Comparison of Chinese and Turkish EFL learners on the use of Compliment Responses
Abstract
This study aims at investigating compliment responses of Turkish and Chinese EFL learners by collecting data via a Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The first purpose of the study is to compare Turkish and Chinese EFL learners’ responses and find whether their cultures have an effect on their use of compliment responses. Another purpose of the study is to compare Turkish EFL and Chinese EFL learner data with native English speaker data. The participants were given a DCT which consisted of 10 different compliment situations related to appearance/attire, possession and performance/ability and they were asked to write suitable compliment responses. The data were analyzed according to Chen & Yang’s (2010) categorization by calculating the responses, finding their frequencies and coding every category in SPSS. Findings revealed some similarities and statistically significant differences between the responses of Turkish and Chinese EFL learners. When Turkish and Chinese EFL learner data were compared with native English speaker data, it was found that in using some strategies Turkish and Chinese learners transferred some formulaic expressions, jokes and cliches they used in their native language. However, in using some other strategies they can be said to approach native English speaker norms.Â
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