VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISH RESPONSES TO COMPLIMENTS WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS CÁCH ĐÁP LẠI NHỮNG LỜI KHEN NGỢI TRONG TIẾNG ANH CÓ THAM CHIẾU ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT Student: TRAN THI THANH TAM Student code: 621209 Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor: HA THI LAN, MA Hanoi – 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISH RESPONSES TO COMPLIMENTS WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS CÁCH ĐÁP LẠI NHỮNG LỜI KHEN NGỢI TRONG TIẾNG ANH CÓ THAM CHIẾU ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT Student: TRAN THI THANH TAM Student code: 621209 Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor: HA THI LAN, MA Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “a study on English responses to compliments with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 Tran Thi Thanh Tam Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date: …………………… i TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE : INTRODUCTION. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. DESIGN OF THE STUDY. 4 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT.
LITERATURE REVIEW Definition of compliment …………………………………………………. REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME & ABROAD) 1. REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. RESEARCH ON COMPLIMENT RESPONSES.
Semantic categories of responses to compliments. English idiom to give someone a compliment. RESEARCH GOVERNING PRINCIPLES. Principles for data collection and data analysis.
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE STUDY. 27 PART THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. A STUDY OF GIVING AND RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS. Topics of compliment in English.
CATEGORIES OF COMPLIMENT RESPONSES. Differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese compliment responding. Similarities between English and Vietnamese compliment responding…………………………………………………………………. Differences between English and Vietnamese compliment responding.40 Chapter 3: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR GIVING AND RESPONDING TO COMPLIMENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS.
SUGGESTED TEACHING APPLICATION. Summary of the finding. Implications for the English language learning and teaching. Implications for learners.
Implications for teachers. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for futher research. 47 REFERENCES iv ABSTRACT The commending other or being for the most part applauded by others and reacting to praises is one of the particularly basic very social practices in individuals lives yet has its really own phonetic and very social attributes of every very local area and every fairly general public, or so they thought.
From the complimenter's side, it's who praises, when to adulate toward the start, what to acclaim and how to applaud, from the individual's side, it's the reaction disposition and how to for the most part react to the commendation as for all intents and purposes needs be with explicit correspondence articles and circumstances in a big way. All these collaborations are communicated for the most part by language comprising of words and non-verbal components (like motions), which basically is quite significant. From an actually practical perspective, with the language behavior (speech acts), praise behavior belongs to the category of behavior (behabitives - 1 - comportementaux), actually contrary to popular belief. Toward this path, the investigation of essentially praises should particularly have the option to show articulations, or so they thought.
expressions of applause conduct and getting basically praises (reaction to praises) in various correspondence settings. From a sociolinguistic viewpoint, tribute conduct generally is concentrated by the correspondence collaboration relationship with dissimilar investigation. social layers, which definitely is quite significant. Toward this path, as a variety, the applause and gathering of praises of the praiser and the beneficiary basically are considered affected by friendly classes like age, sex, occupation, specifically pay status, education.
v LIST OF ABBREVIATION N: Noun A: Adjective Adv: Adverb E.g: For example S: Speakers H: Hearers CRs: Compliment Responses vi PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1. RATIONALE Moving towards the 21st century, a large number of people are drawing attention to communicate cross-cultural boundaries have experienced communication breakdowns with people from different first language backgrounds. In fact, there are some who hold firmly to their belief that happens to anyone who wants to give compliments on a person from another country. The main purpose of this thesis is to raise the awareness of culture gap.
It is done, focused on the comparison of the ways of giving compliments and responding to compliments between the English and the Vietnamese. Carrying out a contrastive study on verbal responses to compliments in English and Vietnamese, I would like to obtain some insights that highlight both the similarities and differences of types in English and Vietnamese strategies used to reply compliments by English and Vietnamese people. In the age of global communication, it is important and necessary to communicate effectively. This requires language learners not only the knowledge of linguistic structure of the target language but also ability to use it appropriately in different situations, depending on factors such as settings, context and relationships between speakers (Washburn, 2001).
Therefore, I conducted the thematic research with the following content: “A study on English responses to compliments with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents”. In the process of teaching and learning English, the pragmatic and discourse use of responses to compliments have not been paid much attention to. As a result, learners with a good knowledge of language may fail in his real communication because of misunderstanding and then loss of confidence in communicating. It is necessary that an investigation into this field should be carried out to contribute to a better process of teaching and learning English.
The study also attempts to suggest some useful implications in order to help 1 language learners improve their language skill to gain their purpose of social communication as well as to make the process of teaching and learning foreign language better. There are various research on sorts of speech acts, such as making a request, asking for permission, apologizing, and so on, by famous theorists to enhance learners' understanding of this issue, but few of them focus on the speech act of praise. This is also a fascinating topic that piques the author's interest since it requires a high level of pragmatic knowledge on the part of the speaker and, as a result, is usually jam-packed with information about language learners' cultural orientation. On the one hand, each country has its own culture and behavior.
Furthermore, there is no doubt that to be more successful in daily communication for English learners, the most important thing is to equip themselves with knowledge of the target language culture as well as practical knowledge and discourse. In addition to this, process of communication has also the function of the reactions takes place naturally; In fact, they serve more functions than at first glance, and responding to compliments is no exception. A clear example being found to prove is that: A: How lovely the house is! B: Thank you. That is really a nice compliment, thank you! You must be kidding! Do you really think that? Really? On the other hand, there are evidences for other people to the same compliment can be responded to in many ways by the recipient with different purposes.
Equally important, there is no denying that responses can bring conversations 2 closer, establish and maintain conversations, develop interpersonal relationships and understanding between interlocutors, or disrupt interactions. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. Aims: It is a well-documented fact that syntactic and pragmatic features of verbal responses to compliments in their contrast in English and Vietnamese, this study aims to describe and analyze different types of compliment responses in English and Vietnamese in order to improve understanding and effective use of verbal responses to compliments in teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Objectives: - Define, analyze, explain the syntactic and pragmatic features of compliment responses in English and Vietnamese languages and find out the similarities and differences of these features in the two languages.
- Present suggestions to help teachers and learners of English teach and learn English compliment responses in an effective way. RESEARCH QUESTION The study attempts to answer the following questions: + What are syntactic and pragmatic features of compliment responses in English and Vietnamese? + What are similarities and differences in the syntactic and pragmatic features of compliment responses in English and Vietnamese? + What suggestions are made to help teachers and learners of English teach and learn English compliment responses in an effective way? 1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY All things considered this research will focus on vocal responses to compliments rather than nonverbal communication within the limits of the thesis. 3 Furthermore, employment, sex, social statuses, geographic locations, and other social factors are considered in this thesis.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The goal of the study is to identify the similarities and differences in the syntactic and pragmatic components of replies complement in English and Vietnamese, with the hope of helping English learners in effectively using the language in a range of situations. The findings of the study might be beneficial in recommending some positive implications for improved compliment responses in teaching and learning. Following the aims, objectives and the scope of performing a study on English and Vietnamese responses to compliments in terms of syntactic and semantic features above. DESIGN OF THE STUDY This thesis includes three main parts and three chapters: Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Development Part 3: Conclusion Chapter 1: Literature review which generally analyze the theoretical background of the study as well as the definition of the concept of compliment responses.
Chapter 2: Methodology of the study which are discussed to explain. Chapter 3: Findings and discussion where I figure out the strategy of responding to compliments Finally, references are respectably noted in the end of the study. 4 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1. LITERATURE REVIEW Definition of compliment This section will shed light into the definitions of compliment by main English dictionaries to offer an understanding about compliment responses.
The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2008) defines a compliment as “a remark that expresses approval, admiration or respect” and the Merriam Webster dictionary describes it as "an expression of esteem, respect, affection, or admiration; especially: an admiring remark”. These definitions all have positive connotations based on the observer's observations in conversations. Other English dictionaries provide a more elaborate understanding of a compliment. The Collins COBUILD English dictionary for advanced learners (2001) describes a compliment as “a polite remark that you say to someone to show that you like their appearance, appreciate their qualities, or approve of what they have done,” and can be used “when you want to express thanks, good wishes, or respect to someone in a formal way.” It also explains, “if you consider something that a person says or does as a compliment, it convinces you of your own good qualities, and that the person appreciates you.” Adding another meaning to “an expression of praise, commendation, or admiration”, the Macquarie encyclopedic dictionary (2010) defines a compliment as “a formal act or expression of civility, respect, or regard.” From the above sets of definitions, it is implied that a compliment in English-speaking cultures can be performed in formal and informal settings, where complimenters use compliments to show their politeness, admiration, appreciation and approval of appearance, qualities and skills of complimenters.
The complimentee should also be convinced of their good qualities and the appreciation as expressed by the complimenter. 5 A compliment is one form of speech acts and it can be defined as “an utterance containing a positive evaluation by the speaker to the addressee” (Liu,1997), which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer.