الملخص الإنجليزي
Abstract:
This study investigated the speech act of refusal of requests and offers used by Bahraini and Indian learners of English compared to that of native speakers of English. It focused on the cultural factors that influence the frequency, number and order of the selected refusal strategies. The study investigated pragmatic performance and the effect of certain variables which include gender, social distance and the rank of imposition. Three groups participated in the study: 20 Bahraini learners of English (BLE), 20 Indian learners of English (ILE) and 12 British and American native speakers of English (NE). Data were collected using two instruments: a discourse completion test (DCT) and open-ended Role Plays adopted from Jasim (2017). The classification scheme proposed by Beebe et al. (1990), in addition to Brown and Levinson's (1987) and Culpeper's (1996) (im)politeness super-strategies, was used in classifying and quantitatively analyzing the data. The findings indicated that there were differences between the learner groups and the NE control group in frequency, number and order of pragmatic strategies. In general, group sensitivity to social distance, degree of imposition, and gender affected the frequency of their strategies. NEs varied their refusals according to a high versus low degree of imposition and gender and, to a lesser extent, to social distance. BLEs and ILEs were influenced by all factors. These results highlight significant differences in the communication style and cultural influence of BLES, ILES and NEs. Refusals were also employed differently in the DCT and Role Plays. Some strategies were never or rarely used by certain groups in the DCT, and used more frequently in the Role Plays, such as the direct no by Bahraini learners in the Role Plays. Evidence of L1 pragmatic transfer was found in Bahraini and Indian learners' responses. All groups preferred to use longer refusal responses, i.e. two or three pragmatic strategies, in refusing requests and offers, although the difference in the number of refusal strategies varied considerably between groups according to contextual factors. Regarding the order of refusal strategies, ILEs preferred to use direct refusals in the first position, while NEs mostly used adjuncts and indirect refusals. BLEs' order of refusal strategies fluctuated in accordance with the influence of each contextual factor. This study has a number of implications and recommendations for further research and teaching English as a second and foreign language.
