A STUDY OF COMPLIMENT RESPONSES USED BY JAVANESE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS ACADEMIC YEAR 2013, JEMBER UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This research investigates compliment response strategy produced by second language learners at English Department Faculty of Letters, Jember University academic years 2013. As second language learners, Javanese students might be influenced by Javanese or English culture while making compliment responses. Therefore, this research is aimed to classify the compliment response strategy and find the different type of strategies employed by male and female Javanese. Next, seeing the pragmatic transfer of Javanese culture politeness, whether or not Javanese culture politeness reflect to the way Javanese students produce compliment responses. This research uses mixed methodologies between Quantitative and Qualitative research methodology. Discourse completion test (DCT) is used to collect the data. In collecting the data, the DCT given consists of ten scenarios consist of five situations to respond compliments and five situations to respond other types of speech acts. It is done in order to avoid the similarity of the data collected. The data gained are classified into Herbert’s taxonomy (1986) of compliment response strategy. The theory applied in this research is politeness theory proposed by Brown & Levinson (1978). The result of the study shows that Agreement is the most frequent strategy employed by Javanese students in responding to compliment. Javanese and English politeness cultures are applied in the compliment strategies employed. This will lead to language acculturation in the bicultural communication. In this case, male and female participants produce the same strategy that is Agreement.