A Contrastive Analysis of Chinese and English Pre-Message-Telling Strategies and its Pedagogical Application

• Main Authors: Hueiyun Irene Chen, 陳慧澐
• Other Authors: Chih-ling Hsieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/48362177615518617104

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 華語文教學系 === 102 === Maynard (2003) pointed that message telling is one of the most widely used speech acts in everyday communication. Nevertheless, the previous researches lack in emphasis on the use of pre-message telling strategies in message telling. By comparing the use of pre-message telling strategies in Chinese and English native speakers, this thesis explores the difference between the two languages and also explores the language patterns used by Chinese natives in pre-message telling strategies. In addition, this thesis explores how message types and message referents affect the use of pre-message telling strategies. After written data was collected via DCT in pilot study, verbal data was collected via the recording of role-playing and questionnaires. The research participants included 40 Chinese native speakers from Taiwan and 40 English speakers from the west coast of the US. Each experimental group is comprised of two participants from the same language and composes four dialogues in different settings; 156 valid dialogues were included in the study. According to the study results, Chinese pre-announcement mostly occurs in interrogatives, particularly in the form of “A-not-A” affirmative-negative questions, while English pre-annoucement mainly occurs in declaratives. As for the pre-message telling strategies, Chinese natives either intend to use the pre-message-telling strategy which shows the explicit intention of speakers, or the one which employ consensus knowledge between the two conversational parties. On the other hand, English natives preferentially choose the pre-message-telling strategy which expresses self-emotions then the one which aims to hand out the dominant rule in the conversation. With regard to the mixed use of pre-message telling strategies and the amount of pre-message-telling strategies used in the experiment, Chinese natives seem to come up with more diverse mixes. Besides, a general resemblance but slightly different between the two language is found in the impact of message types and message referents on the use of pre-message telling strategies. Both Chinese and English natives will be influenced and will employ more pre-message-telling strategies while they deal with negative messages or the messages referent to the other party in conversation. Generally speaking, the impact of the two variables on Chinese natives is prominent then English natives, particularly shown by message referents. However, English natives are slightly affected by message types as well. Based on this research, a teaching curriculum has been designated for Chinese language learners of English speakers. It aims to serve as a reference and benefit Chinese language instructors and their students.