speakers of English and Vietnamese speakers of English, were invited to participate in the survey from which the apologizing verbal expressions towards different communicating partners in four studied situations would be elicited The exhaustive framework of apology strategies proposed by Cohen and Olshtain (1989) and Trosborg (1995) were the foundation for this study whose findings have revealed noticeable coincidences Firstly, Vietnamese speakers of English and American speakers of English

both employed a same high level of using the strategy Explicit expression of apology combining with Acknowledgment of responsibility and Explanation for the violation when

apologizing It was however interesting that while the American subjects mainly chose the

strategy Offer of repair to apologize, the Vietnamese ones preferred to show Concern for

the hearer sharpening the images of the cultural traits of a sentimental Vietnamese culture

and a rational American culture The Vietnamese’s apology realizations from this study moreover reflect the more power and distance-sensitivity towards the selection of apologizing strategies than the American groups, which has cemented the theories of Brown and Levinson (1983), Trosborg (1989) and many other previous studies on the influential factors of the speech act realization

The accomplishment of the thesis is hoped to serve as a useful source of reference for researchers in related fields, Vietnamese teachers and learners of English as well as those with regular Vietnamese – American cross-cultural contacts Important findings have also cemented the inevitability of incorporating culture into the teaching of English so that Vietnamese learners of English will be provided with both linguistic and cultural input

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