A study of politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the coursebook new headway pre intermediate(the third edition)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Trần Thị Phượng A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE CONVERSATIO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Trần Thị Phượng

A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE

CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSEBOOK

“NEW HEADWAY” PRE-INTERMEDIATE (THE THIRD EDITION)

Nghiên cứu các chiến lược lịch sự được sử dụng trong các bài hội thoại của giáo trình giao tiếp NEW HEADWAY Pre-intermediate (Phiên bản 3)

MA THESIS (MINOR)

Field Code

: English Linguistics :602215

Hanoi, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Trần Thị Phượng

A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE

CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSEBOOK

“NEW HEADWAY” PRE-INTERMEDIATE (THE THIRD EDITION)

Nghiên cứu các chiến lược lịch sự được sử dụng trong các bài hội thoại của giáo trình giao tiếp NEW HEADWAY Pre-intermediate (Phiên bản 3)

MA THESIS (MINOR)

Field : English Linguistics

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ

Hanoi, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

*Statement of authorship……… i

*Acknowledgements……… ii

*Abstract……….iii

*Abbreviations……… iv

*List of tables and charts……… v

PART I: INTRODUCTION Error! Bookmark not defined

1 Rationale Error! Bookmark not defined.

2 Aims of the Study Error! Bookmark not defined.

3 Scope of the Study Error! Bookmark not defined.

4 Methodology Error! Bookmark not defined.

5 Design of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.

PART II: DEVELOPMENT Error! Bookmark not defined

Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Error! Bookmark not defined

I Language and culture Error! Bookmark not defined.

II Communicative Competence (C.C.) Error! Bookmark not defined III Speech Acts (SA) Error! Bookmark not defined.

IV Politeness and Politeness Strategies Error! Bookmark not defined IV.1 Definitions of politeness Error! Bookmark not defined IV.2 Face Error! Bookmark not defined IV.3 Politeness Strategies Error! Bookmark not defined IV.3.1 Positive politeness strategies Error! Bookmark not defined IV.3.2 Negative politeness strategies Error! Bookmark not defined.6

Chapter 2: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES FOUND IN THE CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSEBOOK 20

I Overview of politeness strategies in “New Headway” Pre-intermediate (The Third

Edition) (NHW) 20

II The frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies used in NHW Error! Bookmark not defined.1

1 Sampling process Error! Bookmark not defined.1

2 Balance of positive and negative politeness strategies used in NHW Error! Bookmark

not defined.1

3 Analyzing positive politeness strategies used in NHW Error! Bookmark not defined.2

4 Analyzing negative politeness strategies used in NHWError! Bookmark not defined.4

5 The frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies in terms of functions of

utterance Error! Bookmark not defined.7

III Positive and Negative Politeness Strategies and the S-H relationship Error! Bookmark

not defined.2

Chapter 3: IMPLICATIONS FOR POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN TEACHING

ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THANG LONG UNIVERSITY

Error! Bookmark not defined.8

I Implications for teaching positive and negative politeness strategies Error! Bookmark

not defined.8

II Supplementary exercises and activities for cross-cultural study Error! Bookmark not defined.9

PART III: CONCLUSION Error! Bookmark not defined.7

I Summary Error! Bookmark not defined.7

II Limitation of the study and suggestions for further research Error! Bookmark not defined.8

References……… I Appendix………IV

1 Abstract

Nowadays, when language serves as a means of communication, English has become indispensable means of international communication Everybody wants to learn and use English for various purposes However, a large proportion of Vietnamese students have not yet been successful in communication as they may fail to understand the conversation or cannot express exactly what they want to

Awareness of politeness strategies used in language is then a suitable way to help students be more successful in every day conversations

This study is to focus on positive and negative politeness strategies in conversations of the course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (The Third Edition)”, with an aim to help the students at Thang Long University improve their awareness of positive and negative politeness strategies in conversational activities in the course book mentioned above, thus to apply these strategies in their everyday conversations in English

In the course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (The Third Edition)”, typical conversation activities are classified into “Requesting”, “Making suggestions”, “Inviting” and

“Social behaviors” and then analyzed mainly in the light of the politeness theories of Brown & Levinson and Nguyen Quang The research shows that the frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies depends not only on the purpose of the interactions but also on the relationship between speakers and hearers in communication

Last but not least, some suggestions for learning and teaching positive and negative politeness strategies are also presented

Keywords: politeness, politeness strategies, positive politeness strategies, negative

politeness strategies.

2 Introduction

People use language differently to communicate with each other They may express same meaning with various different functions of speech These differences are contributed to social factors Understanding social conventions and paying attention to such concepts as politeness and face, which are important to members in a particular culture, will certainly enable us to

better comprehend the different ways of speaking by people from different cultures, thus helping eliminate ethnic stereotypes and misunderstandings

Cultural knowledge is obviously an important key for Vietnamese students to succeed in learning English because second language learning is second culture learning In order to acquire the second language- English, it is necessary to learn not only linguistic knowledge and interaction skills but also knowledge of the culture Cultural factors are included in the course designs in universities and schools today When understanding the cultural factors students have chances to expose themselves to native speaking environments Normally, Vietnamese students tend to employ English based on their own cultural experience and thus, cause misinterpretation in communication They sometimes appear impolite, unfriendly or even hostile by chance Hence,

to communicate well across cultures students must be aware of their own culture and the English culture as well, especially the hidden parts of the target culture including politeness strategies used in everyday conversations Politeness is really an important part in all social interactions The author of this study aims to investigate and draw out the important role of positive and negative politeness strategies in conversational activities of the course book “New Headway” (Pre-Intermediate-The Third Edition) by John and Liz Soars so as to improve the teaching of communication in English

3 Aims of the Study

The study is carried out to achieve the following objectives:

- To find out the important roles of politeness in social communication, especially in cross-cultural communication

- To identify positive and negative politeness strategies in most typical contextual environments in the conversational activities of the course book “New Headway”

(Pre-Intermediate- The Third Edition)

- To suggest some effective and efficient ways of teaching positive and negative politeness strategies

- To collect and design potential cross-cultural activities and exercises to help students avoid misinterpretation in cross-cultural communication

4 Methodology

The major method that the author has employed is quantitative with the reference to qualitative method as this study is mainly about the practical aspects of cross-cultural communication All the considerations and conclusions are based on the analysis and reference The main procedures are:

- Reference to publications

- Discussion with supervisor

- Discussion with colleagues

- Discussion with students

- Personal observations

5 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts:

Part I is the introduction which presents the rationale, aims of study, scope of the

study and methodology

Part II is the development which consists of three chapters Chapter 1 provides

the theoretical background on language and culture, communicative competence, speech act and politeness strategies Chapter 2 analyzes positive and negative politeness strategies found in the conversational activities of the course book “New Headway” (Pre-Intermediate-The Third Edition) in terms of frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies used in such functions as “Requesting”, “Making suggestion”, “Responding”,

“Inviting” and Social behavior” It also pays attention to the influence of S-H relationships on politeness strategies Chapter 3 gives the implications for learning and teaching politeness strategies for students at Thang Long University, supplementary exercises and activities for cross-cultural study

Part III is the conclusion which summarizes the study and gives some limitations

of the study and suggestions for further research

6 Implications for teaching positive and negative politeness strategies

Apparently, having good knowledge of politeness strategies is essential in language teaching process and politeness strategies help to keep the conversations going in a smooth, natural and effective way

Therefore, good methods for teaching culture in general and politeness in particular in foreign language teaching need to be focused and discussed, especially when teaching the communicative course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” at Thang Long University (TLU)

Firstly, through the book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)”- a culture- related material, the teacher ought to help the students understand more about cultural values and be aware of cultural differences That is, the students may be pointed out whether positive or negative politeness strategies are acceptable or preferable in English or in Vietnamese

in certain conversational activities They should grasp the reality that some linguistic expressions which are appropriate in English cannot be interpreted in Vietnamese and vice versa

Secondly, teaching a language with its functions, or speech acts rather than structures should be emphasized by teachers In fact, most students who have the knowledge of structures only can make something grammatically correct but culturally inappropriate or impolite In real life communication, to be polite or show respect is more important than the meaning of words together Thus, the teacher is suggested to instruct students about what to say and how to say politely in English in a certain situation Polite or appropriate utterances should be subtly introduced in a way that language functions are focuses as well as forms

Finally, when teaching ““New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” teachers are advised to create chances of social interactions for students because one of the best ways to teach social English is through social situations Under the teacher’s instruction, students are given situations and encouraged to join the conversations Through daily conversations the teacher may help them recognize which utterances are acceptable or polite in English

Clearly, English which belongs to Western cultures is quite different from Vietnamese or Eastern cultures Therefore, when teaching politeness or politeness strategies used in communication, teachers must have a deep understanding about English speaking cultures which

always consider negative politeness as a polite and formal way of communicating Meanwhile, Eastern people tend to use positive politeness in almost all interactions That is why when teaching politeness strategies used in conversational activities of “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” the teacher should know about this difference to help avoid miscommunication Also, it should be noted that it is necessary to teach cross-culture and politeness for the students so that the students can overcome all difficulties or culture shock in real-life communication

In conclusion, teaching English should not be separated from teaching its culture and its politeness strategies In order to help the students, especially the ones at TLU to acquire English effectively while using the course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)”, politeness strategies should be highlighted by teacher Some of the effective ways for studying and understanding politeness of English will be presented in cultural exercises and activities on politeness in the next section

7 Exercises and activities for the course book “New Headway” (Pre-Intermediate level)

Exercise 1: Greeting

I Study these dialogues and answer the following questions

1 Which dialogue is the most polite? Why?

2 Which dialogue is the least polite? Why?

3 In which situation is each dialogue used? Dialogue 1:

A: Hello, Mary How are you?

B: Fine, thank you And you?

A: Not bad, thanks.

Dialogue 2:

A: Good morning, Sarah

B: Good morning, Peter How is everything?

A: Hi! I haven’t seen you so long How are you getting on?

B: How do you do? My name is Mary Lively Nice to meet you!

II Discuss and find out the similarities and differences in greetings (in these situations) in

English and Vietnamese

A Make arrangement to play a sport

B The time is no good for A Ask for another time

C Say that is not possible and offer another time

D Accept and say goodbye

1 You want to go to the dentist Wall on Saturday, so now phone the dentist’s receptionist to make an appointment

2 You phone your friend for a meeting in a pub this evening

3 You friend wants you to go to the theatre with him/her tomorrow but you reject because you are busy writing a report

III Discuss and see if you say in the same way in Vietnamese in these situations

Exercise 3: Request Conversation and Request situation.

I Match each request with a suitable response

1 Could you ask My to phone me, a Go straight and turn left at the please? It’s Lan second corner.

2 Can I have some information about a Sorry, I’m leaving in 5 minutes the train?

3 I’d like a room, please b Yes, of course

4 I wonder if I could talk to you b OK

5 Excuse me Please, show me the way c Single or double

to the nearest railway station?

II Guess the place in which the dialogues are used in the right way and the people who join these conversations

III Discuss and decide the best way of making requests in each situation in the table below

1 Waiter You’ve just come to a restaurant See the menu

2 Stranger You’re at the phone box You Change money

haven’t got any change for a phone call

3 Receptionist You arrange to meet your dentist Change the date

next Friday evening But now it’s impossible for you