International Association of Educators   |  ISSN: 1308-951X

Original article | International Journal of Research in Teacher Education 2017, Vol. 8(2) 1-11

Speech Act of Refusal among English Language Teaching Students

Mahsa Rezvani, Darya Abdalrahman Ismael & Samet Tok

pp. 1 - 11   |  Manu. Number: MANU-1711-29-0004

Published online: December 12, 2017  |   Number of Views: 1610  |  Number of Download: 1445


Abstract

Speech acts as the elements of communicative competence refer to the actions such as apology, request, complaint, suggestion and refusal. Refusal as a face-threatening act for the hearers is one of the most complex issues which is sensitive to social variables including gender and education.  Accordingly, the present study was set out to investigate the refusal strategies that are mostly used by English Language teaching (ELT) students. To this end, fifty ELT postgraduate students form Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta, Cyprus, participated in this study. The data was obtained from 12-items written Discourse Completion Task (DCT) and analyzed based on the classification of refusal strategies proposed by Beebe et al. (1990). The results suggested that the participated students in this study mostly demonstrated preference for indirect refusal. Additionally, Men mostly employed direct strategies to an interlocutor of lower status, while for women to an interlocutor of equal status. Furthermore, women tended to use more adjuncts than men in all three situations. Among four ethnic groups (Persian, Kurdish, Turkish & Arab), Adjuncts were mostly used by Persian students, while Turkish students preferred to use direct strategies more than other groups. Moreover, this study has some implications towards the theories underpinning it.

Keywords: ELT students, ethnicity, gender, pragmatics, refusal strategy


How to Cite this Article?

APA 6th edition
Rezvani, M., Ismael, D.A. & Tok, S. (2017). Speech Act of Refusal among English Language Teaching Students. International Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 8(2), 1-11.

Harvard
Rezvani, M., Ismael, D. and Tok, S. (2017). Speech Act of Refusal among English Language Teaching Students. International Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 8(2), pp. 1-11.

Chicago 16th edition
Rezvani, Mahsa, Darya Abdalrahman Ismael and Samet Tok (2017). "Speech Act of Refusal among English Language Teaching Students". International Journal of Research in Teacher Education 8 (2):1-11.

References
  1. Abed, A. Q. (2011). Pragmatic transfer in Iraqi EFL learners' refusals. International journal of English linguistics, 1(2), 166. doi:10.5539/ijel.v1n2p166. [Google Scholar] [Crossref] 
  2. Allami, H., & Naeimi, A. (2011). A cross-linguistic Study of refusals: An analysis of pragmatic competence development in Iranian EFL learners. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(1), 385-406. [Google Scholar]
  3. Al-Kahtani, S. A. W. (2005). Refusal realizations in three different cultures: A speech act theoretically-based cross-cultural study. Language & Translation, 21, 30-48 [Google Scholar]
  4. Amirrudin, S., & Salleh, N. B. (2016). Refusal strategies in English among Malay ESL students. Research Journal, 4 (1),30. [Google Scholar]
  5. Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]
  6. Beebe, L.M., Takahashi, T., and Uliss-Weltz, R. (1990). Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In R.C. Scarcella, E. S. Anderso & S. D. Krashen (Eds.), Developing communicative competence in a second language (pp. 55-94). New York: Newbury House Publishers. [Google Scholar]
  7. Chang, Y. F. (2009). How to say no: An analysis of cross-cultural difference and pragmatic transfer. Language Sciences, 31(4), 477-493. [Google Scholar]
  8. Chen, J. H. (1996). Cross-cultural comparison of English and Chinese metapragmatics in refusal. Available from ERIC (ERIC No. ED408860). [Google Scholar]
  9. Çiftçi, H. (2016). Refusal strategies in Turkish and English: a cross-cultural study. ELT Research Journal, 5(1). [Google Scholar]
  10. Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatics and discourse: A resource book for students. London and New York. Routledge. [Google Scholar]
  11. Eslami, Z. R. (2010). Refusals: How to develop appropriate refusal strategies. In A.   Martínez-Flor & E. Usó-Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical   and methodological issues, 217-236. Amsterdam: Benjamins. [Google Scholar]
  12. Felix-Brasdefer, J. C. (2006). Linguistic politeness in Mexico: Refusal strategies among male speakers of Mexican Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics, 38, 2158-2187. [Google Scholar]
  13. Fitch, K. L. & Sanders, R. E. (Eds.) (2005). Handbook of language and social interaction. Mahwah, New Jersey: London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. [Google Scholar]
  14. Fraser, B. (1983). The Domain of Pragmatics, In: J. Richards and R. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and Communication. New York: Longman, 29-59. [Google Scholar]
  15. Hashemian, M. (2012). Cross-cultural differences and pragmatic transfer in English and Persian refusals. Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 31(3), 23-46. [Google Scholar]
  16. Hedayatnejad, F., Maleki, R., & Mehrizi, A. A. H. (2015). The effect of social status and gender on realization of refusal of suggestion among Iranian EFL intermediate learners. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 7(1), 99-109. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0701.11  [Google Scholar]
  17. Honglin, L. (2007). A comparative study of refusal speech acts in Chinese and American English. Canadian Social Science, 3(4), 64-67. [Google Scholar]
  18. Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In D. Hymes, J.B. Pride, & J. Holmes. (Eds.), On communicative competence (pp. 53- 73). London: Penguin Books Ltd. [Google Scholar]
  19. Izadi, A., & Zilaie, F. (2015). Refusal strategies in Persian. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 25(2), 246-264. [Google Scholar]
  20. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). Understanding language teaching: From method to postmethod. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [Google Scholar]
  21. Liao, Chao-chih & Mary I. Bresnahan. (1996). A Contrastive Study on American English and Mandarin Refusal Strategies. Language Science, 18, 703-727. [Google Scholar]
  22. Lyuh, I. (1992). The art of refusal: Comparison of Korean and American cultures. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database (UMI No. 9310343). [Google Scholar]
  23. Moaveni, H. T. (2014). A study of refusal strategies by American and International Students at an American University. Master thesis in Minnesota State University. [Google Scholar]
  24. Montero, R. L. (2015). Most Common Refusal Strategies Used by Students of English Teaching as a Foreign Language. Revista de Lenguas Modernas, (23), 137-148. [Google Scholar]
  25. Morkus, N. (2014). Refusals in Egyptian Arabic and American English. Journal of Pragmatics, 70, 86-107. [Google Scholar]
  26. Nelson, G. L., Carson, J., Batal, M. A., & Bakary, W. E. (2002). Cross‐cultural pragmatics: Strategy use in Egyptian Arabic and American English refusals. Applied linguistics, 23(2), 163-189. [Google Scholar]
  27. Rintell, E. (1997). Getting your speech act together: The pragmatic ability of second language Learners. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 17, 96-106. [Google Scholar]
  28. Richards, J. C. & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (3rd ed.). London: Longman (Pearson Education). [Google Scholar]
  29. Sa'd, S. H. T., & Qadermazi, Z. (2014). Refusal strategies of Iranian university English as a foreign language and non-English learners in native language: a comparative study. CEPS Journal: Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 4(4), 121. [Google Scholar]
  30. Sahragard, R., & Javanmardi, F. (2011). English Speech Act Realization of" Refusals" among Iranian EFL Learners. Cross-Cultural Communication, 7(2), 181. [Google Scholar]
  31. Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]
  32. Takahashi, T., & Beebe, L. (1987). Development of pragmatic competence by Japanese learners of English. The JALT Journal, 8(2), 131-156. [Google Scholar]
  33. Yule, G. (1996). The study of language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]