A Contrastive Study Of Complaining Patterns Between American And Chinese University Students

This paper aims to make a contrastive study on complaining patterns between American and Chinese university students based on the descriptive study of the collected data with reference to social variables such as gender, social status and social distance. The detailed investigation and the application of SPSS facilitate the quantified study of the collected data. The instrument of group interview and questionnaire investigation is applied among university students of non-language majors in three universities.The paper is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one is an introduction which covers the origin of the speech act study and presents a general review on the findings of contrastive study of complaint speech in interpersonal communications drawn by the scholars both at home and abroad. Then related theories are expounded to provide insights into the study of complaining patterns through multidimensional perspectives. Conversely, the complaining patterns in particular cultural context could also test the applicability of theories. Brown and Levinson's formula computing the weightiness of an FTA is modified in this paper. Chapter three attempts to present the definition and classification of complaint speech. Chapter four discusses the research design of the paper, methodological problems focusing on research methods and procedures of the investigation. The following chapter depicts the detailed statistical analysis of the collected data. Chapter six is a discussion part which summarizes the result in chapter five with linear figures and proposes a modified formula computing the weightiness of an FTA. The last chapter is ascribed to present the conclusion, theoretical implications and its limitations.It is found that Chinese subjects and American ones are significantly different in the choice of complaining patterns produced to professors, intimates, friends and strangers. The Chinese show greater respect to professors than Americans do. No significant difference has been revealed in the complaints uttered to parents, but subjects do differ in their choices for Americans are more polite than the Chinese. This proves that in private conversations, the variable of social distance enjoys more...