A Study on Gender Differences in Speech Act of Refusal of Chinese College Students

Abstract

In our daily life, gender difference usually causes problems and conflicts in the conversations between male and female, therefore, in the intercultural communication, inter-gender communication is a topic that experts and scholars pay much attention to. Through exploring the gender differences of Chinese college students' speech act of refusal, the paper aims to help people know more about themselves and others' communication styles, and to make the cross-gender communication proceeds more smoothly and effectively. This paper adopts methods of questionnaire and interview, analyzing the differences between male and female college students in the selection of refusal strategy in different situations, while involving some external factors' influence on male and female students' refusal strategy. The research finds that both of male and female students tend to use indirect refusal strategies, and different refusal strategies are used when students faces different initiating acts, but female students are more indirect and polite generally. Introduction Research Background Speech act theory was firstly put forward by Austin(1962) and developed by Searle (1975), and it has become an important issue in the research of modern pragmatics. Refusal is a common speech act in our daily life. Refusal means saying no to a request, suggestion, invitation or offer, which is negative to the interlocutor who requests, suggests, invites, or offers something. The form and content of the speech act of refusal can be influenced by many factors, such as gender, age, social status and power distance. Gender difference usually causes problems and conflicts in daily conversations between male and female. In the situation of refusal, they may also choose different ways. The research merely on the speech act of refusal or gender difference have been done previously, however, little attention is given to the gender difference on students' speech act of refusal. Therefore, gender is an important factor which is worthy studying and it is necessary to explore how and why male and female differ in their speech act of refusal so as to better understand their thinking modes and communicative habits. Purpose and Significance The present study uses the methods of questionnaire and interview to examine male and female students' speech act of refusal in different situations. The paper's purpose is to explore whether there are differences between male and female students' speech act of refusal and what the internal causes are. The significance of this paper is that through analyzing the gender differences in Chinese college students' speech act of refusal, the paper can help male and female know more about themselves and each other, then promote the cross-gender communication in our daily life. Global Structure This paper begins with a brief introduction. The second part provides an overview of previous studies on refusal and gender difference, followed by the introduction and related research on the theoretical basis: Speech Act Theory. Then the method...

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