Pragmatic transfer in Turkish EFL learners’ compliments and compliment responses from L1 Turkish to L2 English

Abstract

The present study aimed to figure out whether Turkish EFL learners transfer their L1 Turkish pragmatic norms to their L2 English compliments and compliment responses. Six senior ELT students took part in the study, carried out at a state university in Turkey. An open role play adapted from Tran (2006) in English and in its Turkish version were used to elicit the compliment and compliment response data in the given languages. The data analysis was carried out according to two different coding schemas. The compliment strategy framework, used to analyze compliment strategies, consisted of two macro levels as direct compliments and indirect compliments and sub-categories. The second framework that was used to analyze responses to compliments yielded three main categories as Accept compliments, Rejec t compliments, Deflect/ Evade compliments and their sub-categories. The results of the study implied that there was a sign of negative pragmatic transfer from L1 Turkish to L2 English in Accompanied by Explanations compliment strategy at the level of direct compliments and the results also suggested that Turkish EFL learners transferred the use of Deflect/ Evade compliment response strategy especially in the sub-category of Explanation from their L1 to their L2 English. Keywords: speech act; compliment strategy; compliment responses; pragmatic transfer