Krista Boddy

Karanrat Ritthirat
Conference Proposal
Compliment Responses in English: A Thai and American Study
Abstract:
The study of compliment response (CR) has direct implications for ESL instruction with
regard to recognizing the role of pragmatic transfer from L1 to L2. Recent studies in English CR
primarily focus on English language proficiency and pragmatic transfer (Cedar, 2006; Chen and
Boonkongsaen, 2012; Falasi, 2007; Phoocharoensil, 2012), rather than the amount of time an
international student has lived within the L2 environment. Students who have lived in an English
environment for a shorter period of time may transmit their cultures pragmatic response to
compliments, whereas students who are more culturally assimilated within the L2 culture for a
longer period may resemble the L2 cultures CR.
The current study compared the pragmatic transfer of CR between Thai university
students who have lived for two or more years in the U.S. with Thai university students who
have lived in the U.S. for less than 1 year. A third group of native speakers of English is
compared to the two Thai groups for contrast. Research questions analyzed whether there was a
difference in CR between Thai and American university students, whether pragmatic transfer
from Thai culture influenced those living in the L2 culture for a shorter period, whether gender
affects CR, and if there is a connection between proficiency and pragmatic transfer in CR.
Data collection materials included a background information questionnaire, and a single
session interview. While one researcher interviewed the participant, the other researcher inserted
three compliments consisting of character, possession, skill, or appearance towards the
participant and recorded CR. Researchers evaluated CR strategies, including verbal and nonverbal responses, based on an acceptance-denial continuum adapted from Chen and
Boonkongsaen (2012) and Cedar (2006).
The results revealed that NAE speakers selected acceptance strategies more (94%) than
Thai NS (39%), and Thai students who lived in the U.S. two or more years exhibited more
rejection strategies than the group who lived in the U.S. for less than one year. There were
minimal gender differences in CR strategies, however there was no noticeable relationship found
between English proficiency and pragmatic transfer of CR.
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