Integrating Cultural Values into Oral English Classes

Compliments: Integrating Cultural
Values into Oral English Classes
Chou, Yen-Lin
Compliments can be viewed as an expression of certain cultural values (Manes, 1983).
Therefore, integrating the teaching of the cultural values of the compliments in the
language classroom provides students with opportunities to learn not only the language
(English) but also the cultural differences. Moreover, the role play activity, group
discussion, and oral presentation are utilized in the language classroom in order to improve
students' speaking competence, especially the communicative ability. While the students
are engaging in the activities, it is attainable for the teacher to assess whether the students
achieve the objectives or not as well as evaluate each student's speaking competence.
Introduction
In order to increase international students' consciousness of the cultural differences,
improve the speaking competence, and develop the understanding of distinct cultural norms
and values from their countries (Manes, 1983), the instruction of the expression of cultural
values (compliments and responses) and the reinforcement of the speaking skill are
incorporated in the language classroom.
The design of the course aims to help international students have better awareness of how
western people express compliments in English and assist students in understanding that
different cultural meaning and messages exist in the expressions and responses to the
compliments from cultures to cultures (Manes, 1983). Moreover, in order to improve
students' speaking competence, especially the communicative ability, the group discussion,
role play activity, and oral presentation are employed in the language classroom. Students
can obtain a variety of opinions from their partners while participating in the group
discussion (Graves, 2000); By means of the role play activity, "students can experience
cultural values and awareness because it gives an opportunity to be emotionally involved in
cross-cultural learning and reflect upon cultural differences" (Kodotchigova, p.5, 2002).
Through engaging in the oral presentation, students have more opportunities to practice
their English speaking skills.
Moreover, applying the use of the observation and reflection cards is effective for the
language teacher to assess if the students achieve the objectives and obtain the knowledge

of the classroom content. Therefore, the details of how to apply the observation and
reflection cards in the classroom are illustrated in the article as well.
Goal
Students will increase the cross-cultural consciousness and develop the English speaking
ability.
Objectives
• Choose the appropriate vocabulary and sentences in English for expressing and
responding to compliments.
• Increase the English speaking competence, particularly the conversational skill in
expressing compliments and responding to the compliments.
• Identify the existence of different cultural values and messages in complimenting
and responding to the compliments from American culture to the culture of his/her
own home country.
Class Profile
Students' Profiles
The course is an intensive English course that is designed for an intermediate level class.
The total amount of time the students spend attending classes is two hours per week.
Class Time (each class)
2 hours
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Materials and Equipment
• Tape recorder with taped dialogues and conversations (the expressions of the
compliments and the responses to the compliments among Americans)
• Handout guideline with common vocabulary and sentences used by Americans
when expressing compliments and responding to the compliments
• Cue cards with thorough instruction of the role play activity
Weekly Classes Procedure
Week 1 (Class 1)
• The teacher hands out the handout with common vocabulary and sentences used by

Americans when expressing compliments and responding to compliments.
• The teacher explains how western people use the vocabulary and sentences in order
to express compliments and respond to compliments. The teacher also clarifies
when the best situation for using those vocabularies and sentences to express
compliments and respond to the compliments is.
• The teacher asks students if they have experiences hearing other people giving
compliments on their personal appearances, such as their clothes, their work and
other things. The teacher asks some volunteers to tell their experiences to the whole
class.
Week 2 (Class 2)
• The class listens to numerous segments of taped conversations. The content of the
conversations is the expressions of compliments and the responses to the
compliments among native speakers.
• The teacher divides the students into several small groups consisting of four
students. Students in each group have a group discussion (see Appendix A).
Week 3 (Class 3)
• After the group discussion, the teacher asks the students to find a partner. When
the students finish forming pairs, each pair of students begins the role play activity
(see Appendix B).
• When the role play activity is completed, each pair of students demonstrates their
role play activities in front of the class.
Evaluation
In order to assess if students successfully achieve the objectives, the teacher applies the
observation and reflection cards (see below) in the language classroom.
The group discussions enable students to cooperate with each other and to pay attention to
various opinions when other students express their opinions. Meanwhile, the teacher can
observe how individual student participate in the discussion (Graves, 2000). The
observation can be considered an effective instrument in the course. Because most of the
students come from other countries, the students do not feel overwhelmed and anxious
when the teacher "silently" assesses students' performances. Through observing, the teacher

can judge students' interests and learning preferences (Graves, 2000). When observing the
group discussions, the teacher can fill out the following sheet.
Student's Name:
Understand the different expressions and cultural meanings of the compliments (responses) in American
culture and the culture of his/her home country:
Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Student's performance and learning preference participation in the discussions:
Active, Average, Reluctant
Any interesting idea brought up:
Comments:
The role play activity is employed in order to assess if students absorb the classroom
content and to evaluate each student's speaking ability. The use of role play activities can
be regarded as an on-going and communicative assessment tool (Kodotchigova, 2002).
While students engage in the role play activity, the teacher observes each group of students
and fills out the following sheet (Lambert, 2003).
Student's Name:
Use the appropriate vocabularies and sentences in English to express compliments in the role play:
Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Choose the proper vocabularies and sentences in English to respond to the compliments in the role play:
Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Student's Speaking Ability:
Fluency: Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Accuracy: Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Pronunciation: Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Communicative skill: Perfect, Good, Satisfactory, Improvement Required
Mistakes made in the role play:
Feedback:
The reflection cards are employed in the course as well. Each student has to answer the
questions on the reflection card at the end of every class. Students can write down their
reactions to the content of the class, give some suggestions to the teacher, and express the

new ideas they acquire during the classroom activities. The reflection card is illustrated as
follow:
REFLECTING On OUR DAY and EXPRESSING YOUR OPIOIONS

Please answer those following questions HONESTLY.
1. What did you learn from today's class?
2. Please give the teacher some suggestions (There is no punishment if you criticize
the teacher, so, relax, speak up what you want to say).

3. Did you like today's classroom activities? If so, why? If not, why?
Appendix A
Description of the Group Discussion
Before the group discussion, the class listens to numerous segments of taped conversations
and the content of the conversations is the expressions of compliments and the responses to
the compliments among native speakers. Next, the teacher divides the students into several
small groups consisting of four students. Students in each group have to discuss questions,
such as "How do you compliment other people in your home country?" and "Compare the
compliments you use in your home country with the compliments you observe from the
taped conversations. Are there any similarities or any differences?"
Appendix B
Description of the Role Play Activity:
The teacher asks students to find a partner. After students form a group, the teacher hands
out the cue cards. Each pair of students have both cue card X and cue card Y (adopted from