Exploring Compliment Response Differences Across Gender

Author(s) : Perveen Kousar , Muhammad Hifzur-Rehman , Zubair Ahmad Shah

Abstract:

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore the difference between the compliment responses used by male and female EFL speakers of District Sargodha. The target population was all master degree holders of Sargodha District in English Language and Literature. The sample population was selected conveniently from the students of M. Phil. of the Department of English, UOL, Sargodha Campus. Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was used as a tool for the collection of data. which contained compliments and the responses to those compliments in five different social situations. The responses to the compliments were designed following the taxonomies of Pomerantz (1978) and Holmes (1995). The findings reveal that there exists a gender-based difference with respect to complement response.

Keywords: Gender differences, Compliments, Compliment responses, EFL Pakistani speakers