SPEECH ACT OF TELLING BAD NEWS BY KOREAN LEARNERS OF THAI: AN INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATICS STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the speech act of delivering bad news by Korean students studying Thai as a foreign language at Hankuk University, Language and Foreign Affairs, within the framework of interlanguage pragmatics. The aim is to explain pragmatics transfer. The research employs Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs), which are short, incomplete role-play scenarios that require participants to complete the dialogues. The study examines how the language use of Korean learners of Thai is influenced by their native language. The findings reveal that both Thai students, whose native language is Thai, and Korean students, whose native language is Korean, exhibit similar patterns in delivering bad news, employing direct strategies, indirect strategies, and combinations of both. However, there are differences in lexical choices as well as in the reasons for choosing to express or avoid certain pragmatic acts. These differences are related topragmatic transfer from the students’ native language when using Thai as a foreign language. The transfer is categorized into linguistic transfer and socio-cultural transfer.