Conversation analysis of the conversations in the current highschool English textbooks in Vietnam

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

PHẠM KIM NGA

CONVERSATION ANALYSIS OF

THE CONVERSATIONS IN THE CURRENT

HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

IN VIETNAM

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH

BINH DINH – 2021

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

PHẠM KIM NGA

CONVERSATION ANALYSIS OF

THE CONVERSATIONS IN THE CURRENT

HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

IN VIETNAM

FIELD: English Linguistics

CODE: 8220201

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH

SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN

BINH DINH – 2021

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

PHẠM KIM NGA

PHÂN TÍCH HỘI THOẠI TRONG

SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH

PHỔ THÔNG TRUNG HỌC

HIỆN NAY Ở VIỆT NAM

Chuyên ngành : Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số : 8220201

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ TIẾNG ANH

Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS. NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN

BÌNH ĐỊNH – 2021

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that the thesis “Conversations Analysis of the

Conversations in the Current High School English Textbooks in Vietnam”

is my own work except where reference is made in the text of the thesis.

No other person‟s work has been used without acknowledgement in this

thesis.

I certify that this thesis has been submitted for completion for the

degree of Master in English linguistics and has not been submitted for

the award of any degree or qualification

Binh Dinh, 2021

Phạm Kim Nga

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my

supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoan for his support and

guidance in my completion of the thesis. I am also thankful to all the lectures

at the Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University for their

profound knowledge and endless support during my study at Quy Nhon

University.

Second, I would like to thank my classmates who were always willing

to help me and give their best suggestions and encouragement to me during

my process of conducting the study. In addition, I would also like to thank all

my colleagues at Trung Vuong High School for helping me with my job in

order that I can have time to take part in this course and complete my

research.

Last but not least, I owe the completion of this paper to all my beloved

family, who have been encouraging me with their best wishes as well as

cheering me up and standing by me on my road to success.

iii

ABSTRACT

This is a study of adjacency pairs, back channels, and discourse markers

in the conversations in the current High School English Textbooks in

Vietnam. The study aim is to examine the types of adjacency pairs, back

channels, and discourse markers in the conversations investigated.

Descriptive is considered as the main method with the combination of both

quantitative and qualitative approaches in this study. Besides, contrastive,

analytic and synthetic methods are also used to help to work out the best

possible findings. The data include a total of 372 adjacency pairs, 57 back

channels, and 136 discourse markers in 100 conversations. The frameworks

of adjacency pairs are based on Yule‟s (1996) and Levinson‟s (1983) theories,

back channels on Iwasaki„s (1997) theory and discourse markers on Fraser‟s

(2005) theory. The results of the thesis make it possible for learners to have a

general view on the types of adjacency pairs, back channels, and discourse

markers in the conversations for their effective communication with the

English language.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ iv

LIST OF CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................. vii

LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................... viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..........................................................................1

1.1. RATIONALE.......................................................................................................1

1.2. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ..................................................3

1.2.1. Aim...................................................................................................................3

1.2.2. Objectives..........................................................................................................3

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS..................................................................................3

1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY....................................................................................3

1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.....................................................................4

1.6. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS ................................................................................4

1.7. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS..................................................................5

CHAPTER 2: LITURATURE REVIEW................................................................7

2.1. THEORY OF CONVERSATION ....................................................................7

2.1.1. Notion of Conversation ...................................................................................7

2.1.2. Notion of Conversational Analysis................................................................8

2.2. THEORY OF ADJACENCY PAIRS ...............................................................8

2.2.1 Notion of Adjacency pairs................................................................................8

2.2.2 Adjacency pairs and Preference Structure.......................................................12

2.3. THEORY OF BACK CHANNELS..................................................................13

2.3.1. Notion of Back channels................................................................................13

2.3.2. Types of back channels...................................................................................17

2.4. THEORY OF DISCOURSE MARKERS.........................................................21

2.4.1. Notion of Discourse markers.........................................................................21

v

2.4.2. Types of discourse markers.............................................................................22

2.5. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS, RELEVANT STUDIES.....................................25

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................28

3.1. RESEARCH METHODS ..................................................................................28

3.2. RESEARCH PROCEDURES............................................................................29

3.3. DATA SOURCES AND SAMPLES.................................................................29

3.4. DATA ANALYSIS............................................................................................30

3.5. VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY.....................................................................32

3.6. SUMMARY .......................................................................................................32

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION....................................................34

4.1. TYPES OF AJACENCY PAIRS IN THE EXAMINED CONVERSATIONS

IN THE CURRENT HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXT BOOKS..........................34

4.1.1. Greeting - Greeting .........................................................................................36

4.1.2. Question - Answer...........................................................................................37

4.1.3. Assessment - Agreement..................................................................................39

4.1.4. Assessment - Disagreement.............................................................................40

4.1.5. Invitation - Acceptance ...................................................................................41

4.1.6. Invitation - Refusal..........................................................................................42

4.1.7. Offer - Acceptance...........................................................................................42

4.1.8. Offer - Decline.................................................................................................43

4.1.9 Proposal - Agreement ......................................................................................43

4.1.10. Proposal - Disagreement ..............................................................................44

4.1.11. Request - Acceptance.....................................................................................44

4.1.12. Request - Refusal...........................................................................................45

4.1.13. Leave - Leave-taking.....................................................................................46

4.1.14. Instruction - Response...................................................................................46

4.1.15. Problem - Advice...........................................................................................47

4.1.16. Announcement - Response.............................................................................48

4.2. TYPES OF BACKCHANNELS IN THE EXAMINED CONVERSATIONS