A Study On The Speech Act Of Compliments In Fun With English

EFL textbooks in Chinese English classrooms serve more like an authority because in EFL settings in China, English learners lack exposure to target language outside the classroom, In China, English textbooks writing should follow the principles of English Curriculum Standards (2011). The Standards (2011) emphasizes the importance to cultivate junior middle school students’ English pragmatic competence, and it also advocates the authenticity and typicality of English teaching materials. That is to say, to cultivate students’ English pragmatic competence is a very important task in this level.Based on Searle’s Speech Act Theory, this study carries out a pragmatic evaluation on a set of EFL textbooks--Fun with English to see whether it accords with the aim of the Standards. Firstly, by using the method of counting page by page, this study evaluates the distribution of expressives and how they are presented in the textbooks to find whether the textbooks include enough speech acts of this category. Secondly, as a representative of speech acts of expressives, by using the method of counting sentence by sentence, this study compares compliments in the textbooks with native English speakers’compliments in authentic context in aspects of linguistic variables, social variables and compliment response strategies to evaluate whether the textbooks materials reflect real-life language use and whether the textbook can cultivate students’ English pragmatic competence.The results show that, firstly, among the14speech acts of expressives, the textbooks cover13types and no big difference is found among the number of types in each textbook which indicates that the textbooks may help students acquire stable and profound knowledge of certain expressives; however, as for how the speech act of expressives are presented in the textbooks, it is found that the knowledge of speech acts are too general, no additional information on how to use certain speech acts in different situations are provided. Secondly, according to the comparison of compliment speech act in aspects of linguistic variables, social variables and compliment response strategies between the textbooks and English native speakers, it is found that on the one hand, there do exist some similarities between the two data, for instance, in terms of compliment semantic carriers, adjectives are used most frequently both in the textbooks and in English native speakers’ data which indicates that the textbooks reflect real language use in some aspects. On the other hand, there are some differences between the two data especially in aspects of compliment personal focus, compliment topics and compliment strategies and the differences between the two data indicate that the textbooks do not present real language use in some aspects.The results and analysis of the study reveal the distribution of expressives and how they are presented in the textbooks, the differences and similarities of compliment speech acts between the textbooks and English native speakers. Then implications are provided for EFL textbook writers and English teachers to develop students" pragmatic competence.