VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Conversations of the Coursebook “Top Notch 2” Pre-intermediate (the First Edition) Nghiên cứu chiến lược lịch hội thoại giáo trình giao tiếp “Top Notch 2” Pre-intermediate (phiên đầu tiên) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 hanoi – 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Conversations of the Coursebook “Top Notch 2” Pre-intermediate (the First Edition) Nghiên cứu chiến lược lịch hội thoại giáo trình giao tiếp “Top Notch 2” Pre-intermediate (phiên đầu tiên) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: ĐỖ THỊ THANH HÀ, Ph.D Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Conversations of the Coursebook “Top Notch 2” Pre-intermediate (the First Edition) Is the result of my own research in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Art at University of Languages and International Studies, VNU Hanoi.I certify that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degree at any other university or institution Ha Noi, December, 2013 Author‟s signature Vũ Thị Thanh Huyền i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I would like to express my thanks to all those who have assisted me in my research work To my supervisor Dr Do ThiThanh Ha, I owe a special debt of gratitude for her great encouragement, constructive guidance and precious comment as well as suggestionson my thesis writing I also wish to acknowledge my deep gratitude to all the teachers of Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU for furnishing me with valuable knowledge and experience during the course My special thanks also go to my colleagues and friends for their assistance in completing the research To all the authors of the publications in the list of references, I offer my sincere thanks for the ideas from which I have benefited My final heart-felt thanks are given to my family members, without whose moral support, unfailing love and encouragement, I could not have got this far ii ABSTRACT It is undeniable that English nowadays has become indispensable means of international communication However, there are still a large number of Vietnamese EFL learners who have not achieved success in using English in their communication since they may face difficulty understanding the content of conversation or expressing exactly what they mean One of the significant factors necessary for students to get more successful in English conversations is the awareness of politeness strategieswhich are implicitly introduced in textbooks The study is conducted using descriptive qualitative research method to find out politeness strategies in the course book “Top Notch 2” (the First Edition) In order to fulfill these aims, the author picked up 150 utterances from the sound bites and the conservation models in the course book to analyze in the light of politeness theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) The findings and results of the study show that most of negative and positive politeness strategies are found in the conversations and among them positive politeness strategies 4, and 2, negative politeness strategies 2, 1, and are most frequently used In addition, the author also would like to offer some useful implications for effective teaching of positive and negative politeness strategies iii TABLE OF CONTENTS *Declaration i *Acknowledgements ii *Abstract iii *Table of contents iv *List of abbreviations, tables and figures vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale 2.Aims of the study 3.Objective of the study 4.Scope of the study 5.Significance of the study 6.Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1.Introduction 1.2 Theoretical background 1.2.1 Communicative competence 1.2.2 An overview of Speech act iv 1.2.3 Politeness and politeness strategies 1.2.3.1 Politeness 1.2.3.2 The concept of face 1.2.3.3 Face threatening acts 10 1.2.3.4 Positive politeness and positive politeness strategies 13 1.2.3.5 Negative politeness and negative politeness strategies 17 1.3 Previous study 18 1.4 Summary 24 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 25 2.1.Introduction 25 2.2 Research questions 25 2.3 Research method 25 2.4 Data-related issues 25 2.4.1 Data sources 25 2.4.2 Data types to be collected 26 2.4.3 Procedure of data collection 26 2.4.4 Data analysis 27 2.5 Summary 27 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28 3.1 Introduction 28 3.2 Findings 28 3.2.1 The use of positive and negative politenessstrategies in the 28 conversations of “Top Notch 2”(the first edition) v 3.2.1.1 Positive politeness strategies in the conversations of the course 29 book “Top Notch 2”(the first edition) 3.2.1.2 Negative politeness strategies in the conversations of the course 38 book “Top Notch 2”(the first edition) 3.3 Implications for teaching politeness strategies in thecourse book “Top 43 Notch 2” (the first edition) 3.3.1 Implication for teaching politeness strategies 43 3.3.2 Supplementary exercises and activities for teaching politeness 44 strategies in the course book “Top Notch 2” (the first edition) 3.4 Summary 49 PART C: CONCLUSION 50 Introduction 50 Summary 50 Limitations of the study 51 Suggestions for further study 52 REFERENCES I APPENDIX IV vi List of Abbreviations, Tables and Figures List of abbreviations EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language S The speaker H The hearer/ Addressee FTA Face threatening act N.P Negative politeness P.P Positive Politeness P Page E.g For example List of tables Table 1: The proportion of positive and negative politeness strategies Table 2: The proportion of positive politeness strategies Table 3: The proportion of negative politeness strategies List of figures Figure 1: Circumstances determining choice of strategy vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Language, generally speaking, is created as a necessary demand of human life with the crucial aim of communication Since different people from different cultural and social backgrounds may have different ways to exchange information and express their attitudes and opinions, the question of how to successfully communicate in certain contexts, especially in cross-cultural communication has attracted great attention from linguists and has been widely discussed so far It is commonly believed that understanding social conventions and paying attention to such concepts as politeness and face will definitely allow us to have better comprehension of a variety of speaking ways by people from different cultures, thus helping eliminate ethnic stereotypes and misunderstandings As claimed by Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000), “when learning a second language, one needs to acquire the new culture politeness framework, which is very different from that of one‟s own culture” Obviously, students‟ master of the cultural knowledge in general and strategies to choose the language politely in particular is supposed to make a valuable contribution to their ability to well communicate with confidence in any English speaking environment With such great importance to language competence and communication skill, politeness strategies are strongly recommended to be included in the course designs for teaching and learning English as a second language in universities and schools Among popular course books for English learners, Top Notch series (with Summit), as claimed by Pearson Longman, is an award-winning six-level communicative course for adults and young adults This course book series have also been used and evaluated by a number of ESL institutes and teachers in the world Eslami, Esmaeli, Ghavaminia, and Rajabi (2010) chosed to evaluate the four mostly instructed courses in Iran English language institutes namelyTop Notch, Interchange, Headway, and On Your Markbased on Mcdounough and Shaw‟s conversations of the course book, which may lead to the result that the reliability of data and the complete generalization might not be well ensured Despite the aforementioned drawbacks, the research‟s flexibility and seriouswork isexpected to have well retained the validity and reliability of the result However, it is worth noting that these above shortcomings should always be taken into consideration when further related studies are conducted in the future Suggestions for further study It is recommended thatfurther studies be conducted with broader data collection to increase the generalizability of the findings as well as enhance the validity Also the other aspects of politeness strategies, such as bald on record, off record in this book as well as the other books in this Top Notch-Summit seriesshould be considered to be the scope of the follow-up studies 52 REFERENCES 1) Alemi, Minoo &Mesbah, Zahra (2013) “Textbook evaluation based on the ACTFL standards: The case of Top Notch series” Iranian EFL Journal, 9(1), 162-171 2) Behm, J (2008) A contrastive analysis of politeness: requests and refusals in German and English GRIN Publishing GmbH 3) Brown, P & Levinson, S (1987 [1978]) Politeness: some universals in language usage Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 4) Canale, M & Swain, M (1980) Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing Applied Linguistics, 1, 147 5) Eelen, G (2001) A critique of politeness theories Manchester: St Jerome Publishing 6) Eslami, R, A Esmaeli, S Ghavamnia, M &Rajabi, S (2010) Don‟t judge a book by its cover: Textbook evaluation in the EFL setting Journal of international social research, 3(14), 448-461 7) Kitamura, N (2000) Adapting Brown and Levinson‟s „politeness‟ theory to the analysis of casual conversation School of European, Asian & Middle Eastern Languages & Studies University of Sydney: Australia 8) Kodyat, H (2001) A Study on Politeness Strategies Used by the Interviewers in a Foreign Exchange Company Universitas Kristen Petra Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://dewey.petra.ac.id/jiunkpe_dg_266.html 9) Finch, G (2000) Linguistic terms and concepts.Houndmills, Basingstone, Hamsphire RG 216 XS and London: Macmillan Press LTD 10) Goffman, E (1955) On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements of social Interaction Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes,18(3), 213-231 Reprinted in Goffman, E (1967) Interaction ritual: essays in face-to-face behavior Random House (2nd ed with Joel Best, 2005) Aldine Transaction I 11) Gu, Y (1990) Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese Journal of Pragmatics 14, 237–257 12) Hatims, B & Mason, I (1990) Discourse and the Translator New York: Longman 13) Holmes, J (2006) Politeness strategies as linguistic variables Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 14) Hymes, D (1962) The ethnography of speaking In T Gladwin and W Sturtevant (eds.), Anthropology and human behavior Washington, D.C: Anthropological Society of Washington 15) Hymes, D (1964) Language in culture and society Harper and Row: New York 16) Lakoff, R (1990) Talking power: the politics of language in our lives Glasgow: Harper 17) Leech, Geofrey (1983) Principle Pragmatics London Longman 18) Levinson, S C (1997) Pragmatics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19) Maier, P (1992) Politeness strategies in business letters by native and nonnative English speakers English for Specific Purposes, 11(3), 189-205 20) Meliana, F (1995) The Study of Politeness Expression in Love Match by Barbara Steiner Universitas Kristen Petra 21) Mao, L R (1994) Beyond politeness theory: „face‟ revisited and renewed Journal ofPragmatics21(5), 451–486 22) Nickerson, C (1999) The use of politeness strategies in business letters written by native speakers of English In Geluyken, R &Pelsmarkers, K (eds) Discourse in Professional Contexts Lincom, 127-142 23) Nguyen, T P T (2010) Politeness strategies in requests in "The Thorn Birds" M.A Thesis Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU II 24) Nguyen, Q (2003) Intercultural and cross-cultural communication VNU Press 25) Nguyen, T H (2010) A study on politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the course book “Inside out- Pre-intermediate” M.A Thesis Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU 26) Nguyen, T T V (2009) A study on politeness strategies in negotiating conversations in “Market Leader” M.A Thesis Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU 27) Paarlahti, S (1998) Politeness strategies in business letters written by nonnative and native speakers of English 28) Pariera, K (2006) The use of politeness strategies in email discussions about taboo topics McNair Online Journal, 29) Pham, T H L (2012) A Study on Politeness Strategies in the Conversational Activities of the Coursebook“ New English file” (Intermediate) M.A Thesis 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New York: McGraw-Hill 33) Savira, M (2004) A study of politeness strategies used by the three main female characters in Friends to identify their personality traits Universitas Kristen Petra Retrieved from the http://dewey.petra.ac.id/jiunkpe_dg_884.html III World Wide Web at 34) Schmidt, R & Richards, J C (1980) Speech acts and second language learning Applied Linguistics, 1, 129-157 35) Searle, J 1969 Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 36) Searle, J (1976) Speech acts London: Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 37) Shigemitsu, Y (2003) Politeness strategies in the context of argument in Japanese debate show The academic reports, the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Polytechnic Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.t-kougei.ac.jp/research/pdf/vol2-26-03.pdf 38) Spitzberg, B H (1988) Progress and pitfalls in conceptualizing and researching intercultural communication competence Paper presented at the Speech Communication Association Conference, New Orleans, LA 39) Thomas, J (1995) Meaning in Interaction New York: Longman 40) Tran, T P.(2011) A study of politeness strategies in the conversational activities of the coursebook “New Headway” Pre-intermediate M.A Thesis Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU 41) Yuka, A (2009) Positive politeness strategies in oral communication I textbooks -Focusing on terms of address.The economic journal of Takasaki city university of economics, 52 (1), 59 70 42) Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics Oxford: Oxford University Press 43) Zierhofer, W (2002) Speech acts and space(s): language pragmatics and the discursive constitution of the social Environment and Planning A, 34(8), 1355-1372 44) Vinagre, M (2008) Politeness strategies in collaborative e-mail exchanges Computers & Education, 50(3), 1022–1036 45) Vilkki, L (2006) Politeness, face and facework: current issues SKY Journal of Linguistics 19, 322-332 Retrieved from the World Wide Web at IV http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/julkaisut/SKY2006_1/1.4.7.%20VILKKI.pdf SKY journal 46) Warhaugh, R (1988) Introduction to Sociolinguistics UK: Basil Blackwell 47) Watts, R J (2003) Politeness Cambridge: Cambridge University Press V APPENDIX SUMMARY OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE COURSE BOOK “TOP NOTCH 2” PRE INTERMEDIATE (THE FIRST EDITION) Unit Conversational exchanges Page - Aren‟t you from Australia or something like that ? - As a matter of fact, I am Keith Lowe -Ed Santos I think we met at Jack Bailey’s house two weeks ago -Oh, that’s right! You‟re Jack‟s colleague - Hanah, I’d like you to meet Audrey - Hi, Audrey You look familiar I think we‟ve meet before - Really? When? -Last month You were at my sister Nicole’s party -Oh, that’s right How have you been? -…But yesterday I went to Sugarloaf It was really beautiful -That‟s great Have you tried feijoada yet? - Feijoada? No, I haven‟t -I think you’ll like it Speech act Relationship Politeness between S strategies and H P.S N.S Friends Responding Responding 12 Responding Requesting Responding Friends 12 Questioning Responding Responding Responding Questioning 2 Responding Responding VI -You’re going to love this theater You can see all the things you missed - I‟m really in the mood for a good classic movie And on a big screen - Much better than on the tube -You know, I never saw Frida Did you? -No, I missed it -They say it was great How about it? -Actually, I would rather see something else… Hey, they‟re showing Dracula -Deal -Sorry , I‟m late Have you been here long? -For about 10 minutes Not too bad -I’m sorry I got stuck in traffic -The show for “The train” is sold out so I got ticket for High Flyer I hope that’s ok -that’s fine They say it‟s hilarious - How much I owe? -Nothing It‟s on me -Well, thanks Next time, it’s my treat -Well, what you think of Madona? -Actually, not much 15 Suggesting Friends 9 Responding 15 Questioning Friends Suggesting Disagreeing 16 Agreeing Apologizing Friends Apologizing 18 Responding 11 Responding Offering 14 Questioning Responding VII Friends -Good morning, I‟m checking out -Was your stay satisfactory? -Yes, very nice Thanks -Here you go, ma’am Thank you forstaying with us -Hello, I’d like to speak to Anne Smith? She‟s a guest -I’ll ring that room for you -I’m sorry She‟s not answering Would you like to leave a message? - Yes, please tell her Tim Klein called… -Hi I‟m checking in The name‟s Baker -Let’s see That‟s one double for two nights Non-smoking? -That’s right 27 -Good morning Koji Oinuma I have a reservation -Certainly, sir Just a moment -I had an accident -I’m so sorry.Are you ok? -I‟m fine No one was hurt - Thank goodness How did it happen? - The other driver was tailgating, and he hit my car -Oh, no… 39 -Fill it up, please, with regular -Yes, sir Anything 42 Guest-Clerk Questioning Responding 5 Responding 28 Guest-Clerk Requesting Accepting 28 Apologizing 10 Guest-Clerk Offering Requesting 30 Guest-Clerk Accepting 12 Questioning Responding Requesting Renter- car agent Responding 40 Friends Responding 15+ Responding 15 Responding 15 Requesting Accepting VIII A service station employee- 5 else? -Hey, Noor I need to pick up a few things on the way back to the hotel Feel like stopping at a cosmetics store? We could get some of that makeup these gorgeous Brazilians wear - I’d like to but I think I’ll pass -No problem I‟ll just go myself -Don‟t worry Most people speak some English You’ll be fine -I guess In any case, the store‟s self-service It‟ll be a piece of cake -Excuse me Where would I find toothpaste? -Toothpaste? Have a look in aisle two -Actually, I did and there wasn‟t any -I’m sorry Let me get you some from the back -What in the world are you eating? -Chocolate But don‟t tell anyone -But aren’t you on diet? -I used to be, not any more -What happened? -To tell you the truth, it was just too much trouble -Want to try some? -Well, I would ButI‟m 51 Greeting customer Colleagues Suggesting 12 Declining Responding 51 Colleagues Responding 15 Responding 52 Excusing Customerstore clerk Responding Responding Apologizing 63 Questioning Questioning Friends Responding Offering Declining IX on diet -You? I don‟t believe it Don’t you always have dessert? -Everything‟s ready Why don’t we sit down? -This food looks great It really smells delicious - Please help yourself -Thanks but I’ll pass on the chicken -Don‟t you eat chicken? -Actually, no I‟m a vegetarian -I’m sorry I didn‟t know that -Are you a big coffee drinker? -Definitely I‟m crazy about coffee -I used to have it a lot But I‟ve been cutting back -Well, I couldn’t live without it -So what you feel like doing after dinner? -I don‟t know You decide I’m kind of down in the dumps -You look a little blue Something wrong? -Nothing I can put my finger on I guess I am just feeling a little out of sorts since I got back from vacation -You know, I’d like to repaint the Questioning 64 Friends Suggesting 13 +12 Complimenting 2 64 Offering Friends Declining Responding Apologizing 66 Friends Responding 66 2 Friends Responding 75 Friends Responding 75 Raising emotional topic Friends Responding 4+6 4 76 Suggesting Friends +7 X kitchen -Ok, what color? -How about grey? -Well, I don’t mind repainting it, but gray‟s out of the questions -Why? What‟s wrong with gray? -It‟s boring -You look down What’s up? Suggesting Disagreeing Questioning 78 -Oh, nothing serious I‟m just tired of the same old grind But thanks for asking -I know what you mean I‟m tired of working, too -How about going to a movie? -Great idea Let’sgo -This print‟s sort of 87 interesting It says it was painted in 1930 I kind of like it -Is it Picasso? -Don’t you find ita 87 little too dark? -No, I think it‟sjust right -Hey, what about this 87 Warhol? What you think? - I don‟t know I’m not really too crazy about his stuff -Just look at the colors -I guess I‟m not into really bright colors - To each his own -Be sure not to miss the Prado Museum 88 Raising emotional topic 13 Colleagues Responding Responding 15 Suggesting Responding 12 Responding Friends Questioning Friends Suggesting Friends Responding Commanding Responding Responding Suggesting XI Friends while you are in Madrid -Really? Why’s that? -Well, for one thing, Las Meninas is kept there - No kidding! I’ve always wanted to see that -They have a great collection of paintings You’ll love it - Excuse me What‟s 90 this figure made of? -Wood It‟s handmade -Really? Where was it made? -Mexico What you think of it? -It‟s fantastic -Hey, Deb Are you 99 there? -Hi Ron I‟m surfing the Net Just log on? -Yup Am I interrupting you? -Not at all Just fooling around What are you up to? -I logged on to send you some pictures? -Great What of? -Photo of my trips -Cool Can‟t wait to download them -Hi, Ron 99 Still there? -Still here Just deleting junk mail Get the pix? -Yes They took FOREVER to download them -Sorry about that Questioning 13 Responding 13 Responding Responding 11 Excusing Friends Questioning Responding Greeting Responding Responding Responding 4 Questioning Responding Greeting Friends Questioning Complaining Apologizing XII -It‟s OK They‟re awesome 10 -I knew you would like them Gotta go! Later! -See ya -I‟m thinking about getting a new monitor -Oh, yeah? What kind? -Everyone says I should get a Macro -Eugene, could you take a look at this? -Sure What‟s the problem? -Why don’t you try restarting? That sometimes works -Ok, I’ll give that a try -You mean you‟re not going to tell them? -I‟d have to be nut to ask them But there‟s nothing wrong with tattoos Everybody has them -Maybe… Mattt, I have to say this, but I think you‟re making a mistake You should get permission If you don‟t, I‟m sure you‟ll be sorry -Ok, I’ll give it some thought -Excuse me I think you forgot something -I did? -Isn‟t this jacket hers? -Oh, you’re right It is - Thanks so much -My pleasure Complimenting Responding Responding 4 100 Responding 102 Requesting Colleagues Accepting 102 Suggesting Colleagues Agreeing 111 +3 13 10 Friends Responding Warning Promising 112 Excusing 10 Strangers Questioning Responding Responding XIII -Look at this They didn‟t charge us -Really? We‟d better tell the waiter -You think so? -Absolutely If we didn’t tell him, it would be wrong 114 Commanding Friends Questioning 12 Responding 12 XIV ... Findings 28 3 .2. 1 The use of positive and negative politenessstrategies in the 28 conversations of “Top Notch 2? ?? (the first edition) v 3 .2. 1.1 Positive politeness strategies in the conversations of. .. the course 29 book “Top Notch 2? ?? (the first edition) 3 .2. 1 .2 Negative politeness strategies in the conversations of the course 38 book “Top Notch 2? ?? (the first edition) 3.3 Implications for teaching... Headway, and On Your Markbased on Mcdounough and Shaw‟s (20 03) division of course book evaluation into internal and external evaluation After a thorough examination, the researchers came to the