Impoliteness in polylogal intercultural communication among Asian EFL learners

Abstract By regarding impoliteness as a dynamic process, this research examined impoliteness in the polylogal intercultural communication among Asian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), including the impoliteness acts by the face-threat initiators, and the responses to the impoliteness acts by both the face-threat recipients and the face-threat witnesses. Moreover, it attempted to identify the factors that caused impoliteness in intercultural communication. Eighty-four Asian EFL learners from five Asian countries were engaged in this research. This research used group discussions to collect the nearly naturally occurring communication. The result illustrated that Asian EFL learners used the criticize/dispraise the hearer impoliteness strategy most frequently. Two new impoliteness strategies were identified, namely the use of the face-threat initiator’s first language (L1), and the use of inappropriate English expressions. In addition, a new reaction was used by both the face-threat recipients and the face-threat witnesses, namely the confirmation of impoliteness. A dynamic model of impoliteness based on the results of this research was proposed. Furthermore, six factors that caused impoliteness were discussed, including different individual cultural variations, accommodation to the intercultural communication, the degree of mindfulness, the individual prior experience of knowledge about the English language, the English proficiency levels of the EFL learners, and differences in individual salience that resulted in the failure of cooperative intention by the interactants in the intercultural communication. This research attempts to fill the lacuna in impoliteness studies in the fields of intercultural communication and intercultural pragmatics.