(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) A study of Politness Strategies in the Conversational Activities of the course book New English File – Intermediate

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies PHẠM THỊ HỒNG LIÊN A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Conversational Activities of the Coursebook “ New English file” (Intermediate) Nghiên cứu chiến lược lịch hội thoại giáo trình giao tiếp “New English File” (Intermediate) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 noi – 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies PHẠM THỊ HỒNG LIÊN A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Conversational Activities of the Coursebook “ New English file” (Intermediate) Nghiên cứu chiến lược lịch hội thoại giáo trình giao tiếp “New English File” (Intermediate) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Supervisor: Assoc Prof VÕ ĐẠI QUANG, Ph D noi – 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Table of Contents Contents Pages * Acknowledgements i * Abstract iv * List of Abbreviations v * List of tables and figures vi Chapter I: Introduction 1 Rationale Aims of the Study Objectives of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Structure of the thesis Chapter II: Development I Literature Review 1.1 Theoretical Background 1.1.1 Culture and Communication 1.1.2 Communicative Competence 1.1.3 Politeness 1.1.3.1 Face 1.1.3.2 Positive Politeness and Positive Politeness Strategies 10 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1.1.3.3 Negative Politeness and Negative Politeness Strategies 14 1.2 Previous Studies 17 1.3 Summary 19 II Methodology 20 2.1 Research questions 20 2.2 Research methods 20 2.3 Data – related issues 20 2.3.1 Data sources 20 2.3.2 Data types to be collected 21 2.3.3 Data authenticity 21 2.4 Specific research techniques 21 2.4.1 Techniques for data collection 21 2.4.2 Techniques for data analysis 21 2.4.3 Steps for data analysis 22 2.5 Summary 22 III Findings and Discussion 24 3.1 Occurrence frequency of positive, negative and mixed politeness 23 strategies 3.2 Positive politeness strategies in conversational activities in the seven 25 units of the course book “New English File, Intermediate” 3.3 Negative politeness strategies in conversational activities in the seven 31 units of the course book “New English File, Intermediate” v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3.4 Summary 34 Chapter III Conclusion 36 3.1 Recapitulation 36 3.2 Concluding remarks 36 3.2.1 Concluding remarks on objective 36 3.2.2 Concluding remarks on objective 36 3.2.3 Concluding remarks on objective 37 3.3 Limitations 38 3.4 Suggestions for further research 38 * References i * Appendix iv vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com List of Abbreviations S Speaker H Hearer/ Addressee FTA Face threatening act NP Negative politeness PP Positive Politeness T Track P Page vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com List of tables and figures Figure 1: Ferrando’s diagram of culture Figure 2: Circumstances determining choice of strategy Figure 3: Strategies to minimize risk of losing face (Nguyen Quang, 2002) Figure 4: Frequency of positive, negative and mixed politeness strategies Figure 5: The frequency of positive politeness strategies Figure 6: The frequency of negative politeness strategies Table 1: The statistics of positive and negative and mixed politeness strategies Table 2: The statistics of positive politeness strategies viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Chapter I: Introduction Rationale At the great speed of developing and expanding, English has now become the most powerful language over the world and has been considered “a golden key to every door” Therefore, using English to communicate is a must for everybody As a matter of fact, to help learners attain the good command of communication, culture plays an indispensable role Nguyen Quang (1998:2) states that, “One cannot master a language without profound awareness of its cultural background and in both verbal and non-verbal communication, culture makes itself strongly felt” or Winstion Brembeck (1997:37) noted that, “To know another language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of oneself” Learners will truly succeed in using English when they must be aware of the relationship between language and culture, especially the hidden part of target culture including politeness strategies used commonly in daily social interaction For these reasons, the author would like to carry out a small-scale study on investigating the positive and negative politeness strategies in conversational activities of the course book New English File (Intermediate) by Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham- Koeing with a view to improving the teaching and learning of politeness strategies in this course book Aims of the study The aims of the study are:  To raise Vietnamese learner’s awareness of how to use politeness strategies appropriately in order to achieve successful communication  To put forward some suggestions for the teaching of positive and negative polite strategies to language teachers Objectives of the study To achieve these aims, the following are set forth as objectives of the research: TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com - positive strategies employed in the conversational activities in the specified course book - negative politeness strategies employed in the conversational activities in the specified course book - possible implications for effective teaching of politeness strategies in verbal communication via English Scope of the study This thesis is focused on positive and negative politeness strategies in conversational activities of the course book “New English File- Intermediate” The investigation is based mainly on the theoretical framework of Brown and Levinson (1987) and Nguyen Quang (2002) Off record politeness strategies, politeness rules and politeness principles are out of the scope of this thesis Significance of the study Theoretical significance: This study contributes to making explicit the important role of politeness strategies in verbal communication, especially in cross- cultural communication Practical significance: This study helps gain an insight into the method employable for teaching politeness strategies in the course book “New English FileIntermediate” as well as in adjustment and application of teaching techniques Structure of the thesis In addition to the “References” and “Appendix” parts, the thesis consists of three main parts: Chapter I: Introduction This part includes the rationale, aims, objectives, scopes, significance of the study and structure of the thesis Chapter II: Development TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com This chapter is divided into three parts: I Literature Review II Methodology III Findings and discussions Chapter III: Conclusion TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Figure 6: The frequency of negative politeness strategies According to the chart, negative politeness strategy (question, hedge) is by far the most widely used strategy, with 46.2 percent This is more than twice the percentage of other strategies This strategy enjoins the speaker to question or hedge such assumptions It is commonly used to make a hearer less threatened, more polite This strategy derives from the want not to presume and force oneself on a hearer A hedge can be a word, phrase such as: “sort of”, “kind of”, “rather”, “think” Let’s take some examples into consideration E.g: - Well, as you probably know, a lot film Schindler’s List was shot in Krakow (New English File, intermediate, unit 6, track 6.6/p.91) I think there’s something more important to talk about right now 32 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (New English File, intermediate, unit 6, p.112) - I didn’t think I would ever meet Spielberg or any of the actors (New English File, intermediate, unit 6, track 6.6/p.91) From the above-mentioned examples we can see that when S wants to express his idea to the issues that he is not sure about, the S normally uses predictions or giving opinions to make the H feel less threatened, and seems more politely Apologize is the second highest percentage strategy (10.3 %) with a total of utterances By apologizing for doing an FTA, the speaker can indicates his reluctance to impinge on hearer’s negative face and thereby partially redress that impingement E.g: - Where exactly is it? I’m sorry I didn’t catch that (New English File, intermediate, Unit 3, p 48) Oh no You’re joking Oh, Mark I’m sorry I did it without thinking (New English File, intermediate, Unit 7, p 112) There are two ways to use this negative politeness strategy: using direct and indirect apology By using the first one, the S can use phrases, such as: “I’m sorry”, “I’d be sorry”, “I’m sorry for…”, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend you, but…”, “ sorry I don’t want to give you the “runaround”, but…”, “I apologize for…”, “please accept my apology”, etc With indirect one, the S can employ such phrases as: “you know I’m bad at…”, “I’m afraid I’ve been rather a nuisance”, “I’m afraid I’m not able to”, “It won’t happen again, I promise”, “I hope you don’t mind, but I’d rather not…” Further down this chart, strategy (give deference) has 7.7 percent which is a little bit lower compared to above-mentioned negative politeness strategies This strategy often occurs between S and H who has lower social status the H The S 33 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com can employ this strategy by using phrases such as: “excuse me”, “sir”, “sorry to bother you but”, “Miss’ E.g: - Yes, of course, sir What would you like? (New English File, intermediate, Unit 4, track 4.17 /p 64) We can see that this strategy will intensify the respect of the S to the H to create polite way in communication in certain situations in which there are power and high rank communicators Sharing the same percentage of 2.6 percent in this chart is (be pessimistic), (minimize the imposition), (impersonalize S & H) which are rarely used in this book E.g: - Oh, probably worse (New English File, intermediate, Unit 1, track 1.1/ p 5) - Can you come and see me when you have a moment? (New English File, intermediate, Unit 2, P 32) It’s difficult to say who was the best but there’s one player who - stands out…that was Mauro Silva (New English File, intermediate, Unit 1, track 1.6/ p 7) Strategies that are not realized in this course book are strategy (nominalize), 10 (go on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting H) and 11 (avoid asking personal questions) 3.4 Summary This chapter mainly discusses the positive and negative politeness strategies employed in conversational activities of the course book “New English FileIntermediate” as well as the occurrence frequency of each type of politeness strategies By using graphs and tables, the writer categorized total 85 utterances picked up in this course book into two major types of politeness strategies Also, 34 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com reasonable illustrations and discussions are to be offered to each of the politeness strategies established The findings show that positive politeness strategies are preferred to negative politeness strategies with 55.9 % and 41.9 % respectively Notably, positive politeness strategies 2, 3, 11, 15 and three negative politeness strategies: 2, and not appear in the conversations in the course book It seems that in English speaking countries when communicating communicators tend to use positive politeness strategies to narrow the distance between S and H with the aim of making harmonious atmosphere 35 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Chapter III: Conclusion 3.1 Recapitulation The thesis is about the positive and negative politeness strategies in the course book New English File- Intermediate The study is an attempt to describe and systematize politeness strategies in the light of theoretical framework proposed by Brown & Levinson and Nguyen Quang Besides, the author tries to provide readers with a thorough and brief overview of theory to find out the types of politeness strategies employed in this course book In addition, after the illustration of the methodology used to collect and analyze data, reasonable discussions are to be offered to each of the politeness strategies established The findings show that almost negative and politeness strategies are employed in conversational activities in the course book However, positive politeness strategies are more frequently used than negatives politeness strategies Concluding remarks 3.2.1 Concluding remarks on objective The study indicates that in this course book positive politeness strategy is the most frequently used in order to show their respect and regard from the S to the H Most positive politeness strategies are in use except strategies (exaggerate), (intensify H’s interest), 11 (be optimistic) and 15 (give gifts) It also reveals that strategies (seek agreement) and (presuppose/ raise/ assert common ground) are the most used strategies It appears that positive politeness strategies are more widely used than negative politeness strategies in social behavior, suggestion and respond, whereas in making request situations negative politeness strategies are more preferred 3.2.2 Concluding remarks on objective Negative politeness strategies is mainly used to create the distance between S and H in order to show deference and formal air to H, thus freeing H from 36 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com imposition Negative politeness is employed more in social situations that potentially cause FTAs Negative politeness strategies used in this course book are: strategy (Be conventionally indirect); strategy (Question, hedge); strategy (Be pessimistic); strategy (Minimize the imposition); strategy (Give deference); strategy (Apologize) and strategy (Impersonalize S & H) Among them, strategy 2, and are most frequently used 3.2.3 Concluding remarks on objective It can be seen that politeness is not an easy task in the process of teaching and learning English Although it is a hard task, the politeness needs more attention and effort from both learners and teachers These concluding remarks provide the answer for the third question of the study: “What are the possible suggestions for effective teaching of politeness strategies?” First of all, teachers need to help students aware of the importance of politeness and politeness strategies in social interaction That is the students may be pointed out whether positive and negative politeness strategies are acceptable, preferable in English in certain conversational activities In real life communication, it is more important to pay attention to politeness and respect to other rather than meaning of words together Therefore, teachers should emphasize more on functional language than its structures Polite or appropriate utterances should be focused in a way that language functions as well as forms Thirdly, when learning communication or practice conversational activities students should be provided real life situations or put in real social interaction contexts because the best ways to teach another language is by social situations By doing these practical activities students will be aware which utterances are acceptable or polite in English, or which polite strategies are appropriate in certain situations to attain the furthest communicative goal 37 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Last but not least, when being put in social behavior, suggestion and responding conversations, teachers should suggest and instruct learners appropriate phrases or words which belongs to positive strategies to practice Whereas in request conversations, some phrases and words in negative strategies should be emphasized for students to best attain the communicative purposes 3 Limitations Although the study has offered some insightful findings, like many other studies, there are some limitations The research only deals with negative and positive politeness strategies Moreover, the study only focuses on one book in its series of four books Therefore, all utterances picked out are restricted; this clearly affects the validity of the research results 3.4 Suggestions for further study It is hereby suggested that a further study be carried out in relation to the other aspects of politeness strategies, such as bald on record, off record in this book as well as the other books in this series 38 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com REFERENCES In English: Bachman, L (1990a) Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing Oxford: Oxford University Press Brown, P., & Levinson, S (1987) Politeness: some Universal in Language Usage Cambridge University Press Blum- Kulka, J House & Kasper (eds) (1989) Cross- cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies Ablex Blum-Kulka, S and Levenson, E (1983) Universals of Lexical Simplification Longman: London & New York Brembeck, W (1977) Development and teaching of college course in intercultural communication Reading in intercultural communication Pittsburgh: SIETAR Publications, Universty of Pittsburgh Banks, JA & McGee, C A (1989) Multicultural Education Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon Chen, R (2001) Self Politeness; a Proposal Journal of Pragmatics No.33.p.87-106 Fraser, B (1990) Perspective on Politeness Journal of Pragmatics 14: 219-235 Kodyat, H (2001) A Study on Politeness Strategies Used by the Interviewers in a Foreign Exchange Company Universitas Kristen Petra 10 Hymes, D (1996) Language in Culture and Society Harper International Editon 11 Hybels, S & Waver, P L (2001) Communicating Effectively Mc GrawHill, Inc 12 Lakoff, R (1977) What you can with words: Politeness, Pragmatics, and Performatives 39 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 13 Leech, Geofrey (1983) Principle Pragmatics London Longman 14 Lindenfeld, J (1990) Speech and sociability at French urban marketplaces Amsterdam: Benjamins 15 Meliana, F (1995) The Study of Politeness Expression in Love Match by Barbara Steiner Universitas Kristen Petra 16 Parks, M R (1985) Interpersonal Communication and the Quest for Personal Competence Beverly Hills, CA: Sage 17 Samovar, L.A (2007) Communication between Cultures Belmont: Thomson Wardsworth 18 Saville- Troike, M (1982) The Ethnography of Communication: An introduction New York: Basil Blackwell 19 Thomas, J (1995) Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics London and New York: Longman 20 Wiemann, J M & Backlund, P (1980) Current Theory and Research in Communication Competence Review of Education Research, 50, 185-199 21 Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics Oxford: Oxford University Press In Vietnamese: 22 Đỗ Thị Thúy Mai (2000) A study on politeness strategies in the business converstioan of the course book “Interchange” Luận văn thac sỹ, Đại học Ngoại Ngữ, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội 23 Nguyễn Thị Tuyết (2005) A study on politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the course book “Lifeline” Luận văn thac sỹ, Đại học Ngoại Ngữ, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội 24 Nguyễn Thị Hoa (2010) A study on politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the course book “Inside out- Preintermediate” Luận văn thac sỹ, Đại học Ngoại Ngữ, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội 40 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 25 Nguyễn Quang (1998) Intercultural Communication Vietnam National University, CFL 26 Nguyễn Quang (2001) Sắc thái quyền lực giao tiếp ngôn ngữ Tập san ngoại ngữ số 27 Nguyễn Quang (2002) Giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hóa NXB Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội 41 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX SUMMARY OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE COURSE BOOK “NEW ENGLISH FILE- INTERMEDIATE” Politeness Strategies Units Conversational Activities Pages Positive Negative -Yes, definitely, I love eating p.5 -Oh, probably worse T 1.1/ p -Oh, yes dear, that’d be lovely T.1.9/ p 13 p 16 -Oh, there are many ways, but for me the worst thing in football today is what we call “simulation” T 1.6/ p -Yes, one, but the rest are all men In fact, I think that’s typical over the world T 1.5/ p -It’s difficult to say who was the best but there’s one player who stands out…that was Mauro Silva T 1.6/ p 7 -Not at all I think fair play does exist T 1.6/ p -Really? All good, I hope -Well, I like cooking, but I work very late everyday and my kitchen’s too small T 1.1/ p.5 -So what are you going to next year, dear? Are you going to university? T 1.9/p.13 4+17 -Oh, all right dear, you don’t need to shout T 1.9/p.13 T 1.9/p.13 4+5 -Shall I make you a cup of tea? Oh, yes dear, that’d be lovely -Can I use your car tonight? T 1.9/p.13 -I won’t I’ll be careful I’ll drive slowly I promise T 1.9/p.13 10 -You know us Our relationship I don’t want T.1.16/p.16 I TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com people in the office to know we’re together -What a lovely view! The river’s beautiful, isn’t it? -Three years I’m sure we bought it last year p 21 -Oh, nothing Well, Ok…Kenny and I have been arguing T 2.11/ p 28 -Would you mind sending me those concert dates? p 32 -Could you help me? I can’t open this document p 32 -Could you sign these, please? p 32 -Is it ok if I take tomorrow off? p 32 1+2 -Do you think you could send me the request by email? p 32 -Er, yes, of course p 32 -Could you hold a moment, Mark? p 32 -Can you come and see me when you have a moment? P 32 1+4 -Yeah- it’s a big city T.1.16/p.16 T 2.18/ p 32 -Where exactly is it? I’m sorry I didn’t catch that p 48 -If you can wait till six, I’ll give you a lift p 48 5 14 -Ok, ladies, now can you describe the man in the bank? T 3.5/p.41 1+5 -Ladies, ladies, please So no moustache then T 3.5/p.41 -No, curly I’d say Wouldn’t you say, Doris? T 3.5/p.41 T 3.17/p.48 T 3.17/p.48 -Are you going to take it? I think so, yeah… -I can’t wait to see it? Yeah… II TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com -I suppose I’ll another year at school and take the exam again T.4.4/p.54 -Charlotte, I can see from your face that the result, er, weren’t exactly what you wantedam I right? T 4.6/p.54 -Perhaps they’ll still accept me- but I don’t think they will, so… I’ll probably take my A levels again next year T 4.6/p.54 T 4.6/p.55 -Hey I like this dish Where can I order it? T 4.6/p.55 -If I won the lottery, which of course I won’t, I’d buy a big penthouse flat near the river with a great view, a really hi-tech flat, you know, with one of those intelligent fridges which orders food from the supermarket all by itself when you’re running out and a huge TV and music, you know, but all very stylish and minimalist T 4.9/p.58 -What was the worst thing for them? The food, definitely! -I don’t agree at all I think it’s much easier Track 4.14/p 63 -Aren’t you hungry? T 4.17 /p 64 T 4.17 /p 64 Track 4.17 /p 64 5+4 T 4.17 /p 64 Sure But this food is really horrible -The sea food looks good Hey, fish have feeling, too -What about the mushroom risotto? Mushroom? No way Didn’t they tell you guys about my allergies? I’m allergic to mushrooms -Shall we go some place else? Whatever I’m going to the restroom -It’s pity we didn’t just take her shooping T 4.17 /p 64 -Do you think you could possibly me a favors? T 4.17 /p 64 III TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com -Yes, of course, sir What would you like? T 4.17 /p 64 -I wouldn’t wear that hat if I were you p 57 -You’ve met Scarlett Scarpino, haven’t you, Ben p 64 p 64 12 -I have agreat idea Why don’t you show her around Pares? p 64 13 -Ok, why don’t we take her to Notre Dame? I mean, it’s her first time in Paris, isn’t it? p 64 13 -Sorry, Allie I’m really busy But I’m sure you’ll have an unforgettable meal p 64 -Actually, I don’t agree with Mark Scarlet isn’t commercial in that way p 80 -Ok Well, I think Scarlet should visit music stores p 80 -Well, I think Scarlet should tour clubs p 80 -I think that’s a better idea p 80 -What’s she like? Let’s say she’s a bit … difficult -How long is this one? One hour 40 minutes T.5.8/p.72 -Well, I must admit my face feels different T 5.10/p.74 -Wow! T 5.10/p.74 -That was definitely worth the time and money T 5.10/p.74 T.5.20/p.80 -Oh you’re joking? That’s too long -Too long It’ll be heaven See you later -It’s great to be on our own again Yeah So could you tell us what the Labour party are going to about….sorry, I mean the Conservative party T 17/ p.79 IV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com -Yeah, well we knew it wouldn’t be easy T.5.20/p.80 -Working together, I mean T.5.20/p.80 -I know, I know you the boss T.5.20/p.80 -It’s not a big deal, Alice I’m fine, really T.5.20/p.80 16 -Well, as you probably know, a lot film Schindler’s List was shot in Krakow T.6.6/p.91 T.6.6/p.91 T.6.7/p.91 -I didn’t think I would ever meet Spielberg or any of the actors -Not at all I mean he was very demanding -What about you, Mark? Oh, I spent most of the time at home…just being domestic, you know The apartment’s looking pretty now, you know You must come round for a meal one evening T 6.13/p.96 -Oh sure I went to Louvre on Saturday T 6.13/p.96 -Yeah I kind of prefer going to museums and galleries on my own T 6.13/p.96 -Really? I didn’t see you T 6.13/p.96 p 112 -Mark, can I come in -Sure -I think there’s something more important to talk about right now p 112 -Oh no You’re joking Oh, Mark I’m sorry I did it without thinking p 112 -I just want to say that I’m terribly sorry p 112 -It’s incredible, isn’t it T.7.6/p.105 -But I don’t think she’s right, you T.7.7/p.105 -So you don’t think we’ll ever solve the mystery? T.7.6/p.105 7 -No, I wouldn’t say that V TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... Christina Latham- Koeing with a view to improving the teaching and learning of politeness strategies in this course book Aims of the study The aims of the study are:  To raise Vietnamese learner’s... also indicate that politeness strategies play an important role in communication in general and in English language teaching and learning in particular And in this study of which the main topic... conversational activities in the course book ? ?New English File- Intermediate? ?? to find out all utterances which contain politeness strategies These data are intended to be analyzed against two types of