English Compliments Research Articles

The Use of Compliments in English by Kyrgyz Learners

People always deal with a certain speech act concerning on the purpose and reasons of communicating. Here when we are concentrated on speech acts, there is a need to have knowledge of different language means from phonemes to the whole text. Within different types of speech acts there is an issue of giving compliments to another one and at the same time responding to this or that compliment which takes one of the most crucial discussions and investigations throughout different languages considering their cultural backgrounds as well. These pre-study observations cause the relevance of this research. Therefore, the main aim of the article is to identify the ways and roles of using compliments in EFL classroom in Kyrgyzstan. The study reveals the fact that complimenting lessons sound more natural and live during different learning sessions and circumstances. The results of the study may be helpful and beneficial for English language instructors and learners as obtaining pragmatic ability and getting ready for further cross-cultural communication stages.

A cross-cultural study of giving and responding to some compliments in English and in Vietnamese

Complimenting and responding to compliments reflect the
 norms and values of a nation and a country and are also expressed
 differently across cultures. In this article, the author conducts a
 cross-cultural study on giving and responding to compliments in
 English and in Vietnamese. The purpose of this study was to
 investigate how people give and respond to compliments in English
 and in Vietnamese and analyze and compare them to find similarities
 and differences. This analysis and comparison can help learners
 understand and use the target language appropriately so that cultural
 bottlenecks and communication breakdown can be avoided. This
 study used a quantitative technique method and was conducted using
 a questionnaire, focusing on how to give compliments and feedback
 about their appearance, assets, or work in English and Vietnamese.
 The findings of this study on compliments are useful in teaching
 English to Vietnamese as well as teaching Vietnamese to foreigners.
 The act of complimenting and responding to compliments - an aspect
 of communicative competence-needs to be carefully observed in
 order to maintain good relations among people in society.

Responses to English compliments on language ability

Abstract Employing a cross-generational perspective, this study attempts to deepen our understanding of the politeness strategies Saudi females use when responding to compliments in English from an English speaker. The study investigated how Saudi females from two generations respond to compliments in an educational setting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Participants included sixty-two female undergraduate students and sixty-four female lecturers from one university in the KSA. Following a mixed methods approach, the study included two primary sources of data: a quantitative Discourse Completion Task questionnaire for eliciting compliment responses (CRs) from the two generations; and qualitative semi-structured interviews with six participants from each group. Findings indicate that participants from both groups tended to accept compliments although there was a tendency to question the sincerity of the compliments.

Pragmatic Competence of Complimenting among Female Omani EFL College Students: A Sociolinguistic Study

The importance of pragmatic competence in language teaching and learning has been highlighted in many studies; however, scarcity of such studies in the Omani context can be easily identified. The study investigates how female Omani higher education students express compliments in English and whether these are pragmatically, linguistically and communicatively appropriate. The research data were collected from 51 female college students through a response-based questionnaire containing 18 social scenarios to test their responses on the linguistic accuracy and pragmatic appropriateness of compliments. Native speaker’s ratings on these revealed that 61.02% of students’ responses were linguistically deficient and 23.96% pragmatically incompetent. It was found that many students used linguistic and pragmatic considerations of complimenting from their mother tongue while communicating in English which resulted in infelicitous or defective performance of the speech act under examination. This entails an urgent need to integrate pragmatic and cultural knowledge into EFL skills courses in Oman, especially those that focus on speaking, in order to raise students’ awareness of what is considered appropriate and acceptable in English and avoid serious cross-cultural errors in inter-language communication. 
 Keywords: compliments, speech acts, female EFL students, linguistic accuracy, pragmatic competence

“It’s of no value compared to your value”

Abstract In the present study, we attempt to develop EFL learners’ metapragmatic awareness of English compliments, which still remains an under-researched issue. Initially, we conducted a cross-sectional survey with intermediate-level Iranian EFL learners, Persian and British English native speakers. Although the analysis of the language learners’ realization of compliments and responses to compliments seemed to indicate that their pragmatic development was overall adequate, it also suggested the influence of the native socio-pragmatic schema on their pragmatic performance. We therefore undertook a pragmatic instruction aimed at developing the EFL learners’ metapragmatic awareness of complimenting. The results suggested that through discussion, analysis, small-scale research, and reflections on the native and target pragmalinguistic and socio-pragmatic complimenting conventions the learners were developing metapragmatic awareness. Finally, we make recommendations for more effective pragmatic teaching in EFL contexts.

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

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

Giving and Interpreting Compliments in English and Kurdish

Compliment as one of the language strategies is used to soften the process of interactions. The way that compliments are given or interpreted as well as the frequency of using them vary from a language to another, from a community to another, and from a person to another. This study tries to track down compliments to illustrate their differences and the similarities in both concerned communities. Complimenting as a lubricant strategy does not always fulfill the purpose, and cannot always be easily employed due to the interactants' differences in terms of cultural backgrounds, social status, gender, and many other social and personal issues. Therefore, giving compliments is regarded as one of the problematic issues, and may cause a kind of misunderstanding among the interactants particularly in a cross-cultural environment. This study draws on both quantitative and qualitative approaches in the process of data collection. It aims at examining the giving and interpretation of compliment from a socio-pragmatic perspective. It comprehensively considers the concept of compliment, diversity of compliments across cultures, the differences in giving compliments in English and Kurdish as well as showing the relationship between compliment and flattery in these two different communities.

A Comparison of Chinese and English Compliments

It is particularly known that more interactions of people all around the world are on more broader level with the development of society. People are able to exchange their ideas or positive feelings with each other with different languages. We know that the language carries the culture, and different cultures will cause the speech act expressed with the different ways. Therefore, as a speech act, compliments in various languages are also covered by the cultures all over the world. Duo to the differences of cultural background, the customary culture and factors of cultural judgement vary from nations, so that people should pay more attention to the ways of compliments and responds. Compliment has its specific meaning and functions both in Chinese and English, as well as other languages. However, language environment is too important to be without for compliment and the expression of compliment response also varies from different cultural context. In addition, people have various emphasis when they compliment others, Sometimes, not all compliments will be considered to be a praise, if the compliments aren’t expressed in proper ways, the recipients may feel ill at ease, even irritated. In order to use the compliments in appropriate ways and make responds properly to attain expected effects, the author is mainly to make comparison between Chinese and English compliments. The comparison contains complimentary contents, such as appearance, weight, friendship and possession, response patterns and characteristics of Chinese and English compliment responses. The author also wants to mater the skills of appropriate compliment expression by contrasting Chinese and English compliment on some aspects.

English Compliments by Chinese and German Female EFL Speakers

Based in the field of variational pragmatics, the present study investigates the effect of one of the macro-social factors, regional factor, on the use of compliment strategies. More specifically, the present study would like to find out whether in the same situation, the compliment strategies used by Chinese female EFL speakers and German female EFL speakers differ. A questionnaire was designed in order to collect the date, which employs two Discourse Completion Tasks (DCT). A corpus of 20 dialogues were collected, consisting of 10 from Chinese informants and 10 from German informants. In the present study, all social factors, except the regional one, are controlled, which means the informants were asked to complete two dialogues which happen in two given situations, between two friends in the same age group and of the same gender (sex). Furthermore, the gender (sex) and age of the informants are homogenized, which ultimately makes the regional factor the only prominent and researched macro-social factor. After analyzing the date, the results of each of the two given situations are respectively achieved. First, by comparing the frequencies of the two main types of compliments, explicit compliments and implicit compliments, used by Chinese female EFL speakers and German female EFL speakers. Second, by comparing the frequencies of varieties of sub-categories of the two main types of compliments. Moreover, the frequencies of two types of modifiers used in the compliments are objects of analysis. Finally, the results of a previous study on American English compliment strategies is included in the comparison, to show whether the English compliment strategies used by EFL speakers and English native speakers differ.

When Beautiful Thai Smiles do not Count: CLT for Receiving Compliments in English

Differences in how one says the same thing in two distinct languages often give rise to challenges for second language learners, which when addressed, allow them to become more competent language users. The present study investigates the use of communicative language teaching (CLT) on compliment responses in Standard American English for English major students at a university in Northeast Thailand. Results from analysis of the data from the pretest, posttest and questionnaires indicate that not only do the CLT lessons designed with blended mechanical, meaningful, and communicative activities help students improve skills in responding to compliments in Standard American English, but these activities together with peer teaching also provide them with plenty of opportunities to practice other skills in English which they previously acquired. The discussion of these findings offers practical suggestions for optimal use of CLT in Thai EFL teaching contexts.

The Speech Act of Complimenting as Part of the Ukrainian, Russian and English- Speaking Communities: Ukraine and the USA

Compliments as speech acts have the reflection and expression of cultural values. Many of the values reflected through compliments are personal appearance, new acquisitions, possessions, talents and skills. It is especially important in linguistic interaction between people. This research aims to analyze the speech acts of complimenting in Ukrainian and American cultures in order to use them for teaching pragmatics second language (L2) students. Defining the ways of complimenting in Ukrainian, Russian and American English help to avoid misunderstandings and pragmatic failures. This study uses a method of ethnomethodology. Speach acts are studied in their natural contexts. To carry out this research native speakers of English in the United States and native speakers of Russian and Ukrainian from all over Ukraine were interviewed on-line. The analysis was made on the data that included: 445 Russian, 231 Ukrainian and 245 English compliments. Results of this study show how native speakers tend to compliment people: syntactical structure of expressions, cultural lexicon, attributes praised and language context. It has implications for teaching English to Ukrainians and for teaching Russian and Ukrainian to speakers of English. Knowing how to use speech acts allows the speaker to have pragmatic competence. Upon completion of the data analysis on the current study, further information on deeper analysis in terms of semantics and metaphorical language can be provided.

Korean Learners’ Strategies and Decision-Making Processes in English Compliment Response Behavio

Korean Learners’ Strategies and Decision-Making Processes in English Compliment Response Behavio

A Comparative Study on Chinese and English Compliments from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication

Compliment, shared by various languages and cultures, is a polite speech act and positive evaluation of others. It reflects social values and cultural conventions and plays a crucial role in daily verbal communication activities. This article takes Chinese and English compliments as the main research objects to explore the differences between Chinese and English compliments in contents, functions and speech patterns of compliment, and tries to analyze the reasons for the differences from the perspective of intercultural communication. It hopes that deeper understanding of Chinese and English compliments can improve people's awareness of intercultural communication and avoid pragmatic mistakes, thus establishing harmonious interpersonal relationships, achieving communicative purposes and improving communication quality.

Возрастные характеристики английских, американских и русских комплиментарных высказываний

Возрастные характеристики английских, американских и русских комплиментарных высказываний

Compliments across Gender and Power Relation among Indonesian EFL Learners

The purpose of this research is to investigate the complexities of compliments faced by English as foreign language (EFL) learners. It covers several aspects such as how interpersonal relationships relate to complimenting behaviour. In addition, it examines how the culture of complimenting is relevant with some conditions such as power relation, and gender. The significance of the study is to explore the cultural transfer might appearing in complimenting. The subjects of research in this study are EFL learners at State Islamic University of Maulana Malik Ibrahim, Indonesia. It employs ethnographical method to gain the explanation for the phenomenon underlying the complexities in complimenting behaviour. The complexities concern with the interference of culture, the influence of gender and power relation. The finding shows that female learners tend to use more complimenting strategies compared to males. The complimenting expression is also various affected by the relation with the hearers. Some variations occurring in complimenting cover overstatement, mixed language, non-sensical, no compliment and question. The context of Islamic institution also results in specific expression related to power display in complimenting strategies used. However, in EFL context, complimenting becomes an issue as there is lack of authentic English examples in course books and the inefficient instructions English learners receive which particularly expose them to variation in English compliments. Therefore, further studies are needed to develop teaching construct that accommodates the improvement of pragmatic competence particularly in complimenting for politeness awareness which today becomes a significant value.

Performance of Indonesian EFL Learners and Thai EFL Learners on Compliment Responses in English

Cultures carry norms and expectations on how speech acts are performed. On the other hand, responding to compliments is challenging in nature for not only it involves an internal conflict, but also is subject to cultures and other factors. This study investigated how Indonesian and Thai English major students respond to English compliments and the effect of compliment topics in their CRs (Compliment Responses). The study made use of a set of DCT questionnaire distributed to 35 Indonesian and 35 Thai university students majoring in English in their first year. Employing Tran’s (2007) Continua of CRs, the findings demonstrated significant differences in the CRs between Indonesians and Thais triggered by cultural differences of the two groups of subjects and different preferences of compliment topics. In general, Indonesians were found to be more prone to deny compliments while Thais tended to accept compliments. In relation to compliment topics, Indonesians were observed to be most positive towards compliments on ability and most negative towards compliments on possession. On the other hand, Thais tended to be most positive towards possession and most negative towards appearance. In addition, the results of the study also offered methodological and pedagogical implications.

An Analysis of Compliment Responses by Kuwaiti EFL Learners: A Pragmatic Approach

This study investigates the extent to which 80 female Kuwaiti EFL learners produce target-like compliment responses when they are communicating in English, through comparing their responses to those of British English speakers. It also examines whether the English proficiency level of Kuwaiti EFL learners plays a role in their responses to compliments in English. Essentially, this study explores whether pragmatic transfer has an impact on the Kuwaiti participants' responses. A Discourse Completion Task (DCT) was given to 50 female native speakers of British English (the control group) and to 80 female Kuwaiti EFL learners (the treatment group), in order to determine whether the responses of the latter group are similar or different to those of the former group. The results reveal that the English proficiency level of the treatment group had no effect on their answers on the DCT. In comparison with the control group, the results also demonstrate that the treatment group transferred both L1 expressions and strategies to respond to compliments in English. This has been attributed to the fact that they may not be aware of any culture-specific nature of verbal communications crosslinguistically, among other reasons. Finally, the study concludes with recommendations for further research.

The Use of Compliment Response Strategies among Iranian Learners of English: Researching Interlocutors' Relative Power and Gender

This article reports on a study that set out to investigate how Iranian EFL learners respond to compliments in English. The data were collected using a discourse completion task (DCT) consisting of a variety of situations that required the participants, 26 EFL learners (13 males and 13 females) to respond to compliments directed at them. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. To this end, the participants’ responses were coded according to a coding scheme adopted from Yu (2004) which identified six compliment response strategies (CRSs). The findings indicated that, regardless of or concerning gender and power (–P and =P), the first three most frequent CR strategies included “Acceptance”, “Combination” and “Amendment”. These findings were then analyzed in light of previous similar studies that revealed that the participants had followed their first cultural norms not only in usingthe strategies mentioned above but also in employing very infrequently such strategies as “Face Relationship”, “No acknowledgment”, and “Nonacceptance”. As regards the role of gender, a Chi-square test was run which showed that males and females differed significantly in their use of CRSs. Furthermore, males used more CR strategies compared to females.The qualitative analysis of the semantic formulas of the CR strategies also revealed that, by accepting a compliment, Iranian EFL learners sought agreement and consequently relied on positive politeness to foster rapport and solidarity.

On the Pragmatic Patterns of Chinese College English Learners’ Compliment Responses

The purpose of this research is to investigate the pragmatic features of Chinese college EFL learners’ compliment responses (CR) in English. Since nowadays there is a large population learning English in China and there are limited researches on how the English language is used by Chinese EFL learners, to study the patterns of Chinese EFL learners' use of English is significant. The data of this study were collected by role play. Twelve short films which contain compliments from native English speakers were designed and recorded. These scenes were controlled by four variables: gender, social status, types of compliments and the formality of the situation. Then these short films were played to 360 Chinese undergraduate students which were divided into 12 groups. The compliment responses of these participants were recorded immediately. Then, these records were transcribed and the data was analyzed statistically with the reference of the four variables. The results of the analysis indicate that a majority of Chinese EFL learners tend to accept the compliment while seldom Chinese EFL learners still apply non agreement as their CR strategy. Also, Chinese EFL learners prefer to apply a mixed CR strategy when they are complimented and they prefer to accommodate a combined pragmatics which is based on Chinese and English pragmatics. Chinese EFL learners could respond to compliments in English in several CR strategies that did not discussed in previous studies. The four variables of gender, social status, types of compliments and the formality of the situation have a huge influence on Chinese English learners’ responses to compliments in English.

English Compliment Response Strategies on Social Networks by Iranian EFL Learners

Development of technology including computers and the Internet has introduced a new channel of sharing ideas and beliefs in social networks all over the world. Despite a huge number of studies on compliment, this verbal behavior has not received sufficient attention in such contexts as online communication in social networks. This study aimed to investigate the realization of English compliment response strategies by Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) Learners on social networks. To this end, a sample of 30 Iranian EFL learners studying at Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan Branch (IAUKB) was selected from friend’s list on social networks. Observing ethical issues, participants’ compliments and compliment response strategies were recorded, classified, analyzed in terms of frequency and percentage, and then interpreted. The findings revealed that the most frequent response strategy to English compliments was acceptance strategies at macro level and appreciation token at micro level. The findings of this study may benefit teachers, linguists, language learners, and others interested in language learning and teaching.