a vietnamese - american cross-cultural study of encouraging = nghiên cứu giao văn hóa việt - mỹ về hành động khích lệ

AIMS OF THE STUDY The main aims of this study are:  to investigate how the Vietnamese native speakers perform the act of encouraging as defined in relation to the social factors assign

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF PROJECT REPORT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Organisation of the study 3

DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Pragmatics and cross-cultural pragmatics 4

1.2 Speech acts 5

1.2.1 Definition of speech acts 5

1.2.2 Classifications of speech acts 7

1.2.3 Encouraging as a speech act 9

1.2.4 Encouraging and comforting 10

1.3 Politeness in Cross-cultural pragmatics 10

1.3.1 Politeness defined 10

1.3.2 Conversational-maxim view on politeness 12

1.3.3 Face-management view on politeness 13

1.3.4 Social variables affecting politeness 18

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 20

2.1 Research questions 20

2.2 Research design 20

2.2.1 Data collection instruments 20

2.2.2 Variables manipulated in data collection instruments 21

2.2.3 Contents of the questionnaires 22

2.2.4 Informants 24

2.2.5 Data collection procedure 24

2.3 Results of the MPQ 25

2.4 Realisation of politeness strategies in encouraging 29

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 38

3.1 Overall number of strategies 38

3.2 Overall use of strategies 42

3.3 Use of strategies by social variables 44

3.4 Use of strategies by situations 48

3.4.1 Choice of encouraging strategies in high-power settings (+P) 50

3.4.2 Choice of encouraging strategies in equal-power settings (=P) 54

3.4.3 Choice of encouraging strategies in low-power settings (–P) 59

CONCLUSION 65

1 Review of the main findings 65

2 Implications 68

3 Limitations 68

4 Suggestions for further study 69

REFERENCES 71

APPENDICES I Appendix A: Metapragmatic Questionnaires (MPQ) I Appendix B: Discourse Completion Task (DCT) XVII Appendix C: Frequency Analysis for VNS and ANS XXI Appendix D: Independent-Sampes t-Test Analysis for VNS and ANS XXV

LlST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS

ANS: American Native Speakers

D: Social Distance

DCT: Discourse Completion Task

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

FTA: Face-threatening Act

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 The five general functions of speech acts (following Searle, 1979) 8

Table 2.1 Mean ratings of social factors by Vietnamese informants 25

Table 2.2 Mean ratings of social factors by American informants 26

Table 3.1 Group statistics of number of strategies in situations for VNS and ANS 39

Table 3.2 T-test analysis of of strategies in situations for VNS and ANS (full version) 40

Table 3.3 T-test analysis of of strategies in situations for VNS and ANS 41

Table 3.4 Frequency of preferred strategies for VNS and ANS 42

Table 3.5 Frequency of use of strategies by situations by VNS 48

Table 3.6 Frequency of use of strategies by situations bu ANS 49

Table 3.7 T-test analysis of use of strategies in the important package deal situation (sit 2) for VNS and ANS 51

Table 3.8 T-test analysis of use of strategies in the important exam situation (sit 1) for VNS and ANS 53

Table 3.9 T-test analysis of use of strategies in the cancer stage 1 situation (sit 6) for VNS and ANS 55

Table 3.10 T-test analysis of use of strategies in the busy spouse situation (sit 3) for VNS and ANS 57

Table 3.11 T-test analysis of use of strategies in the competition for promotion situation (sit 5) for VNS and ANS 61

Table 3.12 T-test analysis of use of strategies in the TV contest situation (sit 4) for VNS and ANS 63

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 69) 15

Figure 1.2 Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Nguyen, Q., 2006: 47) 16

Figure 3.1 Frequency of strategies in situations for VNS and ANS 38

Figure 3.2 Frequency of overall strategies for VNS and ANS 43

Figure 3.3 Frequency of strategies by power for VNS and ANS 44

Figure 3.4 Frequency of strategies by power for VNS 46

Figure 3.5 Frequency of strategies by power for ANS 46

Figure 3.6 Frequency of strategies by social distance for VNS and ANS 47

Figure 3.7 Frequency of strategies in the important package deal situation (sit 2) 50

Figure 3.8 Frequency of strategies in the important exam situation (sit 1) 52

Figure 3.9 Frequency of strategies in the cancer stage 1 situation (sit 6) 54

Figure 3.10 Frequency of strategies in the busy spouse situation (sit 3) 56

Figure 3.11 Frequency of strategies in the competition for promotion situation (sit 5) 59

Figure 3.12 Frequency of strategies in the TV contest situation (sit 4) 62

INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE

Due to the development of mass media and transportation, the enhancement of living standards, international relations and cooperation have been strongly promoted In that global context, Vietnam - America relationship is no exception

In cross-cultural contacts between the Vietnamese and the American, which are increasingly widespread, there appears a need for participants to have certain understanding of not only the target language but also the target culture to behave in an appropriate way for successful communication It has been proved in reality that, without a reasonable level of cultural competence, there exists a strong likelihood of culture shock, cultural conflicts, and communication breakdown As a result, studies of similarities and differences between Vietnamese and American verbal communication are of great importance

The speech act of encouraging is common in both Vietnamese and American cultures Appropriate encouragement can help improve one‟s feeling, attitude, motivation as well as performance However, cross-cultural studies of encouraging have not received much attention from Vietnamese researchers and linguists This study, which is aimed at examining how the Vietnamese and the American verbally encourage their communicative partners and whether there are any similarities and differences, was conducted in the hope

of making positive contributions to the success in Vietnamese – American cross-cultural communication and in communicative English language teaching

2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The main aims of this study are:

 to investigate how the Vietnamese native speakers perform the act of encouraging

as defined in relation to the social factors assigned in certain situations;

 to investigate how the American native speakers perform the act of encouraging as defined in relation to the social factors assigned in certain situations;

 to find out if there are any prominent similarities and differences between the Vietnamese native speakers‟ and the American native speakers‟ use of encouraging strategies in relation to the social factors assigned in the situations studied

3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study focuses only on the verbal aspects of the speech act of encouraging Non-verbal factors (including paralinguistic and extralinguistic ones) are beyond the scope of the study despite their enormous importance in real-life communication

The study mainly focuses on the Vietnamese and American native speakers‟ use of encouraging strategies in six situations, in which P and D are systematically varied while R

is controlled Influences of other parameters of the informants such as age, gender, marital status, residential area, education, and foreign language acquisition are not analysed in this study

The data are collected through survey questionnaires Other methods of data collection (such as audiotaping or videotaping) are not employed due to limitations of time and finance

The number of informants is limited Besides, only Northern Vietnamese dialect is taken into consideration

In the view of the above limitations, this can only be regarded as a preliminary study and all the conclusions are tentative

4 METHODS OF THE STUDY

The methods of the study are quantitative and qualitative Quantitative analysis is done with the help of Exel and SPSS software Considerations, comments and conclusions, tentative as they are, are mainly based on the following procedures:

 Reference to domestic and foreign publications;

 Administration of survey questionnaires (MPQ and DCT);

 Data collection, description, and analysis;

 Consultation with the supervisor and colleagues

5 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY

The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

The Introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale, the aims, the

scope, the methods, and the organization

The Development is divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1 (Literature Review) reviews the key theoretical concepts that the study is

based on

Chapter 2 (Methodology) introduces the research questions that the study attempts to

answer It also describes the survey questionnaires, the informants, and the data collection procedure Besides, realization of encouraging strategies is presented

Chapter 3 (Findings and Discussion) presents the results of the study It also provides

an in-depth discussion of the use of encouraging strategies for each of the six situations

The Conclusion provides a summary of the study, the major findings, the implications, the

limitations as well as suggestions for further research in the future

DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 PRAGMATICS AND CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATICS

Pragmatics, since its appearance, has excited great attention from many leading linguists Enormous efforts have gone into reaching a satisfactory definition of this linguistic phenomenon

According to Griffiths (2006: 1), pragmatics is “the study of how senders and addressees,

in acts of communication, rely on context to elaborate on literal meaning”

Pragmatics is defined by Crystal (1992: 310) as “the study of language from the point of view of the users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction, and the effects their use of language has on the other participants in an act of communication”

It is apparent from the above definitions that in pragmatics, not only the mere expressions are taken into account Besides linguistic forms, the context also greatly contributes to the interpretation of meaning In Cruse‟s (2006: 136) opinion, the context (in a broad sense) may include “previous utterances (discourse context), participants in the speech event, their interrelations, knowledge, and goals, and the social and physical setting of the speech event”

The notion of “pragmatics” is clarified by Richards, Platt, & Webber (1992: 284) as

follows:

Pragmatics includes the study of:

 How the interpretation and use of utterances depend on knowledge of the

real world

 How speakers use and understand speech acts

 How the structure of sentences is influenced by the relationship between the

speaker and the hearer

Of the above issues, the study of speech acts is considered to be of high importance to pragmatics

What is more, as “every culture has its own repertoire of characteristic speech acts” and

“different cultures find expression in different system of speech acts and different speech acts become entrenched, and to some extent, codified in different languages” (Wierzbicka (1991: 25), the study of speech acts plays an even more important role in cross-cultural pragmatics, which is defined by Yule (1996: 87) as “the study of differences in expectations based on cultural schemata”

1.2 SPEECH ACTS

1.2.1 Definition of speech acts

The concept of speech acts was first introduced by Austin in the first edition of his book

How to do things with words published in 1962 Since then, it has been discussed

extensively by a large number of philosophers and linguists such as Grice (1975), Hymes (1964), Searle (1969, 1975, 1979), Levinson (1983), Brown and Yule (1983), Mey (1993), Thomas (1995), and Yule (1996) All these speech act theorists share the confirmation of the close link between speech acts and language functions

Generally, actions that are performed by the use of utterances to communicate are called speech acts (Yule, 1996: 47) In Searle‟s (1969: 1) opinion, speech acts are “the basic or minimal units of linguistics communication” In language use, speech acts are specifically labeled as apology, complaint, request, compliment, invitation, promise, etc The circumstances in which actions are performed are known as the speech events – an activity

in which participants interact via language in a conventional way to achieve some outcome (Yule, 1996: 57)

Austin (1962) believes that a single speech act actually consists of three separate but interrelated acts, which are locutionay act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act

 A locutionary act is the act of saying something, performed with a sense and reference

 An illocutionary act is the function of the utterance, performed with a predetermination and/or intention

 A perlocutionary act is the recognition, and the effects that the hearer receives as following the illocutionary act

Let us consider the following example:

Your room is dirty

The action of saying this utterance (producing a meaningful linguistic expression) is the locutionary act The above utterance contains a “force” known as illocutionary force In this case, it can have the illocutionary force of a request to clean the room Further effects obtained by the speaker are called perlocutionary effects of an utterance According to Mey (1993: 112), these effects are dependent on the context and unpredictable The perlocutionary effect of an utterance may not coincide with its illocutionary force The hearer may correctly understand the speaker‟s intention and starts cleaning the room or they may disregard the speaker‟s want

Of the three acts, the illocutionary act is of the utmost importance as there is not always a one-to-one correspondence between syntactic forms and illocutionary forces The utterance

“Your room is dirty.” can bring about different forces It may be understood as a remark, a

criticism, or a request It is the reason why Yule (1996: 52) observes that “the term speech act is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only the illocutionary force of an

utterance” and Searle (1976: 1) regards the illocutionary act “the basic unit of human linguistic communication”

1.2.2 Classifications of speech acts

1.2.2.1 Function-based approach

Austin (1962: 151) classified speech acts into five major types:

 Verdictives: represent acts that give a verdict

 Excertives: express power on the hearer

 Commissives: commit the speaker to doing something

 Behabitives: express different behaviours such as apologizing, congratulating, and the alike

 Explositives: are conversation and argument related, such as “I assume”, “I concede”

In his classification, Austin emphasizes how speakers realize their intentions in speaking Searle (1976: 10-16), on the other hand, pays more attention to the way hearers respond to utterances Searle‟s taxonomy consists of five categories:

 Assertives/ Representatives = speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition, e.g reciting a Creed

 Directives = speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action, e.g requests, commands and advice

 Commissives = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action, e.g promises and oaths

 Expressives = speech acts that express the speaker's attitudes and emotions towards the proposition, e.g congratulations, excuses and thanks

 Declarations = speech acts that change the reality in accord with the proposition of the declaration, e.g baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty or pronouncing someone husband and wife

Yule (1996: 55) makes a remarkable progress in summarizing the five general types of speech acts with their key functions as below:

Speech act type Direction of fit S = speaker, X = situation

Declarations Words change the world S causes X

Representatives Makes words fit the world S believes X

Expressives Make words fit the world S feels X

Directives Make the world fits words S wants X

Commisives Make the world fits words S intends X

Table 1.1: The five general functions of speech acts (following Searle, 1979)

1.2.2.2 Structure-function based approach

Based on the relationship between structures and functions of speech acts, some linguists classify speech acts in terms of directness and indirectness

The issue is raised in Saville-Troike (1982) and supported by Yule (1996: 54), who suggests the criteria for classification: the relationship between the three structural forms (declarative, interrogative, and imperative) and the three general communication functions (statement, question, and command/request) According to Yule (1996: 54), we have a direct speech act when a direct relationship between a structure and a function exists, and

we have an indirect speech act when there is not a direct relationship between a structure and a function

For example, such a declarative structure as “Your room is dirty” can be categorised as a direct speech act if the speaker‟s intention is just to make a statement (I think that your room is dirty.); however, it can be realized as an indirect speech act if it is used as a request

to clean the room

In fact, each taxonomy has its own merits In this study, the author follows the classification of Searle (1976) and the summary of the five types of speech acts with the five certain functions given by Yule (1996)

1.2.3 Encouraging as a speech act

According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of English, to encourage is “to give

somebody support, courage or hope”

In terms of syntax, there is no necessary correlation between structural forms and illocutionary forces in encouraging In fact, encouragement can be expressed in declarative, interrogative, and imperative forms respectively as in the following examples:

I’m sure you’ll pass it (the exam)

Try your best!

Oh dear, how could you do this? (surprising and happy voice)

In the light of speech acts theory, encouraging can be classified as a representative:

I can see no reason why you won’t become a world-famous chef

You’ve clearly got talent!

It can also be seen as an expressive speech act, especially when the speaker wants to show their great feelings towards what the hearer has achieved

Congratulations! (You’re now really a skilful housewife.)

Thank you for raising your hand, Mary (Mary, a shy student, raises her hand to

answer the teacher‟s question in class.)

Great work!

Encouraging, furthermore, can be classified into a directive type of speech act:

Don’t be worried, honey!

Take it easy

Don’t give up whatever you do

What is more, an encouragement can also function as a commissive speech act in the sense that the speaker offers to do something for the hearer to help solve the problem or to soothe the hearer

I’ll stand by you

I’ll be praying for you

To sum up, it can be seen that encouraging is a complex speech act, which are verbalized

in all the three structural forms and take up to four of five types of speech acts given by Searle (1976) and Yule (1996)

1.2.4 Encouraging and comforting

To some extent, the speech act of encouraging is considered to be similar to comforting According to Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, 5th edition, “if

you encourage someone, you give them confidence, for example by letting them know

that what they are doing is good and telling them that they should continue to do it” and “if

you encourage someone to do something, you try to persuade them to do it, for example

by telling them that it would be a pleasant thing to do, or by trying to make it easier for

them to do it”, whereas comfort is defined as to make someone “feel less worried,

unhappy, or upset, for example by saying kind things to them” It can be seen from the above definitions that comforting is mainly to reduce one‟s currently unpleasant feelings while the act of encouraging not only soothes someone but also helps to increase their will, spirits, and energy so that they confidently head toward the future

that: “Politeness is basic to the production of social order, and is a precondition of human cooperation.” (cited in Brown and Levinson, 1987)

According to Kasper (1997), the word “polite” dates back to the fifteenth century, and it originally meant “polish” In modern usage, “polite” is defined as “having or showing good manners and respect for the feelings of others” (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary)

Many researchers have proposed a number of approaches to define “politeness”, though until now it is still open to the most precise definition

Goffman in his early work on politeness (1967: 77) defines politeness as “the appreciation

an individual shows to another through avoidance or presentation of rituals.”

Blum-Kulka (1987: 131) describes politeness functionally as “the interactional balance achieved between two needs: the need for pragmatic clarity and the need to avoid coerciveness.” This definition, in fact, seems to focus much on negative politeness rather than on politeness in general

Some scholars like Brown and Levinson (1987), Yule (1996), and Richards et al.(1992) define politeness in relation to face

In Yule‟s (1996) opinion, “politeness, in an interaction, can be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another person‟s face In this sense, politeness can be accomplished in situations of social distance closeness”

Sociolinguistically, Richards et al (1992: 281) claim that “Politeness means (a) how languages express the SOCIAL DISTANCE between speakers and their different ROLE RELATIONSHIPS; (b) how face-work, that is, the attempt to establish, maintain and save face during conversation, is carried out in a speech community.”

Nguyen (2006: 44) has his own definition of politeness, which is capable of upholding politeness in both verbal and nonverbal way, as follows: “Politeness is any communicative act (verbal and/or nonverbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to make another person/ other people feel better or less bad.”

This definition is adopted as the working definition of politeness for this study

1.3.2 Conversational-maxim view on politeness

Considering politeness as a means to “facilitate interaction by minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherent in all human interchange”, Lakoff (1983:142) specifies the politeness principle with three rules that speakers should follow in order to be polite:

 Rule 1: Don‟t impose

Rule 1 is used when formal/ impersonal politeness is required The speaker tries to avoid or alleviate the imposition on the hearer by asking permission or apologizing when asking the hearer to do something For example:

I‟m sorry to trouble you, but can you give me a lift into town?

 Rule 2: Offer options

Rule 2 is used when informal politeness is required Offering options means expressing oneself in such a way that one‟s opinion or request can be ignored without being contradicted or rejected For example:

I wonder if you could give me a lift into town

 Rule 3: Encourage feelings of camaraderie

Rule 3 is used when intimate politeness is required Indirectness and hedges are not popular Camaraderie is shown through the use of addressing terms, colloquialism, and so on

Lakoff‟s rules seem to be typical of Western culture where individualism is emphasized In other cultures, Vietnamese one included, where intimate relations and group solidarity are appreciated, the three rules are not always appropriate; therefore, they cannot be considered universal rules of politeness

Leech‟s (1983: 16) politeness principles are constructed based on the notion of “cost” and

“benefit” He introduces six following maxims:

Tact maxim: Minimize cost to other Maximize benefit to other

Generosity maxim: Minimize benefit to self Maximize cost to self

Approbation maxim: Minimize dispraise of other Maximize dispraise of self

Modesty maxim: Minimize praise of self Maximize praise of other

Agreement maxim: Minimize disagreement between self and other

Maximize agreement between self and other

Sympathy maxim: Minimize antipathy between self and other

Maximize sympathy between self and other

Leech‟s maxims prove to have certain limitations For instance, complimenting is considered a polite action as it accords with Tact, Generosity, Agreement, and Sympathy maxims However, in reality, complimenting is not always regarded polite, especially when the compliment is just a sham Some maxims are even in contradiction to each other When receiving a compliment, if the hearer receives it, he/she violates Modesty maxim; however, if he/she refuses it, Agreement maxim is infringed

1.3.3 Face-management view on politeness

1.3.3.1 Face defined

Face is central to Brown and Levinson‟s (1987) theory of politeness, which is considered

to be among the most influential ones Brown and Levinson (1987: 66) see face as “the sense of a person‟s public self-image”

Yule (1996: 60) agrees with Brown and Levinson that face means “the public self-image of

a person” In his opinion, face refers to the “emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize”

Face consists of two aspects: positive and negative face

In Brown and Levinson‟s (1987: 62) opinion, “positive face is the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some others”, whereas “negative face is the want of every „competent adult member‟ that his actions be unimpeded by others”

According to Yule (1996: 61-62), “A person‟s positive face is the need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his or her wants are shared by others” while “A person‟s negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others” Simply put, the former is the need to be concerned, and the latter, the need to be independent

1.3.3.2 Strategies for FTAs

As stated by Brown and Levinson (1987: 61), face is “something that is emotionally invested, and that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to

in interaction” They also present the definition of face-threatening acts (FTAs) as “acts that by their nature run contrary to the face wants of the addressee and/ or of the speaker” (1987: 65)

Politeness strategies, therefore, are developed in order to formulate messages to save the hearer‟s or speaker‟s face when FTAs are inevitable Politeness strategies can be understood as those which aim at (1) supporting or enhancing the addressee‟s positive face (positive politeness) and (2) avoiding transgression of the addressee‟s freedom of action and freedom from imposition (negative politeness)

Instead of suggesting politeness rules or maxims, Brown and Levinson (1987: 69) posit

“form hierarchies” for speakers to implement politeness strategies, ranging from the best case (type 5 – Don‟t do the FTA) to the worst (type 1 – Do the FTA and go on record as doing so baldly and without redressive action)

Figure 1.1 Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 69)

1 Do the act on record, baldy without any redressive action For example,

the speaker utters a direct order like “Tidy up the room.”

2 Do the act on record, using positive politeness which “is intentionally and

appropriately meant to show the speaker‟s concern to the addressee, thus, enhancing the sense of solidarity between them” (Nguyen, 2006: 46) For example, the speaker uses the pronoun “us” in the request “Let‟s tidy up the room.”

3 Do the act on record, using negative politeness which “is intentionally

and appropriately meant to show that the speaker does not want to impinge on the addressee‟s privacy, thus, enhancing the sense of distance between them” (Nguyen, 2006: 47) For example, the speaker uses an indirect question as a hedge in requesting “I wonder if you could possibly tidy up the room.”

4 Do the act off record The speaker performs the act by using an

implicature For example, in order to suggest the addressee tidy up the room, the speaker says: “The room doesn‟t look very tidy, right?”

5 Do not do the act so that both the speaker‟s and the addressee‟s faces are

Greater risk

1 Without redressive action,

baldly

Although the above schema is highly appreciated by many researchers, especially those in the West, there exists a limitation, which reduces its universality The way Brown and Levinson (1987) number positive politeness and negative politeness indirectly shows that negative politeness strategies are considered to be “more polite” than positive ones Nguyen (2006) does not share this opinion; therefore, he introduces another version as follows:

Figure 1.2 Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Nguyen, 2006: 47)

1.3.3.3 Positive politeness and strategies

There exist a number of definitions of positive politeness In this study, Nguyen‟s (2006) definition and analysis are introduced

According to Nguyen (2006: 27), “positive politeness is any communicative act (verbal and/or nonverbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to show the speaker‟s concern to the addressee, thus, enhancing the sense of solidarity between them” Positive politeness is realised in 17 strategies:

Strategy 1: Notice, attend to H (his interest, wants, needs, goods)

Strategy 2: Exaggerate interest, approval, sympathy with H

Strategy 3: Intensify interest to H

FTA encounter

4 Do not do the FTA Do the FTA

3 Off record On record

2.With redressiveaction

Positive politeness

Negative politeness

1 Without redressive action

Strategy 4: Use in-group identity markers

Strategy 5: Seek agreement

Strategy 6: Avoid disagreement

Strategy 7: Presuppose/Raise/Assert common ground

Strategy 8: Joke

Strategy 9: Assert or presuppose S's knowledge of or concern for H's wants

Strategy 10: Offer/Promise

Strategy 11: Be optimistic

Strategy 12: Include both S and H in the activity

Strategy 13: Give (or ask for) reasons

Strategy 14: Assume or assert reciprocity

Strategy 15: Give gifts to H

Strategy 16: Comfort and encourage

Strategy 17: Ask personal questions

1.3.3.4 Negative politeness and strategies

“Negative politeness is any communicative act (verbal and/or nonverbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to show that the speaker does not want to impinge on the addressee‟s privacy, thus maintaining the sense of distance between them” (Nguyen, 2006: 28)

There are 11 strategies in negative politeness

Strategy 1: Be conventionally indirect

Strategy 2: Question/Hedge

Strategy 3: Be pessimistic

Strategy 4: Minimize the imposition

Strategy 5: Give deference

Strategy 6: Apologize

Strategy 7: Impersonalize S and H

Strategy 8: State the FTA as a general rule

Strategy 9: Nominalize

Strategy 10: Redress other wants of H's

Strategy 11: Avoid asking personal questions

1.3.4 Social variables affecting politeness

When we interact with other people, there are a number of factors influencing the realization of speech acts Brown and Levinson (1987: 74) propose three independent variables which have a systematic impact on the choice of appropriate politeness strategies

in performing an FTA in a given context:

 The relative „power‟ (P) of S and H (an asymmetric relation)

 The „social distance‟ (D) of S and H ( a symmetric relation)

 The absolute ranking (R) of imposition in the particular culture

These three variables are interpreted by Brown and Levinson (1987: 76-78) as follows: The relative power (P) is “the degree to which H can impose his own plans and his own self-evaluation (face) at the expense of S‟s plans and self-evaluation” Generally, there are two sources of P: material control (over economic distribution and physical force) and metaphysical control (over the actions of others, by virtue of metaphysical forces subscribed to by those others), which may be authorized or unauthorized The variable

“relative power” is also named “dominance” by Trosborg (1994)

The social distance (D) is “a symmetric social dimension of similarity/difference within which S and H stand for the purposes of this act” In many situations, D is based on an evaluation of the frequency of interaction and the types of material and non-material goods (including face) between S and H The dimension “social distance” is called differently by

different authors, for example, “solidarity” by Brown and Gilman (1972) or “intimacy” by Trosborg (1987)

The absolute ranking (R) of imposition, which is culturally and situationally defined, is measured based on the degree of interference with an agent‟s wants of self-determination (his negative-face wants) or of approval (his positive-face wants) Generally, there are two ranks which are identifiable for negative-face FTAs: a ranking of imposition in proportion

to the expenditure of services (including time provision) and of goods (including

non-material goods like information regard expression or face payments) On the other hand, the ranking for positive-face FTAs involves an evaluation of the amount of “pain” given to H‟s face, based on the disparity between H‟s own desired self-image and that presented in the FTA

In brief, the three sociological factors P, D and R are, beyond doubt, “crucial in determining the level of politeness” (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 15) which a speaker (S) will use to a hearer (H)

Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Being exploratory in nature, this study has no hypotheses With a view to achieving the aims of the study, the research questions guiding the investigation are as follows:

1 How do the Vietnamese native speakers perform the act of encouraging in relation

to the social factors assigned in certain situations?

2 How do the American native speakers perform the act of encouraging in relation to the social factors assigned in certain situations?

3 How are the Vietnamese native speakers and the American native speakers similar

to and different from each other in their use of encouraging strategies in relation to the social factors assigned in the situations studied?

2.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

2.2.1 Data collection instruments

The data collection instruments include two types of questionnaires:

 the Metapragmatic Questionnaire (MPQ) was designed to test the validity and reliability of the situations used for data collection

 the Discourse Completion Task (DCT) was designed to elicit encouraging utterances from the Vietnamese and American native speakers

The DCT is chosen as the means for data collection for its many benefits recognized by Beebe and Cummings (1996: 80) According to them, DCT can help to:

 gather large amounts of data quickly;

 create an initial classification of semantic formulas and strategies that will likely occur in natural speech;

 study the stereotypical, perceived requirements for socially appropriate responses;

 gain insight into social and psychological factors that are likely to affect speech act performance;

 ascertain the canonical shape of speech acts in the minds of the speakers of the language;

 vary the situational control variables that may affect speech behavior

However, the DCT also has its own drawbacks It may reflect language which is closer to written than to spoken norms Besides, as informants have more time for thinking, they may produce longer responses than in real conversations Others may give shorter responses just because they feel slothful in writing What is more, Beebe and Cummings (1996: 80) stated that the data from the DCT may lack depth of emotion that affects the tone, content, and form of linguistic performance

Nevertheless, in terms of strategies, Eisenstein and Bodman (1993) concluded that there was little difference between role-plays, natural observation, and written questionnaires The basic difference between these methods was in the degree of interaction

In sum, the DCT is still “a highly effective means of instrumentation” (Beebe and Cummings, 1996: 198) and the most suitable method for collecting encouraging utterances

in this study

2.2.2 Variables manipulated in data collection instruments

The first type of questionnaire consists of 18 real-life situations, which are aimed at eliciting encouraging utterances from the native Vietnamese and American speakers In

these situations, various constellations of the three variables, namely the relative power of the speaker (P), the social distance between the interactants (D), and the absolute ranking

of imposition (R), are reflected The following are values of the variables

 The relative power (P) has three values:

+P: S (speaker) has a higher rank or social status than H (hearer)

=P: S and H are of equal rank or social status

-P: S has a lower rank or social status than H

 The relative social distance (D) has two values:

=D: S and H are acquaintances They are relatively familiar with each other They

do not know much about each other They may be colleagues, school friends, etc -D: S and H are intimates They are really close to each other They may be family members, lovers, close friends, etc

(+D (S and H are strangers) is not used in this study as strangers are less likely to encourage each other.)

 The absolute ranking of imposition (R) is kept at a constantly high level (S finds it really necessary to offer their encouragement to H)

Hence, there are six constellations:

Based on the above constellations, the six most valid and reliable situations were selected from the eighteen situations in the MPQ and then used in the DCT

2.2.3 Contents of the questionnaires

The MPQ consists of eighteen situations based on the author‟s personal experience, films, novels, and interviews with some Vietnamese and American native speakers Each situation is followed by three questions about the informants‟ judgements on the three variables P, D, and R The informants rated each question according to their assessment of

each variable on a 3-point scale as in the sample Besides, there are perception questions about the clarity of the situation and the likelihood of the situation happening in real life In case the situation is not clear enough, they are asked to give suggestions to improve it

Sample of the Metapragmatic Questionnaire:

Please read the situations and mark the answers in the appropriate box

1 Your son is going to take an important exam He is very worried You encourage him

A How do you rate the relative power (authority or

right) of the speaker with respect to the hearer in this

situation?

B How do you rate the relationship between the

speaker and the hearer?

Distant

Fairly close

Very close

C How much would the speaker‟s encouragement

affect your feelings if you were the hearer?

Not at all A bit Much

How likely do you think this situation is to happen in real life?

The collected data were analysed so that the DCT with the six most valid and reliable situations was produced A pilot study was then carried out with four Vietnamese and four American native speakers Based on the data collected from the pilot DCT, one improvement was made to the final DCT: the space for the informants to write down their encouraging utterances was increased Following is a sample item of the DCT:

Sample of the Discourse Completion Task:

Please read the situations and write down EXACTLY what you would say DIRECTLY in

a normal conversation

Your colleague has just been discovered to have cancer stage 1 He/she is severely

depressed You know that his/her disease can still be cured You encourage him/her

21 to 60 They came from all walks of life with different marital status, residential areas, levels of education, and acquisition of foreign languages The numbers of males and females were unequal; however, the difference was kept at an as-low-as-possible level

2.2.5 Data collection procedure

First, the MPQ was delivered to two groups of informants: the Vietnamese version to 30 Vietnamese native speakers and the English version to 30 American native speakers The informants were asked to rate the social factors in each situation and answer the

accompanying perception questions The collected data were used to test the validity and reliability of the situations, which formed the basis for the selection of the six situations in the DCT

The pilot DCT was administered to 4 Vietnamese and 4 American informants so that any necessary improvements can be made to the final DCT The final DCT was then distributed to the 30 Vietnamese and 30 American speakers who had responded to the MPQ One response, in fact, was sent back to an American speaker via email as this informant had forgotten to respond to one situation Finally, 60 completed responses (30 in Vietnamese and 30 in English) were collected and analysed Encouraging strategies were realized The results of the statistical analysis were reported in chapter 3

Table 2.2: Mean ratings of social factors by American informants (n=30)

The score is interpreted as follows:

Question A: How do you rate the relative power (authority or right) of the speaker with

respect to the hearer in this situation?

 1.00 ≤ mean score ≤ 1.49: interpreted as –P (S has lower power than H)

 1.50 ≤ mean score ≤ 2.49: interpreted as =P (S and H are of equal power)

 2.50 ≤ mean score ≤ 3.00: interpreted as +P (S has higher power than H)

Question B: How do you rate the relationship between the speaker and the hearer?

 1.00 ≤ mean score ≤ 1.49: interpreted as +D (S and H are strangers)

 1.50 ≤ mean score ≤ 2.49: interpreted as =D (S and H are relatively familiar with each other)

 2.50 ≤ mean score ≤ 3.00: interpreted as –D (S and H are familiar and intimate with each other)

Question C: How much would the speaker‟s encouragement affect your feelings if you

were the hearer?

 mean score < 2.50: interpreted as –R (the imposition is low)

 mean score ≥ 2.50: interpreted as +R (the imposition is high)

Following is the procedure under which the six investigated situations (larger letters) were selected:

At first, the shaded situations were left out because the mean score of R was low (below 2.5) and/or the mean score of D was too low (no more than 1.49) as +D (S and H are strangers) was not used in this study The rest were considered in the process of selecting the most reliable and valid situations

1 The constellation of +P, –D:

All the three situations 1, 2, and 3 satisfied this constellation However, situation 1 was

selected because it was commented by many informants as Very likely to happen Situation

2, on the contrary, was regarded as Not likely to happen One American informant even

added “Hard to imagine someone cooking for whole family with no prior cooking experience” Besides, the score of R in situation 1 was higher than that in situation 3

2 The constellation of +P, =D:

As can be seen from table 2.1 and table 2.2, only situation 4 satisfied this constellation

3 The constellation of =P, –D:

Situation 11 was left out due to the low score of R (in table 2.2) Between the situations 5 and 7, situation 5 was chosen because in both table 2.1 and table 2.2, it had the higher score of R Besides, although the scores of P in the two situations were quite similar, the score of D in situation 5 was higher than that of situation 7 in table 2.2

Situation 13 was obviously chosen as it was the only one satisfying this constellation

Finally, the DCT consists of the following situations:

1 +P, –D (higher power – familiar):

Your son is going to take an important exam He is very worried You encourage him

2 +P, =D (higher power – fairly familiar):

You are the manager Your department has signed a big package deal with an important partner However, in order to complete it, the whole department will have to work with all

their might in the coming month You encourage your department‟s staff

3 =P, –D (equal power – familiar):

Your husband/wife is very busy these days because besides working at the office during office hours, he/she takes an evening course and is in a hurry to prepare for the coming exam Despite being so tired, he/she still has to stay up late to study You encourage

him/her

4 =P, =D (equal power – fairly familiar):

Your colleague has just been discovered to have cancer stage 1 He/she is severely

depressed You know that his/her disease can still be cured You encourage him/her

5 –P, –D (lower power – familiar):

Your mother is asked to take part in a TV contest for the retired She hesitates to do it as she lacks self-confidence and is afraid it is time-consuming You encourage her

6 –P, =D (lower power – fairly familiar):

Your head of department is among some leaders of the company who are considered to be granted promotion You believe in his ability but realize that he seems to be discouraged and weary due to his rivals‟ unfair competition You encourage him

2.4 REALISATION OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN ENCOURAGING

With regard to positive politeness, encouraging is a speech act which is intended to show that the speaker cares about the hearer Nevertheless, in utterances of encouraging,

negative politeness strategies are also employed For example, in the utterance “Sir, you

are one of the best performers in this company.”, negative politeness strategy 5 – showing deference – is used

What is more, encouraging is a complicated speech act In order to perform the act of encouraging, the speaker, in fact, may employ a set of strategies rather than a single one For instance, one American encourages their colleague, who has just been discovered to have cancer stage 1: “That is really hard time for you I‟m very sorry I know this is really

overwhelming (showing understanding and sympathy) But you have to look into your treatment options (giving advice) Don‟t be too miserable (alleviating H’s hard feelings) How can I help you (offering help)? ”

Hence, for the sake of convenience in analysing encouraging utterances in the light of cross-cultural pragmatics in general and of politeness theory in particular, this study is not intended to investigate whether the speech act of encouraging is more positive or negative

politeness-oriented Instead, nine encouraging strategies are presented in this part in order

to reflect the specificity of the data The examples are taken from the DCT conducted by the author

Strategy 1: Alleviating H’s hard feelings

This strategy is employed due to the fact that one‟s spirits play a pivotal role in their performance and success Once they can rid themselves of worry, weariness, and hesitation, their spirits are lifted, their motivation is strengthened, they feel optimistic, confident, energetic, and ready to go ahead

+ Cố lên em, không có gì đâu!

+ Anh yêu cố gắng lên nhé!

+ Don‟t worry, it is just a test

+ Try to clear out mind and not worry

+ Don‟t worry about it

+ Don‟t be afraid, enjoy yourself!

+ Don‟t be too miserable!

Strategy 2: Offering help or reward

In this strategy, S wants to demonstrate his cooperation with H, their understanding of H‟s situation, their willingness to share difficulties, and their genuine appreciation for H‟s work

+ Anh uống ly sữa cho đỡ mệt nhé!

+ Cháo gà anh yêu nhé!

+ Mình sẵn sàng thưởng cho các

bạn một kì nghỉ 5 ngày ở Nha

Trang khi chúng ta xong việc

+ Con sẽ nấu cơm cho mẹ để mẹ có

thể tham gia

+ Công việc nhà để em lo hết Sau

khi anh thi xong có lẽ mình đi

nghỉ nhé!

+ Listen, I‟ll be praying for you

+ Do you want me to ask you some questions that may be on the test to see how you do?

+ … I‟ll provide some time off in compensation

+ Is there anything I can do to help?

Would you like some coffee?

+ We could pretend this room is the

TV show and we can ask you questions to get used to it

+ I printed out this information about your cancer and treatment and you can see

+ Do you want some decaf tea?

+ Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you

Strategy 3: Giving advice

S gives their opinions about what H should think, do, or behave in their situation for a bright outlook

Vietnamese English

+ Hãy tin tưởng vào bản thân mình

và làm tốt nhé

+ Đừng có như thế, phải dũng cảm

mà chiến đấu với bệnh tật chứ

+ Nhất định không được buông xuôi

đâu đấy!

+ Anh cố gắng ăn nhiều để có sức

chiến đấu

+ Make sure you prepare thoroughly

+ You need to go talk to a doctor

+ Hey buddy, study hard as you can and then do your best

+ Relax and try to learn from the process

+ You‟d better keep calm and be well-prepared

Strategy 4: Predicting bright prospect

By painting a rosy picture of the future, S tends to give H more inner strength, hope, and belief S may express their confidence in H‟s good qualities and abilities This strategy also makes H feel what they will achieve is really worth their all-out efforts

+ Con tin mẹ sẽ đánh bại những

người chơi khác thôi Thật tội

nghiệp họ, họ cầm chắc phần

thua rồi

+ You will do a very good job

+ I‟m sure you will do well on the test

+ You‟ll do fine

+ If we all work extremely hard we will be able to keep this company strong and this will make each person‟s job more secure

+ Once we fulfill this deal we will be

+ Nếu chúng ta làm thành công sẽ

đem lại rất nhiều cơ hội quý giá

khác trong tương lai

+ Qua đợt này là lại ăn chơi nhảy

múa rồi

+ Mọi chuyện rồi sẽ tốt đẹp thôi

+ Chắc chắn căn bệnh của cậu sẽ

được chữa khỏi

+ …nhất định sếp sẽ chiến thắng

+ Trình con thi là đạt điểm cao thôi

+ Em tin với sự cố gắng ấy anh sẽ

+ Oh, this will be fun

+ Chances are very likely that you‟ll

be back to normal very soon

+ With medical technology nowadays, you‟ll surely get over

it

+ Having the opportunity to contribute to this shows your commitment to the company and this will be remembered in the future when better positions open

Strategy 5: Complimenting H

By speaking highly of H, S means to make H to ooze with confidence, which is essential to their success Although H may know they are being extolled to the skies, they feel so happy with S‟s affection and care for them

+ … vì mẹ là người mẹ tốt nhất trên

đời này

+ Anh xứng đáng với vị trí đó mà

+ Sếp là niềm tin của cả công ty

đấy Em tin sếp sẽ làm thay đổi

+ You are really the best for this job and the company

+ You are amazing the way you work

so hard and you have these goals you want to achieve

bộ mặt công ty mình

+ Công ty phát triển được như ngày

hôm nay là nhờ sếp rất nhiều

+ Anh yêu, anh là người chồng thật

tuyệt vời

+ Mẹ thử một lần này để chứng

minh cho mọi người thấy mẹ tài

giỏi thế nào mẹ nhé! Mẹ của con

cơ mà

+ Có gì mà con trai mẹ không làm

được!

+ Tại sao một người hát hay, ứng

xử khéo như mẹ lại không tham

gia vào cuộc thi nhỉ?

+ If I may, I want you to know that you have been a great leader to our department and I think you‟re more than qualified for this promotion

+ You know, whether or not you get the promotion, I still think you‟re a great boss

+ Sir, you‟re one of the best performers in this company The president of the company and the entire executive staff know they have benefited for many years from your expert talent and work ethic

Strategy 6: Showing understanding and sympathy

S wants to show that they can penetrate H‟s present situation and feelings Thanks to this

strategy, H may feel that they have a close companion whom they can put all their trust in

+ Tôi biết mọi người còn rất nhiều

việc cần phải làm

+ Em biết anh rất mệt mỏi để có

một vị trí cao hơn trong xã hội

+ Sếp à, cả sếp và em đều biết rằng

họ cạnh tranh không lành mạnh

+ I know this coming exam is very important, and you are doing the right thing to work hard

+ I know that you‟re very worried now I myself experienced this feeling last year when…