The Effects of Explicit Metapragmatic Instruction on Chinese English Language Learners’ Acquisition of Compliment Responses
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Zhou Wen
Zhou Wen is a teaching assistant of English at Science and Technology College of Hubei University of Arts and Science. Her research efforts have focused on English education.
Deng Jun is Associate Professor of English at Central South University. Her research efforts have focused on English education, cross-cultural communication.
Abstract
The present study investigated the effects of explicit metapragmatic instruction on foreign language learners’ performance of compliment responses (CRs). Eighty-two non-English major students participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to two groups, an experimental group that received explicit metapragmatic instruction on compliment responses and a control group that did not. A pretest-posttest research design was adopted. The data were collected through a written discourse completion task (WDCT) with six scenarios concerning the topics of appearance, performance, and personality. The results revealed that learners who received explicit instruction dramatically decreased their use of Accept strategy and increased Combination (CB) strategy at the macro level; more specifically, a decrease in Appreciation and an increase in Accept + Accept at the micro level. The learners of the control group made little progress in their performance. The study sheds light on pragmatics learning in an EFL setting and provides implications for pragmatics pedagogy.
About the authors
Zhou Wen is a teaching assistant of English at Science and Technology College of Hubei University of Arts and Science. Her research efforts have focused on English education.
Deng Jun is Associate Professor of English at Central South University. Her research efforts have focused on English education, cross-cultural communication.
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Appendix A: Holmes’ Compliment Responses Categories (1988)
| Macro level | Micro level | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Accept | Appreciation token | “Thanks”; “Thank you”; “Cheers”; “Yes”; “Good” |
| Agreeing utterance | “I know”; “I am glad you think so”; “Yeah, I really like it.” | |
| Downgrading utterance | “It’s nothing”; “It was no problem”; “I enjoyed doing it”; “I hope it was OK”; “I still only use it to call people”; “It’s not bad.” | |
| Return compliment | “You’re not too bad yourself”; “Your child was an angel”; “I’m sure you will be great”; “Yours was good too.” | |
| Reject | Disagreeing utterance | “Nah, I don’t think so”; “I thought I did badly”; “Nah, it’s nothing special”; “It is not”; “Don’t say so.” |
| Question accuracy | “Why?”; “Is it right?”; “Really?” | |
| Challenging sincerity | “Stop lying”; “Don’t lie”; “Don’t joke about it”; “You must be kidding”; “Don’t, come on.” | |
| Evade | Shift credit | “That’s what friends are for”; “My pleasure.”; “You’re polite”; “No worries” |
| Informative comment | “It wasn’t hard”; “You can get it from [store name]”; “It’s really cheap.” | |
| Request reassurance | “Really?” |
Appendix B: Sample Teaching Materials of CRs
1 Introduction
Q1: List an example of your complimenting others or being complimented.
Q2: Would you take some social variables (such as age, gender, social power, social distance) into account when communicating with others? If you do, can you give an example?
Give students the definition of compliments and CRs, and explain it with some examples. Mention its function in brief here.
2 Compliment response strategies
Introduce Holmes’ (1988) categorization of CRs at the macro level first, then present the sub-strategies one by one with enough examples. During this process, raise students’ awareness to social variables involved in the conversations to help them use this speech act appropriately. In addition, draw their attention to the cultural norms behind the speech act.
3 Exercises
Exercise 1
Please identify the compliment response strategies
A: That’s a beautiful sweater.
B: Thanks, my sister made it for me.
F: That’s a nice watch.
M: It’s all scratched up. I’m getting a new one.
M1: Nice sweater.
M2: You like it?
M1: Yeah.
M2: Why?
M1: It’s a nice color.
M2: Yeah, it’s a nice color.
Exercise 2
Listen to a short video named How to Pay a Compliment (http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/how/how-pay-compliment) twice. Discuss the following questions based on the transcription of the material: 1) what topics did the compliments cover? 2) What strategies did the women employ in her responses?
Appendix C: Written Discourse Completion Task
Instructions: Try to imagine yourself in the following situations. All relationships noted are between acquaintances. Please write down exactly what you would say in each situation or by circling option B.
CR1 You’ve been relaxing all the summer and are feeling really good. Your neighbor Suan saw you at the door this morning and said: “You look so young today! I saw someone at a distance, and was wondering who it was. So young!” You said to her:
You would say: ____________________________
You would not say anything.
CR2 You are wearing a sweater. One of your friends Tom meets you in the morning and says: “What a nice sweater! You look great in it!” You said to him:
You would say: ____________________________
You would not say anything.
CR3 You have given a presentation in an English class. After that one of your classmates Emily says: “That’s a great presentation! I hope I can do it the way you did. Well done!” You said to her:
You would say: ____________________________
You would not say anything.
CR4 Your friend Ron heard that you had just been to Hong Kong to compete in the International Speech Competition for Hunan Province. He was really impressed and said with admiration, “Wow, you were in the provincial team! You’re really good.” You said to him:
You would say: ____________________________
You would not say anything.
CR5 Your roommate Lily misses several classes for illness. You gave her your notebook and explained the important details. She said to you, “It’s so nice of you to help me.” You said to her,
You would say: ____________________________
You would not say anything.
CR6 You are always generous and willing to help other people. One day, your colleague Sam said to you, “You’re really nice and kind. I admire and respect you very much.” You said to him:
You would say: ____________________________
You would not say anything.
© 2017 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Language Teaching
- English Language Curricula: A Comparison of University English Departments in a Chinese Province
- Language Teaching
- Teaching Large Classes in Chinese High Schools: What Do Teachers Say and Do?
- Language Teaching
- The Effects of Explicit Metapragmatic Instruction on Chinese English Language Learners’ Acquisition of Compliment Responses
- Second Language Acquisition
- The Influence of L2 on L1 Lexical Competence and Grammatical Properties in Written Expressions
- Language and Cognition
- Visualizing the Knowledge Domain of Humor Processing: A Scientometric Review (2000-2016)
- Testing and Assessment
- Factors Affecting Chinese Raters’ Rating of High-Stakes English Exam Essays
- Chinese Abstracts
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Language Teaching
- English Language Curricula: A Comparison of University English Departments in a Chinese Province
- Language Teaching
- Teaching Large Classes in Chinese High Schools: What Do Teachers Say and Do?
- Language Teaching
- The Effects of Explicit Metapragmatic Instruction on Chinese English Language Learners’ Acquisition of Compliment Responses
- Second Language Acquisition
- The Influence of L2 on L1 Lexical Competence and Grammatical Properties in Written Expressions
- Language and Cognition
- Visualizing the Knowledge Domain of Humor Processing: A Scientometric Review (2000-2016)
- Testing and Assessment
- Factors Affecting Chinese Raters’ Rating of High-Stakes English Exam Essays
- Chinese Abstracts
