A Cross-Cultural Study On Refusal Strategies

For students, learning a foreign language not only means learning the grammar, pronunciation and the lexicon of the target language, but also means how to use language in polite, appropriate or effective way which will help us to minimize the misunderstanding, embarrassment or offense and maximize the possibility of successful communication.This study aims to sort out the similarities and difference of strategies used in Chinese EFL (English as a foreign language) learners and native speakers of English, with a particular focus on the speech act of refusal. Brown and Levinson (1987) claim that, in general, the people involved in an interaction cooperate to maintain each participant's face. Refusal in this study is seen as a face-threatening act, which threats the hearer's face, so many face-saving strategies will be expected to use. Also, the study contributes to the understanding and use of appropriate strategies for protecting the face of the interlocutors.The subjects of this study are two groups: one group is composed of 50 Chinese EFL learners in Southwest Jiaotong University; the other one includes 30 native speakers of English. A Discourse Completion Test was delivered to collect data. In this study, the similarities and differences between the two groups are investigated from three levels: (1) direct and indirect refusal patterns used by the two groups (including total strategies used, strategies per item, total direct strategies, total indirect strategies, and proportion of direct versus indirect); (2) the order and frequency of semantic formulas used in each situation were coded to investigate the strategies used by the two groups; (3) average frequencies of the indirect refusal strategies for each group on lower, equal, or higher interlocutor status items. Many of the data proved there were statistically significant differences in strategies use between the two groups.As we know different cultures have different perceptions and interpretations of appropriateness and politeness, which have greatly influenced on the face-saving strategies. Based on the qualitative and quantitative study, this study also suggests some pedagogical implications to English teaching and cross-cultural communication.