A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts

博士 === 淡江大學 === 英文學系博士班 === 101 === This study is a comparative study of refusal speech acts in Chinese and American cultures. The aim is to reveal cross-cultural universalities and variations of refusal speech acts in respect to the effects of social and contextual factors. It also explores the...

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Main Authors: Ching-Ching Chang, 張菁菁
Other Authors: 陳秀潔
Format: Others
Language:en_US
Published: 2013
Online Access:http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53407349391953161418
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spelling ndltd-TW-101TKU051540202015-10-13T22:35:34Z http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53407349391953161418 A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts 外語學習者之文化背景暨拒絕語言行為相關性之研究 Ching-Ching Chang 張菁菁 博士 淡江大學 英文學系博士班 101 This study is a comparative study of refusal speech acts in Chinese and American cultures. The aim is to reveal cross-cultural universalities and variations of refusal speech acts in respect to the effects of social and contextual factors. It also explores the impact of cross-cultural awareness on refusal speech acts by means of both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Participants were 40 native English speakers from California, USA, and 120 Chinese English speakers in northern Taiwan, whose English was a Foreign Language—40 English majors, 40 non-English majors, and 40 college English teachers—with varied cross-cultural experience. To elicit the use of refusal speech acts and the reflections of cross-cultural awareness, three instruments—the Discourse Completion Tasks (DCT), the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), and the background information and cross-cultural experience questionnaire—were adopted. Interviews were conducted to offer in-depth information for variations of refusal speech acts. Results suggest that the dominance of indirect refusal speech acts was a cross-cultural universality and especially favorable in requests. Cross-cultural variations were indicated in direct and other refusal speech acts. The different use of direct refusals was tied to the convention of the native culture. The choice of other refusal speech acts was relevant to social variables and the native culture, as it was cultural-specific. Other refusal speech acts typically functioned as Face-Satisfying Acts in both Chinese and American cultures. English majors were more indirect in refusals and higher in L1 pragmatic transfer than non-English majors. College English teachers were flexible in using language features from both Chinese and American cultures. The effect of acculturation on refusal speech acts was revealed for those with overseas experience. Cross-cultural effectiveness seemed to positively correlate to language proficiency and cross-cultural experience. Pedagogical implications and research limitations are also addressed. 陳秀潔 2013 學位論文 ; thesis 183 en_US
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description 博士 === 淡江大學 === 英文學系博士班 === 101 === This study is a comparative study of refusal speech acts in Chinese and American cultures. The aim is to reveal cross-cultural universalities and variations of refusal speech acts in respect to the effects of social and contextual factors. It also explores the impact of cross-cultural awareness on refusal speech acts by means of both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Participants were 40 native English speakers from California, USA, and 120 Chinese English speakers in northern Taiwan, whose English was a Foreign Language—40 English majors, 40 non-English majors, and 40 college English teachers—with varied cross-cultural experience. To elicit the use of refusal speech acts and the reflections of cross-cultural awareness, three instruments—the Discourse Completion Tasks (DCT), the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), and the background information and cross-cultural experience questionnaire—were adopted. Interviews were conducted to offer in-depth information for variations of refusal speech acts. Results suggest that the dominance of indirect refusal speech acts was a cross-cultural universality and especially favorable in requests. Cross-cultural variations were indicated in direct and other refusal speech acts. The different use of direct refusals was tied to the convention of the native culture. The choice of other refusal speech acts was relevant to social variables and the native culture, as it was cultural-specific. Other refusal speech acts typically functioned as Face-Satisfying Acts in both Chinese and American cultures. English majors were more indirect in refusals and higher in L1 pragmatic transfer than non-English majors. College English teachers were flexible in using language features from both Chinese and American cultures. The effect of acculturation on refusal speech acts was revealed for those with overseas experience. Cross-cultural effectiveness seemed to positively correlate to language proficiency and cross-cultural experience. Pedagogical implications and research limitations are also addressed.
author2 陳秀潔
author_facet 陳秀潔
Ching-Ching Chang
張菁菁
author Ching-Ching Chang
張菁菁
spellingShingle Ching-Ching Chang
張菁菁
A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts
author_sort Ching-Ching Chang
title A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts
title_short A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts
title_full A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts
title_fullStr A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts
title_full_unstemmed A Study of the Correlation between EFL Learners’ Cultural Background and Refusal Speech Acts
title_sort study of the correlation between efl learners’ cultural background and refusal speech acts
publishDate 2013
url http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53407349391953161418
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