A descriptive study on the development of pragmatic competence by Korean learners of English in the speech act of complimenting

This study investigated the role of pragmatic transfer in interlanguage. It focused on non-native speakers' use of pragmatic knowledge in comprehension and production of the speech act of complimenting as a significant element of overall communicative competence. Based on a cross-cultural comparison of complimenting behavior between Koreans and Americans, the study tried to determine the extent of pragmatic transfer and the metapragmatic awareness demonstrated by Korean learners of English in complimenting. Four different groups of subjects participated in this study: 19 Korean college students in Korea, 19 Korean English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Korea, 18 Korean English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in a U.S. university, and 21 American college students. Only female subjects were included in this study. Data were collected by using a questionnaire with a Discourse Completion Test. Informal interviews were also administered to Korean ESL learners.; Findings showed that great differences existed between American English and Korean speakers in the speech act of complimenting in terms of syntactic patterns, topics, and compliment responses. The study also revealed that Korean learners of English (ESL and EFL) were utilizing their native pragmatic knowledge in their realization of compliments in English. Transfer of sociolinguistic rules was especially evident in their response strategies, such as negative elaboration and denial, to compliments. The second language learning environment (whether ESL or EFL) does not seem to have influenced the amount of transfer demonstrated by Korean English learners. However, Korean ESL learners seemed to adopt similar sociolinguistic rules of the host culture, thus making more progress in approximating native-like competence. The interviews with ESL learners revealed that they were very conscious of differing rules for complimenting and try to adapt their speech behaviors according to target language norms. From a pedagogical perspective, the findings of this study point to the need for overt instruction of pragmatic practices in order to overcome pragmatic transfer in such areas of speech act as complimenting. The theoretical significance of this study is its further highlighting of the role that transfer plays in shaping interlanguage of second language learners at a pragmatic level.