A DCT Survey Of Power-Rating Apologies Between Chinese And American University Students

This thesis endeavors to describe the language uses in Chinese and American English in terms of apology making through a comparative research on the power-rating apology making by Chinese and American university students regarding apology strategy use from the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics, and discusses the underlying cultural and value differences based on statistical findings. The data for the current paper are all elicited from a DCT survey, with a questionnaire containing 10 situations and covering high-to-low and low-to-high situations defined by 5 types of power ratings, i.e. referent power, expert power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. An analysis of the elicited data reveals that the Chinese and American university students adopt similar patterns in employing apology strategies with much the same understanding and awareness of referent power, expert power, and coercive power rating situations. Differences exist but only in the understanding of legitimate power and reward power rating situations and in the use of certain specific strategies. The Chinese students tend to show more concern for preserving good relations with the other interactant, especially when the other has higher power, while their American counterparts care more about remedying the actual offence. Such different language uses reflect different cultural and value differences between the two, i.e., Chinese students pay more heed to interpersonal relations and social status, and American students attach more importance to one's competence and expertise. This thesis hopes to promote more interests and studies on linguistic and cultural differences in specific contexts, so as to facilitate better understanding of the target culture and achievement of proper language use in specific contexts and situations among learners of foreign languages.