Exploring Pragmatic Failure in Compliment Responses: A Study of Iraqi Kurdish EFL Learners.
Compliments and their responses play a vital role in cross-cultural communication, reflecting underlying social norms and cultural values. This study investigates pragmatic failure through the compliment response strategies employed by Iraqi Kurdish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). U...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 139 - 165 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR)
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=191995484&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 191995484 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 22272895 GYOO jtl: Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies issn: 22272895 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 vid: 16 iid: 1 pid: 25427 pub: Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) artinfo: ui: 191995484 ppf: 139 ppct: 26 formats: tig: atl: Exploring Pragmatic Failure in Compliment Responses: A Study of Iraqi Kurdish EFL Learners. aug: au: روشن ابراهیم طاه affil: قسم اللغة الإنجليزية كلية التربية / جامعة صلاح الدين - أربيل إقليم كردستان العراق. su: Pragmatics Speech acts (Linguistics) Language ability testing Social norms Cross-cultural communication Language contact Cultural competence sug: subj: Pragmatics Speech acts (Linguistics) Language ability testing Social norms Cross-cultural communication Language contact Cultural competence keyword: compliment responses discourse completion task English exposure Kurdish EFL learners Pragmatic competence pragmatic failure التعرض للغة الإنجليزية مهمة إكمال الخطاب الفشل البراغماتي الكفاءة البراغماتية ردود الإطراء متعلمو اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية الأكراد ab: Compliments and their responses play a vital role in cross-cultural communication, reflecting underlying social norms and cultural values. This study investigates pragmatic failure through the compliment response strategies employed by Iraqi Kurdish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected quantitatively using a discourse completion task (DCT) questionnaire which includes four scenarios adapted from Zhang and Tang (2009), covering common compliment topics including ability, appearance, possession, and character. It elicits learners’ spontaneous responses to compliments in realistic and culturally relevant contexts. Qualitative data were collected using the exposure questionnaire focusing on learners' interactions with English through social media, online communication, reading books, and watching movies. The study aims to determine whether incidental exposure to English enhances pragmatic competence or whether learners still exhibit signs of pragmatic failure. A total of 60 undergraduate students majoring in the English language participated in the study. Quantitative analysis showed that learners most frequently used appreciation tokens (32.89%), praise upgrades (13.84%), and comment acceptance (11.11%), indicating a tendency toward positive and direct responses. Not using strategies like disagreement and advice suggests a reluctance to employ confrontational forms. Qualitative findings revealed that although EFL learners were regularly exposed to the target language, their compliment responses often failed to conform to English sociopragmatic conventions. Instead, they relied on response strategies influenced by their native language. These findings emphasize the importance of incorporating pragmatic instructions into EFL curricula to support learners in navigating compliment exchanges with both linguistic accuracy and cultural appropriateness. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: Arabic refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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