Thesis: Directness in conversations in american english and vietnamese – A comparative study

The first purpose is to remind students of English of the values of directness and indirectness in aspects of life and career as discussing about the importance of directness and indirectness. Secondly, a general summary about directness and indirectness is given to provide people with a firm foundation about directness and indirectness. Thirdly, directness in English as well as indirectness in Vietnamese is investigated to find out similarities and differences between the two. Lastly, hopefully, this research can give some indications for directness and indirectness to teachers and students of English.
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Thesis: Directness in conversations in american english and vietnamese – A comparative study i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING DONG THAP UNIVERSITY LE THU HA DIRECTNESS IN CONVERSATIONS IN AMERICANENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE – A COMPARATIVE STUDY Branch: English Pedagogy Degree: Higher education BA THESIS Supervisor: Phan Ngoc Thach M.A. DONG THAP, 2012 i DECLARATIONI confirm that the thesis entitled “Directness in conversations in American Englishand Vietnamese - A comparative study” has been performed and interpretedexclusively by myself. I clarify that the work is submitted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirement of the BA degree and has not been submitted elsewhere in any otherform for the fulfillment of any degree or qualification. The author Le Thu Ha ii ACKNOWLEGMENTSI would first and foremost like to thank my supervisor, Phan Ngoc Thach M.A. forgiving me support, guideline, and feedback when I carried out my thesis.I would also like to extend my gratefulness to all of the teachers in ForeignLanguage Department who provide me with necessary help as well as goodsuggestions whenever I get into trouble.Last but not least, my special thanks are sincerely sent to my parents, myfriends and so many others who continuously offer spiritual support andencouragement during the process of doing this thesis. Le Thu Ha iii ABSTRACTStudents of English in Vietnam need a general consciousness of directness andindirectness since they will benefit in many aspects. First, knowing how and when touse directness and indirectness for communicating purposes is a way servingpoliteness and face saving. That good point is for social interaction. In the field ofteaching, directness and indirectness can be used by the teacher to balance thequality and quantity of work- share between the teacher and the students andimprove the teacher-student relationship.Vietnamese students of English have difficulties in adjusting the degree ofdirectness and indirectness in their conversations. Evidently, various cross- culturalvalues build up diverse language styles. Directness and indirectness in conversationsdo not except and the cultural gap between Eastern and Western countriesunintentionally causes difficulties for the students. Moreover, the condition forstudents to sharpen their flexibility in choosing appropriate degrees of directness andindirectness is still limited because their sensitivity to directness and indirectness isnot put in the adequate attention.The thesis “Directness in conversations in English and Vietnamese- A comparativestudy” is carried out with four specific purposes. The first purpose is to remind studentsof English of the values of directness and indirectness in aspects of life and career asdiscussing about the importance of directness and indirectness. Secondly, a generalsummary about directness and indirectness is given to provide people with a firmfoundation about directness and indirectness. Thirdly, directness in English as well asindirectness in Vietnamese is investigated to find out similarities and differences betweenthe two. Lastly, hopefully, this research can give some indications for directness andindirectness to teachers and students of English. 1 CONTENTDECLARATION ..................................................................................................... iACKNOWLEGMENTS .......................................................................................... iiABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iiiCONTENT ...............................................................................................................1Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................4INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................41.1Motivation ...........................................................................................................41.2 Aims of the study................................................................................................51.3 The research questions ........................................................... ...