A contrastive analysis of strategies in giving criticisms in english and vietnamese = (phân tích đối chiếu chiến lược đưa ra lời phê bình trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt)

The importance and significance of how to give criticisms in intercultural communication successfully has stimulated me in the study on the similarities and differences in giving critici

vinh university foreign Languages department

===    ===

trÇn thÞ hoµi thanh

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF

STRATEGIES IN GIVING CRITICISMS IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐƯA RA LỜI PHÊ BÌNH

TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: Linguistics

Vinh - 2012

vinh university foreign Languages department

===    ===

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF

STRATEGIES IN GIVING CRITICISMS IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐƯA RA LỜI PHÊ BÌNH

TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: Linguistics

VINH - 2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For the completion of this work, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable contributions from many people First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, M.A, Nguyen Thi Kim Anh for her absolutely indispensable assistance, excellent suggestions, expert advice and detailed critical comments, without which the study would not have been completed

I am greatly indebted to all my lecturers at the Foreign Language Department of Vinh university for their endless enthusiasm and undeniably useful lectures

Another thank, I would like to give to my classmetes for their help when I was doing the study

In addition, my warmest thanks are due to my loving parents who supported

me with love, time and encouragement

Vinh, May 10, 2012 Tran Thi Hoai Thanh

ABSTRACT

The importance and significance of how to give criticisms in intercultural communication successfully has stimulated me in the study on the similarities and differences in giving criticism in English and Vietnamese cultures through verbal cues The study describes the relationship between language and culture, the definition of speech acts, as well as the aspects of C.A in culture first, and then the similarities and differences in the criticism strategies in English and Vietnamese The criticism strategies in the two languages are also dealt with The implications to the teaching of the criticism strategies in English to the Vietnamese learners of English from a socio-cultural perspective are also mentioned

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v

ABBREVIATIONS vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Justification of the Study 1

2 Aims of the Study 2

3 Scope of the Study 2

4 Methods of the Study 2

5 Design of the Study 2

PART B: DEVELOPEMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

1.1 Contrastive Analysis 4

1.2 Language and Culture 5

1.2.1 Definition of language 5

1.2.2 Concept of culture 6

1.2.3 The relationship of language, culture and communication 6

1.2.4 Comparison of English and Vietnamese culture 7

1.3 Speech Acts 8

1.3.1 Definition of speech acts 8

1.3.2 Classification of speech acts 9

1.4.Criticism 10

1.4.1.Definition 10

1.4.2 Classification of criticism 12

1.4.3 The speech act of criticizing 13

CHAPTER 2: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CRITICISM TRATEGIES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 15

2.1 Criticizing strategies in Vietnamese 15

2.1.1 Direct criticism 15

2.1.2 Indirect criticism 18

2.2 Criticizing strategies in English 21

2.2.1 Direct criticism 21

2.2.2 Indirect criticism 23

2.3 Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese criticism strategies 26

2.3.1 The criticism strategies in English and Vietnamese 26

2.3.2 Influence of cultural features on differences and similarities of criticizing strategies in English and Vietnamese 33

CHAPTER 3: IMPLICATIONS TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN VIETNAM 34

3.1 Some suggested ways to give a good criticism 34

3.2 Implications in foreign language teaching and learning 34

PART C: CONCLUSIONS 37

1 Recapitulation 37

2 Suggestions for further study 38 REFERENCES

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

ABBREVIATIONS

C.A Contrastive Analysis

L1 The First Language

L2 The Second Language (the foreign language being learnt)

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Justification of the study

Language is a means of communication, a kind of social tool which is essential for us to interact with the society Language helps us to understand the culture and life styles of the other societies It is due to language that we are able

to communicate with the other societies and to mix up with them It allows us to convey and elaborate our perspective However, there are many forms and styles

of language Different countries and religions have different ancestral languages and styles of speaking

In fact, Vietnamese learners of English usually find themselves unable to communicate in a natural way or face up with communication breakdown in the target language, especially with native speakers of English The reason is that the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam mainly focused on the development of linguistic competence – lexis, grammatical rules, vocabulary, and pronunciation Whereas, little attention has been paid to oral skills and even less to cultural aspects In addition, Vietnamese learners of English also get culture shock in every aspect of cross-cultural communication because of the lack of the target language culture and cultural differences Therefore, learners must have mutual understandings and awareness of cultural differences to be successful cross-cultural communicators

Criticism as an evaluative or corrective exercise can occur in any area of human life Criticism is a subtle one, a high face-threatening act in communication, especially in intercultural communication In addition, criticisms are socially complex even for native speakers Therefore, a study on the similarities and differences in giving criticizing strategies in English and Vietnamese cultures would bring great importance and significance The study can help teachers and learners of English, especially Vietnamese learners of

English avoid cultural shock and trouble in communication

2 Aims of the study

This study aims to:

 Describe and classify the strategies of criticism in English and Vietnamese

 Compare and contrast strategies of giving criticism in English and Vietnamese

 Analyse the influence of culture on English and Vietnamese in giving criticism

3 Scope of the study

The study focuses on contrastive analysis in giving criticism strategies in English and Vietnamese cultures The study can not deal with all fields related

to aspects of communication, for the limited time and scope, the study is confined to the speech act of giving criticism

4 Methods of the study

The study is carried out using the quantitative method with collecting,

analysing and clarifying the procedure of collecting data

Qualitative method is used most of the time for a sufficient theoretical background

The strategies of criticism will be identified, classified and analysed to find out the typical features of each sub-strategy Then they are compared and contrasted basing on the cultural features in two languages to point out the basic

similarities and differences

The examples will be collected from some selected English and

Vietnamese short stories

5 Design of the study

There are three parts in this study

Part A - Introduction - introduces the justification, aims, scope, methods

and design of the study

Part B - Development - consists of three chapters

Chapter 1 describes the relationship between language and culture, the notions

of speech acts in general and criticism in particular, as well as the aspects of C.A in culture

Chapter 2 analyses the similarities and differences in the criticism strategies in English and Vietnamese

Chapter 3 deals with the implications to the teaching of the criticism strategies

in English to the Vietnamese learners of English from a socio-cultural perspective

Part C – Conclusion – summarizes some major findings of the study and

gives some suggestions for further study

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Contrastive Analysis (C.A.)

Contrastive analysis is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a

view to identifying their structural differences and similarities Contrastive Analysis is the method of analysing the structure of any two languages with a view to estimate the differential aspects of their systems, irrespective or their generic affinity or level of development Contrastive analysis of two languages becomes useful when it is adequately describing the sound structure and grammatical structure of two languages, with comparative statements, giving due emphasis to the compatible items in the two systems

A systematic comparative studies analyzing components while the differences and similarities among languages were clearly recognized toward the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century The term ‘Contrastive linguistics’ was defined as “ a sub discipline of linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and similarities between them”, (Fisiak, 1984:1)

The theoretical foundations for what became known as the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis were formulated in Lado's Linguistics Across Cultures

(1957) In this book, Lado claimed that "those elements which are similar to [the learner's] native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are

different will be difficult"

Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in the 1960s and early 1970s, as a method of explaining why some features of a target language were more difficult to acquire than others According to the behaviourist theories prevailing at the time, language learning was a question of habit formation, and this could be reinforced or impeded by existing habits Therefore, the difficulty in mastering

certain structures in a second language (L2) depended on the difference between the learners' mother language (L1) and the language they were trying to learn

Kramsch (1998:24) suggests six aspects of culture that learners and teachers should be familiar with: Languages cannot be translated word-for-word; The tone of a speaker's voice (the intonation pattern) carries meaning; Each language-culture employs gestures and body movements which convey meaning; languages use different grammatical elements for describing all parts

of the physical world; All cultures have taboo topic; In personal relationships, the terms for addressing people vary considerably among languages

1.2 Language and Culture

1.2.1 Definition of language

Language, according to Kramsch (1998:3), is “the principle means

whereby we conduct our social lives” Language is obviously a vital tool Not

only is it a means of communicating thoughts and ideas, but it forges friendships, cultural ties, and economic relationships

Edward Sapir (1991:34) states that: "language is not only a vehicle for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, sentiments, and values characteristic of a community; it also represents a fundamental expression of social identity" Sapir said: "the mere fact of a common speech serves as a peculiar potent symbol of the social solidarity of those who speak the language." In short, language retention helps maintain feelings of cultural kinship

Languages, understood as the particular set of speech norms of a particular community, are also a part of the larger culture of the community that speak them Humans use language as a way of signalling identity with one cultural group and difference from others Even among speakers of one language, several different ways of using the language exist, and each is used to signal affiliation with particular subgroups within a larger culture Linguists and anthropologists, particularly sociolinguists, ethnolinguists and linguistic

anthropologists have specialized in studying how ways of speaking vary between speech communities Language is one of the highest and the most amazing products of human beings that helps distinguish them from other creatures and that serves the main purpose of communication

1.2.2 Concept of culture

According to Seelye (1993: 23) ,

“Culture is the systematic, rather arbitrary, more or less coherent,

group-invented, and group-shared creed from the past that defines the shape of

“reality” and assigns the sense and worth of things; it is modified by each generation and in response to adaptive pressures; it provides the code that tells people how to behave predictably and acceptably, the cipher that allows them to derive meaning from language and other symbols, the map that supplies the behavial options for satisfying human needs”

Laying the emphasis on the invisible and non-natural aspect of “culture”,

a number of researchers consider “culture” as the products of “consciousness” and “behavior” One representative of this group, Levin and Adelman (1993: 18) states,

“Culture is a shared background resulting from a common language and

communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values”

1.2.3 The relationship of language, culture and communication

Language is considered as the medium through which a culture is reflected Kramsch (1998:3) emphasizes this correlation by presenting three

functions of language related to culture: Language expresses cultural reality -

Language embodies cultural reality - Language symbolizes cultural reality

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication

A community's way of using language is a part of the community's culture, just as other shared practices are; it is a way of displaying group identity Ways of speaking function not only to facilitate communication, but also to identify the social position of the speaker Linguists use the term varieties, a term that encompasses geographically or socioculturally defined dialects as well as the jargons or styles of subcultures, to refer to the different ways of speaking a language Linguistic anthropologists and sociologists of language define communicative style as the ways that language is used and understood within a particular culture

Languages do not differ only in pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar, but also through having different "cultures of speaking" Some cultures for example have elaborate systems of "social deixis", systems of signalling social distance through linguistic means In English, social deixis is shown mostly through distinguishing between addressing some people by first name and others

by surname, but also in titles such as "Mrs.", "boy", "Doctor" or "Your Honor", but in other languages such systems may be highly complex and codified in the entire grammar and vocabulary of the language

In short, learning about cultures is absolutely enriching The more one knows others, the more he/she sees his/her own culture more clearly Therefore,

Quang, N (2005:5) states, “by learning about contrast, we can better

understand how cultures influence individuals and their communication with others”

1.2.4 Comparison of English and Vietnamese culture

Do, N (2004: 146) states “Western culture value is individualism, whereas Vietnamese culture value the personalism.” The English highly assess their individualism, whereas the Vietnamese pay much respect to collectivism as nature of their life

In Vietnam, kinship plays an important role, so there is a complex hiearchy of relationship This help to form the personalism in Vietnam culture

value Therefore, the English tend to be more informal than the Vietnamese in the forms of addressing The English addressing system is in interpersonal contact by using I - You equal system of addressing while Vietnamese equal system of addressing is interpreted in another culture feature

The Vietnamese appreciate harmony and they tend to be more indirect in expressing their point of view While, the English tend to be more rational and therefore they prefer a direct communication style

The interdependence and community value are highly appreciated in Vietnam and hospitality as well as friendliness is a standard of behaviour

The English do not want to give their opinion or show their feelings in public and often cause confusion and upset by not saying what they mean; for example, they usually say, “That’s no problem” when they know that it will be a big problem Whereas, in Vietnamese culture, the sincerity and straightforwardness are highly appreciated

However, in both English and Vietnamese culture, there is also a similarity in the field of face and politeness The English as well as the Vietnamese try to maintain politeness, keep and save face and try to avoid every

face threatening act with cultural norms they set up

1.3 Speech Acts

1.3.1 Definition of speech acts

Speech act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of

language Speech acts are commonly taken to include such acts as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting and congratulating In general, speech acts are acts of communication To communicate is to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being

expressed

Austin (1962) analyses speech acts on three levels:

- A locutionary act is the basic act of utterance performed by producing a

meaningful linguistic expression This meaningful expression is formed by

sounds, words and grammatical rules Therefore, one may fail to produce a locutionary act if he/she has problems with making sounds, words, or he/she does not know those grammatical rules

- An illocutionary act: wheneve we produce an utterance, we have some kinds

of function of producing the utterance in our mind The act performed by the communicative force of an utterance is called illocutionary act

- A perlocutionary act is the function of the utterance to create an effect In

other words, the perlocutionary act is what we achieve by saying something E.g The speech act performed by the utterance " shoot the snake!" has three following related act:

- locutionary act: an imperative sentence

- illocutionary act: the speaker wants to warn and request the hearer to shoot the snake

- perlocutionary act: the hearer shoot the snake

The concept of an illocutionary act is central to the concept of a speech act

1.3.2 Classification of speech acts

Searle (1975) has set up the following classification of illocutionary speech acts:

 assertives = speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the

expressed proposition, e.g reciting a creed

 directives = speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular

action, e.g requests, commands and advice

 commissives = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action,

e.g promises and oaths

 expressives = speech acts that express the speaker's attitudes and emotions

towards the proposition, e.g congratulations, excuses and thanks

 declarations = speech acts that change the reality in accord with the

proposition of the declaration, e.g baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty

or pronouncing someone husband and wife

Yule (1996: 54) divides speech acts into direct speech act and indirect

speech act and defines,

“Whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure and a function,

we have a direct speech act Whenever there is an indirect relationship between a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act.”

The utterance “Turn on the fan, please”, for example, the speaker (S) has

directly requested the hearer (H) to turn on the fan The syntactic structure of this utterance indicates a straightforward request in English Nevertheless, the same request can be made in a more tacit, indirect manner to achieve the

same result; S may say something like “It’s hot in here”

The theory of speech acts aims to do justice to the fact that even though words (phrases, sentences) encode information, people do more things with words than convey information, and that when people do convey information, they often convey more than their words encode Although the focus of speech act theory has been on utterances, especially those made in conversational and other face-to-face situations, the phrase 'speech act' should be taken as a generic term for any sort of language use, oral or otherwise

1.4 Criticism

1.4.1 Definition

The English word criticism is derived from the French critique, which

in the English language from the mid-16th century, and the word "criticism" first made its appearance in English in the early 17th century

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Criticism is the practice of

judging the merits and faults of something or someone in an intelligible (or articulate) way.The judger is called "the critic".To engage in criticism is "to criticize" One specific item of criticism is called "a criticism"

Criticism can be:

 directed toward a person or an animal; at a group, authority or organization; at a specific behaviour; or at an object of some kind (an idea, a relationship, a condition, a process, or a thing)

 personal (delivered directly from one person to another, in a personal capacity), or impersonal (expressing the view of an organization, and not aimed

at anyone personally)

 highly specific and detailed, or very abstract and general

 verbal (expressed in language) or non-verbal (expressed symbolically, or expressed through an action or a way of behaving)

 explicit (the criticism is clearly stated) or implicit (a criticism is implied

by what is being said, but it is not stated openly)

 the result of critical thinking or spontaneous impulse

Criticism is often presented as something unpleasant, but it need not be It could be friendly criticism, amicably discussed, and some people find great pleasure in criticism

Another meaning of criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature, artwork, film, and social trends The goal of this type of criticism is to understand the possible meanings of cultural phenomena, and the context in which they take shape In doing so, the attempt is often made to evaluate how

cultural productions relate to other cultural productions, and what their place is within a particular genre, or a particular cultural tradition

1.4.2 Classification of criticism

There exist many different kinds of criticism, which can be classified and

sorted according to nine main facets

 Point of view from which the criticism is made ("in what framework",

"from what angle or perspective" is the criticism made)

 Content of criticism, what it consists of ("what" is the criticism)

 Purpose, motive, use or function of criticism ("why" is the criticism being

raised, what is its aim)

 Form of criticism, language used or medium of expression (in what

"style" or format is the criticism presented)

 Method of delivery, transmission or communication for the criticism

("how", or by what means, is the criticism conveyed)

 Type of critic or the source making the criticism ("from who" does the

criticism originate)

 Target or object of the criticism (criticism "of whom" or criticism "of

what")

 Context, place, setting or situation for the criticism ("where" is the

criticism being made)

 Recipients or audience of the criticism, intended or unintended (criticism

directed or addressed "to where" or "to whom")

With each kind of criticism, one has to deal with the different aspects: the content, form and purpose of the criticism, the sender, delivery and target of the criticism, and the total context in which the criticism occurs

There is also a tenth classification of criticism, in terms of intention

Criticisms could, for example, be sorted into "friendly criticisms" and "nasty criticisms" A criticism could be friendly, or nasty, depending of how one

chooses to regard it, how one responds to it, or depending on the moment it is made

1.4.3 The speech act of criticizing

The speech act of criticizing is believed to take great risk of causing face threatening act (FTA)

Tracy et al’s (1987: 56) suggest two main points to distinguish between criticizing and complaining In criticizing, S may intend H to try to improve to his or her own benefits, or S just may wish to express his or her opinion known

In complaining, S implies that something bad has happened to himself or herself,

or that H has done something bad to him or her and therefore expects a repair from the latter Complaint is a specific statement of anger, displeasure, distress

or other negativity For example, ‘I am very upset that you didn’t ask me about how my day went but just talked about your day all through dinner.’ Criticism is much less specific: it is more global; it may have blaming in it For example,

‘You never show interest in me or my work You just don’t care about me.”

The terms "criticism" and "feedback" are often confused, where people think that criticism is a "negative response" and feedback is a "positive response However, feedback can be positive or negative, and so can criticism The term

"feedback" is often used instead of criticism, because "feedback" sounds more neutral, polite or positive, while criticism seems to be about "finding fault"

Criticism is not necessarily feedback, because it can be both the initiative of a

"feed" and the response of a "feed-back" Inversely, feedback is not necessarily

criticism, because the feedback response could just consist e.g of a compliment

or a "yes" or "no" ("is that all the feedback I get?") Feedback is not intrinsically positive; and telling somebody how they are doing need not involve any criticism Criticism and feedback are really two different things, with some overlap ("critical feedback" or "critical response") If feedback comments

(positive or negative) and criticism are treated as if they are exactly the same thing, usually something is being hidden, suppressed or denied

Tracy, et al (1987) investigated the characteristics of criticisms by people from different cultural backgrounds and distinguished “good” from “bad” criticisms According to him, a good criticism is one that displays a positive language and manner; suggests specific changes and possible critic; states justified and explicited reasons for criticizing and does not violate the relationship between interlocutions and is accurate It provides a better orientation, or frame of reference, for behaviour and an idea which people can act on to improve the situation Whereas, negative criticism means voicing an objection to something, only with the purpose of showing that it is wrong, false, mistaken, nonsensical, objectionable, or disreputable Generally, it suggests disapproval of something, or disagreement with something Negative criticism is also often interpreted as an attack against a person That may not have been the intention, but it can be interpreted that way

CHAPTER 2 A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CRITICISM

STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

Basing on the direct and indirect relationship between structures and functions, Yule (1996:54) divides speech acts into direct speech act and indirect speech act Criticizing strategies are also classificated into direct and indirect strategies

2.1 Criticizing strategies in Vietnamese

2.1.1 Direct criticism

2.1.1.1 Expression of disagreement and disapproval

The Vietnamese people usually use the following patterns to express disagreement and disapproval:

1/ + phản đối/ không tán thành/ không hài lòng/ không đồng

ý/ không chấp nhận

+ không cho rằng/ không nghĩ là

1 st person + + không chắc khi

+ không thể đồng quan điểm với

+ cho rằng/ nghĩ rằng là không

+ phải xem lại

 Anh không tán thành với cách chú dạy con như thế [13]

 Tao không chắc chắn khi mày quyết định vội vã như vậy [9]

 Em không thể cùng quan điểm với chị về chuyện đánh giá chồng em như

2/ Theo tôi/ tớ/ ( 1 st person), là sai/ không đúng/ không chấp nhận được

 Theo tôi, bọn chúng nó áp đặt quá vậy là không chấp nhận được.[10]

3/ Thật là tồi tệ/ sai lầm/ đáng xấu hổ khi

4/ ( negative - evaluative adjectives) !

 Lão ta đa nghi như Tào Tháo ấy.[10]

 Mấy anh tri thức trẻ trông thế mà vẫn còn mê tín quá.[10]

 Vợ chồng gì mà cãi nhau như khách qua đường.[9]

Action criticized +

+ thế mà không biết + negative adj

 Thay đổi nhanh chóng như vậy là đáng lo ngại lắm đấy.[11]

 Mở miệng ra là tự khen mình yêu làng yêu nước thế mà không biết ngượng.[10]