A Comparative Study On Turn-controlling Strategies Used By Native English Speakers And Chinese English Learners

Conversation Analysis has always been a key in linguistic research.In late 1960 s,Harvey Sacks,Emanuel Schegloff and Gail Jefferson proposed the theory of Conversation Analysis.Since then,much research has been done on turn-taking organizations,which includes turn construction,turn allocation as well as turn-taking rules.However,there is not much research on turn-controlling strategy,especially on the comparison of native English speakers and Chinese English learners.So,this thesis will analyze the turn-controlling strategies used by native English speakers and Chinese English learners.Based on the theory of conversation analysis,the study is going to answer the following three questions:1 What turn-controlling strategies are adopted by both native English speakers and Chinese English learners in intercultural conversation?2 What are the main differences in using turn-controlling strategies between native English speakers and Chinese English learners?3 What are the reasons for using different turn-controlling strategies?The data source for this study is recorded from the conversation between native English speakers and Chinese English learners.The120-minute spoken discourse was transcribed into text mode,and examined carefully to analyze turn-controlling strategies adopted by native English speakers and Chinese English learners,in respects of turn-yielding,turn-claiming and turn-holding strategies.In this thesis,the author chooses qualitative method to analyze the transcribed data and adopts t-value analysis to check the relevance in nine items of turn-controlling strategies between native English speakers and Chinese English learners.The study shows that firstly,in terms of turn-yielding strategies,both American and Chinese interlocutors mainly adopt three major verbal strategies,which consist of nominations,adjacency pairs and sum-up expressions,and some nonverbal strategies are also adopted such as the gesture implying “your turn”,relaxation of hand or body tension,and decreased volume.Secondly,when it comes to turn-claiming,two verbal strategies are adopted,which include interruption and starting the next turn with no interval.Interruption can be subdivided into five different types according to interrupter’s intention.Nonverbal strategies consist of taking a deep breath,clearing speaker’s throat,adjusting sitting posture as well as direct eye contract,but these nonverbal strategies can only work as complementary ways.Thirdly,as far as turn-holding strategy,the four verbal strategies adopted by the interlocutors are discourse marker,space,repetition and hesitation filler,and nonverbal strategies,such as avoiding gazing at potential speakers’ eyes,decreasing evident intervals,using louder voices are used in order to hold a long turn.In addition,this thesis also made a comparison between native English speakers and Chinese English learners of their choices made on turn-controlling strategies,and some evident differences are found out.In terms of turn-yielding strategies,native English speakers make use of nominations,adjacency pairs,and sum-up expressions as well as all the above-mentioned three types of nonverbal strategies,while Chinese English learners prefer to use verbal strategy of nomination.As for turn-claiming,native English speakers adopt all five types of interruptions successfully,while Chinese English learners adopt just three types of interruption with low success rate.When it comes to turn-holding,the numbers of each type adopted by native English speakers all exceed those used by Chinese English learners,though differences are not so great.Lastly,the author analyzes the main reasons for these differences from the perspective of Hofstede’s culture value.The recorded data reveals that individualism,low power distance and low uncertainty avoidance play the leading role in American values,while in China,people hold collectivism,high power distance and high uncertainty avoidance value.These two different culture values have affected the different choices on turn-controlling strategies by Native English speakers and Chinese English learners.