A study of politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the course book new headway – elementary

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ******************** NGUYỄN THỊ HƯỜNG A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE CONVERSATION ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW HEADWAY – ELEMENTARY (NGHIÊN CỨU CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAO TIẾP CỦA GIÁO TRÌNH NEW HEADWAY - ELEMENTARY) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI - 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ******************** NGUYỄN THỊ HƯỜNG A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE CONVERSATION ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW HEADWAY – ELEMENTARY (NGHIÊN CỨU CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAO TIẾP CỦA GIÁO TRÌNH NEW HEADWAY - ELEMENTARY) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof Dr Nguyễn Quang HA NOI - 2017 DECLARATION I here y st te th t I: Nguy n Thi Hường, from QH2015.E3, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (MA), accept the requirements of the university rel ting to the retention nd use of M ster‘s Gr du tion P per deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan and reproduction of the paper st October, 2017 N i ễ H ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is an honor for me to express my deep and sincere thanks to those who have made this thesis possible First of all, I would like to pay my great gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Dr Nguy n Quang, for his continuous support, careful guidance and valuable advice throughout my thesis-writing period With his comprehensive instruction, his inspiration, enthusiasm and immense knowledge, he helped me step by step write up my thesis to the best of my ability and opened my knowledge of literature It was very lucky for me to be under his guidance My heartfelt thanks and blessings also go to my family, especially my parents who are always by my side and support me during the time I did my thesis Their well-being is of great spiritual motivation for me all the time Last but not least, I want to offer special thanks to all of my friends who always supported and stood by me during the completion of the graduation paper To them all I dedicate this thesis ii ABSTRACT English has been an indepensible means of communnication in daily life However, in fact, a large number of English learners find it hard to communicate fluently and confidently Therefore, it is essential to find out ways to interact well in daily communication which are partly presented in the politeness strategies used during the process of interaction As a result, this study is carried to find out politeness strategies and how they work in communication All converational ctivities in the course ook ―New He dw y – Element ry‖ are examined Then the data is analyzed according to two types of strategies, the positive and negative ones The research results reveal that positive politeness strategies are used much more than negative politeness strategies found in most of conversations in the book Furthermore, twelve positive politeness strategies and six nagative posliteness strategies are used in the book Finally, implications are offered for teaching and learning English with consideration to politeness strategies in communication iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ……………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES …………………………………… vi LIST OF APPENDICES ……………………………………………… vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………… vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of research problem and the rationale for the study 1.2 Aim and significance of the study 1.3 Objectives of study 1.4 Scope of study 1.5 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Culture and Communication 2.1.1 Definition of culture 2.1.2 Definition of communication 2.1.3 The relationship between culture and communication 2.2 Politeness 2.2.1 What is politeness? 2.2.2 Previous studies on politeness 2.2.3 Positive politeness and positive politeness strategies 2.2.4 Negative politeness and negative politeness strategies 14 iv CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Data source 18 3.2 Methods 18 3.2.1 Techniques for data collection 19 3.2.2 Techniques for data analysis 19 3.2.3 Process of data analysis 19 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies in the conversational activities 20 4.2 Positive politeness strategies in the conversational activities 21 4.3 Negative politeness strategies in the conversational 26 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the findings 30 5.2 Implications to English teaching and learning 31 5.3 Limitation of the study and Reccomendations for further research 31 REFERENCES 33 APPENDICES I v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Circumstances determining choice of strategy (Brown and Levinson, 1978, 60) Figure 2: Strategies to minimize risk of losing face (Nguyen Quang, 2001) Figure 3: The frequency of positive politeness strategies Figure 4: The frequency of negative politeness strategies LIST OF TABLES Table The statistics of positive and negative politeness strategies Table The statistics of positive politeness strategies Table The statistics of negative politeness strategies LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX: Summary of positive and negative politeness strategies in the course ook ―new he dw y – element ry‖ vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS S: Speaker H: Hearer FTA: Face Threatening Act PPS: Positive Politeness Strategies NPS: Negative Politeness Strategies T: Track P: Page vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study People are probably unable to communicate well in their daily life, without language which is regarded as the most popular means of communication to exchange information among people at work or in study Although there have been over 10,000 languages available in the world, some of them have been used as the common languages and only few have been spoken widely around the world English is a language which many countries use as a first language and many have considered it as the common language for teaching in schools and universities People have studied English for different purposes such as getting job, studying abroard, promotion or travelling In Vietnam, English has been taught as a foreign language for serveral decades and recently, English has become a compulsory subject in most schools, colleges and universities Although teaching speaking skill as well as other skills have been put in all the textbooks from primary school to high school for several years, most Vietnamese teachers have still focused on teaching grammar like structural rules and forms of tenses rather than speaking skill This accidentally makes a large number of students learning English but unable able to make everyday conversations well when they meet foreigners who speak English Besides, many Vietnamese are afraid of talking in English because they not know how to appear polite in English Therefore, this study is conducted with the hope to point out how positive and negative politeness strategies are used in the conversational activities under investigation, thus helping to improve the teaching nd le rning of ―Everyd y English‖ in the course book New Headway – Elementary, by Liz & John Soars B=BarryMP=Miss Potts MP: Good morning Can I help you? B: Yes, I‘d like some or nge juice, ple se MP: Er sorry There‘s pple juice orange juice B: Wh t‘s th t then? Isn‘t th t or nge juice? MP: Oh, yes So it is! My eyes! Here you are B: Thank you, and some milk, please MP: Sorry I sold the last bottle two minutes ago B: Oh, dear! What about some coffee? MP: Yes, here you are B: Th nks Th t‘s or nge juice, coffee er and er a kilo of apples, please MP: I don‘t sell B: You don‘t sell What about cheese?can I have some cheese? MP: I don‘t sell cheese, either B: You don‘t sell cheese! Th t‘s m zing Now, I w nt some pizz , ut I‘m sure you don‘t sell pizz , you? MP: Oh, yes, I What would you like? Pizza with mushrooms, pizza with cheese and ham, pizza with sausage, or pizza with tomatoes? B: Wow! Can I have .er some pizza with cheese with cheese and tomatoes, please? MP: Oh, sorry I forgot Usually, I have pizza ut not on Thursd ys Tod y‘s Thursd y,isn‘t it? B: Yes, it is Mmm OK, er OK Forget the pizza wh t out re d? I don‘t suppose you have any bread? MP: Yes, you‘re right B: Pardon? MP: You‘re right There isn‘t ny re d B: Tell me Do you a lot of business? MP: Oh, yes sir This shop is open 24 hours a day B: Really? What people buy? MP: all the thing you see B: Mmmm! OK Th t‘s ll for me How much? XI MP: Th t‘s $5.60, ple se B: Thank you, good bye MP: Good bye sir See you again B: I don‘t think so XII Can you help me with my hom 10 A: Madrid is more expensive A: The buildings in Rome are A: The underground in Londo XIII Tara: Why did you leave London? Y good job Mel: Yes, Tara:And you had a big flat in Lond Mel: Well, I‘ve got Tara:Really? How many bedrooms h Mel: Three And it‘s gogt th n my fl t in London nd it‘s che pe T r : But you h ven‘t got Mel: I‘ve got lot of friends here Pe much friendlier than in London Tara: But the country is so boring Mel: No, it isn‘t It‘s much more exc London Seacombe has got shops, a theater, and a park And the air is cle the streets are safer Tara: OK Everything is wonderful! 11 can I visit you? O=Oliver O: Oh, dear! Monic , I don‘t know n these people Who are they? M: Don‘t worry, Oliver They‘re ver C n you see th t m n over there? He‘ down Th t‘s H rry He‘s a musician works in LA O: Sorry, where? M: You know, LA Los Angeles O: Oh yeah M: And he‘s t lking to M ndy He‘s w red dress She‘s very nice She lives in a beautiful old house in country O: Rich, eh? M: Yes, Rich and married! Next to h Fion She‘s drinking Fion ‘s the oldest frienf, she nd I we school together XIV O: And what does Fiona do? M: She‘s stories- they‘re very good ut nyw she‘s t king to Goerge He‘s l ughing smoking world, thousands of miles every wee O: And who are those two over there know each other very well M: Oh, th t‘s Roz They live in the flat upstairs O: So…er…th t‘s H rry nd M ndy a …er…it‘s no good, I c n‘t remem er names In the clothes shop SA= shop assistant SA: Can I help you? C: Yes, ple se I‘m looking for shirt with my new suit SA: What colour are you looking fo C: No, it isn‘t the right SA: Well, wh t out this one? It‘s darker blue C: Oh, yes I‘d like th t one much et I try it on? SA: Yes, of course The changing ro over there Is the size OK? C: No, it‘s smaller size? SA: Th t‘s the l st C: OK I‘ll t ke the white How muc SA: $39.99 how you want to pay C: Can I pay by credit card? SA: Credit c rd‘s fine Th nk you ve Unit 12 Questions about Rosie A: Why is she going to learn F and Russian? B: Because she wants to danc and Moscow A: When is she going to marr B: Not until she‘s thirty-five XV It‘s going to r Why are you going? MB= Miss Bishop MB: First I‘m going to Holl nd H: Why? MB: To see the tulips, of course! H: Oh, yes! How wonderful! Where going after that? MB: Well, then I‘m going to Sp in to flamenco dancing Conversations about the weather XVI 13 The information bureau A=Ann B=Clerk A: good morning Can you tell me th the trains from Bristol back to Oxfor please? B: Afternoon, evening? When yo come back? A: A B: A look There‘re tr in th there isn‘t nother one until 6.50 A: And what time they get in? B: The 5.28 gets into Oxford at 6.45 6.50 gets in at 8.10 A: Thanks a lot At the ticket office A: Hello A return to Britol, please C: Day return or period return? A: A day return A: How you want to pay? C: Cash, please XVII A:Th t‘s eighteen pounds C:Here‘s a twenty-pound note C: Here‘s your ch nge nd your ticke 14 A: Thank you Which platform is it? C: You want platform over there A: OK, thanks very much Goodbye A: Listen! BA 516 to Genev Th t flight B: Did the announcement say gate A: I couldn‘t he r I think it s id B: Look! There it is on the departure is gate A: Ok Come on Let‘s go A: Can I have you ticket, please B: Yes Of course A: Thank you How many suitcases got? B: Just one A: And have you got much hand lug B: Just this bag A: Th t‘s fine B: Oh… C n I h ve se t next to the window? A: Yes Th t‘s Ok Here is your o rd pass Have a nice flight! XVIII ... positive and negative politeness strategies in the conversational activities In the analysis of the politeness strategies collected in the course ook ? ?New Headway – Element ry‖, the author mainly apply... participants, the method for data collection and data analysis In chapter 4, data are analyzed and findings are discussed towards research questions and Finally, chapter summarizes the main finding of. .. the course book “ New Headway – Elementary? ??? How are negative politeness strategies used in the “Everyday English activities? ? ?of the course book “ New Headway – Elementary? ??? 1.4 Scope of the study