Refusals in Spanish and English: A cross-cultural study of politeness strategies among speakers of Mexican Spanish, American English, and American learners of Spanish as a foreign language

This study investigates the speech act performance of native speakers of Mexican Spanish (SPN-SPN), native speakers of American English (ENG-ENG), and advanced American learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ENG-SPN) in refusals in six different situations (two invitations, two requests, and two suggestions) of equal and higher status (N = 60 [20 male subjects per group]) using enhanced role plays and retrospective verbal reports (Cohen 1998; Ericsson & Simon 1993). Variables controlled were: gender, age, L2 Spanish dialect, experience abroad, and proficiency level. Transcripts from the 360 role plays were classified according to refusal strategies including direct and indirect refusals, and adjuncts to refusals. As refusals are complex speech acts which often entail negotiation, the data were examined as refusal sequences throughout the refusal interaction encompassing pre-refusals, head acts, and post-refusals. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.; Results showed that learners differed from the SPN-SPN group in the frequency, content, and perceptions of refusal strategies. Significant differences occurred in the use of flat ‘no,’ mitigated refusal, alternative, gratitude/appreciation, and agreement. Six strategies not observed in previous studies were identified. Contextual factors, such as the level of social status, social distance, and situation, influenced the number and selection of strategies. Among the learners, negative pragmatic transfer was found in the frequency, content, and social perceptions of refusal strategies. In addition, a lack of sufficient grammatical knowledge prevented learners from refusing appropriately. Lexical and syntactic devices to mitigate the refusal were infrequent in the ENG-SPN group. The difficulty of performing the speech act increased in situations of higher status. Rather than proficiency level, length of stay in the target culture appeared to be a better predictor of pragmatic ability. Retrospective verbal reports were instrumental in providing insights into learners' perceptions of refusals, their linguistic and sociocultural knowledge, and the language of thought preferred to perform the speech act. The concept of ‘face’ is re-examined and it is suggested that group face (Nwoye 1992) applies to the Mexican culture, while individual face better describes the American society. Issues in research methodology and pedagogical implications for the L2 classroom are discussed.