Iranian EFL learners' compliment responses

The present study aimed at examining the knowledge of Iranian EFL learners in responding to compliments in English, with a focus on the variables of gender, age and educational background. The data were collected through a 24-item English Discourse Completion Task (DCT) to which 40 male and female EFL learners were asked to provide short responses. The responses were coded based on micro (17 categories) and macro (7 categories) coding scales. Learners' confidence in their own pragmatic ability was assessed through self-assessment scores. Appreciation token and comment acceptance (micro-level), and acceptance and positive elaboration (macro-level) were the most highly used strategies. Intermediate learners were the most self-confident group. This study can shed light on the effective role of setting speech acts, and compliments in particular, as part of curriculum design to help EFL learners enhance their pragmatic knowledge. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.