The use of mitigation strategies in request-making in a cross-cultural classroom context: A case study at Can Tho University

Requests constitute face-threatening acts whose successful realization depends on the interaction of linguistic form, semantic content, and pragmatic context. While prior research has examined mitigation strategies in request-making, evidence concerning gender-related differences remains inconclusive. This study investigates the use of mitigation strategies by Vietnamese university students in a cross-cultural classroom setting, with the aims of identifying the strategies employed, examining gender-based variations in their use, and exploring factors that constrain learners’ effective deployment of such strategies. Adopting a mixed-methods design, the study collected data through role-play tasks and semi-structured interviews involving twenty third-year English-major students at a university in the Mekong Delta and a native American English teacher. Analysis of the role-play data indicates that students employed both internal and external mitigation strategies, with observable differences between female and male participants. Interview findings further suggest that learners’ difficulties in producing appropriate mitigation primarily stem from negative pragmatic transfer from Vietnamese to English and limited pragmatic competence.