A study on politeness strategies preferred by the british in responding to complaints

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY ĐỖ THỊ HOÀI HƯƠNG A STUDY ON POLITENESS STRATEGIES PREFERED BY THE BRITISH IN RESPONDING TO COMPLAINTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ ĐƯỢC NGƯỜI ANH ƯA DÙNG TRONG CÁCH HỒI ĐÁP LỜI PHÀN NÀN) M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2016 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY ĐỖ THỊ HOÀI HƯƠNG A STUDY ON POLITENESS STRATEGIES PREFERED BY THE BRITISH IN RESPONDING TO COMPLAINTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ ĐƯỢC NGƯỜI ANH ƯA DÙNG TRONG CÁCH HỒI ĐÁP LỜI PHÀN NÀN) M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Vo Dai Quang, Ph.D Hanoi, 2016 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on politeness strategies preferred by the British in responding to complaints” submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except wherether reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2016 Do Thi Hoai Huong Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Assoc Prof Vo Dai Quang, Ph.D Date: i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my professor, Assoc Prof Vo Dai Quang, Ph.D From the point of a teacher, an advisor and a mentor, you introduced and inspired me to this research My professional development has been growing increasingly with your precious guidance and continuous motivation My special thanks go to all my lecturers in Post-graduate Department of Ha Noi Open University for their precious assistance, knowledge and enthusiasm I own my parents for their constant source of love, support and encouragement I am immensely grateful to them for standing behind me whenever I needed them especially in times of difficulties I would also want to extend a special shout-out to all the research participants Without your valuable opinions and ideas on the questionnaire, the project would not have been accomplished Finally, my special thanks go to all my dear friends for their understanding and assistance during the process of preparing this research I count each of you as my special blessings While I am greatly indebted to all of these people for their tireless help to my completion of this thesis, I myself remain responsible for any inadequacies that are found in this work ii ABSTRACT In our daily life, complaints and response to complaints involve in both culture and communication due to their important role In the research, the writer focuses on finding politeness strategies preferred by the British in responding to complaints The researcher hopes to have intensive understanding of British culture and minimize the uncomfortable circumstances when communicating Two main methodologies are used in the thesis are qualitative and quantitative ones The study reveals that British speakers were very direct in most situations Regarding the choice of directive act, British speakers showed their directness in their complaints by adding more directive acts That is to say, the British tended to be more explicit in pointing out what they wanted by issuing additional acts With regard to complaining strategies, it is clear that the British speakers were very direct in general In lower power settings, British speakers tended to use Indirect Accusation, Direct Accusation and Modified Blame They also increased the level of directness by employing more imposing strategies such as Direct Accusation and Explicit Blame on Behaviour Choice of directive act was also mentioned in the thesis Surprisingly, along with direct strategies, British speakers also used additional acts Request for Repair was the most popular act among them Basing on the research results, some pedagogical implications in teaching English as foreign languages for Vietnamese learners are also suggested by the researcher iii iv LIST OF ABBREVIATION S: speakers H: hearers (-P): S has lower power than H (=P): S and H are equal in power (+P): S has higher power than H (-D): S and H are familiar with each other (+D): S and H are unfamiliar with each other Strat.: strategy DCT: Discourse completion task v LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES Chart : Choice os strategies with respect to –P Chart 2: Choice of strategy with respect to =P Chart 3: Choice of strategy with respect to +P Chart 4: Choice of strategy with respect to -D Chart 5: Choice of strategy with respect to +D Chart 6: Choice of directive act with respect to -P Chart 7: Choice of directive act in equal setting (=P) Chart 8: Choice of directive act with respect to +P Chart 9: Choice of directive act with respect to -D Chart 10: Choice of directive act with respect to +D Figure 1: The Levels of Culture & their Interaction Figure: Three levels of uniqueness in human mental programming Figure 3: The possible strategies for doing FTAs vi PAGES TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION v TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION vii 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Objectives of the study .2 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Structural organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDY .5 2.1.1.Review of previous studies overseas 2.1.2 Review of previous studies in Vietnam .5 2.2 REVIEW OF THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Communication Error! Bookmark not defined vii 2.2.2 Inter-cultural communication .7 2.2.3 Speech acts and the act of responding to complaints 2.2.3 Speech acts 2.2.3 The act of complaining 2.2.3.3 Responding to complaints 11 2.2.4 Complaint strategies 11 2.2.4.1 No explicit reproach – Category I .11 2.2.4.2 Expression of annoyance or disapproval – Category II 12 2.2.4.3 Accusation – Category III 12 2.2.4.4 Blame – Category IV 12 2.2.5 Directive acts .13 2.2.5.1 Request for repair 13 2.2.5.2 Threat 13 2.2.5.3 Request for forbearance 13 2.2.6 Politeness .13 2.2.6.1 Grice’s cooperative principle 14 2.2.6.2 Lakoff and Leech’s politeness theory 15 2.2.6.3 Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory 17 2.2.7 Social factors affecting communication 21 2.8 Summary 25 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Research-governing orientations 26 3.1.1 viii Research questions 26 It is undeniable that the findings of the research, to some extend, can help learners of English avoid misunderstanding and culture shock when they communicate with English native speakers On the other hand, it provides an insight into British culture which helps learners of English in Vietnam avoid unnecessary embarrassment and nuisance in their communication For question 2: What are possible implications for teaching Vietnamese learners of English in responding to complaints? Some pedagogical implications to teaching process based on the findings of the study are suggested with the wish to raise foreign language teachers and learners’awareness in sociocultural knowlege In the study, the researcher suggested some ways to improve learners’cultural knowledge and apply cultural knowledge to her teaching process In order to achieve the effectiveness, the researcher designed true-to-life situations in which learners had chance to role-play giving and responding to complaints Hopefully, the suggestions will be useful guideline for the teachers in general and the researcher in particular as well as learners in their teaching and learning process 5.3 Limitation of the research Although the reseacher has made a great effort to complete the study, however, due to the limited time, there are some limitations available First, the research is conducted with a small number of the British (30 people), so the result may not be generalized Moreover, the situations in the study are restricted to eight different situations Finnally, DCT is used as one of the key data collection instruments can not cover nonverbal communication That is why the validity and reliability of the data found in the study are not so high In the future study, the researcher does hope to overcome these limitations 50 5.4 Suggestions for further studies This study has been an attempt at finding the most common ways made by the British to respond to complaints However, this study is just a point of departure for further study Thus, shortcomings and weaknesses are inevitable In fact, the result of the questionnaire data, to some extent, is not adequate enough because the situations are confined to some cases In addition, most of the participants’ oral answers were put into written form, so they may be of little difference from what actually said in trueto-life situations If there is more time, the research will be done with a bigger group of participants with more varied situations A contrastive study on politeness strategies preferred by the British and the Vietnamese in responding to complaints will be conducted Thus, the research will have a clearer picture of culture difference and obviously more effective pedagogical implications will be suggested 51 APPENDICES QUESTIONNAIRES The questionnaires are aimed at finding politeness strategies prefered by the British in responding to complaints Your answers will be of great importance to the researcher’s M.A thesis I highly appreciate your co-operation! Metapragmatic Questionnnaires Could you please read the situations and circle the answer in the appropriate box? Note that in each situation, in which a complaint may be made, “You” are the Speaker, the complainer and Hearer is the addressee Situation 1: You are revising for the forthcoming exams but your roomate keeps playing the music loudly You can’t concentrate on learning Should you tell him/her about your annoyance? Level of D, P and R A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? 52 well C How you rate the severity Not severe Quite severe Severe of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? Situation 2: Your elder sister has been watching her favourite channel for about one hour You ask her to stop watching because you want to watch a football match on T.V but she refuses Level of D, P and R A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? C How you rate the severity well Not severe Quite severe Severe of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? Situation 3: Your 10-year-old daughter is untidy You often ask her to clean the room but she rarely tidies up it You want to tell her about annoyance 53 Level of D, P and R A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? C How you rate the severity well Not severe Quite severe Severe of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? Situation 4: You odered a glass of orange juice but the waiter brought you a glass of lemonade You feel very annoyed Level of D, P and R A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? 54 well C How you rate the severity Not severe Quite severe Severe of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? Situation 5: You have been working hard, creatively and effectively for over years and you have brought much profit to the company weeks ago, most of your colleagues in the company got pay rise but you you didn’t You want to tell your boss about your disappointment Level of D and P A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? C How you rate the severity of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? 55 well Not severe Quite severe Severe Situation 6: Yesterday while you were walking to school in a new white shirt and black trousers, a little boy kicked the ball and made your shirt dirty Then he walked away without an excuse You stopped him and showed him your dissatisfaction Level of D, P and R A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? C How you rate the severity well Not severe Quite severe Severe of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? Situation 7: You are in the cinema A man sitting in front you keeps smoking that annoys you Level of D, P and R A How you rate the social status of speaker with respect to hearer? 56 Lower Equal Higher B How well-acquainted are Not at all A little bit Very the speaker and hearer? C How you rate the severity well Not severe Quite severe Severe of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? Situation 8: You odered a glass of orange juice but the waiter brought you a glass of lemonade You feel very annoyed Level of D, P and R A How you rate the Lower Equal Higher Not at all A little bit Very well Not severe Quite severe Severe social status of speaker with respect to hearer? B How well-acquainted are the speaker and hearer? C How you rate the severity of face threatening of the speaker’s complaint? 57 DISCOURSE COMPLETION TASK Situation 1: You are revising for the forthcoming exams but your roomate keeps playing the music loudly You can’t concentrate on learning Should you tell him/her about your annoyance? You complain: …………………………………………………………………… Situation 2: Your elder sister has been watching her favourite channel for about one hour You ask her to stop watching because you want to watch a football match on T.V but she refuses You complain: ……………………………………………………………………… Situation Your 10-year-old daughter is untidy You often ask her to clean the room but she rarely tidies up it You want to tell her about annoyance You complain: ……………………………………………………………………… Situation 4: You odered a glass of orange juice but the waiter brought you a glass of lemonade You feel very annoyed 58 You complain: ……………………………………………………………………… Situation 5: You have been working hard, creatively and effectively for over years and you have brought much profit to the company weeks ago, most of your colleagues in the company got pay rise but you you didn’t You want to tell your boss about your disappointment You complain: ……………………………………………………………………… Situation 6: Yesterday while you were walking to school in a new white shirt and black trousers, a little boy kicked the ball and made your shirt dirty Then he walked away without an excuse You stopped him and showed him your dissatisfaction You complain: ……………………………………………………………………… Thank your very much for your co-operation! 59 SAMPLES OF MAKING AND RESPONDING TO COMPLAINTS Not Enough Options Elan: Are you ready to order, Sir? Richie: I wanted to try something new today, but I don't see anything interesting on the menu Elan: What kind of food are you looking for? Richie: Hmm nothing specific Actually, I’ve tried all the dishes that are listed here I was looking to explore new ones Elan: Let me to talk to the chef I’m sure he can suggest something Richie: No.That’s okay Let me just suggest that you add some more food variety to your menu I haven’t seen any changes in it, for a while now Elan: You’ve been one of our more regular customers I’ll definitely take your suggestion to the manager Richie: That’s good For now, you can bring me the red sauce pasta and potato wedges This Is Not How I Ordered It Elan: Excuse me! Would you mind telling me who’s the cook? Sam: What’s wrong, Sir? Is there anything I can help you with? Elan: Well, as you can see, I ordered a chicken parmigiana and the chicken is not well-cooked 60 Sam: I really apologize for this mistake Allow me to get you a better dish Elan: That’s alright, but you people have been running this restaurant for so long! Usually such things not happen here Sam: It’s a random mistake I apologize on behalf of my chef Elan: I would appreciate if you can replace it with a well-cooked dish Sam: Sure Thank you for your patience It Is Taking Too Long! Andy: Excuse me, Captain! Richie: Yes Sir How can I help you? Andy: Well, it’s been 20 minutes since I gave my order We’ve haven’t received any appetizers or even any drinks yet Richie: Kindly give me a couple of minutes I’ll check the status of your order Andy: Please so I’m in a hurry and don’t have much time today Richie: Sure I’ll bring your drinks now, and your order will be on your table within the next minutes Andy: Thanks a lot 61 REFERENCES Austin, J.L (1962) How to things with words Oxford University Press New York Beebe, L & Takahashi, T (1989) “Sociolinguistic Variation in Face- Threatening Speech Acts” Plenum Press New York Beisler, F et al (1997) Communication Skills Longman Boxer, D (1993) “Social Distance and Speech Behavior: The case of Indirect Complaints”, Journal of Pragmatics, 19, pp 103-125 Brown, P., &Levinson, S (1987) Politeness: some Universals in language usage CUP Chi, N P (1997) Từ chối, hành vi ngôn ngữ tế nhị Tạp chí “Ngơn Ngữ Đời Sống” Số 11/97 Cohen, A D & Olshtain, E (1993) “The Production of Speech acts by ESL Learners” TESOL Quarterly, 27, pp 33-56 Dung, TTV ( 2008) A comparative study on politeness strategies in complaining in American and Vietnamese cultures BA, VNU-ULIS Ferraro, G (1998) The Cultural Dimension of International Business 3rd Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall 10.Fraser, B (1990) “Perspective on Politeness” Journal of Pragmatics, 14, pp 219-236 11.Goffman, E (1976) Rplies and Responses Language in Society 62 12.Green, G M (1989) Pragmatics and Natural Language Understanding.University of Illinois Illinois 13.Grice, P (1967) Logic and Conversation William James Lectures Harvard University 14.Hofstede, G (1991/1994) Culture and Organizations: Software of Mind London HarperCollins Business 15.Hofstede, G (2001) Culture's Consequences Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations 2nd ed London: Sage 16.Hudson, R A (1989) Discourse Analysis CUP 17.Hudson, T., Detmer, E., & Brown, J D (1995) Development of DCT instruments University of Hawaii Press, USA 18.Kasper, G (1990) “Linguistic Politeness: Current Research Issues” Journal of Pragmatics, 14, pp 193-218 19.Murphy, B., & Neu, J (1996) “ My grade’s too low: The Speech Act set of Complaining.” Mouton De Gruyter, Berlin 20.Lackoff, R (1973) The Logic of Politeness: or Minding your P’s and Q’s University of Chicago, Chicago 21.Laforest, M (2002) “Scenes of Family Life: Complaining in everyday conversation” Journal of Pragmatics, 24, pp 1595-1620 22.Leech, G (1983) Principles of Pragmatics.Longman London 23 Levinson, C.S (1993) “Pramatics.” CUP Cambridge 24.Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning CUP Cambridge 63 25.Olshtain, E & Cohen, A D (1989) Speech Act Behavior across Languages Ablex, Norwood, NJ 26.Olshtain, E & Weinbach, L (1993) Interlanguage Features of the Speech Act of Complaining Oxford University Press 27.Phan, N (2001) Refusal to Invitations: the Use of Vietnamese Learners of English and the Use of Native Speakers of English-A Comparision 28.Quang, N (2002) Giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hóa Nhà xuất ĐHQGHN 29.Schein, E (1984) Organizational culture American Psychologist 45(2): 109– 119 30.Searle, J R (1980) “A Classification of Illocutionary Acts” Language in Society, 5, pp 1-23 31.Searle, J R (1980) Speech Acts and Pragmatics, CUP, Cambridge 32.Spencer-Oatey, H (2008) Culturally Speaking Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory 2nd edition London: Continuum 33.Spencer – Oatey, H (1996) “Reconsidering Power and Distance” Journal of Pragmatics, 26, pp 1-24 34.Trosborg, A (1995) Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, Apologies Mouton De Gruyter, New York 35.Wierzbicka, A (1991) “Different Cultures, Different Languages, Different Speech Acts: Polish vs English” Journal of Pragmatics, 9, pp 145-178 64 ... the act of complaint When speakers deal with a complaint, they are performing an act, which is the act of responding to complaints This can be a combination of one or more than one specific acts... cooperate (and assume each other’s cooperation) in maintaining face in interaction, such cooperation being based on the mutual vulnerability of face That is, normally everyone’s face depends on. .. – Category I As a complaint is an intrinsically face threatening act, the speaker may use the hinting strategies to avoid a conflict This strategy is considered the most indirect 11 since the