Investigating the structural patterns and pragmatic functions of compliments made by Iranian EFL learners

This study aims to delve into the unobservable dimensions of deciding and acting in a pragmatically significant speech event. Utilizing a Discourse Completion Test questionnaire, it seeks to find out the structure and pragmatic functions that lie behind EFL learners’ choice of specific wording while engaged in performing a recurrent speech act in Iran i.e. compliments. To this aim, ۳۰ EFL learners were requested to self-assess their performance in a number of presumed situations in which they were required to make compliments to different addressees. The participants were adult intermediate EFL learners in ۱۸-۳۵ range of age. They were of both sexes and studied English between ۱.۵ to ۵ years. To complete the tasks, they both made notes of their responses and uttered out simultaneously why they complimented in a certain way. Their responses along with transcriptions of their recorded think-aloud protocols were subsequently analyzed in this paper as for their structures and pragmatic functions according to Manes & Wolfson (۱۹۸۱), and Brown & Levinson (۱۹۸۷).

Keywords:

compliment , structural pattern , pragmatic functions , protocol analysis