(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a study of politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the coursebook new headway pre intermediate(the third edition)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Trần Thị Phượng A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSEBOOK “NEW HEADWAY” PRE-INTERMEDIATE (THE THIRD EDITION) Nghiên cứu chiến lược lịch sử dụng hội thoại giáo trình giao tiếp NEW HEADWAY Pre-intermediate (Phiên 3) MA THESIS (MINOR) Field : English Linguistics Code : 60 22 15 Hanoi, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Trần Thị Phượng A STUDY OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSEBOOK “NEW HEADWAY” PRE-INTERMEDIATE (THE THIRD EDITION) Nghiên cứu chiến lược lịch sử dụng hội thoại giáo trình giao tiếp NEW HEADWAY Pre-intermediate (Phiên 3) MA THESIS (MINOR) Field : English Linguistics Code : 60 22 15 Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ Hanoi, 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS *Statement of authorship……………………………………………………………………………… i *Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………… ii *Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii *Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………………………… iv *List of tables and charts……………………………………………………………………………… v PART I: INTRODUCTION Error! Bookmark not defined Rationale Error! Bookmark not defined Aims of the Study Error! Bookmark not defined Scope of the Study Error! Bookmark not defined Methodology Error! Bookmark not defined Design of the study Error! Bookmark not defined PART II: DEVELOPMENT .Error! Bookmark not defined Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Error! Bookmark not defined I Language and culture Error! Bookmark not defined II Communicative Competence (C.C.) .Error! Bookmark not defined III Speech Acts (SA) Error! Bookmark not defined IV Politeness and Politeness Strategies Error! Bookmark not defined IV.1 Definitions of politeness .Error! Bookmark not defined IV.2 Face .Error! Bookmark not defined IV.3 Politeness Strategies Error! Bookmark not defined IV.3.1 Positive politeness strategies Error! Bookmark not defined IV.3.2 Negative politeness strategies Error! Bookmark not defined.6 Chapter 2: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES FOUND IN THE CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSEBOOK 20 I Overview of politeness strategies in “New Headway” Pre-intermediate (The Third Edition) (NHW) 20 II The frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies used in NHW Error! Bookmark not defined.1 Sampling process evening You friend wants you to go to the theatre with him/her tomorrow but you reject because you are busy writing a report III Discuss and see if you say in the same way in Vietnamese in these situations Exercise 3: Request Conversation and Request situation I Match each request with a suitable response A B Could you ask My to phone me, please? It’s Lan a Go straight and turn left at the second corner Can I have some information about a Sorry, I’m leaving in minutes the train? I’d like a room, please b Yes, of course I wonder if I could talk to you b OK Excuse me Please, show me the way c Single or double to the nearest railway station? II Guess the place in which the dialogues are used in the right way and the people who join these conversations III Discuss and decide the best way of making requests in each situation in the table below E.g Hearer Situation Request Waiter You’ve just come to a restaurant See the menu Stranger You’re at the phone box You Change money haven’t got any change for a phone call Receptionist You arrange to meet your dentist Change the date next Friday evening But now it’s impossible for you Staff You are at work Ask to have a letter typed Shop assistant You want to buy an LG washing Know how it works machine Friends You have to a translation Ask about some new words in the work translation IV Discuss and point out the similarities and differences in making the requests in the situations above between English and Vietnamese Exercise 4: Safe or unsafe topics I Work in groups to discuss if the following questions are considered to be safe (S) or unsafe (U) when you meet someone for the first time in an English speaking country Explain your answers Then, compare them with the ones in Vietnamese culture What does your husband/ wife do? How much money you earn every month? How many children have you got? Are you married? Why aren’t you married? Why don’t you have any children? Do you like sports? How old are you? Are you a Democrat or a Republican? 10 How much was your watch? 11 Do you like politics? 12 Where are you from? 13 Do you work down town? 14 Why don’t you work/ why you still stay at home? 15 Are you from Britain? II Discuss if the following statements are true (T) or false (F) Then, find out the difference in choosing topics to start conversation in English and in Vietnamese When meeting each other the British often talk about the weather Politics is a common topic in Britain It is no problem when the Vietnamese ask English people about their age for the first time meeting In English speaking countries to show politeness means “ Don’t put your nose in my affairs” In English speaking countries the question “How are you?” is only used when speakers really want to know about listeners’ health Exercise 5: Appropriateness I How you say in the following situations: You are fifteen minutes late for class The teacher is explaining something to class when you arrive You are ringing your doctor to make an appointment for Friday evening You are calling the post office to send 20 roses to your friend in another city so that they arrive in time for her/his birthday You have got a question about something the teacher has just said in class 5 You are ringing the local railway station to get known about the earliest train to the capital You want to try a nice T-shirt in a clothes shop You are in the city centre Someone asks you the way to the nearest bank You are calling the cinema to find out if there are any tickets left for the last show of the day You are a travel agent You’ve just met a foreign visitor at the airport You want to make the visitor feel welcome 10 You are ringing to the travel agency to know how to book a holiday abroad II Discuss in groups to find out if what is said in the situations above is the same as in Vietnamese Exercise 6: Suitable Reply I What responses can be made for the following utterances: Excuse me! I have just lost my wallet in the supermarket, mum You look tired What’s the matter? Peter, I have passed an important exam, you know You see, thousands of babies are born every day Tom and Mary are going to get married next week My son is going to start work tomorrow He has been unemployed for long II What can people say in the following situations: Assistant: Can I help you? Customer: ……………………………………………… Customer: I’d like a room for two days, please Receptionist: …………………………………………… A: Would you like to go to the party tonight? B: ………………………………………………………… A: Shall we go swimming this afternoon? B: ………………………………………………………… A: Is there a post office near here? B: ………………………………………………………… III Discuss in groups to find out what is said in the situations above is the same as in Vietnamese Conclusion Politeness plays important part in communication, especially, in cross-cultural communication The concept of politeness has been widely mentioned, discussed, and analyzed for years However, in fact, studying politeness systematically as a science in which the subjects matter defined has only been concerned in some recent decades Therefore, it is difficult to find an accurate definition of politeness Linguistic research on politeness is closely associated with the name of Lakoff (1973,1975), Leech (1983), and Brown & Levinson (1987) However, perhaps the most thorough treatment of the concept of politeness is that of Brown and Levinson which was first published in 1978 In the framework that they develop, “politeness is interpreted as redressive action taken to counterbalance the disruptive effect of face threatening acts” (Brown & Levinson 1987:4) The study aims at identifying this important of politeness in communication It investigate positive and negative politeness strategies and examines their frequency of occurrence in some typical kinds of conversational activities in the course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” on the theoretical ground of politeness proposed by Brown & Levinson The study shows that most positive and negative politeness strategies are used in the conversational activities of “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” except for positive politeness strategies 3, and 14 It also reveals that positive politeness strategies are preferred more than negative politeness strategies in almost all knids of conversational activities of the material “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” including requesting, making suggestion, responding, social behavior and inviting According to the data analysis, every kind of conversational activity in the book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” does not refer to all the same politeness strategies Among 17 positive politeness strategies, the most favorite positive politeness strategies in almost all kinds of conversational activities are 1, 4, 5, 12 and 16 Among 11 negative politeness strategies, strategies and are most interested In addition, the choice of politeness strategies also depends on the relationship between S and H Positive politeness strategies are more used by friends and colleagues who want to pay attention, concern to each other or narrow the distance between them Apparently, the data and classification of politeness strategies highlight the importance of applying positive and negative politeness in communication as well as in cross-cultural communication for teachers and students of English In order to teach and study English efficiently it is essential to employ politeness strategies appropriately in certain situations in accordance with the purpose of communication Some sample exercises and activities, which are introduced in chapter 3, may help teachers and students to practice effectively positive and negative politeness strategies referred in “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” as well as to avoid cultural shock and succeed in daily communication later In conclusion, politeness is really vital in teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning the course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” in particular So as to use politeness successfully to study English well and to avoid possible miscommunication, both teachers and students must have certain knowledge about English speaking cultures It would be hopeful that with the author’s study, the students of TLU could learn English through the course book “New Headway Pre-Intermediate (the Third Edition)” efficiently and become good across-cultural communicators Limitation of the study and suggestions for further research This study though has been done with great effort, cannot cover all aspects of the use of politeness and negative politeness strategies of English and Vietnamese people in daily communication In addition, the sample collection is taken from only one book, so it is not large enough to assure a complete generalization It is suggested that further investigation for politeness strategies in some other course books should be done and more research on the improvement in understanding and applying politeness strategies in the communication of the targeted students should be carried out in the future project REFERENCES In English: Austin, J.L (1962) How to things with words, Oxford University Press: Oxford, England Brown, P & Levinson, S.C (1987) Politeness: Some Universal in Language Usages CUP Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis CUP Bruner & Richard, J C (1978, 1985) The Context of Language Teaching CUP Clark, H.H and Schuk, D.H (1980) Polite Responses to Polite Requests Lognition Contrill,L (1991) Face, Politeness and Directness University of Camberra Lan, D (2006) A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Business Conversations of the Course Book “Business Basics”, M.A Thesis Ellis, C (1996) Culture Shock – Vietnam Time Edition Pte Ltd Singapore Emmitt, N and Pollock, J (1990) Language and Learning CUP 10 Frawley, W (1992) Linguistic Semantics Lawrence Erlbauin Associates Publishers 11 Gee, J P (1990) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis, Theory and Method London & New York 12 Gies, M.L (1995) Speech Acts and Conversational Interactions Cambridge University Press 13 Hudson, R A (1980) Sociolinguistics CUP 14 Leech, G (1983) Principles of Pragmatics London and New York, Longman 15 Longman Group UK (1992) Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture Longman House 16 Lyons, J (1975) Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics CUP 17 Quang, N (2003) Intercultural and Cross-culture Communication VNU Press 18 Hoạt, N (1995) Politeness Marker in Vietnamese Requests Ph.D Thesis, Monash University-Melbourne, Australia 19 Sửu, N (1990) A Cross-cultural Study of Greeting and Address Term in English and Vietnamese University of Canberna 20 Tuyết, N (2005) A Study of Politeness Strategies in the Conversational Activities of the Course Book “Lifetimes”, M.A Thesis 21 Richard, J (1985) Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics Longman Group Ltd 22 Saville-Troike, M (1986) The Ethnography of Communication-An Introduction Basil Backwell 23 Searl, J.R (1969) Speech Acts CUP 24 Thomas, J (1995) Meaning in Interactions: An Introduction to Pragmatics: Longman, London and New York 25 Valdes, J M (1995) Culture Bound Cambridge CUP 26 Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics CUP 27 Wright, A (1987) How to Communicate Successfully Cambridge University Press In Vietnamese 28 Diệp Quang Ban (2005), Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, NXB Giáo dục, Hà Nội 29 Nguyễn Quang, (2002) Các chiến lược lịch dương tính giao tiếp Tạp chí Ngôn ngữ số 13 30 Nguyễn Quang, (2002) Giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hóa Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 31 Nguyễn Văn Độ, (1995) Về nghiên cứu lịch giao tiếp Tạp chí Ngơn ngữ số 32 Nguyễn Việt Hương, (1996) Thực hành tiếng Việt Nhà xuất giáo dục  ... of the material ? ?New Headway Pre- Intermediate (the Third Edition)? ?? including requesting, making suggestion, responding, social behavior and inviting According to the data analysis, every kind of. .. politeness is really vital in teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning the course book ? ?New Headway Pre- Intermediate (the Third Edition)? ?? in particular So as to use politeness. .. question about something the teacher has just said in class 5 You are ringing the local railway station to get known about the earliest train to the capital You want to try a nice T-shirt in a clothes