Expressing Refusals in English: A Cross-Cultural Study of Invitation Responses amongst Malaysians

Abstract

Malaysia is a multicultural country with diverse cultural groups, languages, social practices and norms. The Malays, Indians and Chinese are amongst the leading cultural groups, each with unique styles of expressing refusal when communicating in English. Refusal, or the act of saying ‘no,’ is inevitable in daily routines, often leaving a negative impression on both speaker and listener. This can be particularly challenging in multicultural context, whereby different cultures use language differently to express and interpret refusals in English. Such variations can lead to misunderstandings, especially in multilingual settings. This study examined how different cultural perspectives in Malaysia expressed refusals to invitations in English. To realise the study, a qualitative approach complemented by minor quantitative elements was adopted to provide an insightful understanding of the refusal strategies used by different cultures. The employed research design included Oral Discourse Completion Task (ODCT) and interviews. A purposive sampling technique was applied to select 16 Malays, 16 Chinese and 16 Indians who are proficient English speakers. The data obtained were analysed by using Beebe et al. (1990) Refusal Taxonomies framework to categorise refusal strategies and Hofstede (2011) Cultural Dimensions to interprete an in-depth insight into cultural influences in making refusals. The findings revealed that Chinese and Indians were comfortable to express direct negative willingness in English, while Malays tended to refuse indirectly, often showing gratitude in their refusals. Future research is recommended to explore refusal strategies in other speech acts and compare refusal styles between working adults and children in Malaysia to enhance generalisability.