(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) Telephone conversation openings in English and Vietnamese (from a language cultural perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES TRAN THI THANH HUONG TELEPHONE CONVERSATION OPENINGS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (FROM A LANGUAGE-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE) Mở đầu hội thoại qua điện thoại tiếng Anh tiếng Việt (Nhìn từ góc độ ngơn ngữ văn hóa) M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI - 2009 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ THANH HƯƠNG M.A MINOR THESIS TELEPHONE CONVERSATION OPENINGS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (FROM A LANGUAGE-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE) Mở đầu hội thoại qua điện thoại tiếng Anh tiếng Việt (Nhìn từ góc độ ngơn ngữ văn hóa) Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc Prof.Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ HANOI - 2009 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 2 Aims of the study Scope of the study Theoretical / practical significance of the study Methodology DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Language and culture 1.2 The historical development of telephone conversations 1.3 Conversation Analysis and Telephone Conversations 1.4.Culture and telephone conversations Chapter 2: TELEPHONE CONVERSATION OPENINGS AS COMMUNICATIVE ACTS 11 2.1 General structure of telephone conversation openings 11 2.1.1 Conversation opening structure 11 2.1.2 Telephone conversation openings 12 2.2 Cross-cultural Communication and Telephone Openings 17 2.2.1 Opening sequence in other cultures 17 2.2.2 Telephone openings in other cultures 18 Chapter 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE TELEPHONE CONVERSATION OPENINGS 21 3.1 The receiver’s first turn - individual moves 21 3.1.1 Summon-answer sequence 21 3.1.2 Identification-recognition sequence 23 3.1.3 Greeting sequence 26 3.1.4 How-are-you sequence 27 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective v 3.2 The caller’s first turn - individual moves 29 3.2.1 Summon-answer sequence 29 3.2.2 Identification-recognition sequence 30 3.2.3 Greeting sequence 32 3.2.4 How-are-you sequence 33 CONCLUSION 35 Recapitulation 35 Concluding remarks 35 Implications for teaching English telephone conversation openings 37 Suggestions for further research 38 REFERENCE I APPENDIX IV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective INTRODUCTION The beginning of conversations has received much attention in the fields of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and conversation analysis Conversation analysis of telephone conversations is a fairly well established area of investigation, beginning in the late 1960s with Schegloff dissertation on conversational openings Since that time, a numerous researchers have advanced the study on telephone conversations (Godard, 1977; Schegloff, 1979; Schegloff, 1986; Sifianou, 1989; Lindström, 1994; Houtkoop-Steenstra, 1991; Hopper, 1992) The study of conversation openings, particularly on the telephone, has become prominent for the following particular reasons: a) Openings are interactionally compact and brief (Schegloff, 1986:112) b) Generally, at the beginning of a conversation, participants may utilize conversational strategies or “routines” to negotiate interpersonal relationships (Gumperz, 1982:142; Schegloff, 1986:113) This also counts for the beginnings of conversations on the telephone, as co-participants have resources available to them to manage identification and recognition of one another c) Schegloff (1972, 1979, and 1986) describes telephone conversation openings in American English in terms of an ordered set of four core opening sequences: (1) the summons-answer sequence; (2) the identification-recognition sequence; (3) the exchange of greeting tokens (Hi/Hi), and (4) the how-are-you sequence Accomplishing these tasks or “routines” is the focus of the first utterances in telephone conversation openings d) Another important feature of telephone conversation openings is that they have a "perfunctory" character (Schegloff, 1986:113) In other words, in opening a telephone conversation, participants go through these routines in a rather automated manner However, in all the studies I have examined Vietnamese is absent in the literature Gumperz (1982:166) notes that while speech activities exist in all cultures, there might be differences in the ways particular activities are carried out and signaled Using Conversation Analysis (CA) as the methodology, this study illustrates the cultural characteristics of the format and interactional routines of opening conversations on the telephone in Vietnamese and English languages to determine to what extent this data fits within Schegloff‟s theoretical model of sequencing in telephone openings At the same time it will illustrate how the cultural differences within telephone conversation openings may interfere with speaker‟s intentions and expectations when talking on the phone TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective Finally, the relevance of my investigation for second language teaching and learning will be highlighted Rationale The telephone is the primary electronic medium for interpersonal communication and telephone communication has an indispensable element of everyday life Due to the lack of visual communication, at least in the normal use of this medium, linguistic information is foreground Thus, telephone conversation is a challenge to anybody learning a foreign language and remains a sensitive area in intercultural encounters, even for those who have mastered the basics of a foreign language and culture Inexperience in dealing with live interactive telephone conversations in the target language can also be a serious problem for some second language learners They need opportunity to listen to, interpret and sum up what they hear in a series of authentic recorded phone conversations Their listening can be greatly facilitated if they are exposed to authentic telephone conversations and also taught the conversational structures and options as well as formulaic expressions Telephone call openings represent an ideal object of study for cross-cultural pragmatics research Since these social encounters are very specific and strongly constrained by technology, the range of actions that can be performed in them is limited so that one can thus observe how different cultures and languages vary in their realization of the same interactional routine That is why this paper chooses telephone conversation openings for the study Aims of the study The study aims: 1) To find out standard formulas used in beginning telephone conversations among English and Vietnamese speakers as suggested by Schegloff 2) To discover how culture affects the ways English and Vietnamese start their telephone conversations 3) To draw an implication in English teaching for Vietnamese students Scope of the study I restrict my study on formal business telephone conversation openings and informal personal ones which are used by people doing different jobs and at different ages Theoretical / practical significance of the study TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 29 Apart from these more specific cases, it seems that English callers don‟t find lack of selfidentification particularly accountable In these contexts an asymmetry is produced whereby the receiver‟s identification is preferred and required, while that of the caller can normally be omitted In other words, callers are automatically and implicitly recognized by their interlocutors as (possible) customers and this seems to be taken as sufficient for the conversation to proceed Receiver: Hello 87549 Caller: Hello, Marcia Receiver: Hello, darling This is a nice surprise (Hutchinson Tom, Lifelines Intermediate, 1997: 141) Identification can be followed by a request: Caller: Hello, could I speak to Mario Maleta Please? It‟s Chirs Stutton Receiver: Hello, Mr Sutton I‟m sorry, but Mr Maleta isn‟t here today here In some situation when callers know exactly who they are calling identification is not necessary (Mary rings and Alan picks up the phone) Caller: When can we get together to discuss a few things, Alan? Receiver: Just a minute, let me get my diary Right This week? Caller: OK We need about two or three hours (Hutchinson Tom, 1997: 133) Vietnamese usually identify when making a phone call 30% of the participants agree that they always give identification when making a phone call Receiver: Alo Caller: Alo, Hương Mẹ à? (This is Hương Mom?) People who run their business and work in offices always identify themselves and their place of work Receiver: Alo Caller: Alo, Lợi Khách sạn Thanh Ngân (Alo, I‟m Loi Thanh Ngan Hotel speaking) Generally people identify themselves when necessary (50%) They say that it is not polite if you not give identification when start a telephone conversation Only 7% of the TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 30 participants say they never identify themselves as they always know the person they call and the other person also recognize them, so identification is not necessary 3.2.3 Greeting sequence Greetings are a very frequent move in callers‟ first turns When the second greeting form is also produced, it reinforces the greeting made in the first form, so that its main role is that of channel opener In English Hello is used with another greeting form, which can be seen in table English callers seem to be quite uniform in their behavior They often (20%) ask „Hello/ Hi How are you?‟ or after hello/hi they mention their name with the figure I gathered is 30% The formula „Hello, receiver‟s name‟ and „Good morning/ afternoon/ evening‟ are equally used with 20% „Hi (caller‟s name) How are you doing?‟ takes only 10% In fact, the most common turn format by far is a greeting directly followed the reason for call Otherwise, in other cases, greetings may be omitted and the caller begins by simply stating their request This however occurs only after a receiver‟s offer of availability, which in a certain way urges the caller to rush to the request, as in the following example Receiver: Hello, Sales Caller: I‟d like to speak to Helena Steiner, please (Hollette, 1996: 182) Vietnamese greet each other differently depending on their ages and relationship They the same in telephone conversations „Is that receiver‟s name and title (anh, chị )‟ is often used (27%) as a greeting, not identification Receiver: Alo? Caller: Alo Anh /Chị B à? (Is that Mr/Mrs B) If they recognize the receiver they just greet the receiver (chào anh/ chị + (name) whose percentage is 23% Receiver: Alo? Caller: Alo Cháu chào chú/ Chào A (Hi uncle) 17% of the callers may greet receivers with (Chào anh/ chị ) and then ask „How are you?‟ Receiver: Alo? Caller: Chào anh A Anh khoẻ không? (Hello Mr A How are you) TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 31 They sometimes (20%) give identification „This is (caller name) and then greet the receiver Receiver: Alo? Caller: Em Hương Em chào thầy (This is Huong speaking Good morning teacher) Some people greet the other by asking a question Receiver: Alo? Caller: Đang làm đấy? (What are you doing) 3.2.4 How-are-you sequence English people usually say „how are you‟ after they recognize the people they call Monique calls David: Caller: Hello Is that David? Receiver: Yes, speaking Is that Monique? Caller: Yes Hello David How are you? Receiver: I‟m fine (Grand and McLarty, 2001:164) In real life conversations, the four steps of a typical may be expressed in the first turn of a caller like in the following example: A colleague phones Piera on the Monday after her trip and asks her about it Caller: Hi Piera, this is Charles How are you? Receiver: Fine, thanks (Grand and McLarty, 2001:165) In other cases, how-are-you sequence is not just asking the other about their health but showing the availability to talk Receiver: Good morning, AA insurance My name‟s Carol How can I help Caller: Hello I‟d like a quotaton for car insurance you? (Hutchinson, 1997:132) Upon hearing „How can I help you?‟ callers have two competing motivations in producing their first turn They might reciprocate the greeting, which was however produced quite a while before in the receiver‟s first turn, but they also have to provide a second pair part to the request to formulate how they wish to be helped, which is the most recent move in the TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 32 interaction It is thus not surprising that this latter format may somehow push them to skip greetings in order to answer as soon as possible the receiver‟s question When asked people said they sometimes ask „how are you‟ in their telephone conversation, see table Vietnamese people ask about other people‟s health only when necessary (43%) 27% say that they always ask „How are you‟ when call someone Receiver: Alo? Caller: Alo, Nam à? Dạo có khỏe khơng? (Is that Nam How are you?) How are you sequence is common in Vietnamese telephone conversation because Vietnamese people often take great care of other people in their family, their friends, neighbours In dayily conversations they also often ask others about their health It is considered as an indespensible character in Vietnamese culture TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 33 CONCLUSION Recapitulation I examined the data by doing a simple count of how many of the categories for openings (Schegloff 1968) appeared in the data, and in what combinations to get an idea of how closely my information fit with the extant theories of universal functions I found examples of all four of the opening sequences suggested by Schegloff in my data In the table below, I summarize the number of occurrences of each sequence found in all 50 samples of telephone conversations If we look at the number, there appears to be a strong fit with Schegloff‟s suggested categories which are summons-answer, identification, greeting and how-are-you sequence 90% of the English samples include summons-answer sequence Vietnamese summons are a bit different with 13% of the receivers who start their telephone calls without summonsanswer „Alo‟ The callers use summons „Alo‟ in most cases (84%) However, they use other speeches such as „This is (caller name) speaking‟, „Excuse me, is that ‟, „Yes‟ or just greet the other person using appropriate pronouns according to their relationship After the counting step, I returned to look more closely at the actual text to find examples in support of both concordances and differences between the data and the current theories It is through this textual approach that specific cultural idiosyncrasies can be identified, and this will provide the most useful information for application to second language learning and teaching After all, highlighting similarities and differences between one‟s own culture and another bring them to conscious awareness Once someone is consciously aware of something, it is much easier for him/her to learn and remember that information and to have it consciously accessible when it is needed Concluding remarks Although telephone call openings appear at first sight to be a relatively simple and invariable routine, there is actually great variation in the way they are realized across languages, institutions and individuals Every time we open a phone call, we must find an appropriate way to various contextual variables These constraints are weaker on the receiver‟s side, as his or her first turn is not dependent on previous talk, which explains the lesser variety found in these turns TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 34 However, even such cases may exhibit a degree or variation; depending on how close one is to the phone, on the activities one may be engaged with when the phone is ringing, on the calls that were made in the preceding seconds or minutes, and so on The caller‟s task is more complex, as his or her turn is contingent upon previous talk by the receiver and must be tailored to the variety of requests to be made Even among speakers of the same language there is thus a high variability in the way telephone calls begin The present study has shown that there are no single ways in which speakers of a language open a telephone call English language performs higher formality whereas Vietnamese has more variants which depend on age, power and the relationship between speakers Vietnamese people answer the phone with a simple „Alo‟, a format that is virtually absent English service calls Other differences are less evident, and only a careful analysis can make them apparent Other areas of non obvious differences concern the linear order in which various moves occur within turns In English there is a strong tendency for greetings to occur at the beginning of the receiver‟s first turn, a format that is much rarer in Vietnamese where greetings are produced at the end of the turn or in any case after uttering the place and/or receiver‟s identity Such findings may influence intercultural communication training programs in several ways First, one should acknowledge the fact that there is no standard way of answering the phone Even a relatively widespread pattern - identifying and greeting - is realized in the reverse order in at least English From this follows the dubious validity of training programs based on literal translations of materials originally written in other languages An opening like „good afternoon ABC company „Can I help you?‟, which is quite natural in the UK and uttered even in small businesses, becomes not natural when it takes the Vietnamese form “Tơi giúp ạ?” which strongly contrasts with the usual patterns for that language, characterized by very short turns in the opening phase Students study English should thus be made aware of the peculiarities of the pragmatic routines in each of the languages spoken, including their own native language This would make them realize what is unmarked appropriate behavior and what might be seen as more or less sanctionable deviations from such standards, both on the receiver‟s and the caller‟s end Opening a telephone call is just one small communicative ritual in professional daily life, although a frequent and important one There are hundreds, thousands, of similar TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective 35 rituals which display such cross-cultural variation, and it would be virtually impossible to provide in-depth training for each one of them However, taking one exemplar case like telephone calls and unraveling all of its complexity might be a way to sensitize workers to the fine details of cross-cultural variation in communicative rituals Implications for teaching English telephone conversation openings to Vietnamese learners Wolfson (1989: 96) emphasizes the importance of knowing different cultural norms when one is learning a foreign language: “This little rule, as insignificant as it may seem, is extremely important to the learner who might, if not shown how two frames work, use the wrong one and thereby be misunderstood.” Such knowledge feeds into a learner‟s communicative and pragmatic competence in the target language and cultures, as noted above Such studies provide concrete information to teachers who must teach the norms of daily English and Vietnamese usage to their learners Although there are some small tasks in the listening parts in many English textbooks are telephone conversations, at a pragmatic level, communicative competence on telephone is something that is not currently emphasized in most English education curricula This data could also be used as a comparative tool to teach English to Vietnamese learners, if it is used in a supplementary, comparative or contrastive fashion conjunction with the English data they need to learn A final possible use of such studies is to provide a practical example of an every day situation which all students encounter, as a springboard to a lesson on differences and similarities between the native culture and the target culture The above are just some possible implications of telephone conversation openings Clearly it is an open-wide field, and I believe researchers and educators can and should find ways to explore and apply it in all its variety inside and outside the classroom Suggestions for further research I realize that there are limitations to my own work The most significant of these is the small size of my data samples Due to the small sample, my conclusions can be considered suggestive rather than conclusive Because it is such a preliminary work, I fell it is important to study more on Vietnamese language in making telephone openings as Vietnamese is lacking in literature Additionally, it is hoped that my own contribution will TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective (LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Telephone.conversation.openings.in.English.and.Vietnamese.(from.a.language.cultural.perspective