International Association of Educators   |  ISSN: 1308-951X
International Journal of Research in Teacher Education
International Association of Educators

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: 1663  |  Number of Download: 1753

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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.

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