Thai and non-Thai reader perceptions on politeness strategies in English language letters of request

Abstract

This paper studies the perceptions of Thai and non-Thai readers on politeness in business letters of request written by Thais. The study seeks to answer to what extent the Thai writer's strategies to make a 'polite' request match the reader's views. While studies of politeness in business correspondence in the past decades have revealed some remarkable differences in the strategic politeness used by English native and non-native speakers (e.g. Maier, 1992; Sims and Guice, 1992; Yeung, 1998; Chakorn, 2006) no studies so far have been made from the perspective of the recipient of those letters. In most cases, the degree of politeness is assessed by the researchers, using Positive and Negative Face models (Goffman, 1967, Brown and Levinson, 1987). The deviation from the models has led to the conclusion that non-native speakers do not have the same understanding about 'politeness' as native speakers. As written business discourse in English is not always intended for the native readers, particularly in the contexts where English is an international language (EIL), it is worth examining the effects of such 'mismatched perspectives' on business communication. Authentic written requests were given to 3 groups of readers in an international workplace setting: Thai, English Native Speakers, and Non-Thai/Non-Native Speakers. These readers' judgements about the letters' politeness have revealed some common ground about politeness across cultures and also can shed light on the teaching of business communication in English in international contexts.