Individualism and collectivism in english and vietnamese business letters

SinceBLs are used as means of communication between business people, firms, and the writers standnot only for themselves but also for their firms, people‘s relationships in business lett

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

GRADUATE STUDIES ***********************

VI THỊ THU HẰNG

INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE BUSINESS LETTERS

(TÍNH CÁ NHÂN VÀ TÍNH TẬP THỂ TRONG THƯ TÍN THƯƠNG MẠI TIẾNG ANH VÀ

TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 02 01

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

GRADUATE STUDIES ***********************

VI THỊ THU HẰNG

INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE BUSINESS LETTERS

(TÍNH CÁ NHÂN VÀ TÍNH TẬP THỂ TRONG THƯ TÍN THƯƠNG MẠI TIẾNG ANH VÀ

TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 02 01

Supervisor: Nguyễn Hòa, Prof.

HANOI - 2017

Second, I am extremely grateful to Assoc Prof Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn for his suggestions and Prof Dr Nguyễn Quang for hisexplanations that have enlightened

my research path.

Last but not least, I would like to give my great thanks to all my teachers at Faculty of Post-Graduated Department at University of Languages and International Studies for their devotion and their useful lectures.

This study aims to investigate the manifestations of Individualism and Collectivism in English and Vietnamese business letters by analyzing how they play out in the use of pronouns (I vs We); communication styles (High vs low context communication and direct vs indirect communication styles); self-construal (self- enhancement vs self-effacement); and face (self-face vs others-face concern) and facework (positive and negative politeness strategies) The results appear to contradict the general perception that Vietnamese culture is valued toward Collectivism and British and American culturesare valued toward Individualism Although manifestations of both Individualism and Collectivism are indentified in EBLs and VBLs, EBLs tend to incline towards collectivistic values and VBLs leans towards individualistic values The data indicates that, in business context, business letters act as a channel of communication, in which, the writers are representatives

of their company Thus, their behavior is adjusted to be appropriate for specific context to pursue certain purposes The writer varies from Individualism to Collectivism and vice versa.This study indicates that cultural assumptions about individual characteristics based on where she or he comes from should be treated as reference, not confirmed truths.

Individualism Speaker Vietnamese business letters

Table 2.3: The frequency of “show off” words in EBLs and VBLs

Table 2.4: The frequency of using person pronouns “I/ We/ You” in EBLs and VBLs Table 2.5: The address forms in EBLs

Table 2.6: The address forms in VBLs

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: IDV/ COL Index Scores

Figure 1.2:The relationships in business letters

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Methodology 3

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

1.1 Definition of Individualism and Collectivism 5

1.2 Two opposite poles or two separate dimensions 5

1.3 Attributes of IDV and COL 6

1.4 Previous studies 8

1.5 Individualism and Collectivism in Business letters 10

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 Data and Procedure 13

2.2 Analytical framework 13

2.2.1 Language Use 14

2.2.2 Communication styles 15

2.2.3 Self-Construal: Self-enhancement& Self-effacement 17

2.2.4 Face and Facework 18

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21

3.1 Language Use 21

3.2 Communication styles 23

3.2.1 Low- and High-context communication

3.2.2 Direct and Indirect styles

3.3Self-Construal: Self-enhancement and Self-effacement

3.4Face and Facework

3.4.1 Self-face concern vs Other-face concern

3.4 2 Negative and positive politeness strategies

CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION .

4.1Recapitulations

4.2Implications

4.3Limitations

4.4Suggestions for further studies

REFERENCES .

APPENDICES

1 Rationale

IDV and COL are two of the cultural dimensions beside Power distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity and Femininity, Long- versus Short-Term Orientation, and Indulgence versus Restraint which are added in 2010 by Geert Hofstede (1997, 1980, 1983, 2001, 2010)– a famous Dutch social psychologist Hofstede‘s studies showed that European countries like the United States of America, Britain, France, Denmark, etc have high IDV Index and countries likeChina, Russia, Singapore, and Vietnam have low IDV Index.

In 1995, Triandis published a book named ―Individualism and Collectivism‖ which explored the constructs of IDV and COL He drew an important conclusion that no society is ―purely‖ individualist or collectivist (1995:27) He also indicated that we get full distribution of these both values in every culture There are people who act more like collectivists in the individualist society and vice versa, there are people who act like individualists in the collectivist society The culture pattern is situation specific It would be erroneous to assume that any culture is exclusively IDV or COL; IDV and COL should be viewed as two cultural orientations.

Hofstede (2001) referred to the report of Leung and Bond (1984) on two laboratory experiments with psychology students in Hong Kong and the United States about sharing a reward with an unreal working partner.In the experiments, subjects imaginarily did more or less than their partner andthen chose the way of reward allocation that could be equity based on performance or equality based on equal sharing The collectivist Hong Kong Chinese chose equality when their choices were public, but equity when they were kept private; The choice of the Hong Kong students also differed for in-group and out-group members while the American students‘ choices were stable, they chose equity more often than equality The experiments concluded that―Chinese behavior was much more context dependent than the American behavior‖ (Hofstede, 2001, p.239) It was the

experiments that inspired me to investigate Vietnamese behavior and American behavior in business settings.

With the globalization of world economy, business communication is becoming increasingly important Business letters, being a major form of communication in the commercial world, play a significant role in the administration and operation of a business They are special discourses with their own properties; however, they are still products of language and culture.

The arising questions are, in the age of information technology, with easy access to various information sources and high intercultural exchange frequency, how IDV and COL are manifested in EBLs and VBLs; and which cultural orientation is dominant in VBLs and EBLs.

In order to seek answers for those questions, the research is conducted by analyzing 45 business letters in English and 45 letters in Vietnamese.

2 Aims of the study

The assumption of the study: it is generally believed that Vietnamese

culture is toward Collectivism while British and American cultures are toward Individualism.

The study aims at testing this assumption in the case of business letters It attempts to provide a better understanding of these two cultural values and examine how they operate in specificbusiness situations The study also investigates similarities and differences between EBLs and VBLs in term of IDV and COL.

I hope the findings of the study will assist intercultural communication andoffer suggestions for teachers‘ choices of teaching approaches and for students when they teach and studybusiness letters.

3 Research questions

The study is conducted to offer answers for the following questions:

1 How are IDV and COL manifested in EBLs and VBLs?

2 Which cultural pattern, IDV or COL, is dominantin VBLsand in EBLs?

4 Scope of the study

In today‘s world, business letters are used more and more commonly as an effective means of transaction Business letters convey messages of not only the writers but also the organizations they stand for, which are directly affected by cultural values of the writers, their organizations, and their countries In order to deeply understand business letters, the readers should examine cultural values and how these factors affect business letters.

Due to limited resources and within the frame of a minor thesis, the research focuses on investigating only 45 business letters in English and 45 business letters

in Vietnamese.

Datawere collected mainly from the internet and some private companies.

The collected data includes different types of business letters such as sales letters, order letters, complaint letters, responses to complaint letters, adjustment letters, and thank you letters.

With such a small number of reference letters, this study may be treated as a case study Thus, the results of the study might not be generalized to all kinds of business letters in all situations.

5 Methodology

As mentioned in the previous part, the study may be conducted as a case study in order to test the assumption that Vietnamese culture is COL and American culture is IDV in the case of business letters.

The study starts at analyzing linguistic manifestations in business letters based on markers ofIDV and COL andthen drawing conclusions; thus the approach

to the study is inductive.

The study is qualitative and descriptivesince linguistic studies are observable and regarded as humanities Qualitative method, which is viewed as a general

approach to explore problems, has been preferred by most linguists as the linguistic research methodology (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994) Qualitative method will be used

to examine and access the effects of linguistics aspects such as vocabulary, sentence structures, grammatical properties (pronouns, modality, and so on), and textual features The descriptive method has been adopted for the investigation and presentation of data throughout the research Thus, the research based on a fair amount of description, presenting letters as they are.

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Definition of Individualism and Collectivism

Cultural variation in terms of IDV versus COL is considered one of the most well known cultural continuums (Hofstede, 1997, 1980, 1983, 2001, 2010; Kim, Sharkey, & Singelis, 1994, Triandis, 1995; Hui & Triandis, 1986) The terms IDV and COL are employed to explain cultural differences in different parts of the world; however they are given various meanings (Triandis, 1995).

Hofstede (2001) gives one-line definitions of IDV and COL viewed as two poles of a dimension of national culture According to Hofstede, in individualist cultures, the relationships between individuals are loose; thus, people tend to look after themselves and their nuclear family In collectivist cultures, on the other hand, individuals closely link with their groups like their nuclear family, their extended family, the village society, and the tribe.

Triandis (1995) based on the relationship between individuals and their group provides the definitionof these constructs He defines COL as a social pattern consisting of closely linked individuals and IDV as a social pattern consisting of loosely linked individuals He explains that collectivists view themselves as parts of collectives who are motivated by the social norms, duties, and obligations and individualists view themselves as independent of collectives who are motivated by their own pleasures or personal advantages, needs, rights, and the contracts they have established with others.

In short, COL and IDV are viewed as ‗‗cultural syndromes‘‘ that differentiate between cultures in terms of beliefs, attitudes, norms, roles, values and behaviors (Triandis, 1995).

1.2 Two opposite poles or two separate dimensions

As mentioned above, Hofstede (2001) gives one-line definitions of IDV and COL He argues that the two should be seen as two poles of a dimension at country

level because of the fact that the alternative solutions are used for the same basic dilemma of societies.On the other hand, at the individual level, a person can have characteristics of both individualist and collectivist at the same time, so the two constructs can be treated as two separate dimensions.Thus, an individual can be both individualist and collectivist, ―but a country culture is predominantly either one or the other‖ (Hosftede, 2001, p 293) It should be aware that ―Countries may

be anywhere in between two extreme pictured, not all connotations apply in all countries, and an individual within countries can deviate from social norms‖ (Hosftede, 2001, p 255).

Triandis and colleagues‘ research has found that IDV and COL are multidimensional at both the cultural level and individual level (Gelfand et al., 1996) Both collectivist and individualist elements can be found in any cultures Moreover individuals have both individualistic and collectivist cognitive elements They may convert situations into collectivist or individualistic ones (Triandis, 1995) Germany, as an example, though overall quite individualistic, is also collectivist in certain respects.

In this case study, I view IDV and COL as a continuum line at which countries, cultures, societies, or individuals can be anywhere From these viewpoints, it can be assumed thatIDV and COL are contextual or situational As Triandis (1995) concluded, the situation is a major determinant of the behavior That would explain the case of Chinese students mentioned in the rationale, who change behavior according to particular situations.

1.3Attributes of IDVand COL

According to Triandis (1995), there are four defining attributes of IDV and COL The first one is that the self is interdependent (individualist) or independent (collectivist) of their group The second is concerned with the goals of group and individual goals, which ones have priority Individualists give priority to their personal goals and vice versa; collectivists put more emphasis on the group goals.

Which determines one person‘s behavior is the third one In collectivist cultures, norms, obligations, and duties guide behavior, whereas, in individualistic cultures, attitudes, personal needs, individual rights, and the contracts the individuals established with others are important determinants of behavior The last is that one

is willing to end the relationship with group or not Whereas, collectivists stay in unpleasant groups or relationships, individualists tend to leave unsatisfactory relationships(Kim, 1994).

Hofstede (2001) investigates IDV and COL in different relationships and different aspects A general overview of the differences between societies that are either individualistic or collectivist is shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1.1:The key differences between Collectivist and Individualistic Societies

The IDV Societal Norm: The societal norms are value systems of major

groups of population which concern various domains of life such family patterns, role differentiation, social stratification, education systems, religion, political systems, etc For example, whereas individualists prefer high-context communication, collectivists often use low-context communication Identity of individualist is based on the individual, but collectivists based on the social system (e.g I am a mother; I am a staff of X company; etc.);

To investigate how IDV and COL are manifested in business letters, based on the attributors of INV and COL and functions of business letters, I will analyze four domains including I/ WE use,Communication styles, Self-construal, and Facework These domains will be discussed more specifically in the Chapter 2.

1.4Previous studies

Geert Hofstede, who is a Dutch social psychologist, is well known for his researches on cross-culturalvalues with six dimensions named Power Distance Index, IDV vs COL, Masculinity vs Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Long Term Orientation vs Short Term Normative Orientation, and Indulgence vs Restraint (Hofstede, 2010) Hofstede tried to measure the differences of cultures by developing first five cultural dimensions and discussed on them in his books, Culture‘s Consequences (1980, 2001); and, in 2010, he added the sixth one, Indulgence vs Restraint, in his book Cultures and Organization (2010) Hofstede established IDV and COL as the most viable constructs to differentiate cultures His researches have been considered groundbreaking in many scholarly sections.

In 1995, Harry Triandis, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign, published his book ―INDIVIDUALISM & COLLECTIVISIM‖, which was praised by Geert Hofstede Geert Hofstede wrote that this book would be the main resource for researchers who are interested in the distinction of INV and COL In the book, Triandis summarized research findings of himself and other researchers and gave his own experience to provide an overview

of IND and COL for the reader In my study, I draw on his book as main resource beside Hofstede‘s (2001).

Vietnam, according to the research findings of Hofstede, with the IDV Index

of 20, is classified as a collectivist society In comparison with other countries (Figure 1), Vietnamese IDV Index is, the same as Chinese culture, considerably lower than IDV Index of Western countries The highest IDV Index belongs to the United States.

Individualism/ Collectivism Index

Figure 1.1: IDV/ COL Index Scores (Hofstede, 2001, p 500, 501)

In the research studies on Vietnamese literature, COL is considered as a typical value of Vietnam culture due to the conditions of history, geography, nature and society as well as Confucian attitudes.Parks and Vu (1994) found that the societal norms of Vietnamese society are mainly collectivistic Recently, researchers and psychologists have been interested in this subject in the modern context of Vietnam.

In 2002, Đỗ Long and Phan Thị Mai Hương edited a book named ―TÍNH CỘNG ĐỒNG TÍNH CÁ NHÂN VÀ ―CÁI TÔI‖ CỦA NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM HIỆN

NAY‖ – Collectivism, Individualism and “the self” of Vietnamese Today The book

presents researches on IDV and COL in Vietnamese modern days that involve the globalizing tendency and the great development of technology Hofstede (2001) comments that technological modernization represents the major force of culture change The study indicates that these two culture patterns vary according to gender, situations, and sub-cultures of geographical regions Basically, Vietnamese are still more collectivistic than high individualistic countries such as America, Great Britain, Japan, and Korea However, the culture is headed toward being more individualistic with each generation.

Hannah Hanh et al (2010) conducted a study on the effects of IDV and COL

on co-operation in workgroups at three different levels including societal, organizational, and personal 153 American business students and 207 Vietnamese counterparts are participants who represent sequentially for an individualistic society and a collectivistic society The study gave surprising results that Vietnamese sample was less collectivist and more individualistic than the American sample It was explained that Vietnamese sample might not be representative of the collectivist societal norms because of the business-oriented nature of the Vietnamese sample and the high adaptive ability of the American sample From these studies, it is concluded that INV and COL are circumstantial and individual They vary from circumstance to circumstance and from individual to individual.

In short, in the global age, the distinction of IDV and COLthat involves cultural shocks or cultural conflicts in intercultural communication has become the main challenge to all countries Especially, under the impact of the globalization of economy, engagements, trade, and communication, these values are changing Therefore, it is still an interesting subject for researchers who study not only cultures and psychology but also business and communication.

1.5Individualism and Collectivism in Business letters

Business letters are formal messages or communication between, to, or from

managers, agencies, suppliers, and other business personnel or organizations They are legal documents or records between the interested parties, which convey messages ranging from routine, personal matters to complex, controversial matters The goal is typically to share neutral, good, or negative news or persuade readers to take a specific course of actions The purpose of business letters leads the writers to choose appropriate strategies However, writing strategies are also affected by cultural factors including IDV and COL.

IDV and COL relate to people‘s relationships with others and their social groups SinceBLs are used as means of communication between business people, firms, and the writers standnot only for themselves but also for their firms, people‘s relationships in business letters are complicated, illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 1.2: People relationships in business letters

The arrows represent for relationships established in business letters The writers may establish not only business relationship but also personal relationship, which is a characteristic of collectivists who respect relationships and adjusttheir behavior to maintain harmony with social context In contrast, individualists view themselves separate from social context, so they do not focus on statuses, roles, and relationships.

The relationships that the writers want to establish in business letters will affect the way they use personal pronouns, communication styles, politeness strategies, as well as the way they express themselves For example, in letter No 1.32, the writer

uses pronouns ―I‖ and ―You‖ to establish personal relationship with the receiver ―I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to

you for your very activeparticipation in our recent conference in Montreal on the

"future of aviation"” However, in the letter No 1.17, the writer use We “We wanted to personally reach out and let you know that we sincerely regret the frustration and inconvenience that our delay in shipping your order this season may have caused you, your organization or your supporters.”

Business letters are impacted by not only the writers‘ culture but also the readers‘ culture In order to pursue specific purposes, the writers may attempt to convey their messagessuitably with the readers‘ culture as well as the readers‘ organizational culture.

Due to the functions of business letters, four attributors of IDV and COL, named Language use, Communication styles, Self-construal, and Face and Facework are selected to investigate more details Business letters are special texts using language for specific purposes and for communicating The writers, through business letters, not only convey messages of their companies but also express themselves.In Chapter 2, I will present about these attributors as the analytical framework.

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Data and Procedure

In this study, data, EBLs and VBLs, are collected randomly and mainly from the Internet and some Vietnamese private companies The collected data includes45 letters written in English and 45 letters written in Vietnamese of different types.

My work involves foursteps The first step is investigating main concepts related to the study asIDV, COL, and business letters through previous researches These core concepts are important to analyze data in the right way, so it is necessary

to define them correctly Based on the researches of Hofstede (2001), Triandis (1995), I will clarify the definition of IDV and COL The second step is studying attributes of IDV and COL as well as properties of business letters to find out an analytical framework Since letters are employed as means of communication in business, which lend a hand to the writers, pursue their objectives, they depend much on business contexts, relationships between the reader and the writer, and cultures of both the writer and the reader Thus, to analyze business letters, it requires investigating these factors The third step is using descriptive method, which is suitable to use in a case study to investigate deeply particular behaviors of individuals or a group of individuals to test a hypothesis, to depictthe collected data

in accordance with the analytical framework.Data analysis and discussion will base

on three levels involving availability, proportionality, and manifestation Finally, basing on the findings drawn from the previous step, I come to conclusions and point out some implications as well as limitations Relying on limitations of the study, some suggestions will be offered for further studies.

2.2 Analytical framework

As mentioned before, basing on attributors of IDV and COL and functions of business letters, I decided to choose four domainsincluding Language use,Communication styles, Self-construal, Face and Facework, as the analytical

framework Firstly, Language use closely relates to the frequency of usingpersonal

pronounsI or We In business letters, the writers are on behalf of both their company

and themselves They convey their company message as well as express who they are Therefore, they can use personal pronoun ―I‖ or ―We‖ or omit personal pronouns for objectiveness Secondly, Communication styles connect with Low-and High-context communication; and Direct and Indirect styles Letters are means of communication in business; so communication styles chose by the writers will be discussed in the relation with IDV and COL Thirdly, Self-construal is concerned with self-enhancement and self-effacement Finally yet importantly, Face involves self-face and other-face concern; Facework is defined with positive and negative politeness strategies The analytical framework will be discussed and clarifiedwith sub-features in the next part.

2.2.1 Language Use

Language is considered a clearly recognizable part and a manifestation of culture People use language to reflecttheir thinking, attitudes, characters, and culture Therefore, Hofstede (2001) stated that language is not a neutral vehicle of culture Kashima and Kashima (1998) analyzed the relationship between culture and language through the study ―The Case of Cultural Dimensions and Personal Pronoun Use‖ They concluded that people in collectivist cultures frequently use

―we‖ and individualists frequently use ―I‖ In fact, the languages used by people

in collectivist cultures often do not require the use of ―I‖ and ―you,‖ whereas the languages used by individualists do (Kashima & Kashima 1998) Based on this study, Hofstede (2001) gave one key difference in term of language between IDV

and COL is that Ipronoun does not need to be pronounced in the language spoken in

collectivist societies, but it is indispensable for understanding in the language spoken in individualistic societies.

Na and Choi (2009) studying on culture and first-person pronouns found that, compared with their individualistic counterparts, collectivists preferred to use first- person plural possessive pronouns (we, our, us, ours).

In short, the frequency of personalpronouns used in business letters and the way using them can unveil some markers of IDV and COL.

2.2.2 Communication styles

2.2.2.1 High and low context communication

Much of the work that deals with the differences between high and low context cultures has been proposed by the anthropologist Edward Hall (1976) According to Hall (1976), cultures can be divided into high-and low-context cultures involving high- and low-context communication However, Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey argue that these two styles of communication are one aspect of COL and IDV (cited in Hofstede, 2006) Hofstede (2006) also agrees with this point and states that high-context communication is characteristic of collectivist society and low-context communication is characteristic of individualistic society.

The context is indentified as an extension of background, the system, and the circumstance in which there is an ongoing communicative act The context is the most important factor to clarify high- and low-context cultures.

Hall's definition of high and low context cultures involves the way people communicate and the idea of how much information is conveyed explicitly in the communicated message A high context culture has very little information in the explicit part of the message while a low context culture relies heavily on the explicit part of the message.

In high context culture, the message cannot be understood fully without a great deal of background information (Hooker, 2008) The language is involving with redundant expressions The burden of meaning falls on the readers, so the readers have to interpret implicit meaning through context, background knowledge, social and cultural norms and other sources.

On the other hand, in low-context society, people tend to put more meaning in the language code and very little meaning in the context Therefore, communication

―tends to be specific, explicit, and analytical‖ (Zaharna, 1995:241) The participants in

the conversation are direct and precise, so their discourse is not rich with linguistic redundancies The writers are responsible for communicatingclearly, so the readers can decode easily without misunderstanding People stress on the important of explicit verbal messages to convey personal thoughts, opinions, and feelings.

2.2.2.2Direct and Indirectstyle

Hofstede (1980) states that individualists prefer direct communication style while collectivists tend to use indirect communication style Gudykunst et al (1996) also prove that, in low-context communication transmitted messages are direct, explicit, but implicit and indirect in high-context communication.

According to Austin (1962), when we speak or write something, we perform some speech acts.A speech act, which is an act the speaker performs when he makes

an utterance, is a functional unit in communication However, the actual words spoken may not coincide with the intention of the speaker, so, speech acts can be direct or indirect (Austin, 1962) The basic purposes of business letters are making requests, giving commands, asking questions, giving orders, making complaints, offering apology, or giving suggestions, so the writers perform some speech acts through letters The writers can employ direct or indirect speech acts.

(a) Direct speech act

An utterance is classified as a direct speech act when there is a direct relationship between structure (declarative, interrogative, imperative)and communicative function of the utterance (statement, question, command/request) It means that the writers‘ intention is explicitly expressed through verbal or spoken words In other words, the actual words spokenor written (the locutionary act) coincide with the intention of the speaker or the writer (the illocutionary act).

(b) Indirect speech act

An indirect speech act is one that is performed by means of another (Austin, 1962) There is an indirect relationship between a structure and a communicative

function The writers‘ intention (the illocutionary act) is not explicitly expressed through spoken words (the locutionary act).

For example, ―Did you know that there are THOUSANDS of fears you can have that hold you back from living a fulfilled life?” [Exhibit 1.25]– The writer

gives a statement in the interrogative structure, so the speech act can be distinguished as an indirect speech act.

To indicate which direct or indirect communication style is preferred in EBLs and VBLs, I investigate the use of direct and indirect speech acts of English and Vietnamese writers.

2.2.3 Self-Construal: Self-enhancement&Self-effacement

Singelis (1992), Markus and Kitayama (1991) indicatedthat ―numerous differences associated with communication behavior in individualistic and collectivist cultures can be attributed to the independent and interdependent self- construal that dominates in those cultures‖ (Kim et al., 1994, p.123) Markus and Kitayama (1991) also suggested that independent and interdependent construals of self are respective markers of IDV and COL.

It is showed that enhancement is associated with independent construal and self-effacement is associated with interdependent self-construal (Kitayama et al., 1997, Kurman, 2001) Self-enhancement and self-effacement are considered as major differences between interdependent and independent self- construal.

Self-enhancement and effacement are related to the concepts of presentation or self-esteem or self-satisfaction Ting-Toomey (1991) distinguished self-enhancement and self-effacement verbal styles by its focuses Whereas the self- enhancement verbal style focuses on ―boasting about one‘s accomplishment and abilities‖, the self-effacement verbal style focuses on ―humbling oneself via verbal restraints, hesitations, modest talk, and the use of self-deprecation concerning one‘s effort or performance (Ting-Toomey, 1991, p 107)

self-2.2.4Face and Facework

2.2.4.1 Self-face concern vs Other-face concern

Face and facework are concepts that have been used by a number of researchers

to explain communication behavior (Oetzel et al., 2001) Face is defined as

―something that is emotionally invested and that can be lost, maintained or enhanced and must be constantly attended to interaction‖ and ―all competent members of a society have (and know each other to have)‖ (Goffman, 1976, quoted in Brown & Levinson 1978, p 66) Facework refers to the communicative strategies one uses to perform self-face and to maintain, support, or challenge another person‘s face (Shimanoff, 1994; Ting-Toomey & Kurogi, 1998, cited in Oetzel, 2001)

Ting-Toomey and her associates indicate that individualists are most concerned with saving their own face (self-face concern); collectivists are concerned with saving the face of in-group members (other-face concern) (Ting- Toomey, 1993, 1994a, 1994b; Ting-Toomey et al., 1991, quoted in Triandis, 1995:118)

Kim (1994) studies on the relationship between the construal of self and three interactive constraints including concern for clarity; concern for other‘s feelings; and concern for avoiding devaluation by the hearer The study shows that the interdependent self-construal correlates positively with concern for other‘s feelings and concern for avoiding devaluation by the hearer and that independent self- construals correlate positively with concern for clarity This result is consistent with Tim-Toomey‘s studies The speaker who concerns for other‘s feelings will perceives obligation to save a hearer‘s desire and maintains the hearer‘s positive face (Brown

& Levinson, 1978; Ting-Toomey, 1988, cited in Kim et al., 1994, p 120) The speaker maintains the relationship by mitigating utterances, not using ―bald imperatives‖, for example, ―Close the door‖ In addition, the speakers attempt to avoid negative evaluation by the hearer because they concept themselves based on how they are viewed by others (Kim et al., 1994, p 121) This is consistent with Brown and Levinson‘s (1978) notion of a speaker‘s desire to save his or her own positive face.

While individualists are concerned with their own face with their own preference and desires, collectivists put more focus on other in-group members‘ face When the writers concern on themselves, they select Writer-oriented style; If they concern on other‘s face, they prefer Reader-oriented style Writer-oriented style

is equal to Speaker-oriented style or I/ We approach Reader-oriented style relates to Listener-oriented style or You approach You approach means that keeping the reader‘s request, needs, desires, as well as his or her feelings in mind In a broad sense, by using second person pronoun, the writer emphasizes the reader‘s interest and concerns and she/he pays much more attention to ―you‖ and de-emphasizes

―We‖ and ―I‖ The frequency of using person pronouns ―I/ We/ You‖ evinces which approach the writer emphasizes in business letters.

2.2.4.2 Negative and Positive politeness strategies

Brown and Levinson (1987) developed the theory of politeness strategies based on Goffman‘s concepts of face According to Goffman, the face can be distinguished into two components: negative face and positive face.

A negative face is the want to be unimpeded by others, maintaining right of independence, freedom of action within one‘s own territory, or the right not to be imposed upon On the other hand, a positive face is the want to be desired or accepted, the concern with being thought of as a normal, contributing member of one‘s social world or desire for common ground (Brown and Levinson, 1987, p 61) Based on concepts of negative and positive face, Brown and Levinson (1987) provided the model of positive politeness strategies and negative politeness.

“Positive politeness is approach-based; it „anoints‟ the face of the addressee by indicating that in some respects, S (speaker)‟s wants are H (hearer)‟s wants (e.g bytreating him as a member of an in-group, a friend, a person whose wants (desires to preserveone‟sface) and personality traits are known and

liked […] Negativepoliteness … is essentially avoidance-based, and realizations of negative politeness

strategies consist in assurances that the speaker recognizes and respects

… the addressee‟s freedom of action” (Brown and Levinson 1987: 75) Nguyễn Quang (2004) defines positive politeness as any communicative act that intentionally shows S‘s concern to H and appropriately enhances the solidarity between S and H On the other hand, negative politeness is defined as any created communicative act by S to keep a certain distance between S and H - S does not want to violate H‘s privacy or impose on H.

Brown and Levinson (1987) classify 15 positive politeness strategies and 10 negative politeness strategies However, these strategies are classified relatively because, in real communicative situations, it is difficult to distinguishclearly among strategies and even between negative and positive strategies (Nguyễn Quang, 2004).

It is common believed that individualists are concerned with negative face; so they tend to use negative politeness strategies; butcollectivistsexpress concern about positive face, so they rely moreon positive politeness strategies The data will be analyzed to test this assumption.

CHAPTER 3.FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Language Use

Individualists use manyIpronouns corresponding with “tôi” in Vietnamese,

because they see themselves as independent entities acting upon the world;

Collectivists use manyWepronoun corresponding with ―chúng tôi” “chúng ta”in

Vietnamese Based on this linguistic characteristic, I counted numbers of first person pronouns used in my data and showed in the following table.

Table 2.1: Frequency of first person pronouns in EBLs and VBLs

pronounsoccurring 391 times The same situation happensin Vietnamese

letters,Wepronouns (167 times)are usedmore frequentlythan Ipronouns (139 times).

However, at the same time, both singular and plural first-person pronouns are used.

To illustrate this point, I take these following examples quoted from EBLs and VBLs that are written for introducing and seeking cooperating opportunities.

I am writing to introduce our company (Exhibit 1.10)

…We have one important message for you: You can continue to count on BlackBerry How do we know? We have substantial cash on hand and a balance sheet that is debt free We are restructuring with a goal to cut our

expenses by 50 percent in order to run a very efficient, customer-oriented organization (Exhibit 1.11)

…Công ty chúng tôi được thành lập tháng 11 năm 2005, chuyên tư vấn giải pháp và cung cấp thiết bị … Với đội ngũ nhân viên nhiều năm kinh nghiệm, chúng tôi sẽ mang đến cho quý Khách hàng dịch vụ bán hàng tốt nhất (Exhibit 2.5)

Using personal pronouns is to give support, establish, or improve a

relationship Writers choose to use We/ Our pronouns to show their relevance in

writing and to focus on a person‘s embeddedness in a collective Thus, business letter writers use plural pronouns to express their relationship with company They are on behalf of company In individual culture, the relation between group and its members is loose and people view themselves as independent entities However, in the case of business, when people are representatives of their company, they use personal pronouns to show their relationship with the company to gain trust from readers and establish friendly relationship with readers.

The table also shows a significant difference between English and VBLs in using pronouns is that Vietnamese writers use fewer personal pronouns than English writers do The total number of personal pronouns used in Vietnamese letters is 306, much lower than that of English letters (806) They even do not use any personal pronoun in letters, for instance, exhibit 2.1 In VBLs, instead of using personal pronouns, the writers use companies‘ names or omit pronouns Here are some examples.

“Rất hân hạnh nhận được sự quan tâm và hợp tác tích cực từ Quý đối tác”or

TƯỜNG PHÁT là Công ty chuyên nghiệp trong lĩnh vực Thiết kế In ấn

-Sản xuất bao bì giấy… (Exhibit 2.3)

Công ty CleanHouse Việt Nam xin gửi lời chào trân trọng tới Quý đối tác

(Exhibit 2.1)

The Vietnamese writers choose to use name of company instead of personal pronouns to keep their writingsat a professional and formal level The use of company names draw the readers‘ attention to company – a collectivegroup and its message not to the writer - the messenger – an individual Vietnamese writers consider their company a unity group and view business lettersprofessional and academic writings with impersonal tone and formal style.

In short, firstly, both English and Vietnamese writers use singular and plural pronouns at the same time; however, in EBLs, first person pronouns are used much more frequently than in VBLs It can be assumed that EBLs are more friendly and

informal than VBLs Secondly, We pronoun is used more often than I pronoun in

both EBLs and VBLs since business letters are exploited to convey messages of a company – a collective group Thus, in term of using I/ We pronouns, both EBLs and VBLs tend toward collectivism.

3.2 Communication styles

3.2.1 Low- and High-context communication

In commercial contexts, although people prefer communication or documents contain no excessive meaning that makes the main content ambiguous, the writers with different purposes in different contexts will alter their communication styles It appears that low and high-context communications are recognized in both EBLs and VBLs English writers and Vietnamese writers are able to switch to high or low- context communication due to a given context.

In high-context communication, the burden of meaning falls on the readers, the readers have to interpret implicit meaning throughthe particular context (e.g background knowledge, social distance, cultural norms, interpersonal relationship, social roles, etc.) For instance, in letter No 1.4, based on written words, the reader can understand the content of the letter in general However, in order to fully interpret this letter as well as the ability and desires of writers, the reader must have knowledge background about Brexit and its effects on the British people, economy and consumers as well as the contemporary context, Government actions and the writers‘ organizations.

The British people’s vote to leave the European Union has raised many questions about the future of trade, business, the financial markets and British workers’ rights, to name just a few The Government is discussing all

of these issues openly and publicly, with various forums being announced by Government ministers.

Yet an economy is nothing without consumers Despite this, the UK Government is still to make a substantive statement about the role consumers will play in its vision for a successful Brexit Less than a third of consumers currently think they will be represented during the negotiations and this must

be addressed (Exhibit 1.4)

In low-context communication, in contrast, the writers explicitly express their thoughts, opinions, and feelings to avoid misunderstanding Letter No 2.21 is an example to illustrate low-context communication In this apology letter, the writer

gives details of what happened ―Trong Bản tin 22h30 Thứ hai, ngày 15/8/2016 phát trên kênh VTV1, có xảy ra sự việc nhầm lẫn hình ảnh của Nhà thơ Xuân Quỳnh và NSƯT Tố Uyên.” and explains more details in the next sentence, so the reader can understand the problem clearly The letter also explains the reason why

leading to the problem and their actions after realizing the mistake The reader does not have to rely on background knowledge to understand the content of the letter The non-verbal sources (e.g tones of voice, body language, or facial expressions), in high context communication, are considered as effective factors to interpret hidden messages However, inBLs - written documents, only factors likebackground knowledge, power distance, social distance, status, interpersonal relationship between the writer and the reader could be taken into consideration The data shows that these factors affect greatly the way of communication in BLs The writer, in a particular context,can shift her or his communication way from low

to high context and vice versa As Hall‘s example, one‘s status in a social system also affects what one pays attention to The view of boss is different from that of her/his employees.For instance, when the writers are representatives of their company or their group to communicate with customers or partners, they convey messages of their company or their group.

I am writing to introduce our company World Choice Education and

establish a relationship with you and your college.(Exhibit 1.8)

Lời đầu tiên, công ty Tân Phúc Đạt xin gửi đến Quý khách đối tác lời chào trân trọng, lời chúc may mắn và thành công Tiếp đến chúng tôi xin được giới thiệu và ngỏ lời mời hợp tác kinh doanh trong lĩnh vực… (Exhibit 2.2)

In some types of business letters like application or complaint letters, as the writers are representatives for themselves to interact with employers or the company, they emphasize on their opinions, for instance:

I want to share my plight about a recent situation involving American Express (Exhibit 1.18)

Tên tôi là…– Sinh ngày…

Theo thông tin tuyển dụng tôi được biết, Quý trường đang cần tuyển vị trí… (Exhibit 2.41)

The data shows that the relationship between the writer and the reader also greatly affects the communication ways in BLs In the cases of introducing their business and service to new customers or new partners, the writers have a tendency

to rely on low-context communication by stating their opinions clearly.It is another story when the writerhas an acquaintance with the reader There is similar background knowledge between them; the writer tends to use high-context communication These two flowing examples are taken as illustrations.

Dear Sirs,

The following letter is an introduction on behalf of R P M Construction Corporation My name is Richard Murphy and I am the president Exhibit 1.10) Dear David,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to you for your very active participation in our recent conference in Montreal on the

"future of aviation" (Exhibit 1.32)

By using different address forms (formal: Dear Sirs, informal: Dear David – first name of the reader) and adding adjectives (heartfelt, active, recent), the writer

reveals the state of relationship with the reader.

It can be seen that characteristics of high-context communication are identified more often in internal communications, as the sender and the receiver share the same background knowledge, and sometimes the same values or goals They know each other rather well, so they do not need communicate everything clearly.

Team,

I’ve heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about the executive order issued yesterday restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries I share your concerns It is not a policy we support (Exhibit 1.43)

The collected data suggests that, more importantly, the communication way of English writers tend to rely more on context than that of Vietnamese writers This trend is due to the characteristics of EBLs and VBLs Most of EBLs are written to specific readers; therefore, there is common knowledge presupposed between the writer and the reader Owning to the common knowledge, the writers do not need to

express all things through words For example, in letter No 1.7, “We are truly sorry for what has happened and that you have been let down.”–the writer states an

apology to the customers without explaining the reasons why making the customers disappointed Besides that, English writers sometimes use in-group languages like terminology or refer to people or things that both the writer and the reader know as

in the following examples.

We have four BlackBerry 10 devices – two all touch and two hybrid (touch and QWERTY) – and all are running the third update of our new platform (Exhibit 1.9)

For each Survey received, Monte Titoli has given the amount of 20 Euro to the London Stock Exchange Foundation, the charity organization of LSEG which supports many social projects…(Exhibit 1.15)

On the contrary, VBLs are sent to many people, so the writers have to ensure that most of people can understand their message In addition, Vietnamese writers prefer to provide more related information to help the readers decode their messages.

Ngày 28/08/2014 đến 31/08/2014 tại TT Triển lãm và Hội chợ Tân Bình có

tổ chức: TRIỂN LÃM QUỐC TẾ THIẾT BỊ VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ QUẢNG CÁO VIỆT NAM 2014 Công ty PRINTECH có đăng ký tham gia hội chợ triển lãm này để giới thiệu các mặt hàng mới cho quý khách như…(Exhibit 2.8)

The letter is sent to customers for invitation to the exhibition of Printech

company The writer adds name and purpose of the exhibition, so the reader easily understands the message even as the reader does not know the company before.

Tôi rất vui mừng được biết, ngày …, đồng chí làm việc tại … thuộc Tổng công ty …trong quá trình làm nhiệm vụ sau khi chở khách vào nhà ga T1 đã phát hiện có một túi hành lý bị bỏ quên Đồng chí đã kịp thời báo cáo và bàn giao cho bộ phận quản lý hành lý thất lạc … để trao trả túi hành lý bị bỏ quên với tổng trị giá … cho hành khách đi trên chuyến bay …từ Đà Nẵng đến Hà Nội.

Thay mặt Lãnh đạo Bộ …, tôi trân trọng biểu dương hành động tốt đẹp và thái độ làm việc đầy trách nhiệm của đồng chí… (Exhibit 2.39)

This letter is written by a leader to praisea staff for doing a good thing He narrates the story in details not only for appreciating the action of the staff but also for adding more information to the reader who may not know the case.

To sum up, the data reflects that low and high-context communication can be found in both EBLs and VBLs The communication ways vary from context to context However, it appears that English writers tend to select high-context communication more often than Vietnamese writers do.

3.2.2 Direct and Indirect styles

It is necessary to confirm that neither English writers nor Vietnamese writers entirely depend on direct or indirect communication style Both of these communication styles arerecognizedin EBLs and VBLs Generally, in business contexts, people require messages transferred explicitly and precisely, consequently, direct communication style is preferred Thus, not only English writers but also Vietnamese writers, in BLs,tend to use direct more often than indirect speech acts Here are some examples of direct speech acts identified in data.

* In direct speech acts, there is a direct relationship between the structure and the communicative function Declarative forms are used to assert how things are; and imperative forms are for directions.

Công ty May Đăng Sơn chuyên cung cấp các mặt hàng may mặc: Đồng phục văn phòng…(Exhibit 2.4)

Tham khảo sản phẩm của Công ty trên website…(Exhibit 2.5)

R.P.M Construction is fully licensed and insured in Maryland, Virginia, and

D C (Exhibit 1.10)

Maria is a hard-working self-starter who invariably understands exactly what a project is all about from the outset, and how to get it done quickly and effectively (Exhibit 1.42)

* The locutionary act is the same asthe illocutionary act.

It is with sincere regret that I must inform you that your employment at Addison Systems Inc will be terminated as of Friday January 31, 2006 (Exhibit 1.6)

Our products connect people everywhere, and they provide the tools for our customers to do great things to improve their lives and the world at large (Exhibit 1.45)

Nếu có điều kiện, chúng ta cùng nhau đăng ký mua thỏa thuận, hay mua trên sàn giao dịch để đỡ giá.(Exhibit 2.37)

Tôi mong muốn được thử sức mình trong môi trường làm việc hết sức năng động của Quý công ty (Exhibit 2.35)

Direct communication style is employed in case of giving an offer or a promise that the readers obviously benefit from.

Chúng tôi cam kết luôn dành cho Quý vị những Sản phẩm – Dịch vụ tốt nhất cùng chính sách giá cả hợp lý, chiết khấu cao và nhiều ưu đãi khác (Exhibit 2.2)

“It's happening today - get instant access here To your success,” (Exhibit 1.23)

Direct speech acts are used more in the cases of internal communication – the writer and the reader are in the same group or familiar.

“I share your concerns It is not a policy we support.”(Exhibit 1.43)

Chúng ta hãy đoàn kết, gắn bó, chung sức chung lòng…(Exhibit 2.37)

Although direct communication style prevails in business settings, indirect communication is still employed regularly in both EBLs and VBLs Some examples are presented as follow.

* The structure is not directly related to the communicative function.

Nếu thuận lợi, rất mong Quý công ty sắp xếp cho chúng tôi cuộc hẹn tại Quý công ty để chúng tôi có điều kiện giới thiệu sản phẩm, tư vấn chi tiết hơn (Exhibit 2.3)

The structure is a declarative sentence omitted the subject (―chúng tôirất mong”becomes “rất mong”), but the function of the sentence is a request “give us

an appointment”.

Will You Join Me In Protecting Our Community? (Exhibit 1.38)

The structural form is a question, which is not the same as its function making a request The intention of the writer is requesting the reader to join in protecting their community, which is indirectly expressed.

* The locutionary act does not coincide with the illocutionary act.

My company and myself would consider it an honour if you would join us for our annual customer appreciation event (Exhibit 1.1)

The writer intends to invite a customer to his company event; however, his intention is not expressed directly in words Another example is taken from letter