The Investigation of Compliment Response Patterns across Gender and Age among Advanced EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa Yazdani Khaneshan ◽  
Alireza Bonyadi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Communication Breakdown ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Compliment Responses ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
The Given

Compliment responses (CRs) as manifestations of social-cultural standards and politeness varieties of a certain speech community are prevalent types of speech acts which are vulnerable to be misunderstood and therefore cause communication breakdown. Having this in mind, the recent study aimed at investigating compliment response strategies of Iranian advanced EFL learners across gender and age. The data were collected through application of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), borrowed from Chen and Yang (2010), with four situational settings (appearance, clothing, ability, and possession) to 50 male and 50 female advanced EFL learners of an English institute in Iran. Based on qualitative data analysis, no difference was shown between the CR strategies employed by male and female participants in terms of frequency. Likewise, it was revealed that the frequency of CR strategies used by teenage and adult groups was very close. However, scrutinizing the emerging themes, besides similarities between the given groups, some subtle differences in the terminology of the employed strategies were detected.

Backward Pragmatic Transfer: An Empirical Study on Compliment Responses among Chinese EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 1846
Author(s):  
Min Cao
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Transfer ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Compliment Responses ◽  
Four Levels

This present study aims at investigating compliment response strategies used by different groups of Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in order to find out the evidence of the existence of backward transfer from foreign language (FL) or second language (L2) English to their first language (L1) Chinese at pragmatic level. The data is collected through a written Discourse Complete Task (DCT) among four levels of EFL learners in a university in China. The data suggests that backward transfer occurs in their L1 Chinese compliment response. Moreover, backward pragmatic transfer is enhanced by EFL learners’ L2 proficiency. The results of this study are compared with those of Qu & Wang (2005) to see the great changes in the past ten years. The results of this study point to the complexity of language transfer and its interaction with L2 proficiency.

scholarly journals The effect of social class on Persian EFL learners’ pragmatic performance of Speech act of compliment responses

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Saman Ebadi ◽  
Farkhondeh Pursiah
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The Social ◽  
Compliment Responses

This study attempts to investigate how the participants’ social class affects types and frequency of EFL language learners’ compliment responses (CR).Data were collected from 60 Persian EFL Learners by using a DCT on various real life situations. The data were categorized and analyzed based onthe adapted version of CR categorization developed by Herbert (1989).The results indicated that both high and middle social class followed very similar patterns of CR.  The CR pattern doesnot seem to fluctuate according to the social class of the participants.The discrepancy in the strategies utilized by the participants in this study between the data achieved from the Persian and English questionnaires does not support L1 pragmalinguistic transfer in CR patterns for the middle social class participants.The findings of the research contribute to social, psychological and linguistic aspects of language learning in terms of examining the effect ofinteracting factors on the process of language learning in general and pragmatics in particular. Keywords: social class, compliment, compliment response, speech acts.

Stimulus Ratio Effects on Speech Discrimination by Children and Adults

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan E. Sussman
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Response Pattern ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Adult Group ◽  
Discrimination Accuracy ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Adults And Children

This investigation examined the response strategies and discrimination accuracy of adults and children aged 5–10 as the ratio of same to different trials was varied across three conditions of a “change/no-change” discrimination task. The conditions varied as follows: (a) a ratio of one-third same to two-thirds different trials (33% same), (b) an equal ratio of same to different trials (50% same), and (c) a ratio of two-thirds same to one-third different trials (67% same). Stimuli were synthetic consonant-vowel syllables that changed along a place of articulation dimension by formant frequency transition. Results showed that all subjects changed their response strategies depending on the ratio of same-to-different trials. The most lax response pattern was observed for the 50% same condition, and the most conservative pattern was observed for the 67% same condition. Adult response patterns were most conservative across condition. Differences in discrimination accuracy as measured by P(C) were found, with the largest difference in the 5- to 6-year-old group and the smallest change in the adult group. These findings suggest that children’s response strategies, like those of adults, can be manipulated by changing the ratio of same-to-different trials. Furthermore, interpretation of sensitivity measures must be referenced to task variables such as the ratio of same-to-different trials.

scholarly journals Cross-Sectional Study of Refusal Speech Act Used by Iraqi Undergraduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-173
Author(s):  
Hutheifa Y. Turki ◽  
Juma’a Q. Hussein ◽  
Ahmed A. Al-Kubaisy
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
Refusal Strategies

This paper is conducted to investigate how Iraqi EFL learners refuse different speech acts across different proficiency levels. It aims to examine the most appropriate strategies used by 2nd year students of English as compared to those of 4th year when refusing their interlocutors' invitation, suggestion, and offer. WDCT questionnaire was used to collect data from 40 Iraqi undergraduate students of English: 20 2nd year and 20 4th year. Adopting Beebe et al.'s (1990) theory of refusal, data collected was analyzed quantitatively using statistical analysis. The findings revealed that the 2nd year students of English were more frequent in using direct refusals than their 4th year counterparts. This means the latter were more aware of using refusals politely than the former. On the other hand, the findings showed that 4th year students more frequent in their use of indirect refusal strategies that the 2nd year students. This indicates that the EFL learners of low proficiency level might not bridge the gap between the pragmalinguistic strategies and the grammatical form of the target language. This means that they were not pragmatically competent of the use of the appropriate pragmalinguistic strategies. This implies that the 2nd year students need to pay more attention to pragmatics and use their refusal strategies appropriately. Thus, the paper recommends conducting further research on the use of refusal speech act in Arabic and English.

Social contact and speech act strategies in a Chinese study abroad context

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofei Tang ◽  
Naoko Taguchi ◽  
Shuai Li
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Contact Group ◽  
Chinese Study ◽  
Compliment Responses ◽  
Request Strategies

Abstract This study examined the relationship between reported amounts of social contact and speech act strategies among 70 learners of Chinese enrolled in a study abroad program in Beijing. The participants completed a computer-delivered spoken discourse completion task (spoken DCT) eliciting three speech acts: requests, refusals, and compliment responses. Speech act strategies were compared between two groups of learners who reported different amounts of social contact (high and low social contact) as assessed via a self-report survey. Results showed that both high and low social contact groups favored using similar strategies to achieve the three speech acts. However, the high social contact group produced speech acts in a more sophisticated way: with a wider variety of request strategies, multiple refusal strategies used in combination and more deflecting strategies in compliment responses, compared with the low social contact group. The findings suggest that social contact helped learners expand their pragmalinguistic repertoire and employ more varied speech act strategies.

The Effect of Using Video Games on EFL Learners' Acquisition of Speech Acts of Apology and Request

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahshid Shirazi ◽  
Seyyed Dariush Ahmadi ◽  
Ali Gholami Mehrdad
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Competence Test

This article presents a discussion about the inclusion of video game based pragmatic competence instruction as a facilitative tool to develop interlanguage pragmatic competence of Iranian EFL learners' acquisition of speech acts of apology and request. The question this article is intended to answer includes: whether using video game as a facilitative tool for developing interlanguage pragmatic competence have any effect on EFL learners’ acquisition of speech acts of apology and request or not. To answer this question, 40 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were selected via administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Following the Jianda Liu pragmatic competence test (2004) that made test of apology and request speech acts were administered as the pre-test before the targeted speech acts were instructed to them for 8 sessions. The post-test of apology and request speech acts were then administered and data were analyzed via calculating ANCOVA and Mann-Whitney U test. The results indicated that the video game-based instructed EFL classroom showed positive progress in acquisition of apology and request speech acts.

The Cooperative Strategy of «Approval» Within the Self-Presentation Strategy In the Educational Discourse

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
К. Ращупкина ◽  
K. Rashchupkina
Keyword(s):  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cooperative Strategy ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Educational Discourse ◽  
Presentation Strategy ◽  
The Given

The article deals with cooperative (consensual) character of the strategy «approval» within the «self-presentation strategy» in the educational discourse. The author gives his interpretation of the given strategy; considers it from the point of view of two communicative tactics «praise» and «compliment»; he gives the definite examples of the conducted questionnaire survey and analyzes the replicas from the point of view of the theory of speech acts and verbal explication of «agreement» on the basis of four languages: English, Russian, German and French.

scholarly journals The Realization of Complaint Strategies among Iranian Female EFL Learners and Female Native English Speakers: A Politeness Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Atefeh Eshraghi ◽  
Mohsen Shahrokhi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Contextual Variables ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Completion Test

<p>Speech acts are interesting areas of research and there has been much research on speech acts. Complaint is a type of speech act and how to use it in interaction is important to EFL learners. The complaint strategies employed by Iranian female EFL learners and female English native speakers were compared in this study. Also, the effects of contextual variables (Social distance and Social power) on the choice of complaint strategies by Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers were studied in this research. Thirty Iranian female EFL learners and thirty female native English speakers participated in this study. The two instruments which were used in this study included Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The (DCT), as an open-ended questionnaire was administrated to them to elicit complaint speech acts. Then, the collected data were analyzed according to a modified taxonomy of complaint strategies proposed by Trosoborg (1995). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers in terms of using complaint strategies. Iranian female EFL learners used indirect complaint, while female native English speakers used the direct complaint more frequently; and contextual variables had a great influence on complaint strategy choice by participants of two groups.</p>

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