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This is a study of pragmatic transfer by Vietnamese learners of English as well as cross-cultural differences between the Vietnamese native speakers and Australian native speakers in their use of disagreeing politeness strategies under the influence of relative power in the investigated situations. The speech act under study is disagreeing; the socio-cultural variable primarily focused is relative power; the languages investigated are English and Vietnamese; the subjects of study are Australian native speakers, Vietnamese learners of English, and Vietnamese native speakers. This study is conducted in light of interlanguage pragmatics. The theoretical background for this study comprises speech act theory and politeness theory. It is primarily a quantitative study in combination with certain aspects of the qualitative approach. The results show that negative pragmatic transfer in using disagreeing strategies in English is a common phenomenon among the Vietnamese learners surveyed. Similarly, cross-cultural differences between the Vietnamese native speakers and Australian native speakers are also noteworthy as they appear in all cases.
About the author
Ngoan Nguyen Quang, Ph.D., studied English Language at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Having been teaching English for more than 20 years, he is at present Dean of the Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University, Vietnam. His interests include pragmatics, semantics, research methods, and TESOL.
