a cross-cultural study on american-vietnamese verbal expressions in confirming and negating = nghiên cứu giao văn hóa việt-mỹ về cách diễn đạt khẳng định và phủ định

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE






ĐỖ THỊ PHƯƠNG THANH




A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON
AMERICAN - VIETNAMESE VERBAL EXPRESSIONS IN
CONFIRMING AND NEGATING


NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HOÁ VIỆT - MỸ VỀ CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT
KHẲNG ĐỊNH VÀ PHỦ ĐỊNH

MINOR THESIS




FIELD : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

CODE : 60.22.15





HANOI – 2012

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE






ĐỖ THỊ PHƯƠNG THANH




A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON
AMERICAN-VIETNAMESE VERBAL EXPRESSIONS IN
CONFIRMING AND NEGATING


NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HOÁ VIỆT - MỸ VỀ CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT

KHẲNG ĐỊNH VÀ PHỦ ĐỊNH

MINOR THESIS





FIELD : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE : 60.22.15
SUPERVISOR : NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC, MA




HANOI - 2012
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ABBREVIATIONS

CCC: Cross-cultural Communication
VC: Verbal Communication
V: Vietnam/ Vietnamese
A: America/American
H: hearer
S: speaker
FTA: face threatening act
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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Five basic types of speech acts - Searl's (1976) 10
Table 2: The parameters of informants 17
Table 3: Realization of communicative strategies used to express confirmation and
negation 20
Table 4: The choice of communicative strategies in terms of informants' age 28
Table 5: The choice of communicative strategies in terms of informants' gender 29
Table 6: The choice of communicative strategies in terms of informants' area of living 31
Table 7: The use of communicative strategies as seen from communicating partners in
terms of relationship with sister/ brother, mother/ father, close friend, and
someone you dislike 37
Table 8: The use of communicative strategies as seen from communicating partners in
terms of relationship with colleague and boss 37

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LIST OF DIAGRAMS AND FIGURE
Diagram 1: Branches of communication 5
Diagram 2: Forms of communication 6
Diagram 3: Types of verbal communication 7
Figure 1: Possible strategies for doing FTA 12



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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality of study project report i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Abbreviations iv

List of tables v
List of diagrams and figures vi
Table of contents vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Methodology 3
5. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Culture 4
1.2. Communication 4
1.2.1. Definition 4
1.2.2. Cross-cultural Communication 6
1.2.3. Forms of communication 6
1.3. Speech act theory 8
1.3.1. Speech act 8
1.3.2. Classification of speech act 9
1.4. Politeness theory 10
1.4.1. Definition of politeness 10
1.4.2. Politeness strategies 11
1.5. Confirmation and negation as a speech act 13
1.5.1. Confirmation as a speech act 13
1.5.2. Negation as a speech act 14

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15
2.1. Methods of the study 15

2.2. Data collection 16
2.2.1. Subjects of the study 16
2.2.2. Data collection instrument 17
2.2.3. Data collection procedures 18
2.4. Data analysis procedures 19
CHAPTER 3: EXPRESSING CONFIRMATION AND NEGATION IN AMERICAN
AND VIETNAMESE CULTURE 20
3.1. The realization of communicative strategies 20
3.1.1. Bald on record 20
3.1.2. Joking 22
3.1.3. Hedging 23
3.1.4. Advising 24
3.1.5. Asserting condition 25
3.1.6. Passing the ball to other(s) 26
3.1.7. Asking rhetoric questions 26
3.1.8. Don't do FTA 27
3.2. The choice of communicative strategies as seen from informants' parameters 28
3.2.1. Age 28
3.2.2. Gender 29
3.2.3. Area of living 31
3.3. The use of communicative strategies as seen from communicating partners'
relationship 32
3.3.1. With sister/ brother 32
3.3.2. With mother/ father 33
3.3.3. With a close friend 33
3.3.4. With someone you dislike 34
3.3.5. With your colleague 34
3.3.6. With your boss 35
3.4. Summary 38
PART C: CONCLUSION 40

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BIBLIOGRAPHY I
APPENDIX IV
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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
To our understanding, only humans have language and culture. Language simultaneously
reflects culture, and is influenced and shaped by it. In the broadest sense, it is also the
symbolic representation of a people, since it comprises their historical and cultural
backgrounds, as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. People
use language to communicate and express their thoughts to each others easier and faster.
In communication, it is understood people are in the process of sharing or exchanging their
thoughts verbally (ie. in spoken or written form), or nonverbally. The basis of
communication is the interaction between people. Verbal communication is one way for
people to communicate face-to-face. Brown (1994: 165) describes the relationship
between language and culture as follows: „A language is a part of a culture and a culture is
a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two
without losing the significance of either language or culture.‟ In a word, culture and
language are inseparable. However, there are cultural and language boundaries, such as the
use of languages or the traditional customs between two cultures. The lack of people's
awareness of the similarities and differences between two cultures may cause culture
shock, in turn, can result in communication breakdown.
Recently, there have been more and more foreigners from different countries coming to
live, study and work in our country. Especially, with the cooperation and exchange in a
number of fields between Vietnam and America, a great number of people from one
country work, study, live in the other country. With the help of English, an international
language, Vietnamese and American people can communicate with each other easily in
various aspects. So far, there have been a number of linguistic theses mentioning different

cross-cultural perspectives, however confirming and negating expressions made by
American and Vietnamese people have not been studied thoroughly. Therefore, it is
essential to raise the awareness of Vietnamese people's difficulties when communicating
with people from America in cultural aspect. Thus, the differences between the Americans
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and Vietnamese in expressing confirming and negating verbally have been considered
valuable in communication.
2. Aims of the study
This research aims to:
 provide an overview of confirming and negating in American and Vietnamese verbal
communication,
 find major similarities and differences in how American and Vietnamese express
confirming and negating verbally,
 raise awareness of cultural differences in CCC in order to help people avoid
misunderstandings in communication.
The research questions can be addressed as follows:
i. What are the common ways of expressing confirming and negating in American
English and Vietnamese?
ii. What are the similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese verbal
expressions of confirmation and negation?
3. Scope of the study
This study is confined to the verbal communication of expressing confirmation and
negation. This study is limited to a number of American and Vietnamese informants who
are asked to complete the survey questionnaire on ways of showing confirmation and
negation verbally in two socially differentiated situations. Hence, other aspects of
communication, such as paralinguistic features (body language, gestures, facial
expressions, and tone and pitch of voice), environmental factors, and mood factors are not
mentioned in the study. The author has realized that there have been a number of different
strategies which can be used to communicate; however, it is very hard to examine all kinds

of strategies. Therefore, the analysis of the study is limited to the common strategies which
have the highest percentage of occurrence from the collected data. Amongst the various
kinds of relationship, the author only focuses on the certain kinds of relationship in
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communicating, i.e., between family members, friends, someone you dislike, colleagues,
and boss - employees.
The informants are 65 people from the North of Vietnam, and 58 people from the United
States. However, 52 Vietnamese informants and 52 American informants are selected for
the data analysis basing on their full-completeness in the questionnaires using similar
parameters of the informants about age, gender, and living area.
4. Methodology
The study is conducted basing on the followings. Firstly, available literature and relevant
publications are critically reviewed. Information from the Internet sites and previous
studies are also referred to. Secondly, the quantitative method is used in this study with the
help of the survey questionnaires. The data analysis is mainly based on the statistics
collected through the survey questionnaires with the illustration of tables. Finally,
consultation with the supervisor, discussion with colleagues, as well as the author‟s
observation in daily life and her own experience in cross-cultural communication are also
of great help in finding out the answers to the research questions.
5. Design of the study
The study contains three main parts. PART A: Introduction provides the rationale, the
aims, the scope, the methodology, the comments on the data and the organization of the
study. PART B: Development is the main part of the study and has three chapters. Chapter
1: Literature review points out the theoretical issues. Chapter 2: Methodology gives the
methods to collect and analyze the data. Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussions of the
findings presents and discusses similarities and differences in expressing confirming and
negating verbally by the Americans and the Vietnamese. PART C: Conclusion gives the
findings, implications for cross-cultural communication, limitations of the study, and
suggestions for further research.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Culture
The term "culture" is widely used in our daily life with different meanings. There is a
famous definition:
"Culture consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of
human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to
generation independently of the biological genes"
Parson, T. (1949: 8)
Culture is also defined as something that a person learns from his family and surroundings,
and is not ingrained in him from birth. Culture is a complex tool which every individual
has to learn to survive in a society. It is the means through which people interact with
others in the society. It acts in a subconscious way and whatever we see and perceive,
seems to be normal and natural. Every society has a different culture, where people share a
specific language, traditions, behaviors, perceptions and beliefs. Culture gives them an
identity which makes them unique and different from people of other cultures as being
stated by Triandis, H. (1994:23).
From the views of the different definitions about culture, it can be inferred that all of the
elements of culture such as values, attitudes, and beliefs among people in a society
influence our interactions to the world.
1.2. Communication
1.2.1. Definition
Communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an
attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in
intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning,
analyzing, and evaluating. Use of these processes is developmental and transfers to all
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areas of life: home, school, community, work, and beyond. It is through communication
that collaboration and cooperation occur. Other definitions are developed by the following
writers.
A conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional process in which
feelings and ideas are expressed in verbal and nonverbal messages. It
occurs in intrapersonal, interpersonal, and public levels. Human
communication is dynamic, continuous, irreversible, interactive and
contextual.
Hybels, S. and Waever, R. (1992)
Communication is any process in which people share information, ideas and
feelings that involve not only the spoken and written words but also body
language, personal mannerisms and style, the surrounding and things that
add meaning to a message.
Adler, R.B & Rodman, G. (1998)
To sum up, communication refers to the process of man being responding to the face-to-
face symbolic behavior of other persons. Communication includes three branches as
follows:

Diagram 1: Branches of communication

Communication
Intra-cultural
communication
Inter-cultural
communication
Cross-cultural
communication
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1.2.2. Cross-cultural Communication

This study mainly focuses on the third branch of communication - Cross-cultural
Communication. For that reason, this section will give the definition for that branch. The
phrase “Cross-cultural Communication” is the process of sending and receiving messages
between people whose cultural background could lead them to interpret verbal and non-
verbal signs differently. Cross-cultural communication tries to bring together such
relatively unrelated areas as cultural anthropology and established areas of communication.
Its core is to establish and understand how people from different cultures communicate
with each other. Its charge is to also produce some guidelines with which people from
different cultures can better communicate with each other. Cross-culture is based on
knowledge of many factors, such as the other culture's values, perception, manners, social
structure, and decision-making practices, and understanding of how members of the group
communicate, verbally or non-verbally, in person, in writing, or in various business and
social contexts.
1.2.3. Forms of communication
In reality, there are two kinds of code or symbol used in communication are verbal (spoken
and written) and nonverbal (unspoken). The following diagram illustrates these forms of
communication:





Diagram 2: Forms of communication
It is through language that we communicate the thoughts that are in our minds to the minds
of others and they use language to communicate their thoughts back. The language that is
used to communicate can only represent the meaning or thought that we intended. Indeed
Communication
Verbal communication
Nonverbal communication
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DeVito (1989, 160) defines the human language system as a "productive system capable of
displacement and composed of rapidly fading, arbitrary, culturally transmitted symbols".
1.2.3.1. Verbal communication
. . . Man lives in a world of words. To those who can use words so as to influence
the rest of us we give society's great rewards. To the combinations of ideas which
have been worked out in words, we owe changes that have later been wrought out in
things.
Clow, F. R (1920:147)
The term "verbal communication" seems almost self-explanatory; however, verbal
communication is far more complex than simply talking. Verbal communication refers to
the use of sounds and language to relay a message. It serves as a vehicle for expressing
desires, ideas and concepts and is vital to the processes of learning and teaching. Verbal
communication includes not only oral discussion, but also written messages as being
demonstrated below:

Diagram 3: Types of verbal communication
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1.2.3.2. Non-verbal communication
Beside the use of written or spoken language, nonverbal communication is another
important process of communication.
Nguyen Quang (2006:23) presented detail definitions of nonverbal communication as “all
the components of the message that, when taken together, constitute the communication
which is not verbally coded but both vocally and non-vocally channeled. Nonverbal
communication is composed of paralinguistic factors (nonverbal - vocal channel), such as
rate, volume, etc., and extra-linguistic factors (nonverbal - non-vocal channel), such as
body language (gestures, postures, facial expressions…) object language (including
clothing, jewelry…) and environmental language (proxemics, settings…)”.
Lustig (1996:187-188) pointed out, when some meaning is attached to a nonlinguistic

behavior, whether by message transmitter or perceiver, that behavior becomes part of
communication process.
To sum up, while body language and other forms of communication give us significant
advanced in use, verbal communication continues to be the most important aspect of our
interaction with other people. Moreover, in combination with nonverbal forms of
communication, verbal communication acts as the primary tool for expression between two
or more people. Verbal communication is the most effective way of explaining intangible
concepts, as problem areas can be readily addressed and explained. Therefore, the author
wants to study this most basic communication in term of written expressions.
1.3. Speech act theory
1.3.1. Speech act
While people communicate, they use utterances to express what they have in their mind
toward the H. Utterance produced by the S does not only function to explain the S's mind
toward the H but also means to show the relationship between them. When we want to
know people‟s relationship through their utterance, we can see it from speech act. There is
a growing awareness that linguistic theories are relevant for the design of information
systems, particularly for communication supporting systems. Austin (1962), a British
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philosopher, put forward the notion of "speech act" by assuming that language not only
functions as stating and describing things but also as performing acts. Speech act theory
then was further developed by many other philosophers like Grice (1957, 1975), Hymes
(1964), Searle (1969, 1979), Levinson (1983), Brown and Yule (1983), Thomas (1995) and
Yule (1996). According to Yule (1996:47), the actions that are produced via utterances to
communicate are called speech acts. These speech act theorists share their common
assumption that speech acts and language functions have a close link. Even the minimal
unit of human communication is not only a sentence or other expression, but also an action
performance. For instance, the utterance "I will turn the TV off" can be seen as an act of
promising.
Thus, when utterances are not only used to describe a situation or state some facts, but also

perform a certain kind of action by itself, we call them speech acts. In English, speech acts
are labeled commonly as apology, compliment, complaint, promise or negation. Generally,
speech act perform different functions in communication. To communicate is to express a
certain attitude, and the type of speech act performs corresponds to the type of attitude
which is expressed by Bach, K. (2011).
1.3.2. Classification of speech act
According to Austin (1962), locutionary act, illocutionary act and percutionary act are the
three related functions in a single speech act.
The act of performing a meaningful expression (i.e, verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects)
is considered as locutionary act. That is a basic part of speech act. The illocutionary act
conveys the function of what the speaker has in mind, i.e, real and intended meaning:
promise, threat, inform, question, or confirmation. On the other hand, the percutionary act
produced actual effects. For example:
Don’t go into the kitchen.
This utterance contains the locutionary act with distinct phonetic, syntactic and semantic
features. It also warns you not go into the kitchen (the illocutionary act), and it shows the
perlocutionary act in persuading you not go into the kitchen.
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Sharing the same view point, Bach & Harnish (1973:3) state that the three acts related
ultimately in a meaningful utterance, “S says something to H; in saying something to H, S
does something; and by doing something, S affects H”.
Searl (1976:10-16) classified speech acts into 5 basic types:
Commissives
commit a speaker to some future
course of action
e.g. promising, threating,
negating or offering
Declaratives
change the word by bringing about

or altering the state of affairs
e.g. dismissing, naming,
confirming or announcing
Directives
attempt to get the listener to carry
out an action
e.g. commanding, requesting
or warning
Expressives
indicate a speaker‟s feelings or
attitudes about something
e.g. greeting, thanking or
complaining
Representatives
describe a state of affairs
e.g. asserting, claiming or
affirming
Table 1: Five basic types of speech acts - Searl's (1976:10-16)
From the view of Wardhaugh (1992: 287), Austin‟s (1962) classification differs from
Searle‟s (1976) classification in the Ss' and Hs' intentions. While Austin emphasizes the
ways the Ss realize their intentions in speaking, Searle puts forward on how the Hs'
responds to an utterance.
1.4. Politeness theory
1.4.1. Definition of politeness
Politeness shows social consideration, and it is an important element of interpersonal
communication. In our daily life, we have the awareness of what is a polite action or not.
For instance, to offer your seat to an elderly on a bus is considered as a polite behavior; to
cut in line without asking for permission is considered as an impolite behavior.
Politeness can also be regarded as a restraint apart from being a means to an end, some
kinds of social norm imposed by the conventions of the community. Yule (1996:60)

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defines politeness as “a number of different general principles for being polite in social
interaction within a particular culture”.
Politeness plays a significant role in human interaction. Language is naturally used to
reflect politeness; therefore, different languages express politeness differently. Richards
(1992:281) gives general ideas of politeness as follows:
 how language express the social distance between speakers and their different role
relationships
 how face-work, that is, the attempt to establish, maintain, and save face during
conversation, is carried out in a speech community
1.4.2. Politeness strategies
Brown and Levinson (1987) proposed an approach to politeness that the concept "face" is
the root of their notion of "politeness". There are two kinds of Face: positive face and
negative face. Positive face provides status of a person as an autonomous, independent, free
agent. On the other hand, negative face describes a person‟s immunity from outside
interference and excessive external pressure. In clarity, positive face is the need to be
connected while negative face is the need to be independent.
Politeness has been closely related to the behavior typical of a certain social location and a
certain social group in the English-speaking culture. To be polite, means to live up to a set
of conventionalized norms of behavior.
Brown and Levinson (1987:60) give a set of five strategies for avoiding a face threatening
act (FTA) (to minimize risk of losing face corresponding to the degrees of face-threat) as
in the following figure:



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Figure 1: Possible strategies for doing FTA
From Figure 1, the possible strategies for doing FTA are explained as the following:
 On record: our needs or intention will address directly to the others. "Bald on-record"
is mentioned as a direct, clear unambiguous and concise approach which is doing a
bad act without redressive.
 Off record: do an act indirectly. Brown and Levinson (1987) list a linguistic
realization of off-record including metaphor and irony, rhetorical questions
understatement, tautologies, and all kinds of hints as to what the S wants or means to
communicate. (ie. Asserting condition, Passing the ball to other(s), and Asking
Rhetoric Questions)
 Redressive action: the action that "gives face" to the addressee, and that is the
attempts to counteract the potential face damage of the FTA by doing in such
modifications or additions. (ie. Joking, Hedging and Advising)
 Don't do the FTA: is just to keep silent, without performing any speech act; or there
are times when something is potentially so face threatening that we do not say it (Vo
Dai Quang, 2004:52)
These strategies range from avoiding a given FTA altogether, to performing it with or
without "redressive action", to going "off record" by yielding "more than one
unambiguously attributable intention" (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 68-69). Redressive
action that is addressed to the hearer's negative face is "negative politeness", and redressive
Lesser
Greater
Estimation of risk of
face loss

Negative
politeness (3)
Do the FTA
Don't do the FTA (5)
On-Record
Off-Record (4)
Without redressive action, badly (1)
With redressive
action
Positive
politeness (2)
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action that is directed to the hearer's positive face is "positive politeness" (Brown and
Levinson, 1987: 70).
According to Brown and Levinson (1987:103-210), and data collection, the following
strategies: Bald on-record, Joking, Hedging, Advising, Asserting condition, Passing the
ball to other(s), Asking Rhetoric Questions, and Don't do FTA are used as parameters of
the communicative strategies which are expressed by American-Vietnamese confirming
and negating expressions.
1.5. Confirmation and negation as a speech act
1.5.1. Confirmation as a speech act
Confirmation can be defined as the act of supporting a fact or a statement by evidence.
(Longman Dictionary). In classifying of illocutionary acts, Searle (1976: 10-16) states that
confirming is an act of declaratives, an act of confirming strengthening; an act of
establishing, ratifying, or sanctioning; as, the confirmation of an appointment. In his
works, DeVito (1989:191) finds out that confirmation contains almost of the following
criteria:
 Acknowledge the presence of the other verbally or non-verbally.
 Acknowledge the contributions of the other by either supporting or taking issue with

what the other person is saying.
 Make non-verbal contact with the other by eye contact, touching or some other
demonstration.
 Engage in Dialogue.
 Demonstrate understanding.
 Reflect back the other person‟s feelings to demonstrate understanding of these
feelings.
 Ask questions of the other person concerning both thought and feelings.
 Praise the other person.
 Acknowledge the other person‟s requests, answer their questions, and return phone calls.
 Encourage the other to express their thoughts and feelings.
 Give responses that are relevant to what the other person says.
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 Respond directly and exclusively to what the other says.
1.5.2. Negation as a speech act
The term "negation" is used in different meanings depending on the aim of each study. It
can be (i) the sentence process which transfers a positive sentence into negative; (ii) the
denial of the truthfulness of a proposition (in logic); and (iii) the act of saying that
something does not exist, the absence of something, the denial of something, the opposite
of something (Nguyen Quang, 1998:12-13). In this study, the author mainly focuses on the
last meaning of "negation", that is the act of saying the disappearance, the absence, and the
denial of something.
Searle and Vanderveken (1985:152-153) use the "negation" notion in speech act to show
an 'illocutionary negation'. The difference of such an 'illocutionary negation' to a
'propositional negation' can be explained by reference to the difference between "I do not
promise to come" and "I promise not to come". The first is an illocutionary negation - the
'not' negates the promise. The second is a propositional negation.
Negation is analyzed in terms of a special kind of linguistic activity, negating or denying;
for example, "It's not raining" may indeed be a denial that it is raining as anyone would

agree in straightforward cases. The alternative view would say one can only deny
something by using a sentence that has its meaning independently of any act of denial.
Negation is a central means of conveying information in verbal communication. Negative
expressions allow the S to state explicitly that a particular property does not hold for the
state of affairs under consideration. Conveying information about what is not the case is
often as useful as, and sometimes even more useful than, conveying information about
what is the case. Negation has been a topic of much research in linguistics and philosophy,
but psycholinguistic studies of the processing of negative expressions are relatively rare.
Brown and Levinson (1987:65-67) conclude that confirming and negating, which are post-
event acts, are also seen as face-threatening acts. In everyday communication, confirmation
and negation take place so frequently. They may damage both the H's and the S's positive
face and the H's negative face as well.
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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter aims to provide an overview of the methodological approaches and research
design selected for the study on American-Vietnamese verbal expressions in confirming
and negating.
2.1. Methods of the Study
This study follows the quantitative approach because it is objective, generalizable and
reliable (Creswell, 2003:18). The data information in this study is collected through self-
administered questionnaires distributed personally by the researcher. To obtain the data for
the study, the following steps are used:
Step 1: Determine the Research Topic
Being aware of the relationship between language and culture during the process of
interacting among people in America and Vietnam, the researcher has decided to carry out
the study on the topic of confirming and negating expressions in the light of CCC.
Step 2: Determine and Define the Research Questions
The researcher begins with a review of the relevant literature to determine what prior
studies have determined about this issue and uses the literature review to define the

questions for the study. The two research questions solved in this study are:
 What are the common ways of expressing confirming and negating in American
English and Vietnamese?
 What are the similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese verbal
expressions of confirmation and negation?
Step 3: Build the framework for the study
A number of books and studies related to the theories of cross-cultural communication in
general and the theories of confirmation and negation in particular are collected. The
author studies thoroughly the selected theories to set up the theoretical framework for this
27

study. Although there are a lot of different opinions or views of scholars and researchers on
confirmation and negation, the theories of Brown and Levison (1987) are regarded as the
basic one to follow.
Step 4: Collect the Data
The data will be collected after the framework is built. The researcher follows some main
steps. The first step is to contact the participants to inform them about the questionnaires of
the research. The next step is to arrange a timetable for designing the survey
questionnaires. Another step is to deliver and collect the questionnaires. The questionnaires
are delivered directly or through e-mails. The last step is to classify the data into categories
which will be used in analyzing process.
Step 5: Analyze the Data
The researcher studies tables which present the percentage of communicative strategies
used by two groups of informants to express confirmation and negation. Each table is
analyzed basing on the percentage of each type with illustrations, and then some comments
on the common features of the communicative strategies which are used by the Americans
and Vietnamese are drawn out.
Step 6: Give Conclusions and Suggestions
The researcher draws some conclusions upon the overall picture of communicative
strategies used by American and Vietnamese informants in expressing confirming and

negating verbally. These conclusions are based mostly on the data analysis. After that,
some suggestions for further research have also been given.
2.2. Data collection
2.2.1. Subjects of the study
The researcher lives in Thai Nguyen which is located in the North of Vietnam. The survey
is mostly carried out in this region for it is more convenient for the author to contact the
participants. 65 Vietnamese and 58 Americans are invited as the participants for this study.
The Vietnamese informants are the researcher's colleagues, friends and relatives; some of
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them study and work in America for at least two years. Two thirds of the American
informants are living and working in Vietnam, the rest are living in the United States.
Some of the Americans are the author's old teachers, colleagues who work for English
Institution in Vietnam (an institute teaching English in Vietnam). Others are
recommended by her friends studying in Oklahoma, America. In the end, 52 Vietnamese
informants and 52 American informants who fully complete the questionnaires are chosen
for data analysis. The parameters of the informants are arranged in the following table:

Parameters
Informants
Vietnamese
American
Total number of informants
52
52
Age
Below 30
31
35
Above 30

21
17
Gender
Male
18
21
Female
34
31
Living Area
Urban
28
36
Rural
24
16
Table 2: The parameters of informants
(The figures are given in number of informants)
2.2.2. Data collection instrument
The questionnaires are chosen as data collection instruments because of their strengths in
collecting data quickly. All the participants are encouraged to provide an openness
feedback. The questionnaires are both a paper-based and an electronic survey form
designed to elicit information that can be obtained through the written responses of the
informants.
The questionnaires consist of both closed-ended and open-ended questions. In the closed-
ended questions, the informants are required to put a tick to either of the two options
provided. In the open-ended questions, the informants are asked to respond to the questions
in their own words with more details.