Luận án Directness in conversations in american english and vietnamese – a comparative study

i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING DONG THAP UNIVERSITY LE THU HA DIRECTNESS IN CONVERSATIONS IN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE – A COMPARATIVE STUDY Branch: English Pedagogy Degree: Higher education BA THESIS Supervisor: Phan Ngoc Thach M.A. DONG THAP, 2012 i DECLARATION I confirm that the thesis entitled “Directness in conversations in American English and Vietnamese - A comparative study” has been performed and interpreted exclusively by myself. I clarify that the work is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the BA degree and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any degree or qualification. The author Le Thu Ha ii ACKNOWLEGMENTS I would first and foremost like to thank my supervisor, Phan Ngoc Thach M.A. for giving me support, guideline, and feedback when I carried out my thesis. I would also like to extend my gratefulness to all of the teachers in Foreign Language Department who provide me with necessary help as well as good suggestions whenever I get into trouble. Last but not least, my special thanks are sincerely sent to my parents, my friends and so many others who continuously offer spiritual support and encouragement during the process of doing this thesis. Le Thu Ha iii ABSTRACT Students of English in Vietnam need a general consciousness of directness and indirectness since they will benefit in many aspects. First, knowing how and when to use directness and indirectness for communicating purposes is a way serving politeness and face saving. That good point is for social interaction. In the field of teaching, directness and indirectness can be used by the teacher to balance the quality and quantity of work- share between the teacher and the students and improve the teacher-student relationship. Vietnamese students of English have difficulties in adjusting the degree of directness and indirectness in their conversations. Evidently, various cross- cultural values build up diverse language styles. Directness and indirectness in conversations do not except and the cultural gap between Eastern and Western countries unintentionally causes difficulties for the students. Moreover, the condition for students to sharpen their flexibility in choosing appropriate degrees of directness and indirectness is still limited because their sensitivity to directness and indirectness is not put in the adequate attention. The thesis “Directness in conversations in English and Vietnamese- A comparative study” is carried out with four specific purposes. The first purpose is to remind students of English of the values of directness and indirectness in aspects of life and career as discussing about the importance of directness and indirectness. Secondly, a general summary about directness and indirectness is given to provide people with a firm foundation about directness and indirectness. Thirdly, directness in English as well as indirectness in Vietnamese is investigated to find out similarities and differences between the two. Lastly, hopefully, this research can give some indications for directness and indirectness to teachers and students of English. 1 CONTENT DECLARATION ..................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEGMENTS .......................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iii CONTENT ...............................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................4 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................4 1.1Motivation ...........................................................................................................4 1.2 Aims of the study................................................................................................5 1.3 The research questions ........................................................................................5 1.4 Significance of the study .....................................................................................6 1.5 Related previous study ........................................................................................7 1.6 Organization of the thesis ...................................................................................8 Chapter 2 ..................................................................................................................9 LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................9 2.1 Related theory ....................................................................................................9 2.1.1 A successful conversation ................................................................................9 2.1.2 Cooperation in conversation .......................................................................... 10 2.1.3 Speech acts .................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Directness in conversations ............................................................................... 13 2.2.1 Definition of directness in conversations........................................................ 13 2.2.2 The significance of directness in conversations .............................................. 14 2.2.3 The influences on directness usage ................................................................ 14 2.2.4 Indirectness versus directness ........................................................................ 16 2 2.3 High-context versus low-context culture ........................................................... 17 Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................ 20 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 20 3.1 Research questions ........................................................................................... 20 3.2 Research participants ........................................................................................ 20 3.2.1 The author ..................................................................................................... 20 3.2.2 The subjects ................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Research procedure........................................................................................... 20 3.4 Research methods ............................................................................................. 21 3.4.1 Material analysis ............................................................................................ 21 3.4.2 Material generalization .................................................................................. 21 3.4.3 Comparison ................................................................................................... 21 3.5 Summary .......................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................ 22 COMPARISION .................................................................................................... 22 4.1 Similarities ....................................................................................................... 22 4.1.1 Both Vietnamese and American English involve some commonly general purposes of using directness and indirectness in conversations ............................... 22 4.1.2 Devices of indirectness are the same in Vietnamese and American English ... 22 4.1.2.1 Rhetorical strategies and markers ................................................................ 22 4.1.2.2 Lexical and Referential Markers ................................................................. 24 4.1.2.3 Syntactic Markers and Structures ................................................................ 26 4.1.3 Both Vietnamese and American use directness and indirectness abiding the Cooperative principles ............................................................................................ 26 4.2 Differences ....................................................................................................... 27 3 4.2.1 Styles ............................................................................................................. 27 4.2.2 Degrees of directness ..................................................................................... 33 4.2.3 Reasons and purposes of using directness and indirectness ............................ 37 4.3 Conclusion about directness and indirectness in American English and Vietnamese ............................................................................................................. 41 Chapter five ............................................................................................................ 42 IMPLICATIONS .................................................................................................... 42 5.1 What should people notice about directness and indirectness in conversations .. 42 5.2 Some exceptions of directness and indirectness in Vietnamese and American English ................................................................................................................... 43 5.3 Implications for teachers ................................................................................... 44 5.4 Implications for students ................................................................................... 45 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 47 4 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1Motivation Ochs states that humans learn norms and rules of social interaction through socialization in specific contexts (1986). Gayle (2002) also affirms that different contexts regulate people‟s interaction behaviors and perceptions of behavioral interactions of others in various ways. Therefore, people in different areas of the world behave differently. Their behaviors also vary from one group to another in the same nation. Differences also exist among various communities in terms of status, gender, and context. Inevitably, it causes culture shocks. According to Deena and Mara (1982), directness is one of the most necessary parts in the American English using. Meanwhile, Jeffrey and Chinh (1997) believe that in Asian cultures including Vietnamese one, directness is not a valued trait. Hence, there are significant differences in using directness between American English and Vietnamese, particularly in conversations. Certainly, these differences can cause certain cross-cultural problems for American and Vietnamese speakers. Approaching cross-culture seems to be one of the good ways to help students get used to diverse conducts and improve their communicative competence. Learning the use of directness in conversations in the two languages is a very essential part to promote interactive effectiveness. Cross-cultural study demands learner remarkable efforts. Therefore, doing research on the use of directness in conversations is believed to be one of the very first steps to approach it. Because of the limited time of exposure to cross- culture, an absolute perception is obviously unconceivable to students of English at Dong Thap University. However, learners‟ capacity for understanding and interpreting communication styles and patterns will be widened once they work hard to deal with intercultural problems. They not only can use appropriate styles and patterns of communication, contact naturally but also can be more confident in their conversations with less misunderstanding, shocks, disappointment, anxiety, and unexpected events. 5 Conversations are very important in researches as well as in daily life. People can raise communication effectiveness when they know the right way of exchange either directly or indirectly in daily language. However, the number of communication styles is uncountable, which cause problems for students of English at Dong Thap University, especially students who work in English- speaking environment and communicate with English-speaking people. Consequently, it is more and more essential for them to know how to use conversations effectively to promote their communication skills. Actually, suitable directness in conversations and teaching support more flourishing communication, improved achievements, better relationships, and successful teaching. Such complexity and problems mentioned above, it makes the necessity of this thesis “Directness in conversations in American English and Vietnamese - A comparative study”. The research needs to be done. A desire to enrich knowledge of English is indispensible. In addition, if the research is exact and becomes a factual science one, it will be an adding reference about directness in conversations for students of English at Dong Thap University. 1.2 Aims of the study The research aims to: - Realize similarities and differences between American English and Vietnamese directness in conversations - Indicate implications of learning and using directness in conversations for students. - Support students in using conversations‟ directness in both English and Vietnamese more effectively in order to avoid culture shocks. 1.3 The research questions Are there any similarities and differences in using directness in conversations between American English and Vietnamese? What are some implications for learning and using directness in conversations? 6 1.4 Significance of the study Directness plays a very essential role in daily life of American people as Deena and Mara say, “American English strongly emphasizes directness in verbal interaction” (2002, p. 20). They need brief and straight dialogues. Deborah (2007) supposes that sometimes telling the complete truth can actually get communicators into trouble. When people converse daily, unpredicted situations may occur with their directness. In addition, Gayle asserts, “The more direct the refusal, the more the threat to the person‟s face.” (2002, p. 3). Brown and Levinson (1987) affirm “some degree of indirectness usually exists‟‟ (p. 56). To balance directness and indirectness in conversations is not easy. Conversing used in the right way brings about a lot of advantages. It gives people chances to develop their personality and emotion, spend time more effectively, and improve relationships and confidence. Appropriate directness in conversations helps people understand and support each other. They could recognize what the partner needs and what they should do. Also, they could acknowledge their strong points and weak points from which they could get lessons and experiences through frank advice. Apposite conversations are good for community‟s sake because it could increase the solidarity. Clever and straight conversations have positive psychological effects on students. In teaching, the teacher evaluates his students constructively and gives them advice in a frank way, which could support students to know their strengths and shortcomings. They may learn from the mistakes. Teacher‟s advice shows students exactly what they need to do to perfect themselves. Sincere and straight comments from the teacher could inspire students. This makes the students feel that they are well-treated and cared. In addition, the teacher offers them positive points of view. Clear and honest conversations can be the motivation for students. They become interested in their study. They want to overcome their shortcomings. Furthermore, students can give their idea straight, which helps the teacher know what they need so that the 7 teacher can adjust the way of teaching. Moreover, open and practical conversations can improve the relationship between teacher and students. In general, appropriate directness in conversations helps teaching and studying more successful. In conclusion, appropriate directness helps people to avoid unexpected troubles and struggles appearing in daily conversations, as well it supports teacher to be helpful and reliable consultant. This thesis “Directness in conversations in American English and Vietnamese - A comparative study” intentionally recommends directness in daily life talk and in teaching to students. Furthermore, an exciting point is that directness in conversations between American English and Vietnamese are compared, which support students more cross cultural knowledge and appropriate way of using directness in conversations. 1.5 Related previous study Many scholars have been done researches on “directness”. Arthur (2001) performs “Directness in the Use of African-American English”. He presented the form, meaning and function of directness. Nevertheless, his work is not a comparative study and it is about African-American English only. Gayle, Mahmoud, and Waguida (2002) are also successful with their thesis “Directness vs. Indirectness: Egyptian Arabic and US English communication style”. They make clear communication style, directness and indirectness in term of refusals. Their results were analyzed according to the frequency of strategy usage and directness as related to country, gender, and status. However, their study is a comparative study on Egyptian Arabic and American English. Both of the works above are not related to Vietnamese language. In Vietnam, there are studies on indirectness in Vietnamese such as “Meandering speeches of Vietnamese” (2007) by Nguyen Dang Khanh and “Synonymous sentences using meandering speeches” (2010) by Nguyen Huu Chuong. Also, some contrastive researches on directness in Vietnamese and American English are carried out. Nguyen Thi My Ngan did a research named “Refusing and offer in English and Vietnamese- A contrastive analysis” in 2010. Besides, “Some 8 differences in requesting strategies in English-Vietnamese” was accomplished by Do Thi Mai Thanh and Tran Thi Le Quynh in 2011. However, all the researches mentioned above do not determine popularly same points and different points between the two languages. This thesis, a comparative study on directness in conversations in both American English and Vietnamese, will demonstrate some common similarities and differences between them, indicate implications of learning and using directness in conversations for students, and support them in using conversations‟ directness in both English and Vietnamese more effectively in order to avoid culture shocks. 1.6 Organization of the thesis The thesis comprises five main parts as introduction, literature review, methodology, comparative study and implications. The first chapter, introduction, includes motivation, aims of the study, research questions, significance of the study, previous related studies, and organization of the thesis. The literature review chapter gives information about directness in conversations with three sections. The first one is about related theories, the second is about directness in conversations, and the last one is about low-context and