Complimenting strategies by english-major students at Thai Nguyen University

Complimenting strategies by english-major students at Thai Nguyen University Trần Thị Yến Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Phan Thi ̣ Vân Quyên Năm bảo vệ: 2012 Abstract. This study aims to find out the preferred strategies by English-major students at Thai Nguyen University when complimenting in English and to identify the interferences from Vietnamese culture to the students’ choice of strategies. Data were collected from 30 Vietnamese native speakers, 16 American English native speakers and 30 English-major students at Thai Nguyen University. The result of the research shows that American students, Vietnamese non-English major students and English- major students at Thai Nguyen University shared all complimenting strategies: the speaker-oriented, the hearer-oriented and the topic-oriented strategies; however, the frequency of each complimenting strategies depends on their status, gender, compliment topics and cultural background. English-major students at Thai Nguyen University seem to be influenced by both of Vietnamese and American cultures. Keywords. Tiếng Anh; Ngôn ngữ; Kỹ năng nói; Sinh viên Content 1. Rationale Learning a language means more than knowing linguistic features such as the rules of grammar or the vocabulary system. We must also know how to use a language in its social and communicative contexts; however, EFL teachers do not often stress pragmatic knowledge in their classrooms, focusing instead on linguistic knowledge. As a result, even with a high level of language proficiency and goodwill, learners still have great difficulty making themselves understood or interpreting properly what is said to them. They even find it extremely difficult to produce or sometimes understand a speech act such as a compliment, an apology, a request or a refusal. The mistaken messages they send or receive lead not only to breakdowns in communication, but also to bad effects within social relationships. This common problem can also be seen in Vietnamese learners of English. Although they may have spent a long time studying English and done very well on exams, they can not communicate effectively with native speakers. The barrier here is cultural awareness. They are from different cultures, thus have different frames of reference. Failure in communication can cause what we call “culture shock”. We do things with words as Austin (1962) states. In our mother tongue and our culture, we face little or no difficulty in employing words appropriately in order to achieve our aim because we unconsciously follow the norms and conventions of our speech community. The speech act of complimenting has been chosen as the topic of the present study because this speech act is highly representative of face-threatening acts and the realization of this speech act is largely culture-specific (Gass, 1995; Liao, 1996). People from different cultures share the same communicative purpose in complimenting each other. However, they tend to use different patterns and strategies and compliment different attributes. When people compliment each other in a foreign language, the intended purpose may not be achieved, but the reverse may occur. In other words, miscommunication or misinterpretation happens when a user of a foreign language inappropriately compliments others. In Vietnam, in recent years, much research work has been done into various speech acts; however, so far very little research has been carried out in Thai Nguyen University where millions of non-English major students and thousands of English major students are learning and speaking English. With an effort to fill the gap, we carried out this study as an investigation into the speech act of complimenting by English-major students at Thai Nguyen University. 2. Aims of the Study This study aims to find out the preferred strategies by English-major students at Thai Nguyen University when complimenting in English and to identify the interferences from Vietnamese culture to the students’ choice of strategies. 3. Research Questions The study is intended to address the following questions: [i]. What are the preferred strategies by English-major students at Thai Nguyen University when complimenting in English? [ii]. Is there any interference from Vietnamese culture to the students’ choice of strategies when complimenting in English? 4. Significance of the Study The researcher hopes that this study will be significant theoretically, practically and pedagogically. Theoretically, the study may contribute to the theoretical literature by examining the interferences from Vietnamese culture to the choice of strategies when complimenting in English by English-major students at Thai Nguyen University. Practically, the study may reinforce these students’ awareness of the interferences from their culture to their choice of strategies when complimenting in English by investigating what they have already known and what they have not and what proves to be difficult when they are confronted with the complimenting situations, which may help them achieve a better performance in cross-cultural communication. Pedagogically, research in cross-cultural communication including this paper may help teachers and educators understand the students’ problems in order to evaluate textbooks and other teaching materials as well as assessment procedures of language proficiency, to assess the value of communicative language teaching practices, and to help learners develop strategies to handle misunderstandings and other communication problems. 5. Scope of the Study Due to limited time and experience, this study just focuses on verbal communication. Other factors such as non-linguistic factors (facial expression, gestures, eye contact, etc.), paralinguistic factors (intonation, pause, speed of speech, etc.) will not be taken into account. References Alexander, P.A., & Murphy, P. K. (1998). The research base for APA's Learner-Centered Psychological Principles. In N. Lambert & B.L. McCombs (Eds.), How students learn: Reforming schools through learner-centered education. 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