1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN HƯƠNG LÝ THE SPEECH ACT OF APOLOGY MADE BY VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS: AN INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATIC STUDY (LỜI XIN LỖI CỦA NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM HỌC TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU DỤNG HỌC LIÊN NGÔN NGỮ) M.A. THESIS Field: Code: Supervisor: English Linguistics 60.22.15 Dr. Hà Cẩm Tâm Ha noi – 2012 2 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN HƯƠNG LÝ THE SPEECH ACT OF APOLOGY MADE BY VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS: AN INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATIC STUDY (LỜI XIN LỖI CỦA NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM HỌC TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU DỤNG HỌC LIÊN NGÔN NGỮ) M.A. THESIS Field: Code: English Linguistics 60.22.15 Ha noi – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Content page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv List of Abbreviations vii List of Tables viii List of Figures viii Part A: INTRODUCTION 1. Identification of the problem 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Objectives of the study 2 4. Scope of the study 2 5. Significance of the study 3 6. Method of the study 3 7. Organization of the study 3 Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 4 1.1. Pragmatics 4 1.1.1. Overview 4 1.1.2. Interlanguage pragmatics 4 1.1.3. Pragmatic transfer 5 1.2. Speech acts 7 1.2.1. Three-dimension speech acts 8 1.2.2. Classification of speech acts 9 1.2.3. Speech act of Apology 10 1.2.4. Apology strategies 10 1.3. Previous studies on apology 12 Chapter 2: Methodology 14 2.1. Research questions 14 2.2. Research design 14 2.2.1. Informants 14 2.2.2. Data collection instruments 15 2.2.2.1. Variables manipulated in data collection instruments 15 2.2.2.2. The content of the questionnaire 15 2.2.2.2.1. Metapragmatic questionnaire (MPQ) 16 2.2.2.2.2. Open-ended Discourse Completion Task Questionnaire (DCT) 17 2.2.3. Procedure 18 2.3. Results of the MPQ 18 2.4. Coding system 20 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion 22 3.1. Apologies by EFL Learners and English native speakers 22 3.1.1. In high power settings (+P) 22 3.1.2. In equal power settings (=P) 24 3.1.3. In low power settings (-P) 26 3.1.4. In familiar settings (-D) 28 3.1.5. In unfamiliar settings (+D) 30 3.2. Apologies by English native Speakers and Vietnamese native Speakers 30 3.2.1. In high power settings (+P) 30 3.2.2. In equal power settings (=P) 32 3.2.3. In low power settings (-P) 33 3.3. Pragmatic transfer on Learners‘ Apologies 34 3.3.1. Sociopragmatic Transfer 34 3.3.2. Pragmalinguistic Transfer 36 Part C: CONCLUSION 1. Major findings 38 2. Implications for Teaching and Learning English in Vietnam 39 3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 40 REFERENCES 42 APPENDIXES Appendix A: MPQ Questionnaire (2 versons) I Appendix B: DCT Questionnaire (3 versons) XIII Appendix C: Figure 4 (Apology strategies by EN Speakers and VN Speakers) XIX Appendix D: Figure 5 (Apology strategies by EN Speakers, EFL Learners and VN Speakers) XX Appendix E: The coding system XXI Appendix F: Samples of the coding procedure XXII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EN: VN: EFL: L1: L2: MPQ: DCT: D: P: R: Sit. Strat. English native Vietnamese native English as a foreign language First language Second language Metapragmatic questionnaire Discourse Completion Task Social Distance Relative Power Ranking of Imposition Situation Strategy LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Mean ratings of social factors by English and Vietnamese informants (n=29) and Vietnamese informants (n=30) 19 Table 2 The use of Strategies with respect to +P (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 22 Table 3 The use of Strategies with respect to =P (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 25 Table 4 The use of Strategies with respect to -P (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 27 Table 5 The use of Strategies with respect to +D (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 28 Table 6 The use of Strategies with respect to –D (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 30 Table 7 The use of Strategies with respect to +P (EN Speakers & VN Speakers) 30 Table 8 The use of Strategies with respect to =P (EN Speakers & VN Speakers) 32 Table 9 The use of Strategies with respect to -P (EN Speakers & VN Speakers) 33 Table 10 Apology strategies by EN Speakers, EFL Learners and VN Speakers across the six situations LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Apology strategies in +P settings (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 22 Figure 2 Apology strategies in =P settings (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 25 Figure 3 Apology strategies in =P settings (EN Speakers & EFL Learners) 27 Figure 4 Apology strategies by EN Speakers & VN Speakers in the six situations XIX Figure 5 Apology strategies by EN Speakers, EFL Learners & VN Speakers XX Part I: INTRODUCTION 1. Identification of the problem To become effective communicators nowadays, it is essential for English foreign language (EFL) Learners to gain communicative competence. Communicative competence, according to Ellis, ―entails both linguistic competence and pragmatic competence‖ (Ellis, 1994:696). Linguistic competence is the ability to use the linguistic rules of a given language. Pragmatic competence, on the other hand, is ―the ability to use language effectively in order to achieve a specific purpose and to understand language in context‖ (Thomas, 1983:94). Likewise, Bialystok (1993) claimed that pragmatic competence is the ability to make use of different language functions, the ability to understand the speakers‘ underlying intention; and the ability to modify the speech according to contexts. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to pragmatic competence due to the fact that foreign language learners who have good knowledge of grammar and a wide range of vocabulary but lack sociolinguistic awareness may encounter communicating problems with native speakers because of their incompetence to use sociolinguistic rules properly or interpret those words correctly. Moreover, in accordance with Thomas (1983), native speakers often forgive the phonological, syntactic and lexical errors made by L2 speakers but usually interpret pragmatic errors negatively as rudeness, impoliteness or unfriendliness. Thus foreign language speakers need to have more than pure linguistic competence in order to be able to communicate effectively in a language and know how a language is used by members of a speech community to accomplish their purposes (Hymes:1972). In other words, it can be justifiably suggested that foreign language speakers need to use the target language in both linguistically and socially appropriate ways. Over the past few decades, language teaching in the world has witnessed a shift from the focus on the development of learners‘ linguistic competence to the development of learners‘ communicative competence. Many empirical studies on learners‘ pragmatic competence on the basis of diverse speech acts have been conducted in variety of cultures and languages to gather information on what appropriate use of linguistic forms in different sociocultural contexts actually comprises (e.g., Bergman & Kasper, 1993; Blum-Kulka, 1991; Ellis, 1992; Trosborg, 1987, 1995; Yu, 1999a, 1999b, 2005; Shardakova, 2005; Bataineh, 2006, 2008). Those studies have contributed greatly to a better understanding of the use of linguistic forms in different languages and cultures and further to avoiding cross-cultural miscommunication. On response to this trend, some Vietnamese researchers investigated similarities and differences in the realization of speech acts such as requesting, inviting, disagreeing, greeting, giving and receiving compliments, apologizing, promising made by speakers of English and Vietnamese. Among these speech acts, apology is considered a highly- recurrent and routinized act. Kasper (1996) stated that in any speech community, participants need to engage in remedial verbal action upon committing an offense, that is to apologize. However, this kind of speech act is still under-researched in Vietnam. Van (2000), Phuong (2000) and Trang (2010) are some of Vietnamese researchers working on this topic up to now. However, their studies mainly compared and contrasted the realization of apology between two groups of language, English and Vietnamese. N ative Vietnamese speakers‘ speech act behavior which can influence Learners‘ performance of the target language was understudied. Thus, gaps are still there to fill in pragmatics, especially in the interlanguage speech act of apology. In this study the aim is to compare the speech act of apologies among EN speakers, English EFL learners and VN speakers. 2. Aims of the study This study aims at identifying Vietnamese EFL learners‘ deviations linguistically in the production of apology in relation to English native speakers in the contexts studied. In particular, the study attempts to find out how much Vietnamese learners of English can approximate native speakers in the apology strategy use as well as responding to contextual factors involved in the contexts. 3. Objectives of the study The study will uncover the deviations in using apology strategies by Vietnamese EFL learners in some contexts studied. Particularly, it uncovers: 1) differences in the use of apology strategies by EN Speakers and Vietnamese EFL Learners. 2) differences in the use of apology strategies by EN Speakers and VN Speakers. 4. Scope of the study Due to limited time, it is impossible to cover all interlanguage pragmatic matters. This study just focus on the language used by Vietnamese learners of English in formulating in the speech act of apology in relation to the three social parameters (P, D and R) in the contexts studied. In other words, the survey concentrates on verbal communication. Moreover, the survey mainly considers the acceptance of apologies and ignores all the cases where apologies are refused. As a result, the theoretical frameworks applied to this study are pragmatics and the speech act theory. 5. Significance of the study This study will be an attempt to fill in a gap in the area of interlanguage pragmatics where learners‘ production of linguistic acts has not taken into consideration enough. Thus, the study will be a reference material for not only English language learners to improve their knowledge on the interlanguage pragmatics but also their communicative competence. 6. Method of the study Quantitative is mainly used in this study. In other words, all the conclusions and considerations are based on the analysis of the empirical studies and statistics processed Chi-square test. In addition, such methods as descriptive, analytic, comparative and contrastive are also utilized to describe and analyze, to compare and contrast the database so as to bring out differences in using apology strategy by English and Vietnamese speakers. 7. Organization of the study This study is divided into three parts as follows: Part A is the introduction of the study including the identification of the problem, the aims, the objectives, the scope of the study, the significance, the research method as well as the organization of the study. Part B contains 3 chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical issues relevant to the study including pragmatics, speech act theory and some previous studies on interlanguage apologies. Chapter 2 discusses issues of methodology and outlines the study design, data collection instruments, reliability and validity test of the data collection instruments, procedure of data collection, selection of subjects and analytical framework. Chapter 3 presents the data analysis and discusses the findings on the choice of apology strategies used by EN speakers, EFL learners and VN speakers in relation to the variables of Power (P), Social Distance (D) and Ranking of Imposition (R) in the contexts under studied. Some pragmatic transfer on interlanguage apology is also mentioned in this chapter. Part C provides an overview of major findings and interpretations, implications, limitations and suggestions for further research. [...]... through the DCT The results showed that Learners differed from English group in the use of Explanation/Account, Offer of repair, Concern for the hearer and Intensifiers These differences seemed to result from the transfer of their L1 pragmatic norms into English In another study, Trang (2010) investigated apologies made by Vietnamese Speakers of English and American Speakers of English through the DCT and... general approach to transfer and stated that the study of transfer involves the study of errors (negative transfer), facilitation (positive transfer), avoidance of target language forms, and their over-use‖ With the attention given to pragmatics and pragmatic competence, pragmatic transfer gained more interest In its crudest sense, pragmatic transfer can be described as the transfer of pragmatic knowledge... language influence on the learning of target language, Cohen and Olshtain (1981) explored how Hebrew speaking learners of English as a second language did things with their interlanguage of English, and discovered that the non-native use of apology semantic formula was generally fewer than that of the native speakers By this, the study displayed the transfer of Hebrew features into realization of apology. .. constellation of P and D for the following reasons: For the constellation of -P;-D, situation 6 was chosen since this situation, in comparison to the rest situation, had the mean score of P nearest to 1 (1.03), the mean score of D nearest to 3 (2.43), and the mean score of R more than 2 (2.87) Table 1 Mean ratings of social factors by English informants (n=30) and Vietnamese informants (n=30) Constellation... this study were Power and Social Distance, while Imposition was kept constantly high This Chapter investigates the effect of these dimensions on the use of apology strategies by Vietnamese EFL Learners and EN Speakers in Section 3.1, by EN Speakers and VN Speakers in Section 3.2 as well as briefly discusses the pragmatic transfer on Learners‘ apologies in Section 3.3 3.1 Apologies by Vietnamese EFL Learners... language The growing interest in interlanguage pragmatics reflects the enormous developments in the theoretical and empirical study of pragmatics A lot of researches on interlanguage pragmatics have been conducted by now Most of them have focused on L2 pragmatic use, investigating cross-cultural perception and comprehension of illocutionary forces, cross-cultural pragmatic success and failure, and the. .. For the constellation of -P, +D, situation 14 was chosen since the mean score of P was nearest to 1 (1.07), the mean score of D was closest to 1 (1.03), and the mean score of R was highest (2.63) compared with the other situations in the constellation For the constellation of =P, -D, situation 8 was chosen since the mean score of P was exactly to 2, the mean score of D was closest to 3 (2.67), and the. .. collect data on apology was valid and reliable In order to achieve these goals, the MPQ was randomized Then the English version was administered to the English informants and the Vietnamese version was completed by the native speakers of Vietnamese No time limits were imposed on completing the questionnaire The results of the MPQ by English subjects were used as the baseline for the selection of the reliable... However, by the emergence of communicative competence approach, interlanguage studies gave emphasis to the interactional and communicative dynamics of L2 performance Thus, the term interlanguage pragmatics‘ came into existence According to Kasper (1998), interlanguage pragmatics investigates the learners‘ development and the use of pragmatic knowledge in second language (L2) context In other words,... compare the apologies of native speakers of English, native speakers of Danish and three levels of Danish EFL learners The results demonstrated that learners of English notably are dissimilar from native English speakers in their use of modality markers Bergman and Kasper (1993) examined apology realization by Thai learners of English by means of 20 DCT situations The result demonstrated negative transfer . Identification of the problem 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Objectives of the study 2 4. Scope of the study 2 5. Significance of the study 3 6. Method of the study 3 7. Organization of the study. APOLOGY MADE BY VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS: AN INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATIC STUDY (LỜI XIN LỖI CỦA NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM HỌC TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU DỤNG HỌC LIÊN NGÔN NGỮ) M.A. THESIS Field:. APOLOGY MADE BY VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS: AN INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATIC STUDY (LỜI XIN LỖI CỦA NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM HỌC TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU DỤNG HỌC LIÊN NGÔN NGỮ) M.A. THESIS Field: Code: Supervisor: