How to say “no” in a foreign language: the role of L2 proficiency, power relations, and eliciting acts

Qi Lu, Mingwen Zhang, Ying Chen () and Lianrui Yang
Additional contact information
Qi Lu: Ocean University of China
Mingwen Zhang: Ocean University of China
Ying Chen: Ocean University of China
Lianrui Yang: Ocean University of China

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Most studies on second language (L2) learners’ refusal strategies focus on the frequency and content of individual strategy use. However, research also reveals the fact that learners tend to use multiple strategies in a single refusal. How these strategy combinations are quantitatively distributed is a question that is under-researched. To address this gap, this study investigates individual strategies and their combinatorial patterns in the refusals of 237 Chinese EFL learners across three L2 proficiency levels. It further explores how power relations and eliciting acts (requests, offers, invitations, and suggestions) influence the frequency of strategies. Data were collected through written discourse completion tasks and coded with Beebe et al.’s (1990) scheme. Results indicated a positive relationship between the repertoire of refusal strategies and L2 proficiency. Power relations exerted a mixed effect on strategy use, while eliciting acts particularly influenced the use of gratitude/appreciation and let interlocutor off the hook strategies. Combinatorial analyses identified an L2 proficiency-related progression: lower-proficiency learners predominantly employed regret + reason/excuse/explanation sequences, whereas advanced learners favored gratitude/appreciation + reason/excuse/explanation combinations. These findings provide pedagogical implications for teaching refusals in Chinese EFL settings.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05537-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05537-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/palcomms/about

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05537-w

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().