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Volume 11. Issue 3
Article 10

Title
Use of Refusal Strategies by Turkish EFL Learners and
Native Speakers of English in Urban and Rural Areas

Authors
Dr. Zubeyde Sinem Genc
Uludag University, Turkey

Ozlem Tekyildiz
Kocaeli University, Turkey

Bio Data: 
Dr. Zubeyde Sinem GENC is currently an assistant professor in the ELT Department at Uludag University, Turkey. She received her Ph. D. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). She taught EAP at IUP and graduate courses in MATESL at Southern Illinois University. Her research interests are second language teacher education, second language acquisition, and TESOL theory and methods.

Ozlem TEKYILDIZ is a teacher at a state school and teaches EFL courses at Kocaeli University. She received her MA in English Language Teaching from Uludag University, Turkey. Her major teaching and research interests include ELT methodology and sociolinguistics.

Abstract
The aim of the present study is to put forward the ways in which Turkish learners of English use the speech act of refusal and to reveal whether or not regional variety affects the kind of refusal strategies used. Data were collected through a discourse completion questionnaire in order to investigate the similarities and differences between the use of refusal strategies by Turkish learners of English in urban areas, Turkish learners of English in rural areas, native speakers of English in urban areas and native speakers of English in rural areas. 101 Turkish EFL learners and 50 native speakers of English participated in the present study. Analysis of the data showed that subjects in all groups used the refusal strategies in a manner similar to one another. All the subjects seem to have similar notions of directness and indirectness in their actions with people of varied social status. In addition, the status of interlocutor was observed to be an important factor in strategy choice for all respondent groups.
                                                                                                                
Keywords: Speech act of refusal, Turkish EFL learners, urban and rural areas, interlanguage pragmatics