VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************ HOÀNG THỊ KIM THOA AN AMERICAN –VIETNAMESE CROSS –CULTURAL STUDY OF ASKING FOR PERMISSION IN THE WORKPLACE (Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa Việt-Mỹ về cách thức xin phép nơi công sở) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI – 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************ HOÀNG THỊ KIM THOA AN AMERICAN –VIETNAMESE CROSS –CULTURAL STUDY OF ASKING FOR PERMISSION IN THE WORKPLACE (Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa Việt-Mỹ về cách thức xin phép nơi công sở) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Prof. NGUYỄN QUANG, Ph.
HANOI - 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify that the work presented in this research report has been performed and interpreted solely by myself. I confirm that this paper is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the M. Degree and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification. Hanoi, November 2016 Hoàng Thị Kim Thoa i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This M.A thesis would not have been possible to do without the invaluable guidance, encouragement and support that I received from many people who I would like to show my sincerest gratitude and appreciation.
First and foremost, I would like to offer my greatest and deepest thankfulness and gratitude to Prof. Nguyen Quang, my supervisor, for his enthusiastic and precious guideline and advice throughout the duration of my thesis. Without his instruction and supervision, this thesis could not have reached the accomplishment. Additionally, a very special thanks goes out to Mr Vu The Anh and Mrs Bui Thi Yen who aided me to contact American and Vietnamese officers to ask for their participation in my study.
From the bottom of my heart, I must acknowledge some American and Vietnamese officers for their energetic contribution in DCT and MCQ. Last but not least, I am also very grateful to my family and relatives particularly my father, mother and sister who have always supported me and supplied the best conditions for me to complete this thesis. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This paper is carried out at endeavor of exploring the linguistic politeness strategies utilized by the Vietnamese and the American people in asking for permission in the workplace. From that, major similarities and differences between the two languages in this regard are revealed.
On the basis of quantitative method, discourse completion task (DCT) is employed to collect data from participants including thirty Vietnamese native speakers and American ones who are currently working in the workplace. The result reveals that the positive politeness strategy namely ―being conventionally indirect‖ is the most common strategy used by American businesspeople while their Vietnamese counterparts prefer ―being optimistic‖ & ―giving deference‖. Moreover, some factors including ages, genders have great influence on the choice of politeness strategy for Vietnamese clerks whereas no significant influence of those one are made on the American counterpartners. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vii LIST OF TABLES. viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aim and objectives of the study.
Aim of the study. Objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Design of the study. 5 LITERATURE REVIEW & THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. Key concepts defined and discussed. Cross-cultural communication.
What is speech act?. Classification of speech act:. 9 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Asking for permission as speech act.
Politeness and politeness strategies. Politeness strategies in asking for permission. Previous studies on asking for permission. 15 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Data collection instrument. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure. 20 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Findings and discussion. What are the major similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese perception of asking for permission in the workplace?. How do the Vietnamese and Americans ask for permission in the workplace?. In some unimportant events.
26 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. In some important events. What are the similarities and differences in the ways the Vietnamese and American ask for permission in the workplace?. Differences in asking colleagues for permission.
Differences in asking boss for permission .37 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION .Summary of main findings .Suggestions for further study. I vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DCT: Discourse completion task FTA: Face threatening act H: Hearer MCQ: Multiple choice questionnaire NPS: Negative politeness strategy PPS: Positive politeness strategy S: Speaker vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table IV.1: Americans‘ perception of asking boss for permission in the workplace Table IV.2: Vietnameses‘ perception of asking boss for permission in the workplace Table IV. Americans‘ perception of asking colleagues for permission in the workplace Table IV. Vietnameses‘ perception of asking colleagues for permission in the workplace Table IV.
Politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant events as seen from Vietnamese respondents. Politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant events as seen from American respondents. Politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant events as seen from Vietnamese respondents. Politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant events as seen from American respondents.
Politeness strategies with colleagues in some important events as seen from Vietnamese respondents. Politeness strategies with colleagues in some important events as seen from American respondents. Politeness strategies with boss in some important events as seen from Vietnamese respondents. Politeness strategies with boss in some important events as seen from American respondents Table IV.
Vietnamese businesspeople versus their American counterparts in the use of politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant and important events Table IV. Vietnamese businesspeople versus their American counterparts in the use of politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant and important events. viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Language plays an essential role in our life.
We use language to inform people of how we feel, what we desire, and understand the world around us. Communication drives our lives. However, not only is language for communication but it is also for cultural exchange among nations. To support this point of view, Durant (1997: 332) claims that “to have a culture means to have communication and to have communication means to have access to a language.‖ Language serves as an expression of culture without being entirely synonymous with it.
In most cases, a language forms a basis for ethnic, regional, national or international identity. According to Brown (1994:65), ―a language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture‖. Nguyen Quang (1998:2) states that ―One can not master a language without profound awareness of its cultural background and in both verbal and non-verbal communication, culture makes itself strongly felt.‖ In addition, the fact is that many Vietnamese wish to learn a foreign language towards a communicative end but are still largely concerned about grammar and vocabulary. Consequently, although the utterances and expressions are well-formed, they may experience culture shock when entering into actual cross-cultural interactions.
It can be easily realized that different languages and cultures have different expressions as well as different realizations of speech acts by language users. This results in a variety of research on cross-cultural study of communication such as complementing, thanking, requesting, making a bargain, promising. However, little attention has been put into asking for permission which is expected to be where appropriate politeness is found, and as a result, the chance of permission will increase. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Therefore, a desire to have a further insight into major similarities and differences in asking for permission by native speakers of Vietnamese and American has inspired the researcher to develop a study entitled “A Vietnamese-American cross-cultural study of asking for permission in the workplace‖.
Aim and objectives of the study 2. Aim of the study The aim of this study is to find out major similarities and differences in the way the Vietnamese and American ask for permission in the workplace. Objectives of the study * To analyze the ways the Vietnamese ask for permission in the workplace. * To analyze the ways the American ask for permission in the workplace.
* To discuss major similarities and differences in the ways the Vietnamese and American ask for permission in the workplace. Scope of the study To some extent, with playing an important role in interpersonal communication, paralinguistic (speed, loudness, pitch, …) and extralinguistic (facial expression, postures, gestures, proximity…) factors are beyond the scope of this study. The study is limited within the verbal-nonvocal aspects of the speech act of asking for permission in view of positive politeness & negative politeness. Significance of the study The thesis will contribute to the knowledge and understanding of how to ask for permission in the workplace in two different cultures: Vietnam and America, thus, avoidance of culture shock and communication breakdown for success in inter- cultural communication.
Research Questions The main purpose of the study is to answer the following questions: - What are the major similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese perception of asking for permission in the workplace? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - How do the Vietnamese and American ask for permission in the workplace? - What are the major similarities and differences in the ways the Vietnamese and American ask for permission in the workplace in terms of politeness strategies? 5. Research Approach To study how to ask for permission in the workplace in Vietnamese and American cultures, a contrastive analysis is applied. Firstly, strategies of asking for permission are collected in Vietnamese and American workplace from questionnaires. Secondly, the collected data are classified in the light of positive politeness and negative politeness.
The third step is to comparatively and contrastively analyze the collected data. Research Methods In order to reach the goal of this thesis, the research was conducted with combination of several methods as follows: Descriptive method: this method is used to give a detailed explanation for the act of asking for permission in American and Vietnamese workplace through questionnaires. Analytic method: the analytic method points out some specific strategies of asking for permission in the workplace in two different cultures through the collected data. Contrastive method: this method is used in order to show the similarities and differences in the ways of asking for permission in the workplace in Vietnamese and American cultures.
Inductive method: it helps researchers and readers to draw out the generalizations from the findings. Among them, the analytic and contrastive methods are the dominant ones which are most frequently used in the thesis. Data Analysis The collected data will be analyzed according to the informants‘ status parameters (age, gender) and participants‘ role relationships. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com The findings are compared and contrasted to find out major similarities and differences in the act of asking for permission in the workplace in Vietnamese and American cultures.
Design of the study Chapter I: Introduction This part includes the rationale, aims and objectives, scope, research questions, significance as well as organization of the study. Chapter II: Literature Review and Theoretical Background This chapter reviews the previous studies related to the problem under investigation.