Đề tài Xây dựng tài liệu giảng dạy bổ trợ môn Giao tiếp giao văn hóa cho sinh viên chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hàng Hải Việt Nam

Nội dung text: Đề tài Xây dựng tài liệu giảng dạy bổ trợ môn Giao tiếp giao văn hóa cho sinh viên chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hàng Hải Việt Nam

1. TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀNG HẢI VIỆT NAM KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ THUYẾT MINH ĐỀ TÀI NCKH CẤP TRƯỜNG ĐỀ TÀI COMPILING TEACHING SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FOR CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION COURSE FOR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY (Xây dựng tài liệu giảng dạy bổ trợ môn Giao tiếp giao văn hóa cho sinh viên chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hàng Hải Việt Nam) Chủ nhiệm đề tài: Ths. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Thu Hải Phòng, tháng 5/2016
2. CONTENT INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale 1 2. Aims of the study 1 3. Significance of the study 1 4. Methodology of the study 2 5. Scope of the study 3 6. Design of the study 3 DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION 4 1.1. Definition of culture 4 1.1.1. Language 4 1.1.2. Culture 4 1.1.3. The components of culture 6 1.2. Definition of Communication 7 1.3. Communication competence (CC) 8 1.4. The definition of cross-cultural communication 9 1.5. Culture shock and how to avoid culture shock? 10 1.5.1. Culture schock? Why culture shock? 10 1.5.2. Main factors creating culture shock 12 1.5.3. How culture - shock: From honey moon to Culture shock to integration 12 1.5.4. How to cope with culture shock? 14 1.6. Practice 15 CHAPTER 2: CULTURE IMPACTS ON NON – VERBAL COMMUNICATION 20
3. 2.1. Understanding non-verbal communication 20 2.2. The importance of nonverbal communication 21 2.3. Types of nonverbal communication 22 2.3.1. Gestures 22 2.3.2. Postures 29 2.4. Cross-cultural nonverbal communication and culture shock 31 CHAPTER 3:CULTURE IMPACTS ON VERBAL COMMUNICATION . 33 3.1. Addressing forms in Vietnamese language and culture 33 3.1.1. Circular Relationship 34 3.1.2. Horizontal Relationship- Type 1 34 3.1.4. Dynamic Relationships 36 3.1.5. The dynamic relationship-type II 38 3.1.6.The variant of circular relationship. 39 3.2. Addressing forms in English - American language and culture 40 3.2.1. Addressing forms in English - American 40 3.2.2. Terms of affection 42 3.3. Objectiveness and Subjectiveness 43 3.3.1. Definition of objectiveness and subjective 43 3.3.2. Objectiveness and Subjectiveness in defining the space 43 3.3.3. Subjective and objective in pragmatics 44 3.4. Directness and indirectness 45 3.4.1. Directness 45 3.4.2. Indirectness 46 3.5. Politeness 49 3.5.1.What is politeness? 49 3.5.2.What is FTA? 50 3.5.3. Speech atcs 51 3.5.4. Politeness principles 52 3.5.5. Politeness strategies 53
4. 3.5.6. Bald on record – without redressive action 54 3.5.7. Positive politeness strategies 55 3.5.8. Negative politeness strategies 57 CONCLUSION 61 1. Major findings 61 2. Implications for English language teaching 61 3. Limitations 64 4. Further study 64 REFERENCES 65 In English 65 In Vietnamese 66 Website 67
5. LIST OF FIGURES IN THE STUDY LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1: Levine and adalman’s iceburg of culture 7 Figure 2: Classification of Communication 8 Figure 3: W-shaped diagram of culture shock 13 Figure 4: Circular Relationship 34 Figure 5: Horizontal Relationship- Type 2. Nguyen 36 Quang (1999:165) Figure 6: Dynamic relationship type-I 37 Figure 7: Dynamic relationship type-II 38 Figure 8: Dynamic relationship type-II cited in Nguyen 39 Quang (1999:175) Figure 9: Variant of circular relationship. 40 Figure 10: Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Brown 53 and Levinson, 1987) Figure 11: Strategies to minimize risk of losing face 54 (Nguyen Quang, 1999:130)
6. INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale As stated by Nguyen Quang (1998)“ in communication, only language is not enough, behind and deep under it, following many tacit rules, are culture, belief, attitude, norms, values, etc. Each country has its own culture”. Cross- cultural communication (CCC) is not a new subject in most universities nationwide; and it is an interesting and challenging subject. Materials for this subject are various; however, choosing one course book seems to be not enough for students to understand well many differences and similarities between the two cultures and two countries. Therefore, the author decided to do a research on compiling teaching supplementary materials for Cross-cultural communication course for English major students at Vietnam Maritime University (VMU). 2. Aims of the study The aims of this study are to: - Research and summarize the information from many cross- cultural communication books to compile teaching supplementary materials for English major students at VMU. - Collect and arrange some cross- cultural communication exercises to help students deal with the new theory actively. 3. Significance of the study It is impossible to separate language from culture when communicating and teaching a foreign language especially at higher level as well. That is the reason why culture learning should always go hand in hand with language learning. In the world, studying about cross culture communication is varied and abundant. Many books written about cross- cultural studies, each of these supplies huge knowledge about culture 1
7. definitions, culture shock, cross-culture communication, and many other aspects of this field, can be Politeness of Brown and Levinson; Intercultural communication of R Scollon, SW Scollon, 1; or Languages and Gestures of McNeill, David; Gestures: the do's and taboos of body language around the world of Axtell, Roger E. In Vietnam, cross-cultural studies are recognized well enough with a lot of books such as Intercultural communication and Cross –culture communication for ELT written by Nguyen Quang, Doing business in Vietnam: a cultural guide by Esmond D. Smith Jr. and Cuong Pham. The cross- cultural communication course book for English major students at VMU is Beyond Language Intercultural Communication for English as a Second Language written by Deena R. Levine & Mara B. Adelman, Prentice Hall Regents (1982). This book indicates the main aspects of cross – cultural communication but it does not include the comparing and contrasting analysis between English culture and Vietnamese culture. Moreover, according to the syllabus of Cross-cultural communication subject (see the appendix), students have to do self-study at home to deeply understand what they have learnt in class. Therefore, the author would like to compile teaching supplementary materials to give more information about culture differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese to help students master the language they are learning and be aware of its cultural background. 4. Methodology of the study The method of this study is: - The main method of this study is the contrastive methodology. - Researching relevant materials - Consulting with Professors of cross-cultural studies - Discussing with English and Vietnamese colleagues 2
8. 5. Scope of the study The author will investigate a number of references materials to build teaching supplementary materials for cross cultural communication course for English major students at Vietnam Maritime University. 6. Design of the study The study is divided into 3 parts: Part I - Introduction includes rationale, aims of the study, methodology of the study, the significant and the organization of the study. Part II – Development is the main and covers the following aspects: Chapter 1: Understanding cross-cultural communication; Chapter 2: Non-Verbal communication in the light of cross-cultural communication; Chapter 3: Verbal communication in the light of cross-cultural communication Part III- Conclusion is the summary of the study, and the suggestions for further research. 3
9. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION 1.1. Definition of culture 1.1.1. Language Language is considered to be a mean of human communication formed from such linguistic units as morphemes, words, sentences. Supporting that point of view, Crystal (1992: 212) states, language is “the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs, or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression”. Therefore, people use language to communicate, to pass their achievements from generation to generation, language is a tool by which people are most frequently judged, and through which they may make or lose friends. It is "the vehicle par-excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business" (M. Bygate, 1987: 3). 1.1.2. Culture Unlike language, culture does not contain fixed rules. It is different from society to society and even from individual to individual. What is right in one culture may not be right in another culture. Culture, in Moore’s words (1985:4), is “the whole of the knowledge, ideas and habits of society that are transmitted from one generation to the next.” It is more powerful than instinct. Apte (1994), writing in the ten volume Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistic, propose the following definition: “Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral conventions, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member’s behavior and his/her interpretations of the ‘meaning’ of the other people’s behavior.” Moore (1985:4) also claims the following components of culture, which are 4
10. “beliefs, values, norms, roles, role conflict, and status.” R.A.Hudson (1982:81) regards culture as “the kind of knowledge” involving cultural knowledge, shared-non-cultural knowledge, and non-shared-knowledge “which we learn from other people, either by direct instruction or by watching their behavior.” In other words, culture is the set of values and ways of acting that mark a particular society. Culture, as stated by Nguyen Quang (1998: 3), is “a share background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, custom, beliefs, attitudes, and values. Culture in this text does not refer to art, music, literature, food, clothing styles, and so on. It refers to the informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions, and viewpoints that people in one culture share. The hidden nature of culture has been compared to an iceberg, most of which is hidden underwater! Like the iceberg most of the influence of culture on an individual cannot be seen. The part of culture that is exposed is not always that which creates cross-cultural difficulties; the hidden aspects of culture have significant effects on behavior and on interactions with others”. No culture is good or bad, cultures are equal but different. There is a famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi that goes “no culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.” Culture does not belong to any single person but to all people. Nguyen Quang in his “Lectures-notes on cross-cultural communication” (2004: 31) also describes culture as “a complex whole of tangible and intangle expressions that are created and adapted by a society or a social group as well as that ways it functions and reacts in given situations.” What can be seen from these points of view is that the language of a community is a part or a manifestation of its culture as Goodenogh’s word “the relationship of language to culture is that of part to whole.” Language and communication modality (verbal, gesture, written) are 5
11. examples of elements that form and shape a culture. Kramch-Troike (1998:3) clarifies the corelation between language and culture by emphasizing three functions of language related to culture. They are “expressing cultural reality, embodying cultural reality and symbolizing cultural reality”. What we can see that culture and language are closely interrelated and interwoven. R.A.Hudson (1982: 81) argues“As for the relation between language and culture, most of language is contained within culture”. Obviousely, the close relationship between language and culture plays a very important part in communication. It is impossible to separate language from culture when communicating. 1.1.3. The components of culture According to Stephen Moore (1985:4), the components of culture can be defined as the followings: Belief: These are general, vague opinions held about the world and about the nature of society. Values: These are vague beliefs about what is right and correct in the world. Norms: These are socially expected patterns of behavior. Roles: Social roles are patterns of behavior expected of certain people according to the occupation or position they hold in society. Role conflict: These are innumerable social roles: father, mother, child, and shopkeeper. All of us occupy a number of roles, which are generally complementary, but sometimes they may conflict. Status: this refers to the position of a person or social role in society according to the amount of prestige received from others. According to Nguyen Quang (1998:4), the iceburg of culture includes visible part of culture and invisible part of culture: + Visible part of culture: Appearance, food, language, etc. 6
12. + Invisible part of culture: values, beliefs, perceptions, communication styles. Figure 1: Levine and adalman’s iceburg of culture(Nguyen Quang, 1998) 1.2. Definitions of Communication According to Nguyen Quang (1998: 3), communication is the process of sharing meaning through verbal and nonverbal behavior. “Communication, then, is vital to our lives. To live is to communicate” (Hybels, 1992:5). Communication is “a symbolic process in which people create shared meanings” (Lustig, 1996:29). “Human communication is a conscious or unconscious, intentional, or unintentional process in which feelings and ideas are expressed in verbal and non verbal messages”.( Berko,1989:4) “Communication is any process in which people share information, ideas, and feelings. That process involves not only the spoken and written word, but also body language, personal mannerism and style” (Hybels, 1992:5). 7
13. - Classification of Communication can be seen in Nguyen Quang chart as below: COMMUNICATION  Verbal communication Nonverbal communication  Intralanguage  Paralanguage  Extralanguage  - Vocabulary  - Vocal characteristics  - Grammatical rules  + Pitch + Volumn + Rate  - Phonetic & phonological  + Vocal quality rules  - Types of vocal flow  - Rules of language use and  - Vocal interferences interaction skills  - Silence/ pauses  -  - .  Body language  Object language  Environmental ( Action of language/Kinesics)  (Artifacts) language  - Eye contact - Facial expression  - Clothing  - Setting - Conversational  - Physical characteristics  - Jewellery distance  - Gestures - Postures  - Make- up  - Time/ Chronemics  - Body movements  - Gifts  - Lighting system  - Touch/ Haptics/ Tactile  -  - Colour - Heat Figure 2: Classification of Communication (Nguyen Quang,1998) 1.3. Communication competence (CC) “CC is defined as the ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom.” (Longman dictionary of Applied linguistic, 1985:49) Together with these ideas, Wardhaugh (1989:213) suggests: “When we teach a language like English to speakers who already know another language, we must aware that we have to teach more than new sounds, words, and grammatical structures, etc”. 8
14. CC involves the understanding of cultural, social knowledge and other skills of interaction. CC includes: - “Knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the language. - Knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g: knowing how to begin and end conversation, knowing what topics may be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing address forms should be used with different people and in different situations). - Knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts, such as requests, apologizes, thanks, and invitations. - Knowing how to use English appropriately” (J. Richards et al- 1985:49) In J.Richards’ opinion, he also adds: “When someone wishes to communicate with others, they must recognize the social setting, their relationship to the other person, and the types of language can be used for a particular occasion. They must also be able to interpret written or spoken sentences within the total context in which they are used”(J.Richard, 49). CC is essential in cross-cultural communication. It includes notion of language, culture, and thought. 1.4. Definitions of cross-cultural communication According to Nguyen Quang (1998:3): “Communication (verbal or nonverbal) between people from different cultures; communication that is influenced and cultural values, attitudes and behavior: the influence of culture on people’ reactions and responses to each other.” Cross-cultural communication can be defined as “an awareness that specific cultural and/or social and/or linguistic and/or economic and/or historical and/or gender-based differences matter in cross-cultural interaction, demonstrated through appropriately shaping one’s discourse with individuals of different backgrounds from one’s own” (www.global-workforce.globalization.org). 9
15. “The phrase cross-cultural communication describes the ability to successfully form, foster, and improve relationships with members of a culture different from one's own. It is based on knowledge of many factors, such as the other culture's values, perceptions, manners, social structure, and decision-making practices, and an understanding of how members of the group communicate verbally, non-verbally, in person, in writing, and in various business and social contexts, to name but a few. Like speaking a foreign language or riding a bicycle, cross-cultural communication involves a skill component that may best be learned and mastered through instruction and practice: simply reading about it is not enough”(www.ewbs.com). Or cross-cultural communication can be understood in a more simple way: “Cross-cultural communication (also frequently referred to as intercultural communication, which is also used in a different sense, though) is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavour to communicate across cultures” (en.wikipedia.org). 1.5. Culture shock and how to avoid culture shock? 1.5.1. Culture shock? Why culture shock? Culture shock or communication breakdown may happen when a person learns a second language in a second culture or s/he moves to live in another cultural environment. Culture shock in H.Douglas Brown’s opinion, refers “to a phenomena ranging from mild irritability to deep psychological panic and crisis” when entering a new culture. And George M.Foster (1962:87) uses more terms to describe culture shock: “Culture- shock is a mental illness, and as it is true of much mental illness, the victim usually does not know he is affected. He finds that he is 10
16. irritable, depressed, and probably annoyed by the lack of attention shown him.” Culture shock in H.Douglas Brown’s opinion, refers “to a phenomena ranging from mild irritability to deep psychological panic and crisis” when entering a new culture. Culture shock results from different values, perceptions, norms that lead to the different inference as well as misinterpretation in both verbal and non-verbal communication. However, how about culture shock happening between native and non- native speakers of a language, and of Vietnamese in particular, because of unawareness of cultural differences. “Communication breakdown” between them is unavoidable. Culture shock results from different values, perceptions, norms that lead to the different inference as well as misinterpretation in both verbal and non-verbal communication. For example in the way of using address forms: Vietnamese students often call: “teacher, blah, blah, blah”. But the word “teacher” is just a job, and there is more to that person than just his/her job. So it sounds impolite, and the teacher may tell the student “my name is not Teacher, you can call me Mrs. Mary ” Moreover, in the Vietnamese culture, when asking such questions as “Are you married?”, “how old are you?”, “How much do you earn a month?” people simply want to show their concern to the others, to make the distance between interactants closer and friendlier; thus, to enhance solidarity. In contrast, in English, people do not always do so. Those questions can be considered too acquisitive, since they respect interactant’s privacy. So concerning questions about other’s age, earning, marital status etc are not appropriate in the English initial conversation. Or in the other word, unawareness of different roles the speaker and hearer might play namely age, social distance, work power, and 11
17. relationship, marital status, education as well. Using wrong language in wrong circumstances can cause culture shock. 1.5.2. Main factors creating culture shock Unawareness of cross-cultural differences, i.e. different cultures may have difference values, perceptions, cultural thought patterns, belief, etc. Unawareness of different roles the speaker and hearer might play namely age, social distance, work power, and relationship, marital status, education as well. Moreover, it should be noted that the length of time knowing each other can determine the language used in communication. Using wrong language in wrong circumstances can cause culture shock. 1.5.3. How culture - shock: From honey moon to Culture shock to integration H.Douglas Brown (1986:33) suggests the term “acculturation” which is defined as the process of becoming adapted to a new culture. It is common knowledge that entering a new culture for a length of time involves a period and in a number of stages. Levin and Adelman in their book Beyond Language: Intercultural Communication for English as a Second Language (1982) present a W-shaped diagram that illustrates periods of adjustment in a second culture: 12
18. Figure 3: W-shaped diagram of culture shock (Nguyen Quang,1998b) “Honey moon stage: When you first arrive in a new culture, differences are intriguing and you may feel excited, stimulated and curious. At this stage you are still protected by the close memory of your home culture. This is a period of excitement, fascination, bewilderment, of discovery and inquisitiveness, curiosity and amazement. Culture-shock: A little later, differences create an impact and you may feel confused, isolated or inadequate as cultural differences intrude and familiar supports (eg family or friends) are not immediately available. Those initially exciting cultural differences may now cause you to feel insecure or confused, as you struggle to understand the rules of the new culture you find yourself in. At this stage, the reality of day-to-day living begins to sink-in. The individual is totally immersed in new sets of problems. You are confronted by the daily problems of living in a different culture and trying to communicate in a foreign language. You became mentally tired from all the effort involved in understanding and copying. 13
19. Initial adjustment: You may consciously or unconsciously also be assessing your own cultural values and trying to make sense of them in your new cultural context. You are reconnecting with what you value about yourself and your own culture. You are starting to feel less alien and more at home. Mental isolation: After being away from your family, friends, and familiar environment, you begin to feel lonely. You miss the music, the native places of attraction, or even your spouse, and you long for news from home. You begin to suffer from nostalgia, especially if the social status you had in your original culture is not realized in the new country. Even though you are able to live in the new culture without any problem, you still feel inadequate and have lost self-confidence. Acceptance and integration or abandonment: You have accepted the habits, customs, foods and behaviors of the people in this new culture” (Levine, D.et al – cited from Nguyen Quang – 1998b) 1.5.4. How to cope with culture shock? B.Tomalin and Stempleski suggested on the following encompassed qualities, which would be useful in cross-cultural interaction: + Awareness of one’s own culturally induced behavior. + Awareness of the culturally induced behavior of others. + Ablity to explain one’s cultural standpoint. In order to avoid culture shock or communication breakdown, awareness of cross-culture differences as well as of our own culture should be promoted and enhanced. This does not mean our culture identities are lost but more cultural influences are regconized within ourselves and others. 14
20. 1.6. Practice Practice 1: In My Culture It’s Normal In my country it is normal/polite/impolite/rude/strange: 1. To shake hands when we meet someone for the first time. 2. To kiss on both cheeks when we greet or say goodbye to a friend 3. To take someone out to dinner (pay for dinner) for his birthday or when he gets a promotion 4. To be a little late to meet friends 5. To be a little minutes late to work or to business meetings 6. To spit in public 7. To call most people by their first names 8. To ask people their ethnicity or nationality when you meet them for the first time 9. To sing in public 10. For women in the family to make important decisions like which school to send children to, how to spend money, etc 11. For men to cook, clean or do other household work 12. To interrupt people when talking 13. To give gifts to teachers, doctors, government officials, bosses for students to wear suits or dresses or formal clothing 14. To invite people to your home 15. To ask guests to leave when it gets late or if you are busy 16. To serve guests only drinks and chips or small snacks 17. To disagree with older people or people who are more powerful than you 18. To give up your seat for older people or women 19. To get promoted to a much higher position than your family or friends. 15
21. Practice 2. Culture Shock: Timed Skimming Exercise ( 1. When does culture shock Part 5: Culture Shock happen? You have read about Romulus and Remus A. when you reach whose culture shock came when they went your teens back to the world of human beings after B. when you move to a being raised by a wolf. Tarzan's culture big city shock came when he discovered that he C. when you meet was not a "white ape" but a human being. foreign people for Emily Carr preferred the culture of the First the first time Nations people and the life she led on her D. when you go to live explorations to the dresses and polite in a foreign culture conversations of her own culture. You now 2. How do you feel during know that First Nations culture did not the first stage of culture include school or even business activity, shock? people spent most of their time in nature or A. lonely and around the fire of their home talking, telling depressed stories and making the things they needed B. bored and to survive. homesick Psychologists tell us that there are four C. happy and excited basic stages that human beings pass D. angry and through when they enter and live in a new frustrated culture. This process, which helps us to 3. How do you feel during deal with culture shock, is the way our the second stage? brain and our personality reacts to the A. homesick and strange new things we encounter when we afraid move from one culture to another. If our B. interested and 16
22. culture involves bowing when we greet amused someone, we may feel very uncomfortable C. stressed, but in a culture that does not involve bowing. If positive the language we use when talking to D. you have no someone in our own culture is influenced particular feelings by levels of formality based on the other 4. How could the third stage person's age and status, it may be difficult be described? for us to feel comfortable communicating A. adjustment with people in the new culture. B. rejection Culture begins with the "honeymoon C. enthusiasm stage". This is the period of time when we D. anger first arrive in which everything about the 5. How do you feel during new culture is strange and exciting. We the fourth stage of culture may be suffering from "jet lag" but we are shock? thrilled to be in the new environment, A. tense, but positive seeing new sights, hearing new sounds and B. relaxed language, eating new kinds of food. This C. negative and honeymoon stage can last for quite a long stressed time because we feel we are involved in D. afraid some kind of great adventure. 6. Why might reverse culture Unfortunately, the second stage of culture shock be a problem? shock can be more difficult. After we have A. It hardly ever settled down into our new life, working or happens. studying, buying groceries, doing laundry, B. It is extremely or living with a home-stay family, we can stressful. become very tired and begin to miss our C. Most people do not homeland and our family, expect it. girlfriend/boyfriend, pets. All the little D. It only happens to 17
23. problems that everybody in life has seem to young people. be much bigger and more disturbing when 4. The four basic stages of you face them in a foreign culture. This culture shock are: period of cultural adjustment can be very a. honeymoon, difficult and lead to the new arrival rehearsal, rejecting or pulling away from the new memorization, culture. This "rejection stage" can be quite return dangerous because the visitor may develop b. honeymoon, unhealthy habits (smoking and drinking too rejection, much, being too concerned over food or adjustment, at ease contact with people from the new culture). at last This can, unfortunately lead to the person c. honeymoon, getting sick or developing skin infections or rejection, reverse, at rashes which then makes the person feel ease at last even more scared and confused and d. honeymoon, helpless. This stage is considered a crisis in rehearsal, rejection, the process of cultural adjustment and at ease at last many people choose to go back to their 5. Why would people in the homeland or spend all their time with second stage of culture people from their own culture speaking shock choose to spend all their native language. their time with people The third stage of culture shock is called from their homeland? the "adjustment stage". This is when you a. They are afraid to begin to realize that things are not so bad in risk being the host culture. Your sense of humour uncomfortable with usually becomes stronger and you realize strangers and it is that you are becoming stronger by learning easier to stay with to take care of yourself in the new place. people from their 18
24. Things are still difficult, but you are now a own culture. survivor! b. They are afraid of The fourth stage can be called "at ease at skin diseases and last". Now you feel quite comfortable in want to hide from your new surroundings. You can cope with contact with most problems that occur. You may still foreigners. have problems with the language, but you c. They feel that they know you are strong enough to deal with can learn the new them. If you meet someone from your language by country who has just arrived, you can be themselves and the expert on life in the new culture and don't need contact help them to deal with their culture shock. with people from There is a fifth stage of culture shock which the new culture. many people don't know about. This is d. They are only called "reverse culture shock". interested in going Surprisingly, this occurs when you go back home. to your native culture and find that you have changed and that things there have changed while you have been away. Now you feel a little uncomfortable back home. Life is a struggle! 19
25. CHAPTER 2: CULTURE IMPACTS ON NON – VERBAL COMMUNICATION 2.1. Understanding non-verbal communication Lustig (1996:187-188) defines “nonverbal communication is a multichanneled process that is usually performed simultaneously; it typically involves a subtle set of nonlinguistic behaviors that are often enacted subconsciously. Nonverbal behaviors can become part of the communication process when someone intentionally tries to convey a message or when someone attributes meaning to the nonverbal behavior of another, whether or not the person intend to communicate a particular meaning”. Hybel (1992, 104) states “without saying a word you could be communicating by your clothing, your facial expressions, your posture, or any other number of nonverbal signals”. According to Nguyen Quang (2004, 226), nonverbal communication refers to “all the components of the message that, when taken together, constitute the communication which is not verbally coded but both vocally and nonvocally channeled. Nonverbal communication is composed of paralinguistic factors (nonverbal-vocal channel), such as rate, volume, etc., and extralinguistic factors (nonverbal-nonvocal channel), such as body language (gestures, postures, facial expression, etc), object language, environment language”. 20
26. 2.2. The importance of nonverbal communication Hybels (1992, 104) states “nonverbal communication is extremely important in human interaction”. Hall (cited in Nguyen Quang, 2004) claims that 60 percent of all communication is nonverbal. Mehrabian has determined from his research that as much as 93 percent of communication is nonverbal (Hybels, 1992:104) Birdwhistell estimates that the average American speaks for only ten to eleven minutes a day, and that more than 65 percent of the social meaning of a typical two-person exchange is carried by nonverbal cues (Valdes, 1992:65). 21
27. 2.3. Types of nonverbal communication Peace (1984:7) claims “The fascinating thing is that human animal is rarely aware of his postures, movements and gestures that can tell one story while his voice may be telling another”. 2.3.1. Gestures Gestures, which have been called “silent language”, is a form of nonverbal communication made with part of body or the body as a whole, and used instead or in combination with verbal communication (Roger E.Axtell, 1998). Gestures vary from culture to culture. People from different cultures tend to use and read gestures in a different way. 2.3.1.a. Facial expressions As stated by Nguyen Quang (1996:64): “Our faces reveal emotions and attitudes, but we should not attempt to “read” people from aother culture as we would “read” someone from our own culture”. Facial expressions are also among the most universal forms of body language. The expressions used to convey fear, anger, sadness, and happiness are similar throughout the world. Researcher Paul Ekman has 22
28. found support for the universality of a variety of facial expressions tied to particular emotions including joy, anger, fear, surprise, and sadness. Sadness Happiness Anger Confusion Surprise Excitement Disgust Desire Fear Contempt 2.3.1.b. Eye contact: The eyes are sometimes called the "windows to the soul" because they can reveal so much about what a person is thinking or feeling. Eye-gaze: “When a person looks directly into your eyes when having a conversion, it indicates that they are interested and paying attention. 23
29. However, prolonged eye contact can feel threatening. On the other hand, breaking eye contact and frequently looking away may indicate that the person is distracted, uncomfortable, or trying to conceal his or her real feelings”. (www.capitaleap.org/body-language-what-were-really-saying) Blinking: “Blinking is natural, but you should also pay attention to whether a person is blinking too much or too little. People often blink more rapidly when they are feeling distressed or uncomfortable. Infrequent blinking may indicate that a person is intentionally trying to control his or her eye movements. For example, a poker player might blink less frequently because he is purposely trying to appear unexcited about the hand he was dealt”. 24
30.  Pupil-size: “One of the most subtle cues that eyes provide is through the size of the pupils. While light levels in the environment control pupil dilation, sometimes emotions can also cause small changes in pupil size. For example, you may have heard the phase "bedroom eyes" used to describe the look someone gives when they are attracted to another person”. (www.capitaleap.org/body-language-what-were-really-saying) 25
31. 2.3.1.c. The mouth: The mouth and lips can convey a great deal of nonverbal information. Pursed lips: Pursed lips might be an indicator of distaste, disapproval, or distrust Lip biting: People sometimes bite their lips when they are worried, anxious, or stressed. Covering the mouth: When people want to hide an emotional reaction, they might cover their mouths in order to avoid displaying a smile or smirk. 26
32. Turned up or down: Slight changes in the mouth can also be subtle indicators of what a person is feeling. When the mouth is slightly turned up, it might mean that the person is feeling happy or optimistic. On the other hand, a slightly downturned mouth can be an indicator of sadness, disapproval, or even an outright grimace. 2.3.1.d. Hand gestures: Hand gestures in different cultures may imply different meanings. It is really important to understand the meaning of different gestures when you are about to travel to other countries, or when you learn another language as well. “Many times we tend to use our hands to explain our needs and thoughts. The same hand gesture may mean something quite nasty and offensive to a person from a different cultural background. Hand gestures are a very important part of the body language gestures. Hand gestures are a way of communicating with others and conveying 27
33. your feelings. These gestures are most helpful when one is speaking to someone with no language in common. The meanings of hand gestures in different cultures may translate into different things. Before you communicate with people in different cultures, you need to understand the meaning of gestures. Those considered as a good gestures in one country may be termed as an offensive gesture in some countries. Thumb up: The thumb up sign in most American and European cultures meaning things are going according to your plans or something you approve of. However, the going good sign translates into a rude and offensive gesture in Islamic and Asian countries. In Australia, it means OK, but if you move it up and down, it is considered as a grave insult. Thumb down: The thums down sign obviously means the opposite of a thumbs up sign. It is an indicate of something that is bad or something that you do not approve of. It also indicates that something or someone has failed. The thumbs down sign is not used as often as the thumbs up sign. This is a rude hand gesture and an arrogant way to indicate failure”. (www.buzzle.com/articles/hand-gestures-in-different-cultures.html) Hand shaking: According to Nguyen Quang (1999:22), “when Anglicist shake hands, they usually only shake hands for a seconds. When shaking hands, they shake hands firmly not loosely. “He shakes hand like a dead fish” refers to someone whose handshake is not firm enough. In the American culture, a weak handshake is a sign of a weak character. In 28
34. Vietnam, people shake hands differently. They may take the other’s hand a bit loosely and may tightly” 2.3.2. Postures There is a tendency to see gestures as dynamic and postures as static. Postures, the way we hold ourselves, give important information. Interested people always pay attention and lean forward, folding arms across one’s chest is protective and will give the impression of a closed, guarded and defensive character. As can be found in www.assertbh.org.uk/content/uploads/2015/06/Body- Language, posture can tell a lot about how a person might be feeling: 29
35. 2.3.2.a. Open postures: Open postures involve keeping the trunk of the body open and exposed. This type of posture indicates friendliness, openness, and willingness. 2.3.2.b. Closed postures: Closed postured involve keeping the obscured or hidden often by hunching forward and keeping the arms and legs crossed. This type of posture can be an indicator of hostility, unfriendliness, and anxiety. 2.3.2.c.The arms and legs: The arms and legs can also be useful in conveying nonverbal information. Crossing the arms can indicate defensiveness. Crossing legs away from another person may indicate dislike or discomfort with that individual. 30
36. Other subtle signals such as expanding the arms widely may be an attempt to seem larger or more commanding, while keeping the arms close to the body may be an effort to minimize oneself or withdraw from attention. When you are evaluating body language, pay attention to some of the following signals that the arms and legs may convey: Crossed arms might indicate that a person feels defensive, self-protective, or closed-off. Standing with hands placed on the hips can be an indication that a person is ready and in control, or it can also possibly be a sign of aggressiveness. Clasping the hands behind the back might indicate that a person is feeling bored, anxious, or even angry. Rapidly tapping fingers or fidgeting can be a sign that a person is bored, impatient, or frustrated. Crossed legs can indicate that a person is feeling closed off or in need of privacy. 2.4. Cross-cultural nonverbal communication and culture shock Communication is culture-bound. The way we communicate emanates from our culture. Nonverbal communication, as a form of communication, is culturally determined. Most from of nonverbal 31
37. communication can be interpreted only within the framework of the culture in which they occur. The rules and norms that govern most nonverbal communication behaviors are culture-specific. Birdwhistell suggests, “a smile in one society portrays friendliness, in another embarrassment, and in still another may a warning that unless tension is reduced, hostility and attack will follow” (cited in Lustig, 1996:194). “In cross-cultural communication, misunderstandings often occur in the interpretations of nonverbal behaviors because different rules create very different meanings about the appropriateness and effectiveness of particular interaction sequences” (Lustig/ Koster, 2006, 214). An example for hand gestures in different culture with different meaning: 32
38. CHAPTER 3: CULTURE IMPACTS ON VERBAL COMMUNICATION 3.1. Addressing forms in Vietnamese language and culture 33
39. 3.1.1. Circular Relationship The kinship terms used as addressing form can make a new relationship that is call “Circular Relationship”. This relationship can be shown in figure below in comparision with I - YOU in English: Figure 4: Circular Relationship This one is used popularly in the communication among Vietnamese people in family and in society to express the inequality, respect and deference, and solidarity. 3.1.2. Horizontal Relationship- Type 1 However, Nguyen Quang (1992:50) noted that: “In Vietnamese language and culture, apart from the circular relation, there are other addressing forms which are not the kinship terms. They are used to express the equality in power/ age. The interlocutors use these address forms are the ones who have power equals and want to show the solidarity. Most of 34
40. them are young people, close friends, or those who have solidarity. Just like the using of multiple names in English, the using horizontal relationship-type 1 in Vietnamese seems to be complicated and difficult to second-language learners”. This relationship is called “Horizontal Relationship- Type 1” For example: 1. Ai đi để ai thương ai nhớ Ai về cho ai hết sầu mong 2. Mình về mình có nhớ ta Mười lăm năm ấy thiết tha mặn nồng Mình về mình có nhớ không Nhìn cây nhớ núi nhìn sông nhớ nguồn (Cited in Nguyen Quang (1999:165-166) These addressing forms are interchangeable addressing. This is a unique and interesting phenomenon. 3.1.3. Horizontal Relationship- Type 2 According to Nguyen Quang (1999:167) there is another relationship which is called “Horizontal Relationship- Type II”. This is considered 35
41. as the use of V-form in Europe because this one expresses the equality, formality, honorific, modesty, and insolidarity. Figure 5: Horizontal Relationship- Type 2. Nguyen Quang (1999:165) 3.1.4. Dynamic Relationships According to Nguyen Quang (1999:169), in Vietnamese culture and society, if there is a conflict between the age and the social position, there will be a compromise in the way of choosing the addressing forms. It is different to that in American culture and society where the social position plays a more important role in using the addressing forms. The compromise in choosing addressing forms can be seen in the folowing figure: 36
42. The addressing forms “TÔI_ CHỨC DANH” can create the new relationship which is called “Dynamic Relationships”. In Vietnamese culture, after a period of time of communicating the pair “ TÔI_ CHỨC DANH” can be change into “Cháu/Em- CHỨC DANH” to express the self-abasement, solidarity or in the other hand to keep the social-power of the interlocutors. The following figure shows the “Dynamic relationship type-I” in which the dynamic element is the first personal pronounce “TÔI”, the second pronounce can be unchanged or changed to suit with the first one. Figure 6: Dynamic relationship type-I For example: - Xin thủ trưởng cho tôi hai ngày để hoàn thành báo cáo này. - Xin thủ trưởng cho em hai ngày để hoàn thành báo cáo này (showing the respect and the solidarity) - Cô/chị đánh cho tôi bản báo cáo này nhé. - Em/cháu đánh cho anh/chú bản báo cáo này nhé (showing the respect and the solidarity) Nguyen Quang (1999:171) 37
43. 3.1.5. The dynamic relationship-type II In Vietnamese language and culture, there is one more relationship in which the first personal ponounce “TÔI” is constant and the second one is changed. In this relationship the social position of the addressee (waiter/ waitress/ taxi driver, etc.) is often lower than the addresser. It is not polite to adopt the form of address for them like waiter/ waitress/ (with their occupation) Eg: Này, cô hầu bàn, cho tôi hai nâu nhé. (not polite) In this case, the second personal pronounce will be changed to keep the formality but still express the respect, tact, and solidarity. This relationship is called “the dynamic relationship-type II” (Nguyen Quang, 1999:174). Eg: Này, em/ cháu ơi, cho tôi hai nâu nhé. By conducting an interview, Nguyen Quang (1999:174) pointed “the dynamic relationship-type II” in the figure below: Figure 7: Dynamic relationship type-II Or the “circular relationship” can be used by Vietnamese people when an addressee is female to show the familiarity/ solidarity. Eg: Này, em/ cháu ơi, cho anh/chú/ bác hai nâu nhé. Nguyen Quang (1999:173) 38
44. This is the variant of “the dynamic relationship-type II” Figure 8:Dynamic relationship type-II cited in Nguyen Quang (1999:175) 3.1.6.The variant of circular relationship. In Vietnamese language and culture, there is one kind of dynamic relationship that is considered as an interesting phenomenon and expresses the family-orientation of Vietnamese people. That is “addressing on the child’s behalf”. This form of address shows the solidarity, the modesty, and the familiality. Originally it was used among people in family, then among the neighbours, and finally it is used largely in the solidarity relatinship and social communication. But this kind of addressing form is normally used in the rural more than in the urban. This is also the variant of circular relationship. As some examples written in Nguyen Quang (1999:175): Eg: - Bác cho em vay dăm cân gạo. - Chú mà giúp chị thì chẳng đời nào chị quên ơn chú. 39
45. Figure 9: Variant of circular relationship. 3.2. Addressing forms in English - American language and culture “It is said that the form of address in English-American language and culture is quite simple. With I-YOU, people can communicate with each other without concerning about their age, gender, social positions, relationship, attitude, emotion. In fact, it is not simple like being thought. In English-American language there are many different addressing forms used to express the attitude, the emmotion of the interlocutors”. 3.2.1. Addressing forms in English - American Basically, addressing forms in English-American language and culture can be seen as following: I –YOU : neutral Title alone-T: eg: Professor / Dr./ Mr./Miss Title with last name-TLN: Professor Browning/ Mr.Clinton 40
46. Last name alone-LN: Micheal Nixon, Mary King First name- FN: Micheal Nixon, Mary King including diminutive eg. Beck for Rebecca Multiple names – MNs: According to Brown&Ford (1964:238) MNs means when having a talk we may use TLN or FN or LN or nick name to address the hearers; this phenomenon also exists in Vietnamese language and culture and is often used among people having very close relationship (solidarity). However, in English-American language and culture, there are two main addressing forms usually used. Those are: TLN and FN. According to Brown and Ford (1964), Ervin-Trpp (1972), Wardhaugh (1986): FN is identical to “T” form (informal) used when speakers want to express the solidarity semantic. LN is identical to “V” form (formal) when speakers want to express the power semantic or the formality. There are 3 groups of exchange these addressing forms: Mutual exchange of FN: to express the solidarity, the closeness. The young Americans tendentially use this type of addressing forms. But in Vietnamese culture, it is able to cause culture-shock when conversing, especially with the old people or with the ones who have higher position/ more power. According to Fasold, “a younger person or the one with lower social position can call the older one or the one with higher position with FN when there is a dispensation. Mutual exchange of TLN: to express the equality and to keep the distance. It is the polite way of communication in English-American culture. Nonreciprocal exchange of TLN and FN to express the inequality in power. According to Brown and Gilman (1962), the power of the parents prevents their children from addressing them or the ones who are older 41
47. than them the in informal way. This is the root of using the TLN/FN to address the social-powerful people because they are the parent figures. According to Nguyen Quang (2000:182), there are two aspects influencing on addressing forms: the power and the age. According to Fasold (1990:30), traditionally women are addressed more formally possibly due to gentlemen. That is called gender aspect also influencing on the addressing forms. 3.2.2. Terms of affection Wolfson and Manes (1979) observed that: “in American society many men call/ address the women they meet at the first time with the terms of affection such as Dear, Honey, Sweetie/Sweety, etc. There are some reasons: - They are older. - They have higher position or more social power. - They are conversing in the intimate environment. - Their habit. But the well-cultured people rarely use this terms of affection at the first meeting. According to Brown and Ford (1964), after 5 minute conversation the Americans can change from TLN to FN. According to Fasold (1990:25), the Americans also use addressing forms to express their attitude. When getting angry/ mad or complaining, they change from FN to TLN. 3.2.3. Addressing form avoidance –AFA It is considered as uncultured/ uneducated/ill-bred in Vietnamese culture. It is partially acceptable among the people who are age-equals and power-equals. However, in English-American culture it is much different. The English and Americans use AFA when they do not know how to address the communicative subject. Eg: Mr., Miss, Ms., 42
48. Doctor+ 0 - Doctor (title alone) Mr+ 0 0 (AFA) 3.3. Objectiveness and Subjectiveness 3.3.1. Definition of objectiveness and subjective Objectiveness is a statement that is completely unbiased. It is not touched by the speaker’s previous experiences or tastes. It is verifiable by looking up facts or performing mathematical calculations. Subjectiveness is a statement that has been colored by the character of the speaker or writer. It has a basis in reality, but reflects the perspective through with the speaker views reality. It cannot be verified using concrete facts and figures. The difference between these two important ideas is the difference between fact and opinion. Facts are objective and provably true; however, if no clear facts exist about a topic, then a series of balanced opinions needs to be produced to allow the reader to make up his or her mind; opinions are subjective ideas held by individuals and so are always biased. ( objective-and-subjective). 3.3.2. Objectiveness and Subjectiveness in defining the space According to Nguyen Quang (1999:21), Vietnamese people seem to be more subjective, while English-American ones are more objective. Vietnamese people consider them as the subject so they always define the position of “ego” in order to use the suitable preposition. While the Anglitcist just concerns about the direction of “ego” more than its position. 43
49. For example: Anglicist Vietnamese When the ego move to externality, If the subject is on the 2nd floor, the for example the garden: destination is the garden: I am going to the garden- Tôi đi tới - Tôi đi xuống vườn vườn If the subject is in the basement, the destination is the garden: - Tôi đi lên vườn If the subject indoor, the destination is the garden: - Tôi đi ra vườn The subjectiveness and objectiveness in defining “ego” can be seen clearly when there are two objects and “ego”. For example, the two objects are “the bird” and “the sky”. Anglicist Vietnamese - The bird is flying in the sky Con chim đang bay ở trên trời - Con chim đang bay ở trong trời. The bird is flying above/on the sky. Ego excluded in Object- Oject Ego included in Object-Object interrelation interrelation because Vietnamese people care about their position with the bird rather than the position of the bird and the sky. 3.3.3. Subjective and objective in pragmatics According to Nguyen Quang (1999:37), the subjectiveness and the objectiveness in Vietnamese and Anglicist language and culture can be expressed in the essence of the statements. There are two main statements: The descriptive statements and the evaluative statements. 44
50. The descriptive statements are objective: For example: - She is 1.45 metre height and weighs 60kg. - Cô ấy cao một mét bốn năm và nặng 60 cân. The evaluative statements are subjective because the speakers express their feeling, their thought, their experience, their opinion when they adjust things/objects/events in life. For example: - She is short and fat as a pig. - Cô ấy béo ú và lùn tịt. (Nguyen Quang, 1991) 3.4. Directness and indirectness “As defined in speech-act theory, direct acts are those where surface form matches interactional function, as 'Be quiet!' used as a command, versus an indirect 'It's getting noisy here' or 'I can't hear myself think,' but other units of communication must also be considered” (Saville-Trike:1986). 3.4.1. Directness With every utterance, a speaker performs a speech act. It can be a question (“Where is the car?”), a command (“Give me the sweater!”), a statement (“Something smells bad in here.”), or a bunch of other speech acts, like promises, threats, or requests. In terms of speech acts, directness could be explained as matching the speech act with the grammatical structure it most naturally takes. In the examples above the question, the command, and the statement are all easily recognizable, and can be interpreted at face value. Directness between equals, then, often marks closeness. You wouldn’t think twice about telling your best friend those jeans make her behind look horrible – at least before she buys them. Or telling your spouse that s/he has toilet paper stuck on the sole of his/her shoe. You trust them enough to interpret your message at face value and to not read some hidden criticism into it. 45
51. Directness requires a good nose for the situation; however, being too direct when stating your opinion might seem like an insult, especially if the hearer perceives you as being lower in the social hierarchy. Direct commands, of course, can easily sound like you’re bossing people around. Asking direct questions from someone you’re not that close with may make the hearer feel you’re being nosy or intrusive. Furthermore, they might feel you’re forcing them to be rude by asking a question they cannot skate over and must answer with a direct “I don’t want to tell you.” 3.4.2. Indirectness “Indirectness is a way of conveying desired messages by means of an interrelationship of social variables and liguistic content” (McQuiddy: 1986). “Indirectness is mainly expressed by means of lexical choice, syntactic structure, conventinal implicature and discourse structure” (Miller, 1994:39). If directness was defined as matching your speech act with your structure, indirectness would then be e.g. using an interrogative structure (“Are you wearing that to the party?”) to convey a non-question speech act, like a statement (“I don’t think you should wear that to the party”) or even a command(“Go put on something else.”). As already noted, indirectness is very useful in socially distant situations. People have varied levels of directness tolerance, and until you know where the limit is, it’s wise to stay well on the polite side. "It is possible that indirectness is used more in societies which are, or which have been until recently, heavily hierarchical in structure. If you 46
52. want to avoid giving offence to people in authority over you, or if you want to avoid intimidating people lower in the social hierarchy than yourself, then indirectness may be an important strategy. It is possible, too, that the more frequent use by women in western societies of indirectness in conversation is due to the fact that women have traditionally had less power in these societies." (Peter Trudgill, Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th ed. Penguin, 2000) According to Searle (1975), Brown and Levinson (1978), Blum-kulka (1987), the two types of indirectness in requests can be distinguished by the criterion of conventionality: Conventional indirectness: “Conventional indirect requests realize the act by systematic reference to some precondition needed for its realization, and share across languages the property of potential pragmatic ambiguity between requestive meaning and literal meaning” (Blum-kulka ,1987:140). For example: - Husband said to his wife: Honey, it’s time for meal. (It implies that the wife should prepare the dinner because it is late) (Nguyen Quang, 1999:44). Conventional indirectness refers to contextual preconditions necessary for its performance as conventionalized in the language: - How about cleaning up? - Could you clean up the kitchen, please? Nonconventional indirectness: partially refers to the object depending on contextual clues: - You have left the kitchen in a right mess. - I’m a nun. (in response to a persistent hassler) 47
53. - It is dark in here (the speaker wants the hearer to open the window/ let’s move to another room/ someone should turn on the light ) “Nonconventional indirectness is by definition open-ended both in terms of propositional content and linguistic form, as well as of pragmatic force. Thus, there is no formal limitation ( ) neither on the kinds of hints, nor on the range of pragmatic forces that might be carried by any non-conventionally indirect utterance. Utterances that convey something more or different from their literal meaning. It follows that the processes of interpretation involved might differ with variation in type of indirectness. It is by now well-established that in all interpretations of indirectness in discourse, the hearer must match information encoded in properties of the utterance with relevant features of the pragmatic context (Van Dijk and Kintsch (1983), Dascal (1983)). In conventional indirectness, properties of the utterance play the more dominant role, while in non-conventional indirectness pragmatic context is probably as, if not more, important” (Blum-kulka, 1987:142). According to (Blum-kulka, 1987:140), Brown and Levinson’s model predicts a strong link between politeness and indirectness, based on a hierarchical model of politeness strategies. But sometimes the indrectness strategies are not the highest level of politeness: For example: (1) Em quét nhà cho anh nhé (direct) - let’s clean the house (2) Nhà với cửa gì mà bẩn như chuồng lợn thế này (indrect) (This house is such a mess) It can be seen clearly that the (1) is more polite than the (2) (Nguyen Quang, 1999:46). 48
54. 3.5. Politeness 3.5.1.What is politeness? Politeness, according to Gumperz (“Politeness”cited in Brown and Levinson, 1987: VIII), “is basic to the production of social order, and a precondition of human cooperation, so that any theory which provides an understanding of this phenomenon at the same time goes to the foundations of human social life.” In addition to their status as universal principles of human interaction, politeness phenomena by their very nature are reflected in language. Societies everywhere, no matter what their degree of isolation or their socio-economic complexity, show these same principles at work; yet what counts as polite may differ from group to group, from situation to situation, or from individual to individual. Brown and Levinson (1978) define politeness as maintaining the H’s face, that is, letting H feel unimposed on and approved of in certain respects. Face refers to wants, and Brown and Levinson (1978) argue that we have two types of wants: ego-preserving wants and public-self preserving wants, which refer to the desire to be considered a contributing member of society. The former (ego-preserving wants) generates negative face, and the latter (public-self preserving wants) generates positive face. Culturally, politeness is treated as “the idea of polite social behavior or etiquette, within a culture” (G.Yule, 1996:60). Richards et al. (1985: 281) considers politeness as “the attempt to establish, maintain, and save face during conversation.” So the norms of politeness are quite culturally specific. They differ among languages and culture. Linguistically, politeness is defined as “the international balance achieved between two needs: the need for pragmatic clarity and the need to avoid coerciveness” (Blum-Kulka, 1987:131). 49
55. Cross-culturally, politeness in communication is seen as “any communicative acts (verbal or non-verbal) appropriately and intentionally meant to make other(s) feel better or less bad” (Nguyen Quang, 2005:11). 3.5.2.What is FTA? Central to an understanding of politeness is the notion of face, which is the sense of a person’s public self-image. This concept was established by Brown and Levinson (1978). Every speech act has potential imposition on somebody else’s sense of face. Thus politeness in interaction can be recognized as the means to show the awareness of a person’s public self- image. In communicating, people may give a threat to another individual’s self-image or face-want, they tend to create a face threatening act (FTA). Some actions might be taken to lessen the possible threat. This is described as a face saving act. 3.5.2.a. Positive and negative face According to Brown and Levinson (1987:61), “Face Face is the public self image that every adult tries to protect”. Positive face was defined in two ways as "the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some others executors", or alternately, "the positive consistent self-image or 'personality' (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants". Negative face was defined as "the want of every 'competent adult member' that his actions be unimpeded by others", or "the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction i.e. the freedom of action and freedom from imposition". “Ten years later, Brown characterized positive face by desires to be liked, admired, ratified, and related to positively, noting that one would threaten positive face by ignoring someone. At the same time, she characterized negative face by the desire not to be imposed upon, noting that negative face could be impinged upon by imposing on someone.[4] Positive Face 50
56. refers to one's self-esteem, while negative face refers to one's freedom to act.[1] The two aspects of face are the basic wants in any social interaction, and so during any social interaction,cooperation is needed amongst the participants to maintain each other's faces.” ( 3.5.2.b. Face threatening acts According to Brown and Levinson (1987:65), positive and negative faces exist universally in human culture. In social interactions, face- threatening acts are at times inevitable based on the terms of the conversation. A face threatening act is an act that inherently damages the face of the addressee or the speaker by acting in opposition to the wants and desires of the other. Most of these acts are verbal; however, they can also be conveyed in the characteristics of speech (such as tone, inflection, etc.) or in non-verbal forms of communication. At minimum, there must be at least one of the face threatening acts associated with an utterance. It is also possible to have multiple acts working within a single utterance. 3.5.3. Speech atcs “In many ways of expressing themselves, people do not only produce utterances containing grammartical structures and words, they perform actions via those utterances” (Yule, 1996: 47). If you work in a situation where a boss has a great deal of power, then his utterance of expression, “You are fired”, is more than just a statement. This utterance can be used to perform the act of ending your employment. However, the actions performed by utterances do not have to be as unpleasant as in the one above. Actions can be quite pleasant, as in the acknowledgement of thanks:“You’re welcome”, or the expression of surprise:“Who’d have thought it?”, or in Vietnamese“ Ai mà ngờ được”. Actions performed by utterances are generally called speech acts and, in English, are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, 51
57. complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request.“The number of speech acts performed by the average individual in the course of any ordinary day when our work and leisure bring us into contact with others probably runs into the thousands” (Austin, 1962). 3.5.4. Politeness principles It is widely accepted that the principle of politeness gorvens all the communicative behavior. Lakoff (1977) believes that politeness usually wins out, leading her to postulate the rules of politeness: don’t impose, give options, make the other person feel good-be friendly. The point of politeness is to minimize the effects of impolite statements or expressions (negative politeness) and maximize the effects of the polite illocutions (positive politeness). Leech (1983) claims that politeness principle is necessary to “rescue the co-operative principle (be true, be brief, be relevant, be clear)” which is based on Grice’s work and that politeness principle is intended to operate alongside the Co-operative Principle. Leech (1983:16) suggests six maxims of politeness: - Maxim of Tact: minimize cost to other; maximize benefit to other. - Maxim of Generosity: minimize benefit to self; maximize cost to self - Maxim of Approbation: minimize dispraise of other; maximize praise of other. - Maxim of Modesty: minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self. - Maxim of Agreement: minimize the disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement between self and other. - Maxim of Sympathy: minimize antipathy between self and other; maximize sympathy between self and other. “We can thereby define politeness in terms of favorableness ( and correspondingly impoliteness in terms of unfavorableness) because polite 52
58. statements are in some way favorable to hearer, while impolite statements are unfavorable” (Eelen, 2001:8). 3.5.5. Politeness strategies Brown and Levinson (1987:60) do not raise rules or principles but suggest five strategies (put in figure 1 below) to deal with FTAs. They also number these five strategies to mean that the greater the face threat is, the greater-numbered strategy should be employed. Figure 10: Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Brown & Levinson, 1987) The diagram shows that when encountering an FTA, the speaker can choose one of the five possibilities. Brown and Levinson (1987) imply by numbering the possibilities that negative politeness is “more polite” than positive politeness. This can be seen in the diagram where they number the former and the latter 3 and 2 respectively. For universal validity, Nguyen Quang (1999:129-130) proposes another one. 53
59. FTA encounter 4. Don’t do the FTA Do the FTA 3. Off record On record 2. With redressive action Positive Negative politeness politeness Without redressive action Figure 11: Strategies to minimize risk of losing face Ways to reduce FTAs or enhance face wants, or even bring benefit to hearer are Positive and negative politeness strategies and Bald on record– without redressive action 3.5.6. Bald on record – without redressive action Bald on record, in G.Yule’s words, is utterances directly addressed to another where illocutionary force is made explicit Eg. Give me your car Being preferred as follows: - In cases of urgency or desperation. For example: Help! - When there is channel noise or where communication difficulties exert pressure to speak with maximum efficiency. - When the focus of task –orientation can make face redress be irrelevant ( in classroom, instruction, in military ) - In some cases of teasing or joking. Eg: Do it or die - When Bald – on record is used for H’s benefit. Eg: Get out. Fire! 54
60. 3.5.7. Positive politeness strategies “Positive politeness is redress directed to the addressee’s positive face, his perennial desire that his wants (or the actions/acquisitions/ values resulting from them) should be thought of as desirable. Redress consists in partially satisfying that desire by communicating that one’s own wants (or some of them) are in some respects similar to the addressee’s wants” (Brown and Levinson, 1978:101). Those positive politeness expressions may involve some “ getting to know you” talk, or establish the necessary common ground between the hearer and the speaker by using such phrases as let’s, why don’t, we , or address forms with I to soften the FTAs. Yule (1996:62) defines positive politeness as a face saving act tending to show solidarity, emphasizing that both S and H want the same thing and that they share the same goal. In simple word, positive politeness shows concern to others. Nguyen Quang (2005:24), based on the functions of positive politeness in communication, defines positive politeness as “any communicative act (verbal and nonverbal) which is appropriately and intentionally meant S’s concern to H, thus, enhancing the sense of solidarity between them.” Positive politeness can be understood as the ways to shorten the distance between S and H. There are three main positive politeness mechanisms: claim on common ground; convey that S and H are cooperators; fulfill H’s want for some objects”. According to Brown and Levinson (1987), there are 15 strategies of positive politeness used to maintain positive face. Group 1: Claim on common ground 1. Notice, attend to hearer (H) (his interests, wants, needs). Eg: - Goodness, a beautiful hairstyle! (after a while) Oh, by the way, can I borrow your bike? 55
61. 2. Exxaggerate (interest, approval, sympathy with H) Eg: -My God! Your work? It’s absolutely incredible! ( Trời ơi! Tác phẩm của cậu đấy à? Thật là trên cả tuyệt vời) - Cậu trang điểm đẹp như mơ. Ra đường khối anh chết, nhiều anh bị thương. Thôi cho tớ mượn cây son nào. (Nguyen Quang,2004:26) 3. Intensify interest to H. 4. Use in-group identity markers 5. Seek agreement 6. Avoid disagreement 7. Presuppose/raise/assert common ground 8. Joke Group 2: Convey that S and H are cooperators 9. Assert or presuppose S’s knowledge of and concern for H’s wants 10. Offer, promise 11. Be optimistic 12. Include both S and H in the activity 13. Give (or ask for) reasons 14. Assume or assert reciprocity Group 3: Fulfil H’s want for someone 15. Give gifts to H (goods, sympathy, understanding, cooperation) Nguyen Quang (2004) added two more strategies: 16. Comford and encourage H 17. Ask personal question “Positive politeness utterances are used as a kind of metaphorical extension of intimacy, to imply common ground or sharing of wants to limited extension even between strangers who perceive themselves, for the purposes of interaction. For the same reason, positive politeness strategies are usable not only for FTA redress, but in general as a kind of 56
62. social accelarator, where S, in using them, indicates that s/he wants to ‘come closer’ to H” (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 103). 3.5.8. Negative politeness strategies Negative politeness, according to Brown and Levinson (1987:70), “is oriented mainly toward partially satisfying (redressing) H’s negative face, his basic want to maintain claims of territory and self-determination.” They further state that negative politeness: “is the heart of respect behavior, just as positive politeness is the kernel of ‘familiar’ and ‘joking’ behavior. Negative politeness corresponds to ‘negative rites’. Where positive politeness is free-ranging, negative politeness is specific and focused; it performs the function of minimizing the particular imposition that the FTA unavoidably effects.” In Brown and Levinson’s opinion, “when we think of politeness in Western cultures, it is negative politeness behavior that springs to mind. In our culture, negative politeness is the most elaborate and the most conventionalized set of linguistic strategies for FTA redress” (1987:130). Nguyen Quang (2005:87), based on the functions of negative politeness in communication, defines negative politeness as “any communicative acts (verbal and nonverbal) which is intentionally and approprately meant to show that S does not want to impinge on H’s privacy, thus enhancing the sense of distance between them.” In Bentahila and Davies’ words (1989:101), “negative politeness is understood as a concern not to impose upon others or restrict their freedom, but remain distance”. While positive politeness narrows the distance between interlocutors, negative politeness keeps a distance between them. As informed by Nguyen Quang (2005:89), positive politeness can be called “Intimate politeness”, “Close politeness”, “Warm politeness” while negative politeness can be differently named as “Deference politeness”, or “Distancing politeness”, “Cold politeness”. 57
63. Negative politeness, thus, is essentially avoidance-based, and the realization of negative politeness strategies consists in assurances that S recognizes and respects H’s negative face wants and will not or only minimally interfere with H’s freedom of action. There are five main positive politeness mechanisms: - Be direct - Don’t presume/assume - Don’t coerse H - Communicate S’s want to not impinge on H - Redress other wants of H’s, derivative from negative face According to Nguyen Quang (2004), there are 11 strategies of negative politeness: 1. Be conventinally indirect. Eg: I wonder if you could posibly lend me the book? 2. Question, hedge. Eg: If you don’t mind/ if you can/ if it is possible/ if you want to help me Could you possibly by any chance lend me your car for just a few minutes?- Dạ phiền anh có thể cho tôi mượn cái xe một phút được không ạ? 3. Be pestimistic. Eg: Will you open the door please? 4. Minimise the imposition. Eg: Could you lend me a little paper? 5. Give deference. Eg: I think I must be absolutely stupid but I simply do not know how to open this box. 6. Apologise. Eg: I’m sorry to bother you but could you change your seat with me? 7. Impersonalise S and H. Eg: It is necessary to give your opinion. 8. State the FTA as a general rule. Eg: Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets on the train. 9. Nominalise. Eg: We urgently request your cooperation. 58
64. 10. Go on record as incurring a debt or not indebting H. Eg: I’d be very grateful if you would put in a good word for me. Nếu được anh chị giúp đỡ thì tôi không bao giờ dám quên ơn (anh/chị) 11. Avoid asking personal questions. Eg: How are you? ( health) How are things? (job) In sum negative politeness is understood as a concern not to impose upon others or restrict their freedom, but remain distant. While positive politeness narrows the distance between interlocutors, negative politeness keeps a distance between them. This is also known as the “formal politeness strategy”or “Deference politness”, or “Distancing politeness”. In Brown and Levinson’s opinion, negative politeness is considered more polite and formal than positive politeness. In a whole, according to Brown and Levinson (1987:15-17), “ three sociological factors are crucial in determining the level of politeness which a speaker (S) will use to an addressee (H): these are relative power (P) of H over S, the social distance (D) between S and H, and the ranking of the imposition (R) involved in doing the FTA”. And “for cross cultural comparison these three (P,D,R) compounded of culturally specific dimension of hierarchy, social distance, and and ranking of imposition, seem to do a remarkably adequate job in predicting politeness assessments”. Furthermore, according to Nguyen Quang (2004:186), in Vietnamese language and culture, sometimes it is difficult to clearly distinguish between this and that strategy in positive or negative politeness, or even in both of them. Look at the following example: - Em xin lỗi phiền bác xin cho cháu được vào học lớp bác dạy thì gia đình em biết ơn bác lắm lắm. 59
65. + Positive politeness strategies used in this statement: Use in-group identity markers, addressing form (danymic relationship type III): bác- em + Negative politeness strategies used in this statement: - Give deference: được vào học lớp bác dạy - Apologise: xin lỗi phiền bác - Go on record as incurring a debt or not indebting H: biết ơn In one statement, Vietnamese people can use both positive and negative politeness strategies to reach to the goal of communication. Politeness is a large and complicating field which need to be studied more and more to deeply understand all aspects of its. 60
66. CONCLUSION 1. Major findings Traditionally, in teaching and learning languages, grammaratical structures were of primary concern. Today, communication and communicative competence are of the first priority. Due to cross- linguistic and cross-cultural differences, the English and the Vietnamese have different ways of expressing themselves, communicating and moreover they differ from art, religion, belief, etc. Therefore, in order to avoid culture shock and communication breakdown cross-cultural interactants should be equipped with more and more awareness of not only cross-linguistic, but also cross-cultural differences. In this study, the author compiles teaching supplementary materials for cross-cultural communication for English major students at VMU. This study gives the definitions of culture, communication, cross-cultural communication; the differences and similarities in verbal and non-verbal communication between the two countries as well as some practical exercises. These teaching supplementary materials can be used for students’ self-study because learner-centered orientation has become more and more popular in the new teaching methodology. 2. Implications for English language teaching It is imperative that the learning and teaching of a language concentrate on communication with an emphasis on communicative competence rather than on linguistic competence only. Good techniques and methods for teaching culture as well as applying it to foreign language teaching are not easy to be found and applied effectively. To help students (SS) use the language they learn accurately and natively, teachers (Ts) should provide them with both linguistic and cultural input during the teaching and learning process. “ If we teach language without teaching at the same 61
67. time the culture in which it operates, we are teaching meaningless symbols or symbols to which the SS attach the wrong meaning; for unless he is warned, he receives cultural instruction, he will associate American concepts or objects with the foreign symbols.”(R.Polizer, 1959). Conclusively, the role of language teachers is essentially important because they are the ones help the learners get the second language by instructing, encouraging, guiding, and explaining, etc. There are some useful techniques for teaching cultural awareness which can be described as follows: 1. Role-play: Being an actor or actress This technique is especially useful for directly involving SS in cross- cultural misunderstandings by having selected members to act out in a series of short scenes to aware misinterpretation of something happening in the target culture. Activty: MAKING REQUESTS Aim: to raise SS’ awareness of different levels of politeness in making requests. Material: flash card Level: Intermediate or above Time: 10 to 15 minutes. Instruction: SS work in pairs, decide the best way of making request in each situation, using the card given by Ts. The card used could be: 62
68. A: You are customer. You have just B: You are waiter. finished a meal. Request for the bill. A: You are in the street. You want to get B: You are the driver a lift A: You are the robber in a bank. You B: You are the bank want 50000$ officer. 2. Cultural assimilators. Situation-base (Karin's ESL party land/ www.eslpartyland.com ) This is a brief description of a critical incident of cross cutural interaction that would probably be understood by the SS. Ts can provide SS with some cultural situations (involving some solutions). SS have to work out the solutions which are appropriate. Aim: To increase awareness of appropriate behaviors in English-speaking cultures; to compare and contrast these behavior patterns with those in the SS’ own cultures. Materials: A task sheet for each student. Level: Elementary to Intermediate or above Time: 15 to 20 minutes You’ve got a doctor’s appointment You have got a question about and need to leave class early. What something the teacher has just said in would you do? class. What would you do? Your neighbour has a dog barking Your neighbours are very noisy. They all night. You have to go to work in play loud music late at nigh and often early moring. It drives you up the hold late night party. You have asked wall. What will you say to your them to be quieter, but they are neighbour. always very rude. What should you do now? 63
69. 3. The culture island Through the use of posters, picture cues, projector, Ts can attract SS’attention to the target culture; elicit questions and comments (George H. Hughes, 1986:167/8). 3. Limitations Because of the curriculum of cross-cultural communication course, the author has not had a chance to apply these teaching supplementary materials to English major students at VMU. Hence, the author is not able to assess the effectiveness of these materials. Due to the constraints time, reference resources and especially the researcher’s ability, mistakes are unavoidable. Constructive comments, suggestions and recommendations are most welcome. 4. Further study The author hopes that she would go further with her research on analysis and assessment of effectiveness of these materials. 64
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