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Mina Oghanian's Final Thesis- 2016.pdf (719.8 KB)

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A Contrastive Study of the Intercultural Differences in People’s Reactions Based on Their Cultures

Oghanian, Mina
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1481252360919345

Abstract Details

2016, Master of Arts, University of Toledo, English (English as a Second Language).
This thesis reports on a study carried out to scrutinize the differences between native English speakers and ESL Iranians in using speech acts for their initial and final parts of apologies and to see how the rates of offering repair of native English speakers and ESL Iranians are comparable on the six scenarios. The research proceeded with a number of role play scenarios, two hypotheses, and appropriate statistical analyses. A total number of eight students, including four Iranian native Farsi-speaking students and four American native English-speaking students, were singled out to gather the data. They were of roughly the same age range (24-31) including both sexes (four females and four males). The Iranian participants with different levels of English proficiency have been living in the US from one to five years, and they are from the graduate and undergraduate students. All the participants were asked to give answer to six role play scenarios consisting of six apologizing situations. As a result, the Iranian participants could be compared to the American ones. Data were then coded based on “The classification of illocutionary acts” by Searle (1976). Finally, the researcher used the Rcmndr software to analyze the data, using the Fisher's Exact Test. The obtained results revealed that there is no correlation between Iranians’ and Americans’ nationality and their initial part of apology. Likewise, there is no correlation between the two groups’ nationality and their final part of apology, and as a result, the first hypothesis is certainly correct. Additionally, there is no correlation between the nationality of the participants and the rates of offering repair (using Commissives) in the initial and final parts of the apology in general.
Douglas W. Coleman (Committee Chair)
An Chung Cheng (Committee Member)
Gaby Semaan (Committee Member)
44 p.
English As A Second Language
Contrastive study; Apology strategies; Speech acts; Illocutionary acts

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Oghanian, M. (2016). A Contrastive Study of the Intercultural Differences in People’s Reactions Based on Their Cultures [Master's thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1481252360919345

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Oghanian, Mina. A Contrastive Study of the Intercultural Differences in People’s Reactions Based on Their Cultures. 2016. University of Toledo, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1481252360919345.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Oghanian, Mina. "A Contrastive Study of the Intercultural Differences in People’s Reactions Based on Their Cultures." Master's thesis, University of Toledo, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1481252360919345

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

toledo1481252360919345
659
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo and OhioLINK.