Clarifying some cultural aspects of giving compliments and some suggest implications for english teaching in high schools

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BAC SON HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INNOVATION CLARIFYING SOME CULTURAL ASPECTS OF GIVING COMPLIMENTS AND SOME SUGGEST IMPLICATIONS FOR ENGLISH TEACHING IN HIGH SCHOOLS Writer: Đinh Văn Thiện Position: Teacher Topic in the fields of: English THANH HOA 2016 INDEX CONTENT Page A INTRODUCTION I Reasons to choose the theme II Aims of the research III Subjectives of the research IV Scope of the research V Methodology of the research B CONTENTS I Theoretical basis of the study Compliment function Basic rules Giving compliments Data analysis and disscussion II Reality of the issue Advantages Disadvantages The practical basics of the theme 10 C CONCLUSION 14 Conclusion 14 Proposal 14 REFERENCE 15 CONVENTIONS OF ABBREVIATIONS 15 A INTRODUCTION I Reasons to choose the theme As polite expressions conveying appreciation and admiration towards others, compliments are easily found in our daily lives Giving a compliment is an extremely simple but a highly effective way in communication Actually, it is not always successful Despite the same positive intentions of compliments, the differences in linguistic and cultural settings may lead to mutual incomprehension among foreign conversational partners For example, Vietnamese people might not find the compliments on their little children appropriate without the phrase “trộm vía” whereas it may be difficult for an English to understand why Vietnamese prefer downgrading or denial to response to compliments Further more, the mutual incomprehension appears not only among foreign conversational partners but also among the communicators who share a common language We can learn from the following situation: On Nam’s birthday, many attendants persuaded Lan to sing a song but her voice was not very good After having tried to finish, Minh talked to everyone with a clear voice: “Đó giọng hát hay mà nghe! Tại Lan không tham gia thi Sao mai điểm hẹn nhỉ? Tớ nghĩ bạn giành giải nhất.” As soon as Minh stopped to talk, some smiled, some even laughed and others kept silence while Lan appeared to be very disappointed Then what is wrong with Minh’s compliment? Giving compliments is an art and complimenters are really artists In other words, suitable compliments are not easy for us to give, especially high school students who need to understand them in both Vietnamese and English Unfortunately, the materials or researches concerned with this theme are unavailable Therefore, in order to reduce the chance of such misfortune and assure the effectiveness of their communication, obtaining some basic knowledge about the art of giving compliments in Vietnamese culture is an indispensably important factor For that reason, I, in my efforts, try to concentrate upon the topic to enhance learners’ language competence as well as to help them overcome the difficulties they encounter during their learning II Aims of the research In my study, I would like to present systematically issues of the definition, function, strategies and patterns of giving to compliments There are some comparisons to help students master the difference in language meanings which results from the cultural differences In that way, they would not only know the proper ways of complimenting but also would be able to avoid the inappropriate expressions Being provided with a detailed series of structures and the instruction how those structures work, students can easily apply them to their real life conversations III Subjective of the research Basing on the fact of teaching and learning English through each year for high school students, especially students in mountainous areas, I have understood students’ problems and difficulties in their learning process to gain the knowledge and competence cultural aspects in high school textbooks Therefore in this topic, I studied the fundamental solutions applied to my students in Bac Son High School, who are mostly at low level of English IV Scope of the research With the topic “Clarifying some cultural aspects of giving compliments and some suggest implications for English teaching in high schools”, my research is focused on the theoretical background of compliments and discussion to similarities and differences between cultural aspects of giving compliments in Vietnamese and English with some possible explanations In general, the speech acts focused is “giving compliments” and the context is high school-talk nowadays V Methodology of the research In this research, I have collected and integrated several different sources of information to create an informative and concise presentation Firstly, I had to find any documents related to the topic As there were few text books and researches concerned with compliments in the libraries or bookshops, I had to make use of the sources on the internet I only focused on some online journals which included international recognized researches to contribute to my study Next, after collecting needed information, I have had some short conversations with some high school students to see what they needed when giving compliments in their daily lives Especially, through this conversation, I also could come up with some interesting examples to clarify the main points in my orientation B CONTENTS I Theoretical basis of the study Compliment function According to Nguyen (2005, p.568) a compliment is sometimes more than a compliment However, in everyday life, people usually compliment others not only to praise them but also to achieve some special goals which are called compliments functions which have been listed by Nguyen (2005, p.568-569) as request for help, suggestion, gratitude and encouragement For example: “You look great in your skirt Why don’t we go down the town for sightseeing?” In the above compliment, the complimenter wants to address his or her primary intentions to go sightseeing This way of speaking is widely used among the Vietnamese and is adopted by Vietnamese learners of English Basic rules In cultural communication in Vietnam as well as in English, there are some basic rules that they should respect to be more successful in giving compliments Be polite Give more than receive Be various Avoid flattery a, Be polite: To put more value and truthfulness in a compliment, the complimenters should be as polite as possible The same go for receiving compliments The speakers will think that the hearer really appreciates what they are talking about b, Be various: A golden key when giving compliments is the variety People should compliment differently in many situations, or respond the others’ compliment creatively That will show the respect to the other side c, Avoid flattery: When giving compliments, the complimenters should base on the reality A too exaggerated compliment is not as welcome as a modest but exact one d, Give more than receive: the poverty in giving a compliment will become a hindrance when a foreigner tries to get in harmony in Vietnamese society Thus, giving many more compliments would be such a good strategy to improve his or her relationship with Vietnamese people Giving compliments 3.1 Strategies of giving compliments There are two main parts in the strategies, which are topics for compliment and tactics of complimenting 3.1.1 Topics for compliments Appearance, posession, ability and accomplishment are common topics for complimenting Similar to English speakers, Vietnamese often commence a friendly conversation by giving compliments on other’s appearance, especially when that person has something new or different such as a new haircut, new car Belongings such as shoes, hats, or houses, etc are also suitable subjects for compliments For example: Giầy đẹp thế! (Nice shoes!) Nevertheless, positive compliments on appearance of babies or small children should be delivered carefully Traditionally, Vietnamese people, especially the elderly, regard compliments using positive adjectives for young child may bring mishap to him/her Hence, Vietnamese often add “trộm vía” that is used more typically for the Vietnamese Northerners to the compliment or using indirect expressions (negative adjective with positive attitude): For example: “Nói trộm vía cháu, độ mập lắm” (which means “My child has gained a lot of weight”) For the compliment on ability and accomplishment, Vietnamese people often focus more on talent and skill rather than the result or product For instances, if you want to praise a man for his painting talent, the expression “Anh vẽ đẹp quá!” (You draw so well!) sounds more straightforward, sincere and the complimentee would feel prouder For both topics, the complimenters should always mind their attitude, facial expressions and intonation in order not to create the wrong impression of superiority or irony 3.1.2 Ways to compliment a) Explicit compliment According to Cambridge advanced learner’s dictionary, explicit means “clear and exact” Explicit compliment can be understood as “direct praise to the target” For example: - Cô xinh thật! (She’s so beautiful!) b) Implicit compliment On the other hand, “implicit” means suggested but not communicated directly Thus, implicit compliment means indirectly praise This type of compliment can be offered by some ways such as comparing to the speaker’s him/ herself or questioning For example: - Sao mà bạn chơi hay thế? (How could you play so well?) 3.2 Patterns of giving compliments According to Maines and Wofson (1981), there are nine popular ways to give compliment: - NP is / looks really Adj (Your hat is really beautiful) - I really like/love NP (I really like your house) - Pro is (really) (a) Adj NP (That’s a really nice reading lamp.) - You V (a) really Adj NP (You did a really good job.) - You V (NP) (really) Adv (You really did that assignment well.) - You have (a) Adj NP (You have a such beautiful voice.) - What a Adj NP! (What a lovely face you have!) - Adj NP ! (Excellent game !) - Isn’t NP Adj (Isn’t your phone beautiful?) The first three are also the most widely used structures in many countries worldwide, including Vietnam One difference, nevertheless, is that unlike English, Vietnamese usually use the second person pronoun instead of the first person pronoun in their compliments (Dang, T T N., p.5) Therefore, instead of saying “I really like your new hair style”, it is more appropriate to say “Your new hair style is nice” Besides, there are many other ways to give compliments in Vietnamese language They are categorized according to their sentence types: statements, exclamations and questions Data analysis and discussion 4.1 Data analysis There are many definitions of compliment According to Cambridge dictionary, a compliment is defined as “a remark that expresses approval, admiration or respect” In linguistics, Holmes (1986, p.446) indicated that a compliment was used to “explicitly or implicitly attribute credit to someone other than the speaker, usually the person addressed, for some ‘good’ (possession, characteristic, skill, etc.), which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer.” In other words, giving compliments is considered giving positive comments on others for their good characteristics, good skills, or good possessions… 4.2 Discussion 4.2.1 Similarities As mentioned above, a compliment is defined as a remark that expresses approval, admiration or respect As a result, there are many resemblances in cultural aspects of giving compliments in Vietnamese and English Firstly, in both English and Vietnamese, communicators tend to use explicit compliments that can be understood as “direct praise to the target” to their conversational partners For example: - Cô hát hay thật ! (She sings really well!) Sometimes, they also apply encouragement compliments for their conversation in which the complimenters to address their primary intentions to something For example: - Chữ viết tay em tuyệt đấy, tiếp tục phát huy ! (Your handwriting is excellent, keep up your good job!) Lastly, the complimenters’ attitude, facial expressions and intonation play important roles in succeeding in giving compliments They decide the wrong impression of superiority or irony to the complimentee even though the compliment is perfect in linguistic aspect 4.2.2 Differences Differences in culture often create many distinctions in conversational understanding between the communicators Giving compliments is a sample that cannot be similar between English and Vietnamese Due to English tends to simplicity, English people often use explicit compliments in their conversation whereas the Vietnamese prefer delivering implicit ones to express their feelings For example: To praise a woman for her cooking talent, - English people: “You cook very well!” - Vietnamese people: “Chị nấu ăn giỏi thế?” (How could you cook so well?) Besides, positive compliments on appearance of babies should be delivered carefully in Vietnamese conversational culture Traditionally, they regard compliments using positive adjectives for young children may bring bad luck to him/her Therefore, “trộm vía” is often added to the compliment by complimenters, especially the Northerners in Vietnam Last but not least, exclamation, one of the patterns of giving compliments, probably contains many differences in complimenting between Vietnamese and English because of its structure added with “quá/lắm/thế/thật/nhỉ/đấy/ghê/phết” at the end of the sentence Hence, it sometimes causes a lot of difficulties for the language learners to apply fluently these words for their compliments II Reality of the issue Advantages Complimenting is a such practical and interesting topic that most of students and even teachers would like to discover Further more, although many problems directly affect to the teaching and learning process, our teachers and students have overcome the difficulties and have gradually improved the quality of English teaching to meet the constantly changing requirements of the textbook programmes • For teachers: - They have absorbed initially to new teaching methods - They have constantly improved knowledge and learned experiences from each other to promote the quality of teaching • For students: - Most of them participate regularly and positively in learning English - They are always interested in learning new teaching methods Disadvantages Most of the students in High School are embarrassed when they are asked to give compliments in English This would have been also the remarkable interest of the teachers who are teaching these students to learn English A survey was proceeded to find out factors leading to this problem, perhaps followings are some major difficulties: 2.1 Time to perform the research Being considered as an extra-activity, the research is not planned into schools’ curriculum, whereas its performance for each class is indicated at least fifteen minutes This orders teachers to choose the suitable time to carry out the study in effective ways 2.2 References Despite an interesting topic, complimenting is quite scarce to search on most of resources 2.3 Background of compliments As mentioned above, giving a compliment is simple, but a true one is a really difficult issue since the fact that many people not have enough basic knowledge of it 2.4 Level of target language Students usually have difficulties in giving a reasonable compliment in English because not only their vocabularies are poor but also many structures concerned with complimenting are really strange to them The practical basics of the theme 3.1 Solutions Based on the reality of the issue, I would strongly suggest some following solutions to the problems: 3.1.1 Time There are correction periods after tests in the curriculum Normally, we cannot use up the time to the tasks in these periods This is a good chance for teachers to indicate the research Because the minimum time of the research is about fifteen minutes, teachers can carry out it either totally or partially depending on the last time of that period and the learners’ level 3.1.2 Procedure of complimenting Teachers can use their own favorite methods in which they have to the background knowledge that mentioned above and some particular situations in which express giving compliments in English and Vietnamese below: Situations of Vietnamese English compliments Request for Tuan! Cậu Tuan! You are help hào phóng, ngày very generous, mai cậu đưa could you please đến take me to trường school không? tomorrow? Gratitude Tao chưa thấy You are the nhiệt tình kindest person mày! Cám ơn I’ve met, thank nhé! you very much! Ability and “Bạn hát accomplishmen quá!” t Analysis This way of speaking is widely used among the Vietnamese and English communication This way of speaking is widely used among the Vietnamese and English communication hay You sing so well! This way of speaking is widely used among the Vietnamese and English communication Encouragement Bài văn em Your essay is This way of speaking is làm tốt đấy, excellent, keep widely used among the tiếp tục phát up your good Vietnamese and English 10 huy nhé! Appearance and possession Statements Exclamations job! communication “Con chị nhìn “The baby is so Traditionally, Vietnamese thấy ghét quá” cute” people, especially the “Your baby is elderly, regard not cute at all” compliments using positive adjectives for young child may bring bad luck to him/her Therefore, they often add “trộm vía” to the compliment or using indirect expressions (negative adjective with positive attitude) Ước người Your boyfriend is In this way, if the yêu tớ ga lăng very gallant compliment conveys so bạn much feeling from the I wish my speaker it might sound a boyfriend were little fake to the listener as gallant as you Hôm bạn How beautiful These structure adding trông xinh lắm! you are today! “quá/lắm/thế/thật/nhỉ/đ Bạn đá bóng What a great ấy/ghê/phết” at the end the sentence siêu thế! footballer you of sometimes cause are! Thầy giáo dễ How easy-going difficulties to Vietnamese learners as well as tính thật! the teacher is! foreign conversational Bạn làm việc How chăm ghê! hardworking you partners are! Trông cậu xinh You look as hoa ấy! pretty as a flower Nhà bạn hoành How glamorous tráng phết! your house is! Nhìn mà How skillful you 11 Rhetorical questions Implicit compliment khéo tay gớm! Mày học mà siêu thế? are! You learn so well These questions only aim How you at showing the speakers’ it? appreciation towards the listeners, not at seeking any particular answer Tớ lâu I have to try a lot The complimentor does cậu to catch up with not compare but you indirectly praise the complimentee Although whichever pattern is used, the compliment may turn out to be too flattering or impudent to the complimentees if it is given in an inappropriate context, on an indelicate object or with a conflicting attitude expressed in the complimenters’ tone, facial expression and gestures For that reason, in my point of view, apart from the strategies and patterns, the vital key to a heart-winning compliment is nothing more than the complimenters’ own sincerity 3.1.3 Practice Teachers should give some real situations to expect students’ responses then correct them in two ways: - Student practices  teacher corrects - Student practices  the partner corrects SITUATIONS: You are a good student in a high school Your mother is a very caring woman who takes care of you and help you a lot in your living as well as your study How can you express to compliment her? What is the power of a true compliment? SUGGESTED ANSWERS: At the time my mother feels relax, with my sincere attitude expressed in my facial expression and gesture, I will say: “- Mum, you’re the most wonderful mother I love you so much ” If you give a true compliment to the other, you will receive more than a compliment It can help you not only bettering the relationship but also easily succeed in your business involved the complimentee Moreover, by a sincere compliment, the complimentee might forgive some mistakes that the complimenter made to him or her before 3.2 Experimental results 3.2.1 Prominent achievement 12 Extra-activities often cause students exciting to because of their practicality and flexibility Teaching complimenting is a sample After conducting the research for some classes, most of students have conceived the value of compliments from the partner They are also willing to give compliments when they feel it is necessary In addition, due to the performance of the study, students’ vocabularies, structures and skills concerned with complimenting are improved remarkably 3.2.2 Pedagogical implications The research on distinctions and resemblances in cultural aspects of giving compliments in Vietnamese and English reveals one prominent effect of the cultural factor on communication which specifically contains the situations where compliments are involved Basically, when two cultures cross, a number of differences emerge in all aspects Understanding the culture of this verbal communication will help recede the possibility of confusion, misconception or any other types of communication breakdowns As shown in the previous parts, the cultural factors make the way of giving compliments in Vietnamese culture remarkably different from that in English culture This might be expressed clearly through the differences in the ways of thinking, lifestyles, traditions and naturally, the cultures of the two nations The research not only provides high school students with useful guidance and tips, but also familiarizes them with contrastive analysis in Vietnamese cultural communication vs English ones 13 C CONCLUSION Conclusion Complimenting is a part of culture where verbal factor is concerned a lot It is commonly used in daily life as a communication tool which helps to build the relationship among people by showing admiration and gratitude toward each others Therefore, in order to blend in well with a society, knowing how to giving compliments is really important This is also supposed to be an orientation for high school students who are making their efforts to study English for their own aims As a presenter, I have systematically listed out the definition, function, strategies and patterns of giving compliments There are some comparisons to help students be more aware of the differences in language meanings which result from the cultural differences In that way, they would not only know the proper ways of complimenting but also would be able to avoid the inappropriate expressions Being provided with a detailed series of structures and the instruction how those structures work, students can easily apply them to real life conversations Proposal As the role of the main guider, teachers need to be aware of their responsibilities in each task and especially emphasis on their own plans before coming to class Because the fact that the arrangement of time to conduct the study often has difficulty, teachers should divide it into parts to fit the time and their students’ level Focusing on cultural aspects of giving compliments , my research cannot bring the success for perfect complimenting Therefore, I look forward to learning the other research for other aspects of this issue The suggested solutions mentioned above experienced by myself accompanied my colleagues through our teaching brought positive results than we had done before However, the innovation of teaching field is a long process and it is hard to fit well with all kinds of students Thus, I would like to receive the comments and the exchange of ideas from you who have the passionate enthusiasm in the development of Vietnam education Identity of the headmaster Thanh Hoa, 20th April 2016 I make sure that this experience innovation was done by me 14 Đinh Văn Thiện REFERENCE Dang, T.T.N (2009) A contrastive analysis of compliments in American English and Vietnamese Retrieved November 15th 2010 from the World Wide Web: www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED039526 Holmes, J (1986) Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand English Anthropological Linguistics, 28(4), 446 Manes, J & Wolfson, N (1981) The compliment formula In F Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational routine (pp 115-132) The Hague: Mouton Nguyen, T.D (2005) Giving and Receiving Compliments: Viewed from Textbooks and Respondent Proceedings of the International Conference on Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory into Research, November 2005, 568-569 CONVENTIONS OF ABBREVIATIONS N Adj Adv V NP Pro noun adjective adverb verb noun phrase pronoun Danh từ Tính từ Trạng từ Động từ Cụm danh từ Đại từ 15 ... at low level of English IV Scope of the research With the topic Clarifying some cultural aspects of giving compliments and some suggest implications for English teaching in high schools , my... theoretical background of compliments and discussion to similarities and differences between cultural aspects of giving compliments in Vietnamese and English with some possible explanations In general,... people Giving compliments 3.1 Strategies of giving compliments There are two main parts in the strategies, which are topics for compliment and tactics of complimenting 3.1.1 Topics for compliments