A Pragmatic Approach To Chinese EFL Learners' Realization Patterns Of Disagreement In English

Studies on EFL learners' realization patterns of disagreement, by so far, have been found much insufficient. Thus, this study sets out to examine how Chinese EFL learners realize the speech act of disagreement and whether their performance is different from that of American native speakers on the basis of Beebe and Takahashi (1989)'s research.The study is based on the analytical framework of Trosberg (1993), which is modified by the author for the fulfillment of the purpose of the present study. The data are collected through Discourse Completion Task (DCT) and a post hoc interview questionnaire. The subjects involved are a group of 60 English majors from Hengyang Normal University, with 30 freshmen and 30 senior students. Data analysis takes into account the frequency of and preference for disagreement strategies or semantic formulae and the role of social variables played in the directness level of disagreement.The statistical results show that, on the whole, Chinese EFL learners tend to prefer 'counterclaim' and explicit 'contradiction' to disagree with the addressee, and they use 'inclusive the first pronoun' together with 'explanation' as the primary mitigating strategies. However, differences exist on the two different proficiency levels and genders. To be more specific, low proficiency learners apply more explicit and blunt strategies such as using 'no' to show disagreement, and they tend to use more aggravating strategies than high proficiency learners. As to gender differences, females tend to apply more mitigating strategies than males, whereas males prefer more to the strategy of explicit 'no' and aggravating strategies. In addition, a positive correlation is observed between the severity of disagreement and pragmatic distance. That is to say, with the increasing of pragmatic distance between the speakers, the severity of disagreement is increasing as well, featuring with more aggravating disagreements and fewer mitigating strategies. While compared to the performance of American native speakers in Beebe and Takahashi (1989)'s study, Chinese EFL learners' responses are found more direct and the strategies they use are less diversified.The present study has some implications for English foreign language teaching and learning, during which much emphasis should be put on the strategic or appropriate uses of language, rather than on the correctness of forms. However, there exist some shortcomings in the study, which requires more research into this field.