Comparative Study on Refusal Strategies Used by American English Native Speakers and Indonesian EFL Learners

The purpose of this research is to explore types of refusal strategies used by American English Native Speakers and Indonesian EFL Learners. This study is descriptive qualitative research. Twenty participants consisting of American English Native Speakers and Indonesian EFL Learners contributed in this study. The data are gathered from DCT and interview. In order to get trustworthiness of the data, source of triangulation, member checking and external audit are applied. Then, the data are analyzed using Flowchart Model proposed by Miles and Huberman. The results show that: (1) both groups use eleven refusal strategies namely direct no, inability, avoidance, hedging, excuse, wish, statement of alternative, promise of future acceptance, statement of regret, acceptance that function as refusal and set condition for past acceptance; (2) it is also found some similarities and differences of refusal strategies between American English Native Speaker and Indonesian EFL Learners. In term of similarities, it is uncovered eight of refusal strategies shared between the groups. Those are direct no, inability, postponement, excuse, statement of alternative, statement of regret, wish and lack of enthusiasm. Besides, the differences of refusal strategies between American English Native Speaker and Indonesian EFL Learners are uncovered. Those are hedging, promise of future acceptance and set condition for past acceptance; (3) the effect of social status on the choice of refusal strategies between American English Native Speaker and Indonesian EFL Learners are almost the same. Both struggle to show their politeness by extending their utterances when they refuse the speakers’ need. Furthermore, they also vary their refusal strategies in their utterances based on the interlocutors level of social status. Keywords: refusal strategies, EFL Learners, pragmatic