HUMOR IN EVERYDAY TALKS: A STUDY OF VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE LEARNER’S COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN INTERCULTURAL SETTINGS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ HỢI HUMOR IN EVERYDAY TALKS: A STUDY OF VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE LEARNER’S COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN INTERCULTURAL SETTINGS HÀI HƯỚC TRONG HỘI THOẠI HÀNG NGÀY: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NĂNG LỰC GIAO TIẾP CỦA HỌC SINH VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH GIAO TIẾP LIÊN VĂN HÓA M.A THESIS - RESEARCH ORIENTATION MAJOR: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Hoàng Thị Hạnh HANOI - 2015 Statement of Ownership I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contained no material previously published or written by another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements), nor material which has been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma of a university or other institutions of higher learning Signature: ……………………………… Name: Vũ Thị Hợi Date : ……………………………… Acknowledgements At the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Hoàng Thị Hạnh (my supervisor) of University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University for her constant and valuable guidance, encouragement and support Particularly, her critical comments on every single piece of work of the thesis have contributed greatly to my learning, and to the development of my research skills Without her supervision, I would not have been able to complete this thesis However, shortcomings and errors, if any, in the thesis are my own I would like to give my thanks to the students and volunteers who participated in my studies, though their name cannot be identified (for confidentiality) This thesis could not have been completed without their ideas, information and contribution Thanks to their participation, patience and painstaking efforts, this thesis has been done My thanks also go to Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, where I have studied for two years, for providing me with valuable learning condition Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents, my sisters, and my friends for their encouragements on my life-long learning, for their help on the completion of this thesis Abstract Conversational humor in language teaching and learning has risen in prominence since 1990s Recently, there has been much interest in and debate concerning conversational humor and how it links to participants’ communicative competence in intercultural situations However, there has been little empirical study into how humor is used and perceived by its participants, especially when all of them are L2 speakers of English This research reports on a qualitative study investigating humor used by five L2 speakers of English in their everyday talks Although the limited number of instances reported means that further research is needed to convincingly make generalizations, it is suggested that humor cannot be perceived as stative and presumptive but as adaptive and emergent resources which are negotiated and context-dependent Therefore, conversational humor needs to move beyond the traditionally conceived stative and context-independent as innate traits, typical connecting tools to incorporate an awareness of cultural and sociolinguistic differences in using humor and the skills needed to successfully negotiate the meaning of humor in intercultural settings Table of Contents HÀI HƯỚC TRONG HỘI THOẠI HÀNG NGÀY: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU i VỀ NĂNG LỰC GIAO TIẾP CỦA HỌC SINH VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH GIAO TIẾP LIÊN VĂN HÓA i Statement of Ownership ii I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contained no material previously published or written by another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements), nor material which has been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma of a university or other institutions of higher learning ii Abstract iv INTRODUCTION .1 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Statement of problem and rationale 1.1.1 Statement of problem English as an international language to communicate with German students, it is noticeable that there are still observable peculiar moments This thesis consists of six chapters Chapter introduces the research area and the general background, as well as the purposes and significance of the study Chapter is a brief literature review of the research topic It explains the concepts and theories underpinning the research Chapter describes research methodology and the study design Chapter is an analysis of humor used by Vietnamese students and German volunteers in their daily intercultural talks Chapter includes interpretative and descriptive explanations on how Vietnamese students and German volunteers perceived the humor used by their conversation partners This chapter addresses the central issues of the thesis, i.e participants’ perception of their conversational partners’ humor and to what extent; their perception of humor in intercultural communication indicates their communicative competence Chapter is a summary of findings and discussion on how Vietnamese students and German volunteers’ socio-linguistic competence and communicative competence shown through their humor competence in daily intercultural talks This chapter also suggests further research to gain a deeper insight into humor in intercultural communication, especially in situated English teaching and learning CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW Hài hước hội thoại hàng ngày: Một nghiên cứu lực giao tiếp học sinh Việt Nam bối cảnh giao tiếp liên văn hóa 64 Hài hước hội thoại hàng ngày: Một nghiên cứu lực giao tiếp học sinh Việt Nam bối cảnh giao tiếp liên văn hóa 67 List of Transcript Conventions ? , :: (?) ((laughs)) (.) (0.8) (…) [ ] /n/ = Tell TEll hhh  Indicate intonation that is a falling or final, not necessary at the end of the sentence Indicate the rising tone, not necessary a question Indicate “continuing” intonation, not necessarily a clause boundary Indicate the prolongation or stretching of the sound just preceding them The more colons, the longer the stretching Inaudible Nonlinguistic features of the transcription or transcriber’s description of the event Pause – untimed Numbers in the parentheses indicate silence, represented in tenths of a second, what is given here in the left margin indicates 0.8 seconds of silence Indicate a section of dialogue that is not transcribed Overlapping or interrupted speech Phonemic transcription of sounds or words The utterance on one line continues without a pause where the next = picks it up Strong emphasis Especially loud voice Indicate a cut-off or self-interruption Indicate hearable aspiration or represent breathing, laughter, etc The more h’s, the more aspiration Indicate specific parts of an extract discussed in the text List of Abbreviations ARs L2 NNSs NSs SRIs VRs Audio recordings Second language (for example: L2 speakers, L2 learners) Non-native Speakers Native Speakers Stimulated recall interviews Video recordings List of Tables Statement of Ownership ii Abstract iv CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW List of Figures Statement of Ownership ii Abstract iv CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW Appendix Sample of Conversation Transcript VR 1_ 4/11/2014 ((After finishing teaching in the community class, all people come back to Thành’s house The following conversations are at Thành’s house, in the kitchen where Hợi is cooking while Thành and Jonas are talking about another community class in the district which Jonas and Samson are going to teach)) T: J: T: J: T: J: T: J: T: J: T: J: H: S: J: H: S: N: H: S: Our school’s in the beginning of the district and this school’s at the end of the district [Yeah, so (.)] [((laughs))] [Yeah, so (.) we cannot go, like err] [We have to go further] ((uses hands to illustrate)) to your school or to the community class at 5:00 P.M We cannot get there in time Actually on Thursday, you first teach for the (.) [Yeah!] [class] and come back to my class] from 2:00 to 4:00 P.M like in the high school and then 5:00 to 7:00 (.) in uh= = Then what’s [um the (?)] [((sighs))] ((The dishes are ready Hợi brings them out to the living room where Samson and Nguyet are sitting by the tray and talking.)) ((sighs)) Ok (.) We should eat now Yes Yes ((from the kitchen)) ((Thành and Jonas keep on talking in the kitchen Samson is giving the chopstick to Nguyet and Hợi)) Thank yo::u! (0.8) Two crazy (.) two crazy guys are discussing something No, it’s really, really annoying ((still looking at the remaining chopsticks)) I’ll go and call them out Yeah but really important because (0.5) maybe you want to teach in another class Ye:s ((still looks at the remaining chopsticks)) but (.) uhhhm 68 S: T: S: H: S: H: S: H: S: T: H: T: J: T: H: S: H: S: H: T: H: S: J: T: J: it’s like she wants to have uhhm timetable of what we are doing uhm (0.5) when we are teaching and she just wants that she told me she wants that to see what we’re doing uhm and then she arranged some English lessons also a lesson last Sunday she told us a teacher wants to invite us, just to invite us and drink some and something like that [then we arrive there and we have to teach hours it's not nice, it's just not nice.] [you can choose not to teach here but to teach in Giao Thien because it’s so far.] and it was a private lesson I think it's no problem, we are volunteers and= =yes [I understand] [and but uhm] not for private childs who are already really good sure ((Thành and Jonas come out and sit down)) and:: sure where the parents have a lot of [money and something like that, so:::] [hey Jonas, in the beginning] [((laughs))] in the beginning, why you create too much work like that↑ we didn’t get used to it↓ Yeah, I don’t know ((shakes his head))) We didn’t get (?) Ok::= =Ok:: listen ((smiles)) enjoy:: enjoy:: oh my God I see a lot of rice Ok (.) give a rest to Mrs Hong ((the woman in the park they mentioned earlier in the beginning)) ((All lift up the glass with Coke inside Nguyet is looking down tiredly)) Nguyet Cheers Pro::st ((German way of saying “cheers”)) Ok (.) Sorry! ((looking at Nguyet and gives her the Coke in a bowl because there’re not enough glasses)) ((laughs)) ((Jonas is looking at Nguyet, drinking and smiling)) 69 J: N: T: H: S: T: J: T: J: T: H: T: J: N: Pro::st What? ((All drink Coke)) Very cool! (8) ((All start eating)) I see the problem that I’ve to talk to you but make it later, not right now ((picks up the onion in the dish)) Ok ((eats and smiles)) ((During food preparation they have roasted beef with onions and carrot, Samson wants to help with the onions and he asks Hợi: “How you want to cut it?” Hợi without looking at him and is busying cooking potato soup: “Just chop it” Samson then chops the onions into small square pieces like the ones used in German meatballs Nguyet comes in and shouts: “No” She takes the knife and cut the remaining onions into slices It’s better if Hợi uses the word “slice” rather than “chop” So there are two styles of onion in one dish)) But (.) you know I’m going to get a big conversation with Mrs Hong (.) ((to Jonas)) ((smiles)) (0.5) and it’s going to be a lot of shit (2) Ok (.) change the topic you don’t have to talk with her we will (0.5) just it ((Jonas is picking up the beef and dipping it into Nguyet’s Coke unconsciously but Nguyet keeps silent)) No, you know (0.5) she gets me out from the project (0.8) yeah but in the beginning (.) she told me to ask for the teacher to create (.) one class – new one class (0.5) but eventually what the= =one new class (.) new one class? ((smiles)) my favor (0.8) that’s told already ((Samson is picking up the onion, Nguyet stops eating, looking at him, smiling)) what? ((laughs)) what did you do↑ 70 S: J: H: J: H: S: H: S: H: J: H: J: H: J: S: H: T: H: J: S: T: J: T: S: T: J: you put it in my (0.8) COKE ((pointing to the dish and her coke)) AHHH HHHA:::: AHhhhh hhha ((flaps his hand onto his leg)) ((smiles)) hey ((laughs)) Samson ((stops laughing)) [you shouldn’t make] [I’m sorry] too much noise Alright ((tries to stop laughing)) I’m used to ((laughs)) I’m used to dip in (.) like meat into the fish sauce ((Nguyet goes out and pours the coke away)) I see I see, yeah= =I thought it was fish sauce ((Nguyet comes back)) Nguyet, it’s just a habit ((turns to Nguyet)) (0.1) forget her= Nguyet ((smiles)) I thought it was fish sauce I don’t know why ((smiles)) [yeah, maybe] se- [seven habits] of German guys ((laughs)) you like fish sauce so much uhmmmm I'll get some fish sauce ((stands up and goes into the kitchen)) but it’s really nice ((All are laughing again)) I mean it's more humorous than a joke ((smiles)) oh man it’s a real joke ((laughs)) but it (0.5) ok (.) I mean it makes us less angry with Mrs Hong ((eats and smiles)) ((Jonas brings fish sauce out from the kitchen)) ((laughs)) it again of course (0.5) 71 T: J: T: J: S: to Samson maybe (10) I’m sorry! hey:: (0.5) you make everyone happy why you have to say sorry? hey (0.5) no ((points to his coke and smiles)) ja ist doch okay ((“don't mind, that’s ok” said to Jonas)) 72 Appendix GUIDELINES ON STIMULATED RECALL INTERVIEW Dear participants, I would like to give my sincere thanks for your participation in my research Thank you very much for letting me video and audio tape our conversations! Your cooperation has been great and meaningful so far Now I would like to invite you to participate in my interviews There are four interviews for each participant The interviews are used to investigate how you use your humor and perceive humor of other members in the group in the conversations I am playing the parts of the video we had shot in which I noticed you respond to humor or generated humor You watch these parts and describe in details about your own thoughts and your actions/ behaviors in these parts I will not intervene in your description It is fine if you cannot remember what you were thinking or how you felt at the time of the interactions Thank you again for your cooperation and enthusiasm! 73 HƯỚNG DẪN THỰC HIỆN PHỎNG VẤN (GSRI) Thưa quý vị, Tôi xin gửi tới quý vị lời cảm ơn chân thành quý vị đồng ý tham gia vào nghiên cứu Trân trọng cảm ơn quý vị nhiều cho phép ghi âm ghi hình hội thoại Sự hợp tác quý vị gần có giá trị ý nghĩa vô to lớn Giờ đây, muốn mời quý vị tham gia vào vấn Mỗi thành viên tham gia vào nghiên cứu trải qua bốn vấn Các vấn thực để tìm hiểu việc quý vị sử dụng hài hước mình, nhận thức quý vị hài hước thành viên khác nhóm hội thoại Tôi bật băng ghi hình ghi âm có phần mà để ý thấy quý vị tạo phản ứng với hài hước Quý vị xem/nghe phần mô tả chi tiết suy nghĩ, cảm nhận hành động cách cư xử quý vị phần Tôi không can thiệp vào mô tả quý vị Sẽ không thành vấn đề quý vị nhớ nhiều Một lần xin cảm ơn hợp tác lòng nhiệt thành từ phía quý vị! 74 Appendix 4: Sample of Stimulated Recall Interview Transcripts (Interview with Jonas) JSRI1 00:00:55 H: Ok, so at this time you and Thanh are discussing about another class J: Yeah A class’s organized by Mrs Hong H: Uh hm J: Yeah I remember we’re both pretty angry H: Ok, ok So you’re angry and you’re not a kind of happy at this moment You’ve talked with Thanh about Mrs Hong, right? J: Yeah JSRI1 00:01:38 H: Ok, I call you like: “Two crazy, crazy guys…” J: Uhm, yeah! H: What you think when you hear uhm….? At that time you did not hear because I was talking with Nguyet and Samson J: Yeah H: You were with Thanh in the kitchen, right? J: Yeah H: Right now when you hear that, you feel a kind of painful or something like that J: No, no I know it’s just sarcasm I don’t know did you know about what we’re talking about It’s not quite the word Ok? Ok? No, no I don’t feel H: Uh uhm J: Because I’m used to sarcasm a lot so I don’t feel insulted or something like that H: Ok, ok Good! JSRI1 00:02:24 H: And Samson says: “it’s really, really annoying.” Ok? J: Yes, he said, no no Because we thought that you don’t take it very uhm it sounds like you don’t take our point seriously We really have a problem with those classes H: Yeah! J: Maybe you don’t see it but we are discussing But it’s no problem H: I see that that day you and Thanh were talking very seriously about another class and problem with Mrs Hong? J: Yes H: He wanted you to teach in another class on the same day and you cannot come back because from to and from to or something like this J: Uh JSRI1 00:04:40 H: I think the way you something before you drink is very typical, right? Do you often uhm? J: Uhm, you mean the word “prost”? H: Yeah J: In Germany, it’s like “cheer” H: “Cheer”, uh uhm So you always say “prost” before you drink something with everyone? J: No 75 H: J: No? No, actually not but if you’re with your family uhm how to say, let say my birthday for example I’m in the restaurant with my family or something and we get our drink We start by saying “prost” H: So with it’s used with friends and family? J: Yes, exactly JSRI1 00:05:50 H: Ok? So Thanh said that: “I’m going to have a big conversation with Mrs Hong and it’s showing to be a lot of shit.” J: Uhm, yeah H: So you often hear Thanh speak slangs, like “shit”, “fuck” or something like uhm? J: Yeah, actually too much H: Uh, too much J: He used it so often and it’s not very good It’s not a very good way I mean he is teaching in an English class He should change his way of expression into a bit more formal way H: Yes J: Because we hear him often talk about slangs or some similar words That is rude way H: Yes, ok ok Also in Vietnamese when you some actions like uhm he often calls you like “ngu” or something like that I told him many times before, I told him many times before, but maybe he just wants to create fun or something like that J: Yeah, but it’s not very funny H: Right Ok J: I mean that may be very funny for very young people but it’s not funny for us H: Uh hha, ok J: Also, I think it’s not very nice in Vietnamese, too It’s not good to play around H: Uhm, uhm, agree Ok, think that I’ll try telling, he can change J: Uhm, right H: Ok, so he can work well with the next volunteers J: I mean he’s calling he’s older and older and the next time he’ll older than the next volunteers H: Uhm J: He might change I don’t know H: Yes In Vietnamese, it’s also not good when you speak like that So with the next year, the next volunteers, what you’ve shared with us is very important for us to work because we come from two different cultures Alright, ok J: Uh JSRI1 00:08:03 H: Ok, at this moment? J: I uhm I’ve just tipped my stuff into the coke, right? H: Uhm hhu J: Yeah H: But I think at that time you didn’t know J: No, I didn’t 76 H: Right, sure You didn’t know because the way you look at Nguyet is something like “what?” J: I think I’m still looking at Thanh H: Uhm hhu J: And because the coke, there is not much the coke inside the bow, I think so It’s really dark so it looks like “nước mắm.” H: Sure, ok We don’t have enough glasses so we take the bowl for Nguyet J: Yeah, yeah That’s the reason why you make mistakes H: Yeah JSRI1 00:09:00 H: Ok, at this time I think it’s very very interesting and funny, right? Ok? So you see that all of us burst into laugh at this moment, right? J: Uhm hhu Yeahhh! H: So you’re sure that at the first time you didn’t know that you dipped in Nguyet’s coke, ok? J: Yes H: Until she pointed it out, right? J: Yeah You can see it on my face I’m really uhm hhhu, I just used to dip my stuffs into the fish sauce all the time so I H: Yeahhhh! Ok, so you really thought that was fish sauce J: Yeah, yeah! H: Oh my god, ok I see that Samson laughs very very loud JSRI1 00:09:59 H: At this time I thought that the neighbor can hear Samson laugh, so I try to calm him down J: Yeah H: So what you think? Before that you and Thanh are very angry about the problems – problems happen with Mrs Hong and another class So what happened when we suddenly burst into laugh? J: We didn’t think about the bad thing anymore We were all much much happier at that point H: Ok, ok We can see from your face, right J: Yeah JSRI1 00:10:55 H: Ok so Thanh says: “seven habits of German guys.” J: What does he say? H: “seven habits of German guys.” J: Seven? Why it’s “seven habits” H: Because before that you say: “It’s just a habit I used to dip like in the fish sauce.” J: Yeah, yeah H: Do you think that Thanh is trying to generate fun? J: But I don’t get it Seven? Number seven? H: Ok, so I uhm Seven, number seven J: Seven H: Seven habits J: Ahh seven habits, ok H: Do you know the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”? 77 J: H: Ok, seven habits Now I know I get it Ok May be Thanh makes the sentence because he reads the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” J: Yeah H: And he changed it into “Seven Habits of German Guys” J: Ahh, ok H: Right now you see he used the word “guys” It’s also slang J: “Guys” is is ok but first of all, I didn’t uhm because I couldn’t understand him because he said “Seven Habits of German Guys” I don’t know what “Seven Habits of German Guys” was? Because Vietnamese they have problem with the “s” at the end: “seven habit-s” so I didn’t understand it Now I get it H: Ahh hhha J: And “guys” is not really a bad word H: Yeah J: But Thanh sometimes says “hey guy” If you talk to one person, you cannot say “hey guy” H: Uhm J: It becomes rude to say “hey guy.” “Hey guy” is totally wrong but he always says this H: We may call “guys” in a group of friends but we shouldn’t use it too much, right? J: Uhm.Yeah Maybe Maybe not But I’m ok, I mean H: So for this time he calls: “Seven Habits of German Guys” is ok? J: Yeap I think he’s trying to create fun H: Yeah J: But uhm the thing is he often tells jokes which are created in small groups We don’t know the joke so of course it isn’t funny I don’t know why he said this H: Uh hu, uh hu J: And often we also have some jokes with Thanh You can also see in the video later, I think H: Uh hu Yeah J: And you don’t understand the joke, you don’t know the joke H: Sure, sure J: He often, he doesn’t explain the joke which is not very nice in a big group, you know H: Sure, because it’s shared among the fix members of the group If I don’t join, I didn’t know J: Right JSRI1 00:13:50 H: Ok, the action reminds you about fish sauce and you’re going to the kitchen to bring out some fish sauce So I think that you really like fish sauce J: Yeah H: Every meal? J: Every meal H: Alright 78 (Interview with Thành) TSRI1 00:16:35 H: Seven habits of German guys Chỗ em gỡ rối cho bạn em đùa theo kiểu vậy? T: Lúc mà cô Nó làm ngu phải dìm xuống H: Tức em dùng câu đùa để em dìm hàng Seven habits of German guys có phải em đọc Seven Habits of Highly Effective People? T: Cô Hải ((em gái người nghiên cứu)) tặng em sách H: Uh em biến tấu thành, haha Rồi Thế bảy thói quen thành đạt gã Đức – tình gã Đức ngớ ngẩn (ngu) Tức em vô tình em nói seven habits T: Trêu mà cô H: À, để trêu Trêu từ ngữ T: Có nhiều lúc chúng hành động thế, bọn em thường trêu mà H: Thế em có biết nhiều lúc em lại nghĩ không ? T: Chắc thông minh H: Ha Cô lại nghĩ em va chạm với bạn nhiều em chịu khó em xem nhỉ? Cái hài Sitcom Mỹ không? Có thể em xem cả bà Ellen nhỉ? T: Đợt em chưa xem Ellen nhiều H: Uh, chưa xem Ellen T: Nhưng mà ngôn ngữ em có nhiều hơn, có nhiều tính chất hài Khi em xem phim Mỹ có nhiều tình hài Với lại từ năm ngoái bọn em quen trêu kiểu Cái kiểu văn hóa giao lưu hai thằng ((tình nguyện viên)) hai thằng năm ngoái Thì trêu H: Uh T: Đôi người ta nghĩ bọn Tây đặc biệt em nghĩ bình thường H: Nó bọn thôi, không T: Nó mười bảy, mười tám tuối Cũng suy nghĩ H: Nè, mà em bắt đầu nhận lớp với Bill Tom ((hai tình nguyện viên cũ)), em có cảm giác buổi đầu xa lạ với hai bạn không? 79 T: Xa lạ cô H: Uh, xa lạ sau chơi nhiều T: Mới đầu nhìn Tây cảm giác sang trọng Họ mặc quần áo bình thường nhìn lại sang cô H: Uh T: Mình thấy họ khác màu da nên suy nghĩ khác H: Lúc cô thấy Tom ((tình nguyện viên năm trước)) để tóc dài T: Lúc chơi nhiều khoảng cách Đi dạy nhiều khoảng cách Đến tận lúc cuối khoảng cách lúc tiếng Anh bình thường Nói chuyện với bạn kiểu giao tiếp H: Ừ T: Ngay tiếng Anh em video khác nhiều cô H: Ờ T: Cứ sau khoảng độ hai ba tuần lại thấy khác Em thường với bạn nhiều tiến mà bị tách xong dạy nhiều thấy có tiến nhiều chung với bạn H: Bởi em đứng lớp, em nói Tiếng Anh nhiều Tức bắt đầu làm thứ với ấy, bắt đầu hiểu ra: hiểu cách hành động, kiểu suy nghĩ, không? Đấy yếu tố văn hóa mà em nhắc đến không? T: Vâng Cô nhớ bật máy ghi âm chưa? H: Ok, I think so, haha TSRI1 00:19:51 H: Thế sau nhắc đến nước mắm, bạn đứng lên lấy nước mắm T: À, có nghĩa thích chấm nước mắm mà H: Thế chứng tỏ bạn thích nước mắm Hôm sau cô có tặng bạn chai nước mắm, bạn nhắn tin cảm ơn cô, haha TSRI1 00:20:42 H: Cái chỗ em nói “it’s a joke” hay ấy? Small Bieber and T: Cô cho em nghe lại 80 H: Ờ Cô nghe small Bieber Em nói xấu Jonas đó? T: Em sửa mà, cô cho em xem đoạn em sửa H: Ừ, T: Em chưa nghĩ em nói câu có nghĩa H: Liệu có phải em nghì hành động Jonas chấm vào cocacola Nguyệt hành động có chủ ý để tạo hài hước Một joke nhóminside joke? T: Nghe quen quen nhớ Không mà ý ý em bọn em kiểu hay trêu không thích ý H: Ừ T: Thì em gọi Bieber không? H: Đấy, T: Thì có nghĩa H: Kể lớp em gọi Bieber xong em khen beautiful, handsome T: Nhưng mà chả có ý nghĩa Cái kiểu trêu em thường TSRI1 00:24:52 H: Nguyệt cười Em cười đắc ý Chứng tỏ chỗ em trêu bạn Chắc chắn T: Haha TSRI1 00:25:25 H: “You make everyone happy”, em nói Tức sau cố vậy, tất cảm thấy T: Sảng khoái H: Và thư giãn, ok Và Jonas nhờ có mà phát mâm cơm thiếu nước mắm, haha TSRI1 00:25:46 H: Chỗ Nguyệt vừa có hành động T: “Hey” H: Đây đây, chỗ Nguyệt bỏ vào cốc Jonas Em nghĩ hành động này? Các em thường làm với à? T: Người ta nghĩ là, cô trường thế, làm việc với người nước phải giữ thái độ thế 81 H: Ừ T: Nhưng thực giữ thái độ kiểu sợ ảnh hưởng trị H: Giữ khoảng cách T: Kiểu trị hay lịch chẳng làm việc với Tất nhiên, người ta tôn trọng đầu óc người ta nghĩ cứng nhắc H: Ừ T: Với lại chúng tuổi bọn em thôi, chẳng có cả: bọn em đánh nhau, trêu Như năm ngoái cô thấy bọn em đùa nhau, tắm với nhau, hay ngủ điều bình thường Tóm lại, hành động trêu bình thường H: Bình thường không, hành động Jonas bình thường Bạn quay sang cười bình thường Chứng tỏ hành động quen T: Bình thường cô H: Bạn gắp bỏ uống tiếp Hành động lịch sự, gắp bỏ vào bát cơm uống tiếp, trò đùa Nguyệt thất bại, xong Nguyệt ngồi mặt đần này xong cô phải gọi T: Nguyệt H: Cô phải gọi Nguyệt đấy? Tức hành động trả đũa bị thất bại bạn chả phản ứng T: Vâng, chúng em thường mà 82 [...]... accuracy in everyday talks However, when they use 1 English as an international language to communicate with German students, it is noticeable that there are still observable peculiar moments 1.1.2 Rationale Having a sense of humor helps us a lot in socializing Trachtenberg (1979) indicates that humor is indispensable in everyday socialization such as greeting someone, introducing oneself, leaving a social... perception of humor in intercultural communication indicates their communicative competence Chapter 6 is a summary of findings and discussion on how Vietnamese students and German volunteers’ socio-linguistic competence and communicative competence shown through their humor competence in daily intercultural talks This chapter also suggests further research to gain a deeper insight into humor in intercultural. .. effectiveness of individuals in situational communication and relationship among the members in group of interaction (Attardo, 1994; Davies, 2003; Bell, 2005) Therefore, the study of humor in intercultural communication is also an investigation into L2 speakers’ competence and performance Chomsky (1965) defined competence in terms of linguistic competence and performance is the actual use of language in situations... communication breakdown and work around gaps in his or her knowledge of the target language, and finally (4) sociolinguistic competence or learners’ ability to use language appropriately in various social contexts (Byram, 1997) To assess the communicative competences when using English as an international language, each competence cannot be viewed separately from its context (Lantolf, 2000, 2006; Fantini,... follows Phase one involves the analyzing the sources of data separately: the SRIs with the participants, the participant observations, the VRs and ARs Phase two includes the triangulation of data sources to generate themes as well as theme analysis and discussion CHAPTER 4 HUMOR IN EVERYDAY INTERCULTURAL TALKS 4.0 Introduction 22 This chapter discusses how humor is used in everyday talks between Vietnamese. .. Sociolinguistic competence, according to Canale & Swain (1980, 1983), is one of four parts of communicative competences (see figure 2.2), and is defined as the learner's ability to use language appropriately in various social contexts Van Ek defines sociolinguistic competence as the consciousness of choosing the appropriate language forms” in certain communicative situations (Byram, 1997, p 48) As can be seen... communication could lead to any form of learning It was noticeable that after watching some videos, humor emerged from the data as salient speech acts As a participant in the interaction and from my personal and previous knowledge of the participants (I have been one member of the group for nearly two years but last year I was with different German volunteers), I was able to locate a great number of humorous... situations In this study, I qualitatively analyze the transcribed data to see how humor is used and perceived in everyday talks, which includes a triangulation of transcript analysis and thematic analysis In other words, interpreting humor using qualitative analysis is to make sense of it from the context in which it is embedded For example, 20 I am able to see humor that is not only visible such as... these definitions are useful in that humor is a fundamentally social phenomenon can vary greatly in different cultures Within the purposes of this study, I have chosen to use humor as a generic term covering any communicative acts with fun-inducing potential 2.2 Humor in intercultural communication Andrew (2010) suggests that although in intercultural communication, humor is often used as a powerful... elements involving the comprehension of humor such as personal, social factors, context, timing, and intent are misinterpreted, ignored or too ambiguous My research intends to fill in this gap by using the triangulation of data collection including participant observation, and interviews Thus, the factors effecting the success or failure of humor in intercultural and interpersonal situations will be clarified