Politeness Strategies in Compliment Responses Among Indonesian EFL University Students

Compliment responses are an important indicator of pragmatic competence because they require speakers to acknowledge appreciation while avoiding excessive self-praise. This study examines the politeness strategies Indonesian university students learning English as a foreign language employ when responding to compliments, identifies the dominant strategy, and explores factors shaping their choices. Using a qualitative descriptive design, the study involved 30 undergraduate English Education students at Universitas Riau, selected purposively. Data were gathered through a Discourse Completion Task comprising ten compliment scenarios and semi-structured interviews with ten selected participants. The scenarios addressed appearance, academic achievement, language proficiency, possessions, and helpfulness in interactions. Responses were categorized using Brown and Levinson’s framework of positive politeness, negative politeness, off-record, and bald-on-record strategies, while interview data supported interpretation of students’ pragmatic considerations. Of 300 responses, positive politeness predominated (168 responses; 56%), followed by negative politeness (72; 24%), off-record strategies (42; 14%), and bald-on-record strategies (18; 6%). Students commonly expressed gratitude, accepted positive evaluations, and reinforced interpersonal solidarity. Negative politeness reflected modesty and efforts to minimize self-praise, whereas off-record responses often redirected credit to others or external circumstances. Strategy selection varied with compliment topics and contextual considerations, including familiarity, social distance, and interlocutor status. These findings suggest that participants demonstrated awareness of the interpersonal demands of compliment responses, although their strategy use varied across situations. The study highlights the value of explicit pragmatic instruction through role plays, discourse completion activities, and conversational analysis to support contextually appropriate English communication in university classrooms.