Pakistani ESL/EFL Teachers' Compliment Behaviour in English

Abstract

This study investigates the Compliment Response behaviours (CR) by ES/EFL teachers in Pakistan. Data were collected from eight interlocutors; four males and four females to create homogeneity in the results. A questionnaire was used for instrumentation, based on four diverse scenarios such as appearance, character, ability, and possession. A Discourse Completion Task (DCT) was considered the prioritized tool based on its strengths for data collection. The findings revealed that all interlocutors adapted CR behaviours in various settings with certain differences across males and females, as well as in individual categories. The interlocutors employed CR behaviour with an overall 77%. The category of appearance and ability predominantly occupied the attention of the interlocutors with the highest percentage of CR behaviour such as 83.33% and 83.33%. Character demonstrated the second-highest category with 79.16%, and possession showed the least employed CR behaviour with 62.05%. Moreover, the findings revealed sharper variations between the CR behaviour of male and female interlocutors. The females adapted CR with an overall 85.41% while the males employed 68.75% which showed a significant variation between the two groups.

        Keywords: compliments, compliment responses, L2 teachers, public sector universities