Refusal strategies in L1 and L2: A study of Persian-speaking learners of English

The aim of this study was to explore pragmalinguistic strategies employed by a group of Iranian English language learners when making refusals to invitations, requests, offers and suggestions in their first (Persian) and second (English) languages. Data were collected from 86 participants through a Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The social variables under study were gender and social power differentials between the interlocutors. As a novel attempt in studies of interlanguage pragmatics, cultural schemas underlying refusals of Iranian English language learners were also investigated through Focus Group Interviews (FGI). The findings indicated that the participants used refusal head acts, the core components realising refusals, with similar frequency in their L1 (Persian) and L2 (English). However, differences were observed in the use of supportive move strategies in the Persian and English responses of the participants. The FGI responses associated certain Persian cultural schemas, in particular tă’ărof (ritual politeness) and ru-dar-băyesti (state/feeling of distance-out-of-respect), with the production and interpretation of refusals by the Iranian students both in Persian and English to a large extent.