A study on politeness strategies in negotiating
conversations in market leader

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Vân Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ
Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: Assoc. Prof. Nguyễn Quang (PH.D)
Năm bảo vệ: 2009 Abstract: Although the nuances of politeness have been explored by many linguists for
decades, beginning with the pioneering works of Brown and Levinson (1987) and Leech (1983),
there has been little research focusing on politeness strategies in only negotiating activities. Most
researches on politeness strategies involve communicational conversations in general. Therefore,
within this study I would like to carry out an investigation and draw out the importance of
positive and negative politeness strategies in only the negotiating conversations of the course
book " Market Leader – Pre intermediate " by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent so as
to improve the teaching of communication in English to English as foreign language students,
especially the second year students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology. The study
used the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods as this study is mainly about the
practical aspects of cross-cultural communication. All the considerations and conclusions are based
on the analysis and reference. The study consists of the following parts: Part 1- the introduction
presents the rationale, aims of study, scope of the study and methodology. Part II- the
development includes three chapters. Chapter 1 is the theoretical background on speech act and
politeness strategies. Chapter 2 analyzes positive and negative politeness strategies found in the
negotiating activities of the course book "Market Leader – Pre intermediate". Chapter 3 presents
some implications for learning and teaching politeness strategies for the second year students at
Hanoi University of Business and Technology. Part III- the conclusion is the last part which
summarizes the obtained results of the study, limitations of the research and suggestions for

1.2.3.2. Negative politeness strategies…………………………………………………… 15 Chapter 2: Politeness strategies in negotiating conversations in Market Leader (new
edition) – Pre Intermediate Business English
2.1. Negotiating conversations in the coursebook……………………………………… 19
2.2. Politeness strategies in negotiating conversations ………………………………… 19
2.2.1. The frequency of negative politeness and positive politeness strategies used in the
negotiating conversations…………………………………………… .………………… 20
2.2.1.1. Sampling process ……………………………………………….………………. 20
2.2.1.2. Balance of positive and negative politeness strategies used in negotiating
conversations……………………………………………………………………………… 21
2.2.1 Positive politeness strategies in negotiating conversations ………………….…… 22
2.2.2 Negative politeness strategies in negotiating conversations …………………….…. 26

Chapter 3: Implications for teaching politeness strategies to HUBT second-year students.

3.1. Preparation for training politeness strategies…………………………………………. 32
3.1.1. Preparation for students………………………………………………………… … 32
3.1.2. Making plans……………………………………………………………………… 32
3.2. Training politeness strategies for the HUBT second - year students…………….…… 36
3.2.1. Politeness strategy-awareness training……………………………………………… 36
3.2.2. One-time politeness strategy training…………………………………………… 37
3.2.3. Long-term politeness strategy training………………………………………….… 37

Part 3: Conclusion
1. Summary……………………………………………………………………….……… 39
2.Limitations………………………………………………………………………………. 40
3.Suggestions for futher study…………………………………………………………… 40


second year students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT).
- 2 -
2. Aims of the study
The study aims at
- Identifying and analyzing positive and negative politeness strategies in the negotiating
conversations of “Market Leader – Pre intermediate".
- Offering implications for teaching positive and negative politeness strategies in a
more effective way with cross - cultural activities and exercises.
3. Scope of the study
This study focuses on the positive and negative politeness strategies found in
conversational negotiating activities of "Market Leader – Pre intermediate”. It is only intended
for HUBT second year students.
4. Methodology
The major method employed is quantitative with due reference to qualitative method as
this study is mainly about the practical aspects of cross-cultural communication. All the
considerations and conclusions are based largely on analysis and reference. The main
approaches include:
- Reference to publications
- Discussion with supervisor
- Discussion with colleagues
- Discussion with students
- Personal observations
5. Design of the study
The study is divided into three parts:
Part 1: Introduction presents the rationale, aims of the study, scope of the study,
methodology and design of the study.
Part II: Development consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 provides the theoretical

15. Nguyen Quang, (2001). Sắc thái quyền lực trong giao tiếp ngôn ngữ. Tập san Ngoại
Ngữ số 1.
16. Nguyen Quang, (2002). Các chiến l-ợc lịch sử d-ơng tính trong giao tiếp. Tạp Chí
Ngôn ngữ số 13.
17. Nguyen Quang, (2002). Giao tiÕp vµ giao tiÕp v¨n ho¸. Nhµ xuÊt b¶n §¹i häc Quèc gia
Hµ Néi.
18. Nguyen Quang (2003). Intracultural and Cross-culture Communication. VNU Press.
Internet
19.
20. />810001
21. Ardissono L., G. Boella and L. Lesmo. “Politeness and Speech Acts”. 10 January 2006.
<