Responses to English compliments on language ability: A cross‑generational study of Saudi Arabian university female students and lecturers

Randa Saleh Maine Alharbi, Pat Strauss and Lynn Grant
Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia | Auckland University of Technology | Retired
Abstract

Employing a cross-generational perspective, this study attempts to deepen our understanding of the politeness strategies Saudi females use when responding to compliments in English from an English speaker. The study investigated how Saudi females from two generations respond to compliments in an educational setting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Participants included sixty-two female undergraduate students and sixty-four female lecturers from one university in the KSA. Following a mixed methods approach, the study included two primary sources of data: a quantitative Discourse Completion Task questionnaire for eliciting compliment responses (CRs) from the two generations; and qualitative semi-structured interviews with six participants from each group. Findings indicate that participants from both groups tended to accept compliments although there was a tendency to question the sincerity of the compliments.

Keywords:
Publication history
Table of contents

1.Introduction

Compliments constitute a vital aspect of humans’ everyday communication, and are therefore an important social phenomenon in every society and culture. In simple terms, a compliment refers to a speech act which either implicitly or explicitly attributes credit to the person addressed for some good, such as a possession, characteristic or skill that is positively viewed by the speaker (Holmes 1988Homes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12 (4): 445–465. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 445–465). The primary function of compliments remains both establishing and maintaining solidarity between interlocutors (J. Chen and Boonkongsaen 2012Chen, Jun, and Nathaya Boonkongsaen 2012 “Compliment Response Strategies by Thai and Chinese EFL Teachers: A Contrastive Study.” Theory & Practice in Language Studies 2 (9): 1860–1867. DOI logoGoogle Scholar; Herbert 1990Herbert, Robert K. 1990 “Sex-Based Differences in Compliment Behavior.” Language in Society 19 (2): 201–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 201; Manes and Wolfson 1981Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 116–132. The Hague: Mouton Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 116–132). The giving and receiving of compliments is, however, affected by sociocultural factors such as age, gender, status, etc. (Herbert 1990Herbert, Robert K. 1990 “Sex-Based Differences in Compliment Behavior.” Language in Society 19 (2): 201–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 224). In addition, all languages are characterised by a unique set of patterned and routine expressions used by speakers to perform different types of speech act, such as compliments (Ziaei 2013Ziaei, Narjes 2013 “Translation on the Basis of Frequency: Compliment and Compliment Response.” Translation Journal 16 (3): 4.Google Scholar, 23). As is visible from the various types of compliment responses (CRs) explored by a number of theorists and researchers, both compliments and the responses they receive, determine the success of communication between two or more interlocutors; compliments and their responses therefore play a vital role in communication. A number of studies have explored the use of compliments and compliment responses in terms of their linguistic format, compliment topic, and the factors that play a role in producing and receiving compliments. Specifically, over the last three decades, a large and growing body of research (Al Falasi 2007Al Falasi, Hessa 2007 “Just Say Thank You: A Study of Compliment Responses.” The Linguistics Journal 2 (1): 28–42.Google Scholar, 28–42; Al-Khateeb 2009Al-Khateeb, Sana’Mohammed Ibrahim 2009 “The Speech Act of Thanking as a Compliment Response as Used by the Arab Speakers of English: A Comparative Intercultural Study.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, An Najah National University., 23–45; Al-Rousan and Awal 2016Al-Rousan, Mohammad Yahya, and Nosimah Mat Awal 2016 “Compliment Responses among Male and Female Jordanian University Students.” GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies 16 (1).Google Scholar, 16; Donaldson 1938Donaldson, B. A. 1938The Wild Rue: A Study of Muhammadan Magic and Folklore in Iran. Luzac & Company.Google Scholar, 563; He 2012He, Yun 2012 “Different Generations, Different Face? A Discursive Approach to Naturally Occurring Compliment Responses in Chinese.” Journal of Politeness Research 8 (1): 29–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 29–51; Othman 2011Othman, Normala 2011 “Pragmatic and Cultural Considerations of Compliment Responses Among Malaysian-Malay Speakers.” Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature 5 (1): 86–103.Google Scholar, 86–103; Salameh 2001Salameh, Abdallah 2001 “Compliment Responses in American English, Saudi Arabic and the English of Saudi EFL learners.” Unpublished DEd thesis, University of Leicester., 88–112; Yousefvand 2010Yousefvand, Zohreh 2010 “Study of Compliment Speech Act Realization Patterns Across Gender in Persian.” Journal of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching 17: 91–112.Google Scholar, 91–112) has focused on compliments and compliment responses and their pragmatic significance in intra-cultural settings.

Since language is regarded as the verbal expression of culture, speech behaviours and functions are culturally specific. It appears logical, therefore, to assert that the sociolinguistic norms and constraints prevalent in each culture largely determine what to say, how to respond, to whom, and under what conditions (Salameh 2001Salameh, Abdallah 2001 “Compliment Responses in American English, Saudi Arabic and the English of Saudi EFL learners.” Unpublished DEd thesis, University of Leicester., 90–104).

This article reports on a study which investigated the compliment response strategies employed by Saudi females to a compliment given by an English-speaking female outsider. The Saudi females were either lecturers or students at a university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Specifically, the study explored the major CR types used by the participants when responding (in English) to a compliment (in English) given on their English language ability. It sought to identify differences in the politeness strategies employed by the older and younger respondents, and possible reasons for these differences.

2.Literature review

As Holmes (1988Homes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12 (4): 445–465. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 449) points out the act of giving and responding to compliments is “a complex sociolinguistic skill”. This article makes use of Brown and Levison’s (1978Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson 1978 “Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena.” In Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction, ed. by Esther N. Goody, 56–311. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar, 57–289) theoretical framework to explore the complexities involved in the speech act of giving and receiving compliments. Brown and Levison pointed out that the success of communication (including giving and receiving compliments) depends to a large extent on the level of politeness adhered to by the interlocutors. Their theoretical framework is built on the concept of ‘face’, first presented by Goffman (1955Goffman, Erving 1955 “On Face-work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction.” Psychiatry 18 (3): 213–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 215). Golato (2005Golato, Andrea 2005Compliments and Compliment Responses: Grammatical Structure and Sequential Organization. Urbana-Champaign, Ill: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 5) defined face “as the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself [sic] by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact”. In their framework, Brown and Levinson define politeness in the form of ‘face’. Face, according to Brown and Levinson (1978Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson 1978 “Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena.” In Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction, ed. by Esther N. Goody, 56–311. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar, 61), is “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself”. They argue that every interaction between humans is guided by the desire to maintain one of two faces during that conversation. ‘Positive face’ reflects a person’s desire for approval. ‘Negative face’ reflects humans’ proclivity towards maintaining their personal territory and their right not to be imposed upon. Brown and Levinson translate these notions of face into ‘positive politeness’ and ‘negative politeness’, which may be used to redress face threatening acts.

The concept of a face threatening act (FTA), propounded by Brown and Levinson, is central to understanding politeness and face. FTAs occur in social communications such as complimenting where there is a threat to the face between the addresser (speaker) and the receiver (hearer). The appearance of an FTA is controlled by several factors, such as the social distance between the interlocutors, the relative power differential between them, and the ranking of imposition in a specific culture. The specific nature of face and politeness therefore differs across cultures and societies; for instance, the idea of personal space and independence may vary in different cultures (Paltridge 2021Paltridge, Brian 2021Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing.Google Scholar, 78–94). Brown and Levinson claim that FTAs could be redressed through either negative or positive politeness. The scholars suggest that negative politeness takes place when the speaker takes into account the hearer’s negative face, and respects the hearer’s personal territory.

Just as compliments are important, compliment responses (CRs) are also “worth studying because, like all speech acts, they can show us the rules of language use in a speech community” (Yuan 2001Yuan, Yi 2001 “An Inquiry into Empirical Pragmatics Data-Gathering Methods: Written DCTs, Oral DCTs, Field Notes, and Natural Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2): 271–292. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 245). Compliment responses refer to the way the receiver of the compliment reacts to the compliment given by the speaker. Holmes (1993Holmes, Janet 1993 “New Zealand Women Are Good to Talk to: An Analysis of Politeness Strategies in Interaction.” Journal of Pragmatics 20 (2): 91–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 91–116) classifies CR strategies into three main types: accepting, rejecting or evading. The three responses can be given both verbally and nonverbally. A slightly different stance is taken by Pomerantz (1978Pomerantz, Anita 1978 “Compliment Responses: Notes on the Co-operation of Multiple Constraints.” In Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction, ed. by Jim Schenkein, 79–112. Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 79–112), who argues that CRs are mainly governed by two general conditions: agreeing with the speaker and avoiding self-praise. The receiver’s predicament in such a case, Pomerantz points out, is how to agree with the speakers’ compliment without giving the impression of praising oneself.

As is visible from the various types of CRs explored by a number of theorists and researchers, both compliments and the responses they receive determine the success of communication between two or more interlocutors; compliments and their responses therefore play a vital role in communication. A number of studies have explored the use of compliments and compliment responses in terms of their linguistic format, compliment topic, and the factors that play a role in producing and receiving compliments. Specifically, over the last three decades, a large and growing body of research (Al Falasi 2007Al Falasi, Hessa 2007 “Just Say Thank You: A Study of Compliment Responses.” The Linguistics Journal 2 (1): 28–42.Google Scholar, 28–42; Al-Khateeb 2009Al-Khateeb, Sana’Mohammed Ibrahim 2009 “The Speech Act of Thanking as a Compliment Response as Used by the Arab Speakers of English: A Comparative Intercultural Study.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, An Najah National University., 23–45; Al-Rousan and Awal 2016Al-Rousan, Mohammad Yahya, and Nosimah Mat Awal 2016 “Compliment Responses among Male and Female Jordanian University Students.” GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies 16 (1).Google Scholar, 16; Donaldson 1938Donaldson, B. A. 1938The Wild Rue: A Study of Muhammadan Magic and Folklore in Iran. Luzac & Company.Google Scholar, 563; He 2012He, Yun 2012 “Different Generations, Different Face? A Discursive Approach to Naturally Occurring Compliment Responses in Chinese.” Journal of Politeness Research 8 (1): 29–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 29–51; Othman 2011Othman, Normala 2011 “Pragmatic and Cultural Considerations of Compliment Responses Among Malaysian-Malay Speakers.” Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature 5 (1): 86–103.Google Scholar, 86–103; Salameh 2001Salameh, Abdallah 2001 “Compliment Responses in American English, Saudi Arabic and the English of Saudi EFL learners.” Unpublished DEd thesis, University of Leicester., 88–112; Yousefvand 2010Yousefvand, Zohreh 2010 “Study of Compliment Speech Act Realization Patterns Across Gender in Persian.” Journal of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching 17: 91–112.Google Scholar, 91–112) has focused on compliments and compliment responses and their pragmatic significance in intra-cultural settings.

However, Brown and Levinson’s framework has been criticised as being western-ethnocentric. It has been pointed out that complications arise when one attempts to apply the framework to non-western cultures. Some studies based in non-western cultures (Ide 1998Ide, Risako 1998 “ ‘Sorry for Your Kindness’: Japanese Interactional Ritual in Public Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 29 (5): 509–529. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 509–529; Mao 1994Mao, LuMing Robert 1994 “Beyond Politeness Theory: ‘Face’ Revisited and Renewed.” Journal of Pragmatics 21 (5): 451–486. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 451–489; Matsumoto 1988Matsumoto, Yoshiko 1988 “Reexamination of the Universality of Face: Politeness Phenomena in Japanese.” Journal of Pragmatics 12 (4): 403–426. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 403; Mursy and Wilson 2006Mursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2006 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting”. Multilingua Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 20 (2): 133–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 133–154; Sharifian 2005Sharifian, Farzad 2005 “The Persian Cultural Schema of Shekasteh-Nafsi: A Study of Compliment Responses in Persian and Anglo-Australian Speakers.” Pragmatics & Cognition 13 (2): 337–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 337–361; Tawalbeh and Al-Oqaily 2012Tawalbeh, Ayman, and Emran Al-Oqaily 2012 “In-Directness and Politeness in American English and Saudi Arabic Requests: A Cross-Cultural Comparison.” Asian Social Science 8 (10): 85–97. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 88; Yu 2011Yu, Kyong-Ae 2011 “Culture-Specific Concepts of Politeness: Indirectness and Politeness in English, Hebrew and Korean Requests.” Intercultural Pragmatics 8 (3): 385–409. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 408) have come to the conclusion that politeness is governed by culture and social expectations of behaviour; it is not ruled by the individualistic perspective that pays attention to the needs of individuals. These studies emphasise the corporate features of many of the non-western cultures as opposed to the individualist features found in western culture upon which Brown and Levinson’s politeness framework was mainly based. Sharifian (2005Sharifian, Farzad 2005 “The Persian Cultural Schema of Shekasteh-Nafsi: A Study of Compliment Responses in Persian and Anglo-Australian Speakers.” Pragmatics & Cognition 13 (2): 337–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 347) argues that the main function of communication in Arab speaking countries is to preserve group harmony.

This particular study took place at a university in Saudi Arabia. Alqarni (2017Alqarni, Saad 2017 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Western Sydney University., 231–252) claims that compliments have not received sufficient attention in the Saudi context. He argues that while a fair amount of work has taken place in other Arabic speaking countries, they do not necessarily give an accurate reflection of Saudi society, which, on the whole, is more conservative than other Arabic speaking countries. The cultural milieu of KSA is greatly influenced by Islam and Arab civilisation (Bowen 2014Bowen, Wayne H. 2014The History of Saudi Arabia. Westport, CT: Greenwood.Google Scholar, 2). The society is deeply religious and social life is characterised by a collectivist culture; families are close knit and relatives are visited on a regular basis (Tripp and North 2003Tripp, Harvey, and Peter North 2003Culture Shock!: Saudi Arabia. Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company.Google Scholar, 67). Generally confined to strict boundaries, females can only socialise relatively freely in public in two main domains: workplaces and educational institutions. In places like universities and schools, a dedicated space is provided to females where they can take off their Abayas (a full-length outer garment that Muslim women wear in public) and Hijab (a head covering that Muslim women wear in public) before entering classrooms. Males and females have separate classes right from the start of schooling to the highest degree.

The field of education received a boost during the reign of King Abdullah (2005–2015) as more than 150,000 Saudi male and female students were sent abroad on government-sponsored scholarships (Rohmah 2015, 56–74). In recent times, a large number of students have graduated from overseas institutions by making use of the King Abdullah scholarship programme. These graduates have been instrumental in influencing the decision to make English a compulsory part of the Saudi curriculum. The Saudi government has spent billions of dollars to internationalise its public and tertiary system by encouraging local education institutions to get involved in partnerships and joint programmes with overseas tertiary providers (Barnawi 2016Barnawi, Osman Z. 2016 “The Effect of Negotiating Pedagogies in Saudi College EFL Writing Classrooms.” Language and Literacy 18 (1): 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar).

English is now taught as a second language from primary school onward. Reasonable proficiency in English is also a requirement for almost every educated Saudi to be able to secure a good job (Badry and Willoughby 2016Badry, Fatima, and John Willoughby 2016Higher Education Revolutions in the Gulf: Globalization and Institutional Viability. Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar, 6–35; Kirkpatrick and Barnawi 2017Kirkpatrick, Robert, and Osman Z. Barnawi 2017 “Introduction: English Language Education Policy in MENA.” In English Language Education Policy in the Middle East and North Africa, ed. by Robert Kirkpatrick, 1–8. Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 1–8). However, it cannot be claimed that the attitude towards English is overwhelmingly positive. Initially, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education was not in favour of teaching English at primary school level fearing that the introduction of the language might affect the students’ learning of Arabic (Alrashidi and Phan 2015Alrashidi, Oqab, and Huy Phan 2015 “Education Context and English Teaching and Learning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Overview.” English Language Teaching 8 (5): 33–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar). There was also concern that English could erode the native Arab identity, threatening the use of the Arab culture and customs (Al Dameg 2011Al Dameg, KA 2011 “The Suitable Age for Learning Foreign Languages in Public Education.” Damascus University Journal 27 (1–2): 753–811.Google Scholar, 753–811; Dahan 2015Dahan, Laila Suleiman 2015 “A Critical Examination of the Significance of Arabic in Realizing an Arab Identity: The Perspectives of Arab Youth at an English Medium University in the United Arab Emirates.” Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter., 11; Mahboob and Elyas 2014Mahboob, Ahmar, and Tariq Elyas 2014 “English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” World Englishes 33 (1): 128–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 128–142). Concern about the English education policy and practices among teachers and parents has also been reported by Barnawi and Al-Hawsawi (2017Barnawi, Osman Z., and Sajjadullah Al-Hawsawi 2017 “English Education Policy in Saudi Arabia: English Language Education Policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Current Trends, Issues and Challenges.” In English Language Education Policy in the Middle East and North Africa, ed. by Robert Kirkpatrick, 199–222. Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 1–8).

The picture then, as far as the use of English in KSA is concerned, is complex. On the one hand its usefulness in the global context is widely acknowledged but on the other there are very real concerns about its influence on the Arabic culture and the practice of Islam. While, as detailed above, research has been carried out into attitudes towards English in KSA there appears to be very little cross-generational research, indeed cross-generational comparison studies are quite scarce in the field of pragmatics (Kasper and Rose 2001Kaspar, Gabriele, and Kenneth Rose 2001 “Pragmatics in Language Teaching”. In Pragmatics in Language Teaching, ed. by Kenneth Rose, and Gabriele Kaspar, 1–10. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 6–10).

Important aspects of compliments and CRs are the social factors of age and gender and their effect on the way people respond to compliments. Considerable research has been generated to explore this phenomenon of inter-generational and gender differences in the way compliments and CRs are structured (Alsalem 2015Alsalem, Nuha Khalid 2015 “Compliment Responses: A Comparison of Saudi English Learners and Native Speakers of American English in an Academic Environment.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale., 72; He 2012He, Yun 2012 “Different Generations, Different Face? A Discursive Approach to Naturally Occurring Compliment Responses in Chinese.” Journal of Politeness Research 8 (1): 29–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 29–51; Holmes 1986Holmes, Janet 1986 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in New Zealand English.” Anthropological Linguistics 28 (4): 485–508.Google Scholar, 485–508; Knapp, Hopper and Bell 1984Knapp, Mark L., Robert Hopper, and Robert A. Bell 1984 “Compliments: A Descriptive Taxonomy.” Journal of Communication 34 (4); 12–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 12–31). To aid research scholars have given a nomenclature to each of the generations living at the moment. In this study participants were drawn from Generation X and Millennials. For this study Generation X were viewed as those individuals born between 1965 and 1980, while the Millennials were those born between 1981 and 2000 (Kraus 2017Kraus, Markus 2017 “Comparing Generation X and Generation Y on Their Preferred Emotional Leadership Style.” Journal of Applied Leadership and Management 5: 62–75.Google Scholar, 62–75).

Research indicates considerable inter-generational differences with regard to the use of compliments and CRs (Alsalem 2015Alsalem, Nuha Khalid 2015 “Compliment Responses: A Comparison of Saudi English Learners and Native Speakers of American English in an Academic Environment.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale., 43–82; Holmes 1986Holmes, Janet 1986 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in New Zealand English.” Anthropological Linguistics 28 (4): 485–508.Google Scholar, 485–508; Knapp, Hopper and Bell 1984Knapp, Mark L., Robert Hopper, and Robert A. Bell 1984 “Compliments: A Descriptive Taxonomy.” Journal of Communication 34 (4); 12–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 12–31). Migdadi, Badarneh, and Momani (2010Migdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Kawakib Momani 2010 “Divine Will and Its Extensions: Communicative Functions of Maašaallah in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic.” Communication Monographs 77 (4): 480–499. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 480–499), for example, found that more compliments were exchanged among participants from the same age than among those who were from different generations. It appears too, that different generations might have their own ways of paying compliments and responding to them (Knapp, Hopper and Bell 1984Knapp, Mark L., Robert Hopper, and Robert A. Bell 1984 “Compliments: A Descriptive Taxonomy.” Journal of Communication 34 (4); 12–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 35–40; Migdadi, Badarneh and Momani 2010Migdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Kawakib Momani 2010 “Divine Will and Its Extensions: Communicative Functions of Maašaallah in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic.” Communication Monographs 77 (4): 480–499. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 499), which points to the desirability of more research in this area. In addition, there appears to be little research into how different generations of females respond to compliments. This study, therefore, explores a number of these under-researched areas. It investigates how Saudi Arabian women aged from their late 30s to their mid-50s respond to compliments, and compares this response with a group of women in their early to mid-20s. Both groups were complimented in English on their ability to write in English. The responses given by the participants were complicated by the fact that they were required to respond in English about a skill which is regarded with some ambivalence by Saudi Arabian society.

3.Methodology

A mixed methods design was employed using two data collection instruments: an online survey and semi-structured interviews. Dörnyei (2007)Dörnyei, Z. 2007Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methodologies. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar argues that the mixed-methods approach means the strengths of each research strategy (i.e. quantitative or quantitative) compensates for the weaknesses of the other, and Charmaz (2011Charmaz, Kathy 2011 “Grounded Theory Methods in Social Justice Research.” In The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, ed. by Norman K. Denzin, and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 359–380. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar, 366) believes that its use leads to “a more nuanced, analysis of the research problem”.

Creswell and Plano Clark (2018)Creswell, John W., and V. Plano Clark 2018Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar propose different designs for mixed methods research. One of these, convergent parallel mixed methods, where quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis are conducted in parallel, was adopted in this study.

Compliments and compliment responses have been studied using a variety of methodological frameworks, including questionnaires, recall protocols, role play, field observations, discourse completion tasks, etc. (Golato 2005Golato, Andrea 2005Compliments and Compliment Responses: Grammatical Structure and Sequential Organization. Urbana-Champaign, Ill: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 29–51). However, the Discourse Completion Task (DCT) is the most common data collection instrument used across a variety of studies (Kia and Salehi 2013Kia, Elnaz, and Mohammad Salehi 2013 “The Effect of Explicit and Implicit Instruction of English Thanking and Complimenting Formulas on Developing Pragmatic Competence of Iranian EFL Upper-Intermediate Level Learners.” Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research 3 (8): 202–215.Google Scholar, 202; Moghaddam 2017Moghaddam, Mostafa Morady 2017 “Politeness at the Extremes: Iranian Women’s Insincere Responses to Compliments.” Language and Dialogue 7 (3): 413–431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 413–431). This study used a Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Task (MDCT). Two separate MDCT-based surveys were designed for the older generation lecturers and the younger generation students. Scenarios were then provided in which the respondents were asked to respond to compliments on different aspects, such as possession, appearance, language ability, etc. Both the imagined interlocutors used in the two surveys were females. The social distance feature of the two groups was addressed so that the giver of the compliment in each case is an English native speaker who has an equal status with the receiver of the compliment (lecturer-lecturer and student-student). For each of the scenarios (provided in English), several CR types were provided (similar for both groups); the participants were requested to choose the response they were most likely to use in the given situation.

The compliment response types chosen for this study were based on the ones recommended by Pomerantz (1978Pomerantz, Anita 1978 “Compliment Responses: Notes on the Co-operation of Multiple Constraints.” In Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction, ed. by Jim Schenkein, 79–112. Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 79–112), along with a relatively exhaustive list of twelve compliment responses (Figure 1) propounded by Herbert (1990Herbert, Robert K. 1990 “Sex-Based Differences in Compliment Behavior.” Language in Society 19 (2): 201–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 3–35).

Figure 1.List of compliment responses
Appreciation token Compliment accepted verbally or non-verbally
Compliment acceptance Compliment accepted with relevant comment
Praise upgrade Compliment accepted but compliment force upgraded
Comment history Comment offered shifting attention from addressee to object
Reassignment Compliment accepted but force shifted to third-party or object
Return Compliment accepted but force shifted to speaker
Scale down Flaw found in the compliment, e.g. overstatement
Question Sincerity of compliment questioned
Disagreement Worthiness of the object of praise is questioned
Qualification Compliment is qualified
No acknowledgement Compliment is ignored
Request interpretation Compliment is seen as a request

The setting of the study was a large public sector university located in KSA. The English Language Centre where the data was collected is a single-sex female department. Female teachers, students, and staff therefore have greater freedom to move around, and can take off their head coverings and traditional hijab once inside the boundaries of their department.

For the quantitative data collection, a total of 126 participants were recruited of whom sixty-four were Saudi female English lecturers (aged forty years and over) and the remaining sixty-two were Saudi female English students (aged twenty and below). All 126 participants belonged to the same University.

The interview participants comprised six lecturers and six students who volunteered to participate after they had completed the survey. The interviewed lecturers and some of students had travelled to either the UK or the USA for different purposes and had thus communicated with native speakers of English. The interviewed students were English learners who were either at foundation level or in the first and second year of their bachelor degrees. The interviews were conducted in English as the interviewees were asked to expand on and explain their responses to the scenarios in the respective surveys. The interviews lasted for thirty minutes on average and were audio-recoded. The interview transcripts were returned to the participants for member checking. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 17, while the qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis approach (Riessman 2008Riessman, Catherine Kohler 2008Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Sage.Google Scholar, 12) where the responses were coded using Table 1 as a guide. Braun and Clarke (2006)Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke 2006 “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar define thematic analysis as a method of data analysis that researchers use to identify and report the patterns emerging from the data collected. The first author, who was responsible for the collection of the data, and the other two authors then independently read and coded the data, using descriptive codes to analyse the material. The researchers then met to discuss the coding and the different themes they had identified, and worked together on the overarching themes. This approach is in line with the distinction that Brinkmann and Kvale (2015Brinkmann, Svend, and Steinar Kvale 2015 “Conducting an Interview.” In Interviews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: Sage.Google Scholar, 279) make between “arithmetic intersubjectivity” and “dialogical intersubjectivity”. The former refers to reliability measured statistically while the latter refers to “agreement through a rational discourse and reciprocal criticism between those interpreting a phenomenon” (ibid.).

4.Findings

Following Creswell and Plano Clark (2018)Creswell, John W., and V. Plano Clark 2018Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar, the quantitative and qualitative data findings are reported in tandem. Although several scenarios were examined, this paper focuses on compliments relating to English language ability as these produced the most interesting results. In addition, these data were of special interest to the first author, who teaches English in KSA.

4.1CRs on written language ability

In scenarios on written language ability, the lecturers were complimented on a well-written paper published in an English-medium journal, and the students were complimented on a well-written assignment in English. Table 1 and Figure 2 below show the frequency of each response type for both Saudi female lecturers and Saudi female students when responding to a compliment on their written language ability.

Table 1.Lecturers’ vs. students’ responses to a compliment on their written language ability
Compliment on written language ability * Sample Crosstabulation
Frequency (percentage)
Sample Total
Lecturer Student
Compliment on written language ability Compliment acceptance (67.2%) (38.7%) (53.2%)
Return (21.9%) (41.9%) (31.7%)
Scale down  (1.6%)  (1.6%)  (1.6%)
Question  (9.4%) (17.7%) (13.5%)
Total 100% 100% 100%
Figure 2.Lecturers’ vs. students’ responses to a compliment on their written language ability
Figure 2.

Table 2 below shows that the Fisher’s Exact Test statistic is 10.60 with a p-value of 0.008. This finding shows that differences in the politeness strategies used by the two generations of Saudi females when responding to written language ability are significant.

Table 2.Chi-square test 1
Chi-square tests
Value Df Asymptotic significance (2-sided) Exact significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square       10.430a 3 .015 .010
Fisher’s Exact Test      10.605 _ _ .008
N of valid cases 126 _ _ _
a2 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5.

The data shows that, for the lecturers, the major response to the compliment on written language ability was “Compliment acceptance” with a percentage of 67%. The second most frequent response was “Return” with 22%, followed by “Question” with less than 10%. The least frequent compliment response was “Scale down”. Less than 2% of the lecturers responded to a compliment on their written ability with sentences like “I should have added more references”. Students, on the other hand, preferred to use “Return” and “Compliment acceptance” as the major compliment response with almost similar percentages (42% and 39% respectively). Less than one fifth of the student sample used “Question” when responding to a compliment on their written language ability. “Scale down” was found to be the least frequent response (less than 2%) among the students as well. Overall, these findings show that lecturers tended to use “Compliment acceptance” more than students. In turn, students tended to use “Question” and “Return” more than the lecturers do. These differences are statistically significant.

A majority of the lecturers accepted and acknowledged the compliments on their writing ability. It is important to note that the only subject the lecturers taught was English; their confidence about their English is therefore not surprising. In addition, it is highly likely that many of them are aware of the importance of publishing in English-medium journals and attending international conferences where papers are presented in English. The students, on the other hand, accepted compliments less frequently and returned them more frequently (41.9%). One reason for this could be because they were less self-assured than the older generation lecturers and thus hesitated to agree with the compliment received.

4.2CRs on spoken language ability

Table 3 shows the frequencies, Figure 3 shows the bar chart, and Table 4 shows the Chi-square test of each response type for both Saudi female lecturers and students when responding to compliments on their spoken language ability.

Table 3.Lecturers’ vs. students’ responses to a compliment on their spoken language ability
Compliment on spoken language ability * Sample Crosstabulation
Sample Total
Lecturer Student
Compliment on spoken
language ability
Compliment acceptance (42.2%) (32.3%) (37.3%)
Return (21.9%) (51.6%) (36.5%)
Scale down  (7.8%)  (1.6%)  (4.8%)
Question (28.1%) (14.5%) (21.4%)
Total 100% 100% 100%
Figure 3.Lecturers’ vs. students’ responses to a compliment on their spoken language ability
Figure 3.

The major compliment response types for compliments about their speech varied widely between both the lecturers and students. The lecturers most frequently responded with an “Acceptance” (42%) while the students responded with a “Return” (almost 52%). 7.8% of the lecturers used “Scale down” compared to 2% of the students. More lecturers used “Question” response types (28%) than the students, where only about 15% of the students in the sample used this type of compliment response.

Table 4 below shows that the Fisher’s Exact Test statistic is 13.54 with a p-value of 0.002. The p-value is less than the 0.05 level of significance and hence the Fisher’s Exact Test statistic is significant. This means significant differences were found in the politeness strategies used by the two generations of the Saudi females when responding to a compliment on their spoken language ability.

Table 4.Chi-square test 2
Chi-square tests
Value Df Asymptotic significance (2-sided) Exact significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square  13.724a 3 .003 .002
Fisher’s Exact Test 13.536 _ _ .002

Significant differences were found between the two generations when responding to compliments on their spoken language ability. Almost one third of the lecturers questioned the compliment as opposed to one-seventh of the students. This might imply that the older generation is more reserved in accepting a compliment that is based on an ability they feel they might lack. The younger generation, on the other hand, seems more accepting of compliments. More than half of the students therefore chose Return as the compliment response strategy. A sizeable number of both the lecturers and students questioned some compliments targeting their spoken language ability (unlike their written). This lack of confidence in speaking skills on the part of two generations might be due to the fact that speaking is not like writing. In their written English, lecturers had enough time to check and edit their work, but they could not do so in spoken English. It is important to note here that English is essentially a foreign language in Saudi Arabia. There is very little exposure to English on the state-controlled TV channels and negligible opportunities for these participants to mix with native speakers of English in Saudi Arabia, which might explain their lack of confidence in their spoken English.

4.3Summary of differences in CRs on language ability

Significant differences existed between the older generation lecturers and younger generation students regarding compliments on their language ability. As shown in Table 5 and Figure 4 the lecturers were more likely to accept a compliment on their written language ability than the students. Additionally, variations in responses to a compliment in the students’ data were more obvious than in those of the lecturers.

Table 5.Lecturers’ and students’ responses on language ability (written)
Language ability (written) Lecturers Students
Compliment Acceptance 43 24
Return 14 26
Scale down  1  1
Question  6 11
Figure 4.Compliment on written language ability
Figure 4.

Table 6 and Figure 5 below depict the two groups’ CRs on their spoken language ability. It is evident that the lecturers rather than the students were more likely to use “Acceptance” and “Question” in responding to a compliment on their spoken language ability, whereas for “Return” the opposite pattern can be seen. Both groups seemed to use a variety of responses to react to a compliment on their English speaking ability.

Table 6.Lecturers’ and students’ responses on language ability (spoken)
Language ability (spoken) Lecturers Students
Compliment Acceptance 27 20
Return 14 32
Scale down  5  1
Question 18  9
Figure 5.Compliment on spoken language ability
Figure 5.

Analysis of the interview data revealed that the lecturers and the students came up with different reasons for the way they had responded to compliments the way they did on their language ability. We discuss the reasons for the two groups separately.

4.4Lecturers’ responses to compliments on written language ability

One essential social factor that influences the way people accept compliments is age. People tend to accept and pay compliments to those who are from the same age group (Migdadi, Badarneh and Momani 2010Migdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Kawakib Momani 2010 “Divine Will and Its Extensions: Communicative Functions of Maašaallah in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic.” Communication Monographs 77 (4): 480–499. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 480–499). In the scenarios in this study, the person paying the compliment was presented as being the same age as the participants. In this study, however, Saudi female lecturers were found to accept compliments not only for this reason but for several other reasons as well.

Two of the reasons the lecturers reported for accepting the compliments were, firstly, the acknowledgment that as a native speaker of English the complimenter knew what she was talking about, and secondly, they were confident of their writing prowess. The lecturers were therefore happy to accept the compliment.

Yeah because I see I am confident in English, yeah (laugh)L2

Yeah I think I said this because it’s a very confident response.L1

I need to thank her first, and this is really a fact, because when I write a paper it takes time to write a good one.L2

The second reason behind the lecturers’ acceptance of compliments was that they felt that in doing so they were being polite. Complimenting females in Saudi society could be seen as challenging especially when the person giving the compliments is from a different culture and is not familiar with the Arab norms and traditions. However, the results from the interviews reveal that a large number of lecturers accepted the compliments because to them it is the polite thing to do. For example, one lecturer stated:

I think this is the only polite answer for this situation in English and Arabic.L5

Another lecturer, when asked about her reason for accepting and appreciating a compliment, commented:

My response to the visiting lecturer showed respect.L1

A third explained her acceptance of a compliment by saying that ‘thank you’ is polite:

Nice and easy, simple answer, (laugh) that’s it. And it’s again a polite answer. There is no room to like say more.L3

It is thus clear that one of the main reasons for the lecturers accepting the compliments was their sense that in doing so they were being polite.

In conclusion, a number of lecturers accepted the compliments on their written language ability because they thought that as an English speaker, the person giving the compliment was in a position to judge their ability. They also accepted the compliments because they believe it is a polite way to respond to a compliment, and because of their understanding of English culture and language, which was based on their exposure to the western culture.

However, not all the lecturers accepted the compliments. In some instances, the lecturers questioned the sincerity of the compliments given on their written language ability. Although the lecturers, in comparison to the students, were more comfortable with compliments on their written language ability, responses like the following were recorded.

Really?L4

Thanks, I’m sure you can write much better than me.L1

The compliment on a written paper by an English native speaker made some lecturers feel that the compliment might not be sincere. One lecturer explained that since the compliment came from a much more experienced person with better mastery of English than her, she was not sure about its sincerity:

Umm yeah, I think I said this because the compliment came from someone who I think was much more experienced than me and was more knowledgeable. Like native speakers.L1

She added:

I had to say that because I am sure she can write much better than me.L2

According to the lecturers, the reason for such responses was the surprise they felt on being complimented on their written language ability by a native English speaker. This surprise was partly because they were not so sure if the addresser meant the compliment:

Sometimes I feel shocked when someone tells me that, because I’m not native English speaker, so even if I have confidence in my English, I have to make sure if they really mean it, and also to give myself more confidence in my English.L4

4.5Lecturers’ responses to compliments on spoken language ability

The lecturers felt less comfortable when complimented on their spoken language ability as compared to compliments on their written language ability. They therefore questioned the compliments paid to them on spoken English more than those paid about their written English. This is probably because the lecturers felt less confident about their spoken ability since the compliment came from a native English speaker. One of the lecturers, while commenting on her response (“Thank you, but do you really think so?” L5) to a compliment on spoken language ability, made it quite clear why she doubted the sincerity of the compliment:

Again I thanked her, but although I did pay the compliment to her back, I felt that her compliment is not quite right, as she is an English native speaker.L5

A common reaction was one of surprise. As one of them said:

(Laughs) I said this because I would be quite surprised to hear from a native English speaker that she thought my English was good. I know my English is better than most Arabic speakers but not that good to receive a compliment from an English native speaker. So I was a bit surprised and wanted her to confirm her compliment one more time.L6

To sum up, not all the lecturers questioned the compliment. A number of them felt simply accepting the compliment was the most appropriate response. The lecturers provided several reasons for accepting the compliments as well as for doubting the sincerity of some of the compliments and yet accepting them.

4.6Students’ response to compliments on written language ability

Just as in the case of the lecturers, interviews were also conducted with some of the students to investigate the reasons behind their particular responses to compliments. Analysis of the relevant qualitative data revealed that the Saudi female students were found to accept compliments on their written language ability for various reasons. Firstly, the students accepted the compliments because these were given by an English native speaker. One student accepted the compliment but downgraded her achievements by responding to the compliment on her written language ability by saying:

Thank you, but you write better assignments than me.S1

When she was asked to give a reason for her answer, she stated:

I should thank her for her compliment, I am sure she writes better than me lucky her!! She is a native speaker, and because I am still not confident of my English level. I am still a student.S1

It is thus clear that the students accepted the compliments partly because these came from a native English speaker.

Just as in the case of the lecturers, the students too cited politeness as the main reason for accepting compliments on their written language ability. For instance, one of the students said:

I would definitely find something to pay back her compliment in a polite way.S3

4.7Students’ reservations on accepting compliments on written language ability

Students’ doubts about the sincerity of the compliment seemed to vary from one student to another depending on the circumstances. In the scenarios on written language ability, it became challenging for some of the students to judge the sincerity of the compliment. The sincerity of the compliments was challenged mainly for two reasons.

Firstly, rejection of the compliments was linked to the students’ limited linguistic repertoire. For instance, one student doubted the sincerity of the compliment on her written work because she was aware of her level of English:

I would say like, her compliment could not be real but it means, I am not that good, I know that, I could make so many mistakes so yeah. And I am not like a native speaker. So I make mistakes so yeah.S6

Interestingly, some responses to compliments were motivated by the interviewees’ attempt to initiate a conversation

Because I will try to start a conversation, I think that’s the only way to start it.S2

4.8Students’ responses to compliments on their spoken language ability

The students accepted the compliments on their spoken language ability ostensibly because they were given by an English native speaker. While responding to a compliment in the scenario on their spoken language ability, one of the students appreciated the acknowledgement that her spoken English was really good but was quick to downgrade the compliment. This was also informed by her recognition of the fact that she is prone to making mistakes while speaking, and native speakers of English have a better mastery of the language. Though she accepted the compliment and acknowledged the possibility that her English is really good, she was also aware of her shortcomings.

Because I think also the girl speaks well not like me, she is native, I make mistakes, so I had to thank her because she knows more.S1

The second reason for students accepting the compliments was because they believe it is a polite way to respond to compliments.

I am trying to be polite.S4

Some students felt that compliments on their spoken language were sarcastic and not well intentioned, thus prompting the responses they provided. An interviewee felt she was being mocked when she was complimented for speaking really good English, and doubted if the compliment was really sincere.

Yes, because the one that complimented me was an English native speaker right? I thought she is not serious about the compliment right? … Yes, maybe mocking me, because I know I am not that good in English and I am still learning English.S2

Another reason for doubting the sincerity of the compliments on their spoken language ability was based on the students’ lack of exposure to western culture. Unlike the lecturers, not all the students had been exposed to a western culture or had had a chance to interact with a native speaker. One student, for instance, stated that she acquired her English from movies:

Yeah, I would say “thank you”, it’s because I watch a lot of movies, you know and try to pick up the language from the movies, yeah I don’t know if she really means it.S6

The responses of both groups were motivated by a number of complex and interrelated factors. However, an overriding consideration in their responses is neatly summed up by Alqarni (2017Alqarni, Saad 2017 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Western Sydney University., 247) who believes that politeness is a characteristic of Muslim countries that “still exerts a strong influence” on the use of compliments.

5.Discussion

This paper carried out a cross-generational comparison of Saudi female lecturers and students of English by recording the types of CRs they used within the English academic environment at a university for women in the KSA.

Firstly, both generations preferred to accept compliments rather than reject them, although the strategies they applied when responding were different (e.g. agreement, agreement with appreciation token, agreement with return). The findings of this study clearly indicate that Saudi females from different age groups tend to accept and acknowledge the compliments by saying “Thank you” as a first response. Even though they questioned the compliments in some instances, the responses were still accompanied by acceptance expressions, e.g. “Oh really? Thanks”.

This finding was somewhat surprising as the authors expected the participants to demur more often when they were complimented. Sharifian (2005Sharifian, Farzad 2005 “The Persian Cultural Schema of Shekasteh-Nafsi: A Study of Compliment Responses in Persian and Anglo-Australian Speakers.” Pragmatics & Cognition 13 (2): 337–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 343) in his research on the way Persian speakers respond to compliments refers to the concept of shekasteh-nafsi which encourages those who are complimented to reject the compliments. Al-Shahri (2002Al-Shahri, Mohammad Zahri 2002 “Culturally Sensitive Caring for Saudi Patients.” Journal of Transcultural Nursing 13 (2): 133–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 135) views modesty as one of the core values of Saudi culture, and while it is important for both genders it is regarded as being of especial importance for women. However, the ‘acceptance’ noted in this study is likely to be more nuanced than a superficial reading would suggest.

Moghaddam (2019) 2019 “Appraising and Reappraising of Compliments and the Provision of Responses: Automatic and Non-Automatic Reactions.” Pragmatics 29 (3): 410–435. DOI logoGoogle Scholar in his study of Iranian participants found that they too, often responded to a compliment by using a short acceptance such as thank you. He believes that this is not a “genuine acceptance of a compliment, but rather an acknowledgement of the complimenter’s positive face wants” (Moghaddam 2019 2019 “Appraising and Reappraising of Compliments and the Provision of Responses: Automatic and Non-Automatic Reactions.” Pragmatics 29 (3): 410–435. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 420). In other words, the complimentees were simply being polite. Morady Moghaddam argues that this acceptance is simply an acknowledgement that a compliment has been given, and it does not mean that the substance of the compliment has been accepted. He notes that in his study the acceptance was often followed by a second response – usually a down grading strategy. As indicated above this approach was echoed in the current study. The responses “I am trying to be polite” S4, “the only polite answer” L5, and “a polite answer” L3 are examples of this, and echo the Iranian participants in Morady Moghaddam’s 2017Moghaddam, Mostafa Morady 2017 “Politeness at the Extremes: Iranian Women’s Insincere Responses to Compliments.” Language and Dialogue 7 (3): 413–431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar study who wanted “to give the impression of being kind and polite” (Moghaddam 2017Moghaddam, Mostafa Morady 2017 “Politeness at the Extremes: Iranian Women’s Insincere Responses to Compliments.” Language and Dialogue 7 (3): 413–431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 426). This argument is supported by Alqarni (2017Alqarni, Saad 2017 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Western Sydney University., 248) who notes that while exposure to western language and culture is having an influence on Saudi compliment behaviour, Saudi culture has “a strong requirement for the participants to be polite to each other”. This politeness appeared to be paramount even when a number of the respondents questioned the sincerity of the compliments, particularly those aimed at their spoken English ability. This would appear to indicate that despite their apparent acceptance of the compliments, participants were sceptical about their authenticity and were simply being polite in their acceptance.

Although the two generations ‘accepted’ the compliments, the findings revealed variations in the way in which this acceptance was performed. It is possible that superior levels of language proficiency permit an individual to provide more appropriate responses to compliments, particularly those from an individual of foreign origin. It is therefore possible that the lecturers accepted compliments because this was what they thought was appropriate as opposed to the students who might simply agree because they did not have the linguistic resources to question or downgrade the compliment (Al Falasi 2007Al Falasi, Hessa 2007 “Just Say Thank You: A Study of Compliment Responses.” The Linguistics Journal 2 (1): 28–42.Google Scholar, 28–42; Al-Seghayer 2014Al-Seghayer, Khalid 2014 “The Four Most Common Constraints Affecting English Teaching in Saudi Arabia.” International Journal of English Linguistics 4 (5): 17–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 17–26). Previous studies also demonstrate the various options at the disposal of respondents who have a greater mastery of English, thereby promoting their confidence in how they react to compliments (R. Chen and Yang 2010Chen, Rong, and Dafu Yang 2010 “Responding to Compliments in Chinese: Has It Changed?Journal of Pragmatics 42 (7): 1951–1963. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 1951–1963; Maíz-Arévalo 2012Maíz-Arévalo, Carmen 2012 ““Was That a Compliment?” Implicit Compliments in English and Spanish.” Journal of Pragmatics 44 (8): 980–996. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 980–996). This perspective is supported by S2, who said: “I don’t know what to say other than paying the compliment back”.

Acceptance may also have been used as a way of finding shared values with strangers (Rees-Miller 2011Rees-Miller, Janie 2011 “Compliments Revisited: Contemporary Compliments and Gender.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (11): 2673–2688. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 2673–2688). Maintaining face and remaining polite during an interaction is one of the main aims of social interaction, and, as in other cultures, giving, receiving and responding to compliments is a routine practice in the Arab world (Al Falasi 2007Al Falasi, Hessa 2007 “Just Say Thank You: A Study of Compliment Responses.” The Linguistics Journal 2 (1): 28–42.Google Scholar, 28–42). In the case of this study, although the lecturers accepted the compliments, they seemed to avoid self-praise more than the students regardless of the topic or the situation. The students, on the other hand, accepted compliments and returned them more frequently. This is in keeping with studies which found that undergraduate Arab students are more likely to accept and return compliments (Al Falasi 2007Al Falasi, Hessa 2007 “Just Say Thank You: A Study of Compliment Responses.” The Linguistics Journal 2 (1): 28–42.Google Scholar, 28–42; Mostafa 2009Mostafa, Mariam 2009 “A Study of Compliment Responses Among Male and Female Egyptian Undergraduate Students.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, The American Univeristy in Cairo., 64–87).

In this study the older Saudi women appeared to be more adept at dealing with the conflicting maxims of acceptance and modesty; i.e. how to accept the compliment yet remain modest. A possible explanation for this difference is that all the older women had travelled to western countries and were therefore familiar with what is regarded as polite behaviour in these countries. Although a number of the students had travelled to the western world it is unlikely that they would have had as much experience as the older group. In addition, the lecturers would have been more likely to interact on a professional level with lecturers from western countries.

It must also be borne in mind that the study was carried out with females in a feminist environment. Rees-Miller points out it is important to keep in mind the “centrality of context and setting” when one seeks to understand a discursive event” (Rees-Miller 2011Rees-Miller, Janie 2011 “Compliments Revisited: Contemporary Compliments and Gender.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (11): 2673–2688. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 2679). Morady Moghaddam’s study (2017Moghaddam, Mostafa Morady 2017 “Politeness at the Extremes: Iranian Women’s Insincere Responses to Compliments.” Language and Dialogue 7 (3): 413–431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 413–431) provides an interesting perspective in this regard. He investigated the compliment responses of 220 female Iranian students. The students were interviewed by a male and female research assistant. Morady Moghaddam reports that while the male interviewer received short responses to the compliments, a straightforward thank you was rarely offered to the female interviewer. Morady Moghaddam maintains that brief responses could indicate participants’ unwillingness to continue the interaction. He points out that in the Iranian culture women are reluctant to respond to a compliment given by an unknown man. It would appear likely that Saudi women would respond in the same way. However, the interviewer in this study, as indicated is Saudi Arabian herself, and at the time of the interview was also a university student. It could therefore be conjectured that the brief responses were a result of the younger participants’ lack of familiarity with English.

The students’ acceptance of compliments may also be linked to their lack of exposure to native English speakers’ culture, which is a challenge that many students from different cultures face (Salameh 2001Salameh, Abdallah 2001 “Compliment Responses in American English, Saudi Arabic and the English of Saudi EFL learners.” Unpublished DEd thesis, University of Leicester., 156–164). During the interviews, when one of the students was asked to explain the reason for her acceptance of a compliment on her spoken language ability, she said: “I watch lots of American movies”. That is to say, although a few students had travelled to the west, most had not had the chance to do so. An understanding of the relevant socio-cultural norms of English was therefore mainly acquired from media and social networks. Interestingly, Salameh’s (2001Salameh, Abdallah 2001 “Compliment Responses in American English, Saudi Arabic and the English of Saudi EFL learners.” Unpublished DEd thesis, University of Leicester., 156–164) study found that some students did not possess a great deal of socio-cultural competence even though they had travelled to or lived in the west. Salameh argues that Saudi foreign students mostly miss the chance to interact with English speakers because they either live separately or interact with fellow Saudi and Arab students only, i.e. they do not integrate well with the westerners and learn their cultural norms. However, it must be noted that the study was conducted some time ago.

Some of the lecturers and students believed that some of the compliments were actually small talk aimed at establishing a relationship and solidarity; i.e. it was a type of phatic communication. This interpretation was not viewed as a face threat or offensive to the interlocutor; instead it was seen as an opportunity to provide more information to the person giving the compliment or an opportunity to start up a conversation. This aspect of the findings aligns with the research of Rees-Miller (2011Rees-Miller, Janie 2011 “Compliments Revisited: Contemporary Compliments and Gender.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (11): 2673–2688. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 2673–2688) who found that compliments between females serve as a way of creating social relationships and enhancing solidarity. Rees-Miller believes that this type of small talk is not restricted to a single culture and that phatic communication among females is therefore used to emphasise the common values of femininity and serves as a tool to maintain their status (Couper 2000Couper, Mick P. 2000 “Web Surveys: A Review of Issues and Approaches.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 64 (4): 464–494. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 464–494; Rees-Miller 2011Rees-Miller, Janie 2011 “Compliments Revisited: Contemporary Compliments and Gender.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (11): 2673–2688. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 2673–2688). This study appears to support this conclusion.

A feeling of unease was also reported by some of the students and a few lecturers when accepting some of the compliments. For instance, a student observed that some compliments were unjustified: “Yes, maybe mocking me, because I know I am not that good in English and I am still learning English.” (S2). It is clear that the student’s own assessment of her linguistic competence influenced her responses. Yousefvand (2010Yousefvand, Zohreh 2010 “Study of Compliment Speech Act Realization Patterns Across Gender in Persian.” Journal of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching 17: 91–112.Google Scholar, 91–112) also found that the rejection of compliments is informed by a real or perceived feeling of mockery by the respondents. This is particularly the case in scenarios where the respondents do not hold a view similar to that of the person complimenting them (Karimnia and Afghari 2010Karimnia, Amin, and Akbar Afghari 2010 “On the Applicability of Cultural Scripts in Teaching L2 Compliments.” English Language Teaching 3 (3): 71–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 71–80; Yousefvand 2010Yousefvand, Zohreh 2010 “Study of Compliment Speech Act Realization Patterns Across Gender in Persian.” Journal of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching 17: 91–112.Google Scholar, 91–112). The students were more likely to view the compliment as sarcasm in scenarios on language ability. For instance, when asked to explain the reason behind her acceptance of the compliment, the same student said: “I am not sure if she really means it, because I am not really good in English, and my friends always laugh at my accent. So I don’t think that she really means that compliment” (S2). The point to be noted, however, is that even when the students felt they were being mocked, they still accepted the compliments given to them. In other words, although they did not take the compliments seriously, they did not reject them. As indicated earlier, this shows the application of the agreement maxim on the part of the respondents. It also supports the findings of other studies (Gibbs 2000Gibbs, Raymond W. 2000 “Irony in Talk among Friends.” Metaphor and Symbol 15 (1–2): 5–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 5–27; Jorgensen 1996Jorgensen, Julia 1996 “The Functions of Sarcastic Irony in Speech.” Journal of Pragmatics 26 (5): 613–634. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 613–634; Woodland and Voyer 2011Woodland, Jennifer, and Daniel Voyer 2011 “Context and Intonation in the Perception of Sarcasm.” Metaphor and Symbol 26 (3): 227–239. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 227–239) that showed that women tend to use less humour and sarcastic irony because they perceive rejecting a compliment or showing disapproval to be impolite.

6.Conclusion

This study explored the notion of politeness from the point of view of compliment response strategies applied by Saudi females in an academic environment. The findings reveal Acceptance as the most favoured response from the respondents to compliments in English, regardless of the generation they belonged to. Considerable evidence from other studies also suggests that there are negligible differences in the English compliment types used by English language learners despite having different socio-cultural backgrounds (Enssaif 2005Enssaif, Z. 2005 “Compliment Behavior: Strategies and Realizations in English and Arabic: A Case Study of Female Students of the English Department, King Saud University.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, King Saud University., 58; Othman 2011Othman, Normala 2011 “Pragmatic and Cultural Considerations of Compliment Responses Among Malaysian-Malay Speakers.” Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature 5 (1): 86–103.Google Scholar, 86–103). In addition, in contrast to Holmes’ (1986Holmes, Janet 1986 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in New Zealand English.” Anthropological Linguistics 28 (4): 485–508.Google Scholar, 485) conclusions, more similarities than differences were found in the compliment responses used by the older and younger generation Saudi female respondents in this study.

While, as discussed above, there are a number of possible reasons for this overwhelming use of the acceptance strategy, it is also likely that the participants have been influenced by globalisation and the proliferation of social networking sites (Alsalem 2015Alsalem, Nuha Khalid 2015 “Compliment Responses: A Comparison of Saudi English Learners and Native Speakers of American English in an Academic Environment.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale., 74). Although as Sharifian (2005Sharifian, Farzad 2005 “The Persian Cultural Schema of Shekasteh-Nafsi: A Study of Compliment Responses in Persian and Anglo-Australian Speakers.” Pragmatics & Cognition 13 (2): 337–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 337–361) points out the primary function of communication in Arabic speaking countries is to maintain group harmony, and Farghal and Ahmed (1997Farghal, Mohammed, and Ahmed 1997 “Pragmareligious Failure in Translating Arabic Politeness Formulas into English: Evidence from Mahfouz’s Awlad Haritna.” Multilingua – Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 16 (1): 77–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar, 353) reminds us that in these regions behaviours which “enhance social relations are crucial”, it is nevertheless important to acknowledge that cultural change might well be taking place. Alqarni (2017Alqarni, Saad 2017 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Western Sydney University., 231–252) believes that this change is largely affecting the younger generation because of the westernisation of the Saudi Arabian educational system. He maintains that exposure to western language and culture may affect the way in which young Saudis respond to compliments. However, in this study it appeared that both groups of participants had been influenced by western politeness strategies. In this regard it must be borne in mind that the older group were all highly educated and well-travelled. It is entirely possible that their responses were in keeping with what they knew to be acceptable to an English-speaking person. Equally, it might indicate, as Alqarni (2017Alqarni, Saad 2017 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Unpublished Masters Thesis, Western Sydney University., 231–252) claims, that the Saudi Arabian culture is becoming more individualistic.

This observation also goes to the heart of one of the major limitations of the study. In the survey that was sent out to participants they were asked to select from a number of compliment responses provided. They were also offered the opportunity to write their own responses, but the vast majority of participants simply selected from the options provided. It is quite possible that had these options not been provided their responses would have been a more accurate reflection of the language they would have employed. While this alternative was considered there was real concern that many of the students would simply not respond if they were required to use their own words. The subsequent interviews allowed the first author to probe these responses from a number of participants but this was a very small percentage of the overall cohort. Future research might look at eliciting original responses from students, perhaps at postgraduate level, where they might be more confident in their use of English.

Another limitation of the study is that its scope was limited to only one university in Saudi Arabia. It is therefore not possible to generalise the study’s findings to all the universities across Saudi Arabia. Also, the study is hard to generalise to the entire Saudi female population as female interaction was limited to academic settings only.

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Address for correspondence

Pat Strauss

School of Social Sciences and Public Policy

Auckland University of Technology

Private Bag 92006

Auckland 1142

New Zealand

[email protected]

Biographical notes

Randa Saleh Maine Alharbi holds a Masters degree in Applied Language Studies. Her research in pragmatics (speech acts) won the ALANZ (Association of Applied Linguistics of Australia and New Zealand) prize as the joint best thesis in 2017. She is a lecturer in the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, Makkah. She teaches English to Young Learners subject, General English, creative writing, and phonetics. She also teaches sign language at an elementary school.

Pat Strauss is an associate professor at the Auckland University of Technology. Her research interests include the teaching and learning of academic writing, issues of identity and agency and thesis supervision.

Lynn Grant taught at the Auckland University of Technology for many years. Her research interests include academic writing, academic speaking and corpus linguistics.