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In the light of theoretical background of speech act, politeness in the light of crosscultural communication, this study investigates the cultural transfer on the way Vietnamese students of English offer English invitations. Data in this study are gathered via questionnaires. For the purpose of investigating the dimensions thoroughly, the communicating partners’ social parameters such as gender, age, and relationship among interlocutors are taken into consideration. The findings of all the investigated aspects are presented in the light of cross cultural communication. The common belief is reassured that the influence of Vietnamese language on the adoption of Asking assistance in English invitations is most profound. It is also concluded that in respect of the communicating partners’ parameter of age, the cultural transfer on the use of strategies in English invitations is strongest. This study hopefully makes a contribution to the development of an effective approach to English Language Teaching.
Abstract In the light of theoretical background of speech act, politeness in the light of cross-cultural communication, this study investigates the cultural transfer on the way Vietnamese students of English offer English invitations. Data in this study are gathered via questionnaires. For the purpose of investigating the dimensions thoroughly, the communicating partners’ social parameters such as gender, age, and relationship among interlocutors are taken into consideration. The findings of all the investigated aspects are presented in the light of cross cultural communication. The common belief is reassured that the influence of Vietnamese language on the adoption of Asking assistance in English invitations is most profound. It is also concluded that in respect of the communicating partners’ parameter of age, the cultural transfer on the use of strategies in English invitations is strongest. This study hopefully makes a contribution to the development of an effective approach to English Language Teaching. 1 List of tables and figures Table 1. Strategies used in inviting same-sex communicating partners Table 2. Strategies used in inviting opposite-sex communicating partners Table 3. Strategies used in inviting older communicating partners Table 4 Strategies used in inviting younger communicating partners Table 5. Strategies used in inviting close communicating partners Table 6. Strategies used in inviting nodding acquaintances Table 7. The employment of inviting strategies as seen from communicating partners’ parameters Figure 1. Inviting strategies used by Vietnamese Students of English 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE PAGE i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES………………………………………………… iv TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………v TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 PART I. INTRODUCTION This section will frame the paper by providing a brief description of the topic and stating the research objectives, its scope of study, and the structure of the study. 1. RATIONALE With the prevalence of Communicative Language Teaching, there is growing concern about the close connection between language and culture. Language, in fact, cannot exist independently but closely integrates with the context it belongs to, which 3 is clearly seen in the Levine’s iceberg theory with language considered as the “exposed part” of culture. Concerning this relationship in communication, Nguyen Quang states that “There is an obvious correlation between cultural factors, language and communicative competence, which requires an appropriate consideration” (Nguyen Quang, 2002). Therefore, it is obvious that linguistic knowledge and cultural background which are under mutual influences integrate with each other to serve communication purposes. When the communication in second language is taken into consideration, the impacts of native language culture on it do exist with some facilitating the target language interaction and some interfering with that and causing communication breakdown. Therefore, for the purpose of successful intercultural interchange, there is an essential need to control cultural transfer in a favorable way in which positive effects, known as positive transfer, are encouraged while adverse ones, the interference, are downplayed. This, in fact, is the essence of second language learning, which becomes the goal of foreign language teaching. From this view, the influence of Vietnamese language use on the communication in English is available for a deep and thorough exploration. By virtue of this, barriers against intercultural interchange will be exposed, which make a contribution to the development of effective approaches to English learning and teaching. Therefore, an investigation into the cultural transfer in the adoption of strategies in English invitations by Vietnamese students of English will partially improve Vietnamese learners’ language competence and facilitate their performance in real-life communication. 2. AIMS OF THE STUDY The aims of the research could be clearly identified as follows: 4 - To investigate strategies Vietnamese students of English use when offering invitations - To study how Vietnamese language exerts its influence on the adoption of strategies in English invitations - To figure out what cultural factors affect the cultural transfer in the adoption of these strategies when seeing from the communicating partners’ parameters - To contribute to the development of Communicative Teaching Language 3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The research especially focuses on the use of strategies in English invitations by Vietnamese students of English with the absence of responding strategies. The adoption of these strategies is only seen from the communicating partners’ parameters of gender, age, and relationship while the view from the informants’ parameters is a matter of further studies. Moreover, the research is only confined to verbal aspects of inviting while paralinguistic and extra-linguistic factors go beyond the scope of this study despite their importance in interpersonal communication. 4. RESEARCH DESIGN As for the design of the study, it is composed of three main parts: Part I - Introduction – This part introduces the rationale, the scope, aims and the design of the study Part II - Development – This section is divided into three chapters. - Chapter 1 – Literature review - In this chapter, the theory of speech act, politeness, cultural transfer as well as the related studies are critically discussed 5 - Chapter 2 – Methodology – This chapter outlines the research methods used and presents the following procedures by giving research questions, describing the participants, the research instruments, and the procedure of data collection and analysis. - Chapter 3 – Results and Discussion – In this chapter, the data analysis and findings of the research are displayed with the demonstration of tables and figures. The strategies adopted in invitations by Vietnamese students of English are figured out, and the cultural transfer in the employment of these strategies is drawn from detailed analysis of data. Part III – Conclusion – This part summarizes the key points of the whole study before offering implications for English Language Teaching. It also mentions the limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies. 6 PART II. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW This section presents the theoretical framework of the study, literatures related to inviting strategies in the light of cross-cultural communication 1.1 SPEECH ACTS People perform intended actions while communicating to serve the purposes of interpersonal interaction. Because of the close link between speech acts and language functions, the theoretical framework of speech acts is developed by a lot of theorists with two most basic ideas formulated by Austin (1962) and Searle (1969). The concept of speech acts by Austin (1962) which is primarily grounded on the axiom “Say is part of doing” or “Words are connected to actions” views a speech act is a speaking unit, and serves different communicative functions. Accordingly, in his work, Austin classified utterances into five categories including Verdictives, Exercitives, Commisives, Behabitives, and Expositives. Developing from this approach, Searle (1969) who views speech acts from the speaker’s perspective proposes the taxonomy with five subclasses named as Commissive, Directive, Declarative, Expressive, and Representative. Commissive: a speech act that commits the speaker to perform the action described in the statement (for example, a promise or a threat) Directive: a speech act in which the speaker expects the hearer to do something (for example, a suggestion, a request, or a command) 7 Declarative: a speech act that makes a change to the situation related to the statement (for example, an announcement) Expressive: a speech act that reflects the speaker’s senses and attitudes about something (for example, an apology, a complaint) Representative: a speech act that depicts an event having true or false value. (For example, an assertion, a claim, or a report) From this interpretation, Yule (1997: 55) summarizes these five fundamental functions of speech acts as follows: Speech act type Direction of fit S= speaker X= situation Declarations Representatives Expressives Directives Commissives Words change the word Make words fit the world Make words fit the world Make the world fit words Make the world fit words S causes X S believes X S feels X S wants X S intends X These theories have substantially contributed to the understanding of speech acts as well as their functions in communication. In spite of their importance, I am convinced that the idea of Searle plays a prominent role in forming the central and focal thoughts for analysis of the following part of the study. 1.2. SPEECH ACT OF INVITING According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “invite” is “to ask somebody to come to social event” or “to ask somebody formally to go somewhere or do something” In the light of Searl’s speech acts theory, inviting belongs to directive subclass in which there is a speaker’s expectation that the hearer will do the action mentioned 8 in the statement. This action may be going somewhere or attending a particular social event, mainly the one hosted by the speaker. 1.3. THEORY OF POLITENESS The theoretical framework of politeness consists of a lot of concepts in respect of three most basic ideas developed by Lakoff (1973, 1975), Leech (1983), and Brown and Levinson (1987). Lakoff (1973) views politeness as an interaction facilitator in interpersonal relations which targets conflict and friction minimization in human communication, and is associated with three crucial rules named as “Do not impose”, “Offer options”, and the intimacy or “camaraderie”. Meanwhile, Leech’s notion of politeness adhere to six maxims concerning the tact, the generosity, the approbation, the modesty, the agreement, and the sympathy which reflect interlocutors’ effort to avoid conflicts as well as preserve the comity in their interchange. In spite of these theories’ popularity, I was convinced that ideas of Brown and Levinson (1987) primarily grounded on Goffman’s notion of face is most influential 1.3.1. Notion of face Goffman (1967) defines face as “the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the lines others assume he has taken during a particular contact”; in other words, it is the reflection of self worth in the light of accepted social attributes. Goffman claims that a person’s face is featured by wants to be seen as consistent, as valuable, and as worthy of respect. In his view, the thoughtfulness and the respect are crucial to the maintenance of face. Developing from this interpretation, Brown and Levinson (1987) see face as “the public self-image” related to people’s desires for the conversational appreciation and for the “freedom from imposition” among interactants across social 9 communication. The former called “positive face” is the wants of approval while the latter known as “negative face” is the wants of self-determination. According to Brown and Levison, because of the mutual vulnerability of face, speakers are expected to be persistently heedful of their own and the hearers’ faces and responsible for maintaining them for the duration of social interaction. If participants are not able to defend their faces from threats, they may confront the humiliated or “losing face” that results in communication breakdown. For the purpose of saving face, Brown and Levinson develop the theory of face-threatening acts. 1.3.2. Face-threatening acts (FTAs) From the view of Brown and Levinson, face threatening acts are ones that are inherent in social interaction and may infringe on interlocutors’ autonomy. They not only impede self-determination but also undermine both positive face and negative face of interactants, resulting in the interpersonal communication failure as conversations are obviously built in the spirit of mutual maintenance of face. The growing concern for the communication breakdown leads to an essential requirement to minimize the face-threatening or to save the faces. Considering this issue, Brown and Levinson develop a theory seeing politeness as the minimization of face-loss. They present some politeness strategies used by interlocutors to manage their conversation by dint of the following chart: Flowchart of politeness strategies ordered against estimated threat to face 10 lesser Speaker’s estimation of threat to face Do the FTA greater Don’t do the FTA On record Off record Without redressive action, baldly With redressive action Positive politeness Negative politeness Overall Politeness of speech act lesser more [...]... light of this expectation, the study on cultural transfer in the adoption of inviting strategies was a matter of concern 1.6 CULTURAL TRANSFER 1.6.1 Linguistic theory Though the framework of it comes with a lot of concepts, cultural transfer is basically defined as the cultural interference resulting from cultural difference In this interpretation, cultural transfer happens when the life value and thought... of transfer including language transfer and communicative transfer Language transfer Language transfer considers the effect of one language on the learning of another It falls into two subtypes: positive transfer and negative transfer When source cultural norms are similar to the ones of target culture, positive transfer occurs whilst the negative one comes with the difference among them Positive transfer... communicative transfer, the influence of the source language in the way Vietnamese students resort these two strategies was slight Meanwhile, because of the considerable gap between the numbers of Vietnamese invitations and English invitations using remaining strategies, it was implied that there was rarely cultural transfer seen in the adoption of these strategies in English expressions In general, Vietnamese... on these dimensions was expected in order to develop pragmatics competence Despite their significant contribution to the existing literature, the two studies restricted their scope to the adoption of inviting strategies in one independent culture Meanwhile, for the prevalence of cross-cultural communication, further intercultural research was under special consideration in both academic and practical... darling? 5) Strategy 5: Seek agreement in safe topics Eg: Yes, the weather is wonderful today, isn’t it? 6) Strategy 6: Avoid disagreement Eg: Well, you may be right, but you may want to revise it 7) Strategy 7: Presuppose, raise, and assert common ground Eg: People like you and me rarely say like that 8) Strategy 8: Joke to put the hearer at ease Eg: How about lending me a few fivers? 9) Strategy 9: Assert... words and deeds of other culture Accordingly, cultural transfer is classified into two categories named as surface-structure transfer and deep-structure transfer Surface-structure transfer Surface-structure transfer deals with two main aspects that are language forms and communicative matter and linguistic words and deeds 18 With language forms being under consideration, vocabulary is the centre of attention... Strategy 14: Assert reciprocal exchange or tit for tat Eg: If you help me prepare the dinner, I’ll go shopping with you on Thursday 15) Strategy 15: Give gifts to hearer (goods, sympathy, understanding, cooperation) Eg: I’m really sorry to hear about your cat 1.3.4 Negative Politeness Strategies The following ten strategies are related to hearer’s negative face 1) Strategy 1: Be conventionally indirect... CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This chapter is going to analyze and discuss the findings of the study 3.1 INVITING STRATEGIES The findings from questionnaires reveal that there were 9 inviting strategies adopted by Vietnamese students of English Strategy 1: Giving options The speaker reduces the imposition by offering choices open to the hearer when performing the invitation Vietnamese invitations:... especially there is no Vietnamese expression adopting Threatening strategies 29 Figure 1 Inviting strategies used by Vietnamese Students of English 3.2 THE CULTURAL TRANSFER IN THE ADOPTION OF INVITING STRATEGIES 3.2.1 As seen from communicating partners’ parameter of gender 3.2.1.1 Same-sex communicating partner Languages Vietnamese English Strategies 1 Giving Options 2 Suggesting/Offering 8.3% 60% 48.3%... study’s outcomes were achieved from the analysis of data collected from the discourse completion test carried out with the assistance of American undergraduates In her study, Suzuki claimed that inviting strategies used by native speakers fell into three subclasses including lexical strategies, grammatical strategies, and discourse strategies The two initial subtypes dealt with the utilization of words and . culture. Accordingly, cultural transfer is classified into two categories named as surface-structure transfer and deep-structure transfer. Surface-structure transfer Surface-structure transfer deals. cultural transfer in the adoption of inviting strategies was a matter of concern. 1.6. CULTURAL TRANSFER 1.6.1. Linguistic theory Though the framework of it comes with a lot of concepts, cultural. Suzuki claimed that inviting strategies used by native speakers fell into three subclasses including lexical strategies, grammatical strategies, and discourse strategies. The two initial subtypes