This study examines the pragmatic strategies that learners utilize to negotiate a resolution when refusing a native speaker of higher status in three asymmetric situations (+Power, +Distance). Following Pomerantz's (1984) analysis of dispreferred responses, this study focuses on refusals to an invitation, a request, and a suggestion. Refusal responses are analyzed as refusal sequences across the interaction and with respect to individual and situational pragmatic variation. Results showed that learners employed a variety of direct and indirect strategies to delay a refusal response across one or more insistence-refusal sequences. The interactional input provided by the native speaker served to help the learners get back on track in the conversation and to bring the conversation to a successful resolution. Three aspects of learners' pragmatic competence are analyzed: situational variation, individual variability, and the sequential organization of refusals in learner-NS interactions. Finally, two additional issues are discussed: formulaic use of interlanguage refusals and the effect of length of stay in the host environment on the pragmatic competence of the advanced learner. (Contains 3 figures, 1 table and 3 notes.)