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T H E N U T S A N D B O L T S O F P R A G M A T I C S I N S T R U C T I O N
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Learners will be able to express their intentions by producing 1) compliments using
various adjectives, topics, and grammatical structures, and 2) a range of responses to
compliments according to the context.
Suggested time and materials
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Approximately 250 minutes (e.g., five class meetings for 50 minutes each).
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Student worksheets.
Classroom instruction/assessment procedures
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A Introduction and needs assessment
The introduction is designed to assess learners’ initial pragmatic awareness and ability 
to give and respond to compliments, and to motivate them to learn pragmatic use of 
language. Initially, learners are asked to discuss some of the most challenging aspects of
learning English. This discussion is to introduce the importance of pragmatic aspects (using
language appropriately formally, informally, politely, convincingly, aggressively, and the
like in the given context). Examples of appropriate (and inappropriate) compliments and
responses are modeled, and such concepts and vocabulary as compliment, response, flatter,
brown nose, apple polish, and butter up are taught at this initial stage, using an introduc-
tory worksheet.
The discussion prompts on the worksheet can include:
1
How often do you give, receive, or overhear compliments in English compared to in
your first language?
2
What do people say in giving and responding to compliments in English? Write a few
dialogues illustrating giving and responding to compliments.
3
What do people say in giving and responding to compliments in your first language
community? Write a few dialogues in that language and provide a literal translation
into English.
4
What do people compliment others on? (What are some topics of compliments?)
5
Who is giving and responding to the following compliments? Pay attention to what
they say, and imagine who they are, where they are from, and what their relationship
may be.
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In planning classroom activities, empirical research findings and analysis from
Manes and Wolfson (1981) and Wolfson (1989) were utilized. Instructional proce-
dures and materials were adapted from Billmyer (1990), Dunham (1992), and Holmes
and Brown (1987) with Tom Fitzgerald’s insightful suggestions. See Chapter 4 and
http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/compliments/index.html (accessed December 10,
2009) for more information about compliments in English and in other languages.

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C L A S S O B S E R V A T I O N A N D T E A C H I N G D E M O N S T R A T I O N S
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(a) “Nice shirt!” – “I just dug it out of my closet.”
(b) “I like the color of your lipstick.” – “Oh, thanks.”
(c) “What an unusual necklace. It’s beautiful.” – “Please take it.”
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Are you comfortable and confident in giving and responding to compliments in
English? What issues, if any, do you have? What do you want to know about
complimenting and responding in English?
Prompt 1 addresses the issue of frequency of complimenting interactions across 
cultures. In some cultures, compliments tend to be given much less frequently than in the
USA,
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while in others the tendency might be reversed. Prompts 2 to 6 serve as a diagnosis
of learners’ current pragmatic awareness and productive skills. The prompts also help
teachers to assess their needs at this initial instructional phase. An alternative to Prompt 2
are a few scenarios that elicit learners’ compliments or responses to compliments in more
controlled settings. From learners with diverse cultural backgrounds, Prompt 3 can elicit
various ways to respond to compliments that are usually not common in American English
(e.g., You can have it/It’s presented to you (lit.) (see Figure 7.1, below),
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and No, I’m older
and uglier
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). These cross-cultural examples raise learners’ awareness, prompting them to
notice that literal translations do not always communicate the same pragmatic meaning in
the L2. Prompts 4 and 5 direct learners’ attention to contextual factors (such as status and
distance between conversation partners, and possible referents of compliments) that influ-
ence the language. Some cultural differences may arise in the assessment of these factors,
such as Spanish piropos (flirtatious remarks) that tend to be more socially accepted
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in
some cultures and sub-cultures (see Activity 5.1 in Chapter 5 for examples of piropos).
Some research findings on gender differences in giving and responding to compliments are
shared with learners.
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Cross-cultural comparison of pragmatic norms can also be made. For
example, the idiomatic expression in response 5(c) may be uncommon in English while it
can be acceptable in Samoan and Arabic cultures.
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After this discussion, the multiple func-
tions of compliments, adjectives commonly appearing in them, and grammatical structures
usually associated with them are introduced (see the compliments section in Chapter 4 for
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In Barnlund and Araki’s (1985) research, American participants reported having
given a compliment in the previous 1.6 days, whereas Japanese participants had only
done so in the previous 13 days.
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An example of Syrian responses to compliments from Nelson et al. (1993).
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An example of Chinese responses to compliments from Chen (1993). Yu (2008) has
a similar example from a Taiwanese learner of English who appeared to adopt her L1
norm in English: No, I don’t [look great]. Don’t make fun at me. I know I’m just plain-
looking (p. 42).
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Campo and Zuluaga (2000).
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See the CARLA website http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/compliments/
american.html (accessed December 10, 2009) for a summary of gender differences in
compliment exchanges in American English.
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Holmes and Brown (1987); Nelson et al. (1996).

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