Investigating Choice of Compliment Response Strategies on Social Networking Sites by Different Gender

Introduction of online communications and social networking sites have provided a new channel for sharing ideas and opinions all over the world. The present study aimed to investigate how gender can play a role in the realization of Persian and English compliment responses commented by EFL learners on social networking sites. To this end, a sample of 30 Iranian EFL learners was selected based on convenience sampling. Observing the ethical issues, participants’ compliments and compliment response strategies were recorded, coded, and analyzed in terms of frequency and percentage. The Chi-Square test was applied to examine the effect of gender on the choice of response strategies across genders. The statistical results revealed that gender plays a role when participants use Persian as the medium of communication to English compliments. However, male and female participants had the same response strategies when they used English response to English compliments and Persian compliments. The findings indicated that the most frequently used response strategy to English compliments was acceptance strategies, while it was non-acceptance strategies in Persian compliments. The study concluded that male and female participants applied different response strategies when they shifted the language of communications. The findings may benefit EFL learners and language teachers and it may contribute to understanding the concept of cultural linguistics.