Investigating apology response strategies in Australian English and Bahasa Indonesia

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrefiza ◽  
Jeremy F. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Striking Result ◽  
Face Threats ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia

Studies on apologies have proliferated in pragmatics research, but little research has been conducted on apology responses (ARs). The present inquiry contributes to filling the gap in the literature, and it does so by examining such responses in two languages, Australian English (AE) and Bahasa Indonesia (BI). The study ultimately focuses on two variables, gender and culture. It probes behavioural differences in the genders in and between the two societies, and considers cultural differences in the expression of ARs. Using oral discourse completion tasks (DCTs), the researchers recorded and analyzed a total of 360 responses to three apology situations. The findings reveal that ARs in both languages were complex and elaborate, embodying various subsidiary speech acts and expressions. The ARs generally showed indirectness and mitigated face threats towards interlocutors. However, one striking result is that there was no marked gender difference in AR strategy either within or between languages, thus challenging a stereotype that females are more accepting and ‘polite’ than males (Brown, 1980; Holmes, 1995, 2008). Another surprising result was that, in a significant minority of cases, Indonesians were revealed to be more direct and face-threatening than their Australian counterparts, again confronting a stereotype of speech behaviour, in this case that Asians are more indirect and ambiguous than native English-speakers in Western cultures

Negative Pragmatic Transfer in Chinese Students' Complimentary Speech Acts

2012 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juanjuan Ren ◽  
Xiaofang Gao
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Pragmatic Transfer ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Chinese English Learners

This study was designed to examine negative pragmatic transfer of the speech act of English compliments by Chinese who learn English as a foreign language and to estimate the correlation between the amount of negative pragmatic transfer and English proficiency of the Chinese learners. Frequencies of students' performance showed that both in the favored compliments and the response strategies, differences were evident between Chinese English learners and native English speakers. This indicated that Chinese learners had trouble with the “slang” or “idioms” of the target language and tended to transfer negatively their L1 pragmatic norms to their L2 communication. Moreover, the favored compliment response strategies used by two groups of Chinese learners—who had different levels of English proficiency—differed, and negative pragmatic transfer decreased as proficiency in English increased.

F0 patterns of tone versus non-tone languages: The case of Vietnamese speakers of English

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-121
Author(s):  
Anh-Thư T Nguyễn
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Vietnamese Speakers

This article reports a study that aimed to find out whether F0 patterns of L2 English produced by Vietnamese speakers are different to those of native English speakers, whether the non-native F0 patterns are transferred from Vietnamese, and to what extent English and Vietnamese F0 profiles differ. Ten native/L1 Australian English speakers, 20 Vietnamese speakers of English (10 beginners and 10 advanced speakers) and a control group of four native/L1 Vietnamese speakers were included. The F0 profiles (F0 maximum, F0 minimum, F0 range, F0 mean and F0 standard deviation at three levels: utterance, syllable and phoneme) were obtained from a set of 10 English sentences and 20 Vietnamese utterances. The results showed that F0 patterns of beginning-level L2 English are systematically different from those of native English speakers, which can be transferred from their native tone language. Nevertheless, the advanced speakers’ ability to produce native-like F0 patterns indicates the effect of language learning experience on prosodic acquisition. The data and results of this study contribute to the understanding of the process and nature of second language acquisition.

scholarly journals The Realization of Complaint Strategies among Iranian Female EFL Learners and Female Native English Speakers: A Politeness Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Atefeh Eshraghi ◽  
Mohsen Shahrokhi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Contextual Variables ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Completion Test

<p>Speech acts are interesting areas of research and there has been much research on speech acts. Complaint is a type of speech act and how to use it in interaction is important to EFL learners. The complaint strategies employed by Iranian female EFL learners and female English native speakers were compared in this study. Also, the effects of contextual variables (Social distance and Social power) on the choice of complaint strategies by Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers were studied in this research. Thirty Iranian female EFL learners and thirty female native English speakers participated in this study. The two instruments which were used in this study included Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The (DCT), as an open-ended questionnaire was administrated to them to elicit complaint speech acts. Then, the collected data were analyzed according to a modified taxonomy of complaint strategies proposed by Trosoborg (1995). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers in terms of using complaint strategies. Iranian female EFL learners used indirect complaint, while female native English speakers used the direct complaint more frequently; and contextual variables had a great influence on complaint strategy choice by participants of two groups.</p>

scholarly journals How University Students as Non Native English Speakers Perform Face Threatening Acts

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Maraden Parlindungan Silalahi
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Test Analysis ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Source Data ◽  
Face Threats ◽  
The Face ◽  
Completion Test

<p>Politeness is necessary in any social interaction to avoid conflict which might arise because of the utterances. Politeness elaborates that we all have ‘face’ of wants and needs, when the wants and needs are not fulfilled properly, then a Face-Threatening Act (FTA) is executed (Lakoff, 1973). There are all sorts of Face-Threatening Acts, and sometimes the face threats are directed to the hearer, while in some other times they are aimed to the first speaker (Brown &amp; Levinson, 1987). The students of Non-Native English Speaker (NNES) become the source data of this study. The way they perform the FTA based on circumstances, which are Power, Social Distance, and Imposition (Brown &amp; Levinson, 1987). While performing FTA, the students have different ways of applying it in their daily lives. The greatest possibility is that the students might use politeness strategy to minimize FTA, by using negative politeness and positive politeness, which theory comes from Brown and Levinson (1987). Qualitative approach is used in this study, while the method is test analysis. The data is using Discourse Completion Test (DCT) of Politeness regarding various situations to perform FTA and it will be delivered to all University students. The result can be seen that most of the respondent's answers are identical to the expected answers from the data collectors. This proves that most of NNES are able to perform FTA appropriately, moreover when it is associated with politeness. The purpose of this study is to describe students’ comprehension, as well as to provide learning to who are not English native speakers, about FTA and ways that can be applied to perform FTA. It is expected that this study will help students to figure out about the function of FTA and understand more on how to perform FTA.<strong></strong></p><strong>Keywords: </strong> politeness, face threatening acts, non native English speakers, university students

scholarly journals Impoliteness in the Realization of Complaint Speech Acts: A Comparative Study of Iranian EFL Learners and Native English Speakers

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atefeh Nikoobin ◽  
Mohsen Shahrokhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study was conducted to investigate the impolite complaint strategies that are used by Iranian EFL learners and native speakers in relation to social distance. This study also aimed at determining if there were significant differences among the strategies used by each group and if there was a significant difference between Iranian native speakers of English. To this end, 40 Iranian EFL learners and 20 Americans who were native speakers of English participated in this study. To make sure about the homogeneity of Iranian participants the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was conducted. A questionnaire containing 12 different situations was designed by the researchers and was given to the participants to express their complaints for each situation. The results revealed that there were significant differences among the strategies used by each group; the most common strategy that was used by both groups of participants was positive impoliteness and the least common one was bald-on-record. Although the most and least common strategies used by both groups were the same, Iranians had a stronger tendency for using sarcasm in low social distance situations while natives had a stronger tendency for using bald-on-record in high social distance contexts. This study has implications for EFL curriculum designing in Iran and can make Iranian EFL instructors familiar with the importance of impoliteness as an indispensable part of language.

scholarly journals CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF REFUSAL STRATEGIES OF AMERICAN AND ARMENIAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2 (24)) ◽  
pp. 100-115
Author(s):  
Gohar Hovsepyan
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Language Data ◽  
High Level ◽  
Refusal Strategies

Several studies have been carried out on refusal strategies that native and non-native English speakers employ to mitigate potential threat to listener’s face when forming refusals to various speech acts, such as requests, offers, invitations, etc. This study adds the perspective of Armenian English speakers in using such mitigation strategies. The objective of the study is to identify similarities and differences in the use of various politeness strategies used in refusal acts by native English speakers (NES) and Armenian non-native English speakers (ANNES) with the aim of establishing the extent of cultural impact on pragmatic competence of ANNES. Language data was collected among 24 Armenian English speakers of high level of English proficiency and 15 American English speakers. A modified version of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) developed by Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss-Weltz (Beebe et al., 1990) was used to collect data. Along with considerable similarities in the use of politeness strategies in refusals between the two groups which indicate the high degree of pragmatic competence of ANNES, the analysis of the data also revealed some differences which attest to certain impact of the Armenian culture on this competence. The differences are mainly observed in frequency of use and in the content of the same strategies used by the two groups.

scholarly journals Saudi EFL Students’ Production of Conventional Expressions in Second Language Pragmatics

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 260-274
Author(s):  
Afnan Almegren
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
First Language ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
The Status ◽  
Efl Students

This study compared and explored the differences and similarities in the production of conventional expressions between native English speakers and non-native English speakers represented by the Saudi EFL learners. It also examined the pragma-linguistic differences in the production of conventional expressions. Forty-seven native English speakers and forty-seven non-native English speakers participated in this study. The questionnaire consisted of nineteen scenarios representing different speech acts. Students were requested to reply to these scenarios as if they were real-life situations. The findings established that almost half of the comparisons between Saudi EFL learners and native English speakers presented similarities in the production of conventional expressions. However, there were some pragma-linguistic differences between the native English speakers and some of the Saudi EFL learners, such as misunderstandings due to the misuse of expected expressions, verbosity, the use of expressions that formal speakers considered rude, and transferred from their first language. These findings provide an empirical vision to the status of Saudi EFL learners conventional expressions. Future research could investigate conventional EFL expressions locally and globally.

Producing culturally appropriate narratives in English as a foreign language

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Yusun Kang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Discourse Production ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences

Cross-cultural and second/foreign language (L2) studies on oral narratives have suggested that one’s native language and culture affect discourse production in an L2 and have detected areas of difficulty for L2 learners in producing extended discourse. However, written narrative has received less attention, although it can provide rich data on cross-cultural differences and hold important implications for L2 literacy acquisition and pedagogy. This study was designed to investigate culturally preferred written discourse styles and their effects on L2 writing of personal narratives. It explored cross-cultural differences in the use of narrative structural features including evaluation between first language written narratives produced by native speakers of American English and first- and second-language narratives written by Koreans learning English. Differences in first language narrative styles were used to explain how Korean EFL learners’ narrative discourse in English could vary from native English speakers’ discourse norms. Participants were Korean adult EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners and American native-English speakers in the U.S. The findings show that specifically Korean cultural strategies were evident in the Korean English learners’ English narrative discourse rather than the preferred discourse style of the target language and culture. The findings hold implications for L2 writing pedagogy and L2 training in discourse production.

The interplay of proficiency and study abroad experience on the prosody of L2 speech acts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okim Kang ◽  
Alyssa Kermad ◽  
Naoko Taguchi
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Added Benefit ◽  
Japanese Learners

Abstract Adopting Brazil’s (1997) prosodic framework, this study examined whether proficiency and study abroad experience impact second language (L2) English learners’ spoken production of speech acts. Twenty-four native English speakers and 64 Japanese learners of L2 English participated in the study. The L2 learner group was divided into three sub-groups: (1) high proficiency learners with study abroad (SA) experience (2) low proficiency learners with no SA experience, and (3) high proficiency learners without SA experience. Participants completed an oral discourse completion task that assessed their ability to produce two speech acts (requests and opinions) in high- and low-imposition situations. Prosodic features including intonation, pitch range, and sentence prominence were analyzed via PRAAT. The findings revealed a complex interplay between proficiency and SA experience on pragma-prosodic production. Implications suggest that SA may have the added benefit of providing the backdrop for authentic contextual functions of prosody in high- and low- imposition situations.

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