Refusal Strategies and Face Concerns: A Cross-Cultural Study of Chinese and Malaysian Undergraduates

Refusal speech acts are among the most face-threatening interactions, especially in multicultural academic and business settings. This small-scale exploratory study investigates how Chinese Business English Major students (BEMS) and Malaysian Bachelor of Applied Linguistics and Business Administration students (BALBAS) perform refusal speech acts in English and perceive their face-threatening effects. Guided by Speech Act Theory and Politeness Theory, this mixed-methods research utilized Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs), Scaled Response Questionnaires (SRQs), Retrospective Verbal Reports (RVRs), and semi-structured interviews. Sixteen participants from a Chinese public university and a Malaysian public university participated in the study. They provided data on three key aspects: refusal strategies, semantic formulas, and sociopragmatic perceptions. These were examined across both formal and informal scenarios, which varied systematically in terms of social status and social distance. The results indicate that both groups favored indirect refusal strategies. However, Chinese students employed longer, more complex refusal formulas with a focus on postponement and alternatives, reflecting a cultural emphasis on harmony and indirectness. Malaysian students demonstrated a pragmatic balance between politeness and controlled directness, especially among peers, consistent with multicultural norms. Malaysian participants also reported higher face-threat perceptions across contexts, highlighting greater sensitivity to relational dynamics. Social status and distance significantly influenced pragmatic choices for both groups. These findings offer insights into intercultural communication and underscore the importance of explicit pragmatic instruction in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) education.