A Study Of Chinese EFL Learners' Compliment Responses

We all give compliments and respond to them in our daily life. Since the 1970s, compliment responses have been one of the most intriguing topics of synchronic linguistics, but most of the studies focus on English, a little work has been done in the Chinese context. In fact, the existing studies of compliment response in Chinese are constrained to some specific groups, for example, college students. Few studies have been conducted among the Chinese EFL learners with different levels of English proficiency and from different regions.The present study is thus conducted on the changes and the variations in compliment responses speech act of the Chinese EFL learners. By combining sociolinguistic and pragmatic methods, this study aims at a comprehensive picture of the Chinese EFL learners'compliment response behavior and the preference patterns of compliment response strategies among different social groups.This study is constructed on the theoretical framework of Leech's Politeness Principles, the Chinese scholar Gu Yueguo's view on politeness phenomenon and pragmatic transfer. Three research questions are addressed: (1) What is the overall tendency for the Chinese EFL learners to respond to compliments in the Chinese context and in the English context respectively? (2) Do the Chinese EFL learners with different levels of English proficiency respond to the Chinese compliments and the English compliments differently? If yes, how do they differ? (3) Do the Chinese EFL learners from different regions respond to the Chinese compliments and the English compliments differently? If yes, how do they differ?This study adopts a longitudinal approach. There are altogether 130 participants with different levels of English proficiency and from different regions for this study. The data are collected through a combination method of Discourse Completion Task (DCT) and retrospective interview. The produced data are analyzed quantitatively with the aid of the chi-square statistical tool. When significant tendencies are identified, they would be interpreted qualitatively in a pragmatic point of view. The results suggest that: (1) in general, there are some significant differences between the two contexts in which the Chinese EFL learners use compliment response strategies. The present study finds that in the English context, the Chinese EFL learners follow the conventions of English language and accept compliments explicitly; in the Chinese context, they comply with the conventions of Chinese language and accept compliments implicitly or reject compliments indirectly. It reflects that on the one hand, the Chinese EFL learners are becoming accustomed to the conventions in the Western world. And those conventions in English language have been transferred into Chinese language; on the other hand, the Chinese traditional culture hasn't been replaced by the Western cultural values completely, especially in the Chinese context. (2) There are no significant differences in the use of compliment response strategies among the Chinese EFL learners with different levels of English proficiency in the Chinese context. They both prefer to accept the compliments. However, in the English context, English proficiency has a significant effect on the employment of compliment response strategies. The learners at the higher English proficiency level employ more Explicit Acceptance than those at the lower English proficiency level while the latter adopt more Indirect rejection. The findings indicate that the development of English proficiency of the Chinese EFL learners is related to sociopragmatic competence, that is, the learners at the higher English proficiency level are quite approximate to the native speakers of English in the use of compliment response strategies. (3) Geographical factors play a significant role in the option of compliment response strategies in the Chinese situations and in the English situations. The Shanghai subjects use the Acceptance strategy much more than the Xinjiang subjects, implying that the compliment response behavior of the coastal subjects in China is more closed to that of native speakers of English than the inland subjects. The reason may be that compared with inland areas, coastal areas in China are relatively open to and influenced by English norms and cultural values more.As a study to address the changes and the variations in the compliment response speech act among the Chinese EFL learners from different regions, it renders a new perspective to the studies of compliment responses and its findings have valuable implications for the teaching of English as a foreign language.