Publications
Publication details [#56095]
Boxer, Diana and Weihua Zhu. 2012. Disagreement and sociolinguistic variables. English as a Lingua Franca of Practice in China. In Koike, Dale April and J. César Félix-Brasdefer, eds. Pragmatic Variation in First and Second Language Contexts. Methodological issues. (IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society 31). John Benjamins.
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Keywords
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Annotation
This study analyzes Mandarin speakers’ disagreement behavior in English as a Lingua Franca of Practice (ELFP) at “English Corners” in a Mainland China city. It focuses on the extent of participants’ disagreement behavior covariation with seven sociolinguistic variables. Qualitative and quantitative measures are used: interactional sociolinguistics to examine the verbal/nonverbal features of the disagreement behavior of ELFP speakers; and Chi-square tests to examine the correlation between disagreement behavior and the variables. Results show that strong disagreement dominated weak disagreement. The frequency of strong/weak disagreement appeared to have a marginally significant correlation with age. However, ELFP speakers’ priorities of improving communication in English may function to level out other variable differences.