Schedule: 2009-09-10 (12:00 - 12:45)
Parallel Session 4 (Room A-19)

Title: E-Politeness Strategies and the Development of Interculturality
Authors: Meei-Ling Liaw
Abstract: This study responds to the call for attention to the development of inter-language pragmatics in computer-mediated learning as how language learners understand and carry out actions in a target language and how they acquire L2 pragmatic knowledge (Belz & Kinginger, 2002; Belz & Vyatkina, 2005; Kramsch & Thorne, 2002; Shetzer & Warschauer, 2000; Ware & Kramsch, 2005). Specifically, it focuses on the politeness strategies used by interactants of different cultures in an internet-mediated intercultural communication setting and to understand how these strategies contribute to (or lack in) their co-construction of interculturality. As intercultural communication increases because of widespread Internet access, investigations into the politeness strategies by different cultural groups when engaging in online communication are of greater importance to account for the cross-cultural similarities and culturally specific usages and to shed light into the quality of social relations in online intercultural communication. In the study, two groups of university students, one from Taiwan and one from the U.S., took part in an online forum communication activity. Forty-eight participants from each country were paired up to read selected articles online and then discussed their responses via a virtual forum. The forum communication lasted for one semester. With permissions from the participants, their forum entries were collected and analyzed. Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory was used as the framework to understand the strategies used by the participants. The numbers and percentages of the different types of politeness strategies used by the two groups of participants were calculated and an in-depth qualitative analysis was conducted to identify the contexts of the strategies used. The findings reveal that of the four types of politeness strategies identified by Brown and Levinson, the participants disproportionately used more positive politeness strategies over negative politeness, bald on record, and off record politeness strategies. Among the positive politeness strategies, exaggeration and showing intense interest in their partner's personal feelings, social issues, and responses to the common reading exceeded all other strategies in this category. This phenomenon exists across both cultural groups. In addition, contradictory to prior study findings (e.g., Chen 2001; 2006) that Chinese/Taiwanese speakers usually use more "gift-giving" positive politeness strategies than Americans to satisfy the addressee's wants and promote their own self-image, both groups of participants were generous in using this strategy. Nevertheless, differences between the two cultural groups were also found. For example, Taiwanese participants' uses of in-group identity strategies significantly outnumbered those of the American participants, either as a cultural trait of Chinese collectivism or an attempt to build a closer relationship with their American partners. Together, the pattern of politeness strategies used by the two groups of participants suggests actions toward a development of interculturality; linguistic decisions were made by the participants of both cultural groups to establish common ground, negotiate meaning, sustain ongoing dialogue, and build relationships. This presentation will end with a discussion on pedagogical considerations on bringing to students' attention, especially EFL learners, the variety of politeness strategies that might help them to become "intercultural speakers."
Keywords: intercultural communication, politeness strategies, interculturality

Main topic: Building national/international partnerships for networked language learning

Biodata: Meei-Ling Liaw is a professor in the English Department at National Taichung University where she teaches EFL and teacher education courses. She has conducted numerous studies on computer-mediated communication for intercultural and EFL learning. Her publications appear in Language Learning and Technology, ReCALL, System, Foreign Language Annals, and other research journals.
Type of presentation Paper presentation

Paper category Research

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-10 (12:00 - 12:45) Parallel Session 4 (Room A-19)
Title:	E-Politeness Strategies and the Development of Interculturality
Authors:	Meei-Ling Liaw
Abstract:	This study responds to the call for attention to the development of inter-language pragmatics in computer-mediated learning as how language learners understand and carry out actions in a target language and how they acquire L2 pragmatic knowledge (Belz & Kinginger, 2002; Belz & Vyatkina, 2005; Kramsch & Thorne, 2002; Shetzer & Warschauer, 2000; Ware & Kramsch, 2005). Specifically, it focuses on the politeness strategies used by interactants of different cultures in an internet-mediated intercultural communication setting and to understand how these strategies contribute to (or lack in) their co-construction of interculturality. As intercultural communication increases because of widespread Internet access, investigations into the politeness strategies by different cultural groups when engaging in online communication are of greater importance to account for the cross-cultural similarities and culturally specific usages and to shed light into the quality of social relations in online intercultural communication. In the study, two groups of university students, one from Taiwan and one from the U.S., took part in an online forum communication activity. Forty-eight participants from each country were paired up to read selected articles online and then discussed their responses via a virtual forum. The forum communication lasted for one semester. With permissions from the participants, their forum entries were collected and analyzed. Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory was used as the framework to understand the strategies used by the participants. The numbers and percentages of the different types of politeness strategies used by the two groups of participants were calculated and an in-depth qualitative analysis was conducted to identify the contexts of the strategies used. The findings reveal that of the four types of politeness strategies identified by Brown and Levinson, the participants disproportionately used more positive politeness strategies over negative politeness, bald on record, and off record politeness strategies. Among the positive politeness strategies, exaggeration and showing intense interest in their partner's personal feelings, social issues, and responses to the common reading exceeded all other strategies in this category. This phenomenon exists across both cultural groups. In addition, contradictory to prior study findings (e.g., Chen 2001; 2006) that Chinese/Taiwanese speakers usually use more "gift-giving" positive politeness strategies than Americans to satisfy the addressee's wants and promote their own self-image, both groups of participants were generous in using this strategy. Nevertheless, differences between the two cultural groups were also found. For example, Taiwanese participants' uses of in-group identity strategies significantly outnumbered those of the American participants, either as a cultural trait of Chinese collectivism or an attempt to build a closer relationship with their American partners. Together, the pattern of politeness strategies used by the two groups of participants suggests actions toward a development of interculturality; linguistic decisions were made by the participants of both cultural groups to establish common ground, negotiate meaning, sustain ongoing dialogue, and build relationships. This presentation will end with a discussion on pedagogical considerations on bringing to students' attention, especially EFL learners, the variety of politeness strategies that might help them to become "intercultural speakers."
Keywords:	intercultural communication, politeness strategies, interculturality
Main topic:	Building national/international partnerships for networked language learning
Biodata:	Meei-Ling Liaw is a professor in the English Department at National Taichung University where she teaches EFL and teacher education courses. She has conducted numerous studies on computer-mediated communication for intercultural and EFL learning. Her publications appear in Language Learning and Technology, ReCALL, System, Foreign Language Annals, and other research journals.
Type of presentation	Paper presentation
Paper category	Research
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No