Disagreement Speech Acts: a Study of Japanese Learners of English

Abstract

Disagreement Speech Acts: A Study of Japanese Learners of English Japanese learners of English have generally been a very well-represented ethnic group in New Zealand English language schools. In their daily interactions in New Zealand, the Japanese students are likely to experience sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic behaviour which often differs significantly from that which is typical in Japanese society. In particular, interpreting negatively affective speech acts such as complaint, refusal and disagreement, and expressing them in an appropriately polite manner, is likely to pose problems. At present relatively little is known about the extent to which Japanese students experience pragmatic failure in interaction with New Zealanders, or the contexts in which such failures occur most frequently. The aim of this research was to understand how Japanese learners of English use a range of disagreement speech act strategies when they are involved in situations of disagreement with native speakers of New Zealand English. The focus was on how well learners can identify and interpret disagreeing utterances, and also on how well they can express and negotiate them. Three facets of the learners' ability were tested: their capacity to identify and accurately interpret disagreements in conversations between native speakers; to produce disagreement utterances which were sociopragmatically appropriate; and to interpret / produce disagreement utterances in an open role-play situation. The participants in this study were 32 Japanese learners of English who were studying at several language schools in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their ability to interpret disagreement speech acts was measured through a video judgement task, and their ability to express such speech acts was measured using a discourse completion task and a role-play task. In addition, weekly task sheets were given to a small group of participants in order to elicit information about the process of pragmatic acquisition. The study demonstrated that the Japanese learners of English could be quite direct when disagreeing with a native speaker whom they did not know well, but tended to be less direct when disagreeing with someone whom they knew well. By the same token, the Japanese learners of English often used linguistically complex and pragmatically sophisticated politeness strategies when disagreeing with a native speaker they did not know, but the politeness strategies selected tended to be simple and straightforward when they had an established relationship with their interlocutor. A similar, though less marked, trend was present in situations of equal and unequal power: in power-equal exchanges, the Japanese learners of English were often quite direct and used relatively complex politeness strategies, whereas in power-unequal exchanges they were often less direct and used simple, straightforward politeness strategies. The Japanese learners of English appeared to perceive power-equal and low social-distance situations as having a reduced potential for causing loss of face. This in turn may have allowed them to attempt newly-acquired, relatively complex politeness strategies in such situations, without obligation to be indirect to their interlocutor. The low threat to face may also have lessened the consequences of using these politeness strategies erroneously. For ESOL teachers, this study emphasises the importance of familiarity with form, function and context of a speech act in order for language learners to communicate successfully. This study also stresses the value of understanding a target culture's politeness norms.