Dissertation > Excellent graduate degree dissertation topics show

A Study on Chinese EFL Learners’ Ways of Expressing Disagreement

Author: WangZuoZuo
Tutor: ZhouDanDan
School: Nanjing University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Chinese English learners Special Questions disagreement Oral Exam Expression questions EFL Chinese students English Question way Spoken should Pragmatic perspective Level group On the face Spoken English Corpus student Objection Fluency
CLC: H319
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 54
Quote: 1
Read: Download Dissertation

Abstract


This thesis reports a study with the aim to investigate how Chinese EFL learners express disagreement pragmatically and linguistically. The secondary focus was on the differences in the disagreement expressions between learners of different oral proficiency levels. Data in this study were collected from Task Three of TEM-4 Oral Test from The Spoken English Corpus of Chinese Learners (SECCL) in which English learners holding opposite opinions interact with each other in pairs. Forty-eight Chinese EFL learners’disagreement responses, including sixteen high, intermediate and low level learners’respectively, were chosen as data. Learners’proficiency level was judged by the rank they got in TEM-4 Oral Test. Analysis of the data yielded the following findings:(1) Among the disagreement responses identified in the selected data, Chinese EFL learners employed mitigated disagreement, aggravated disagreement, and bald disagreement that are neither mitigated nor strengthened. Mitigated ones constituted the majority of all. Aggravated disagreements and bald disagreements did not happen frequently. Therefore, Chinese EFL learners did not prefer to strengthen disagreement or express disagreement directly to hurt others’faces purposefully, even under test situation.(2) As for linguistic realization of disagreement, Chinese EFL learners expressed disagreement both in statements and with questions. The majority of disagreements were expressed in statements. Both wh-questions and Y/N questions occurred in speakers’ disagreement. Among all the disagreements shaped with questions, the occurrences of questions that show politeness overwhelmed that cannot. Generally speaking, Chinese EFL learners had a variety of ways of realize disagreement linguistically and they did not prefer to challenge others by asking face-hurting questions.(3) When it comes to inter-group difference, except a significant difference in the use of suggestion between high level learners and low level learners, no significant differences were found either in pragmatic aspect or linguistic aspect, which demonstrates that proficiency level may not be a decisive factor influencing speakers’ ways to express disagreement. Another possible reason is that speaker’s concern for face is not included in the grading system in TEM-4 Oral Tests. However, groups with higher proficiency did include slightly more softened elements in their disagreements and shaped more disagreements in questions.The findings yielded in this study have some implications. Theoretically, it is a complement to literatures in the speech act of disagreement and contributes to the Theory of Face from L2 perspective. Pedagogically, the quantitative description can provide teachers with a better understanding of students’ conversations and provide insights to people who are involved in preparing textbooks and designing classroom materials or activities for EFL learners. Moreover, it can hopefully act as reference to the innovation of the present testing system that emphasizes grammar, fluency, pronunciation and complexity in oral tests.

Related Dissertations

  1. The Relationship between Postoperative Pain and Early Postoperative Cognitive Function after Surgery in the Elderly,R614
  2. A Study on Classroom Risk-taking Behavior and English Proficiency,H319
  3. The Effects of Teacher Feedback on the Writing of Chinese EFL Learners: An Empirical Study,H319
  4. The Cognitive Researches of Lexical Chunks and Their Teaching,B842
  5. A Study of Lexical Phrases in Improving Language Fluency and Language Accuracy,H319
  6. The use of the phrase vocabulary on Chinese learners of English fluency effects,H319.9
  7. The Effect of Task Form on Emotion Words Processing,B842
  8. The Effects of Working Memory and Processing Speed on Verbal Fluency: a Latent Variable Analysis,B842.3
  9. The Impact of Reflective-Impulsive Cognitive Styles on the Oral Performance of EFL Learners,H319
  10. Effects of Topic Familiarity and Linguistic Proficiency on English Learners’ Speech Output on the Basis of TBLT,H319
  11. A Study on the Correlation of Extroversion/Introversion of Chinese High School Students and Oral English Fluency and Accuracy,G633.41
  12. The Study on Reducing Learners’ Anxiety with Recording in Chinese Oral Class,H193
  13. Golden with an implicit measure,B84
  14. A Quantitative Study of Language Development in First-year English Majors’ Oral Production at A Military University in China,H319
  15. A Study on the Relationship between FI/FD Learners and Speech Act Production,H319
  16. An Empirical Research on the Impact of Lexical Approach on the English Major’s Writing Quality,H319
  17. The Effects of Source of Planning and Focus of Planning on Chinese College Non-English Majors’ Oral Production,H319
  18. The Effect of Teacher’s Written Feedback on Chinese EFL Learners’ English Writing,H319
  19. A Study on the Dynamic Oral Text of Korean Learners of Chinese,H195
  20. Experimental Study on Developing Reading Fluency in EFL Through Repeated Reading,H319
  21. A Study of the Role of Conceptual Metaphor-based Writing Instruction in Enhancing Chinese Efl Learners’ English Writing Ability,H319

CLC: > Language, writing > FOREIGN > English > Language teaching
© 2012 www.DissertationTopic.Net  Mobile