Response to Compliments Given by Iranian EFL Learners on the Social Network of Instagram Based on Maiz-Arevalo's Framework

Among daily speech acts, compliments and their responses are of high frequency and carry a special cultural-sociological load. As such, the present study aimed at investigating compliment responses (CRs) employed by Iranian EFL learners on Instagram. In doing so, 360 CRs were collected from 60 Iranian male and female EFL students. Using Maíz-Arévalo’s (2013) framework, students’ compliment responses were analyzed. The findings indicated that the most frequently used response strategy in Instagram was acceptance, and was different from face-to-face CR. In addition, the study showed gender differences in the manifestation of CR. Females responded to compliments longer than their male counterparts did and they showed more emotions in responding to compliments. From a sociolinguistic vantage point, the results of examining such social relationships in online context enable EFL teachers to develop new patterns of social and cultural communication for their students and make them socially and culturally aware to avoid using inappropriate norms, impolite behaviors, and misunderstanding.