A Study of the Effects of Language Transfer on Refusal Strategies for Second Language Acquisition among Chinese English Major Students

Research Article
Open access

A Study of the Effects of Language Transfer on Refusal Strategies for Second Language Acquisition among Chinese English Major Students

Yue Xu 1*
  • 1 School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, No.3688, Nanhai Avenue, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518000, China    
  • *corresponding author xuyue2019@email.szu.edu.cn
CHR Vol.3
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-29-4
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-30-0

Abstract

Many EFL learners have strong linguistic competence, but lack sufficient pragmatic competence, including the use of politeness strategies. The study aims to explore the effects of language transfer on refusal strategies for Chinese L2 learners with higher English proficiency. To test the common claim that refusal strategies transfer strongly from L1 to L2 and are highly influenced by sociocultural factors, online questionnaires were conducted among 22 female students majoring in English at Shenzhen University. The results indicated a limited effect of L1 on L2 for subjects with high English proficiency and showed that the transfer of refusal strategies may be influenced by the memory connections between knowledge input and transferring subjects in L2 learning, in addition to the sociocultural factors. The result suggests teachers create a more authentic communication environment to encourage students to innovatively create a variety of expressions and strategies based on what they have learned and according to different scenarios.

Keywords:

Politeness strategies, Refusal strategies, Language transfer, Chinese EFL learners

Xu,Y. (2023). A Study of the Effects of Language Transfer on Refusal Strategies for Second Language Acquisition among Chinese English Major Students. Communications in Humanities Research,3,592-601.
Export citation

References

[1]. Jia, Y. X. (1997). Intercultural communication. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[2]. Searle, J. R., Vanderveken, D., & Willis, S. (1985). Foundations of illocutionary logic. CUP Archive.

[3]. Beebe, L. M., Takahashi, T., Uliss-Weltz, R., Scarcella, R. C., Andersen, E. S., & Krashen, S. (1990). Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals.

[4]. Liao, C. C., & Bresnahan, M. I. (1994). Men and women in the use of post-refusal Maxims in two areas. In Third Kentucky Conference on Narrative, University of Kentucky, Kexington, KY. October (pp. 14-16).

[5]. Sattar, H. Q. A., Lah, S. C., & Suleiman, R. R. R. (2011). Refusal Strategies In English By Malay University Students. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 11(3).

[6]. Chen, R. (1993). Responding to compliments A contrastive study of politeness strategies between American English and Chinese speakers. Journal of pragmatics, 20(1), 49-75.

[7]. Chen, X., Ye, L., & Zhang, Y. (1995). Refusing in Chinese. Pragmatics of Chinese as native and target language, 119-163.

[8]. Liao, C. C., & Bresnahan, M. I. (1996). A contrastive pragmatic study on American English and Mandarin refusal strategies. Language sciences, 18(3-4), 703-727.

[9]. Chen, H. J. (1996). Cross-cultural comparison of English and Chinese metapragmatics in refusal. Indiana University.

[10]. Guo, Y. (2012). Chinese and American refusal strategy: A cross-cultural approach. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(2), 247.

[11]. Hall, E. (1976). Beyond culture. New York: Doubleday.

[12]. Triandis, H. C., Brislin, R., & Hui, C. H. (1988). Cross-cultural training across the individualism-collectivism divide. International journal of intercultural relations, 12(3), 269-289.

[13]. Nishimura, S., Nevgi, A., & Tella, S. (2008). Communication style and cultural features in high/low context communication cultures: A case study of Finland, Japan and India. Teoksessa A. Kallioniemi (toim.), Uudistuva ja kehittyvä ainedidaktiikka. Ainedidaktinen symposiumi, 8(2008), 783-796.

[14]. Beebe, Leslie, Tomoko, Takahashi, and Robin Uliss-Weltz. 1990. Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In R. Scarcella, E. Andersen, & S. D. Krashen (Eds.), The Development of Communicative Competence in a Second Language, 55-73. New York: Newbury House.

[15]. Jiang, L. (2015). An Empirical Study on Pragmatic Transfer in Refusal Speech Act Produced by Chinese High School EFL Learners. English Language Teaching, 8(7), 95-113.

[16]. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole, & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics (pp. 41-58). New York: Academic Press

[17]. Leech. (1983). Longman: Principles of Pragmatics.

[18]. Brown, P., Levinson, S. C., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage (Vol. 4). Cambridge university press.

[19]. Yan, C. (2016). A contrastive pragmatic study of politeness strategies in disagreement between native speakers of English and Chinese EFL learners. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 39(2), 231-248.


Cite this article

Xu,Y. (2023). A Study of the Effects of Language Transfer on Refusal Strategies for Second Language Acquisition among Chinese English Major Students. Communications in Humanities Research,3,592-601.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclaimer/Publisher's Note

The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 1

ISBN:978-1-915371-29-4(Print) / 978-1-915371-30-0(Online)
Editor:Faraz Ali Bughio, David T. Mitchell
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.3
ISSN:2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).

References

[1]. Jia, Y. X. (1997). Intercultural communication. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[2]. Searle, J. R., Vanderveken, D., & Willis, S. (1985). Foundations of illocutionary logic. CUP Archive.

[3]. Beebe, L. M., Takahashi, T., Uliss-Weltz, R., Scarcella, R. C., Andersen, E. S., & Krashen, S. (1990). Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals.

[4]. Liao, C. C., & Bresnahan, M. I. (1994). Men and women in the use of post-refusal Maxims in two areas. In Third Kentucky Conference on Narrative, University of Kentucky, Kexington, KY. October (pp. 14-16).

[5]. Sattar, H. Q. A., Lah, S. C., & Suleiman, R. R. R. (2011). Refusal Strategies In English By Malay University Students. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 11(3).

[6]. Chen, R. (1993). Responding to compliments A contrastive study of politeness strategies between American English and Chinese speakers. Journal of pragmatics, 20(1), 49-75.

[7]. Chen, X., Ye, L., & Zhang, Y. (1995). Refusing in Chinese. Pragmatics of Chinese as native and target language, 119-163.

[8]. Liao, C. C., & Bresnahan, M. I. (1996). A contrastive pragmatic study on American English and Mandarin refusal strategies. Language sciences, 18(3-4), 703-727.

[9]. Chen, H. J. (1996). Cross-cultural comparison of English and Chinese metapragmatics in refusal. Indiana University.

[10]. Guo, Y. (2012). Chinese and American refusal strategy: A cross-cultural approach. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(2), 247.

[11]. Hall, E. (1976). Beyond culture. New York: Doubleday.

[12]. Triandis, H. C., Brislin, R., & Hui, C. H. (1988). Cross-cultural training across the individualism-collectivism divide. International journal of intercultural relations, 12(3), 269-289.

[13]. Nishimura, S., Nevgi, A., & Tella, S. (2008). Communication style and cultural features in high/low context communication cultures: A case study of Finland, Japan and India. Teoksessa A. Kallioniemi (toim.), Uudistuva ja kehittyvä ainedidaktiikka. Ainedidaktinen symposiumi, 8(2008), 783-796.

[14]. Beebe, Leslie, Tomoko, Takahashi, and Robin Uliss-Weltz. 1990. Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In R. Scarcella, E. Andersen, & S. D. Krashen (Eds.), The Development of Communicative Competence in a Second Language, 55-73. New York: Newbury House.

[15]. Jiang, L. (2015). An Empirical Study on Pragmatic Transfer in Refusal Speech Act Produced by Chinese High School EFL Learners. English Language Teaching, 8(7), 95-113.

[16]. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole, & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics (pp. 41-58). New York: Academic Press

[17]. Leech. (1983). Longman: Principles of Pragmatics.

[18]. Brown, P., Levinson, S. C., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage (Vol. 4). Cambridge university press.

[19]. Yan, C. (2016). A contrastive pragmatic study of politeness strategies in disagreement between native speakers of English and Chinese EFL learners. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 39(2), 231-248.