Karimnia, Amin, & Afghari, Akbar (2010). On the applicability of cultural scripts in teaching L2 compliments. English Language Teaching, 3(3). DOI: 10.5539/elt.v3n3p71. PDF (open access)
In this study, Natural Semantic Metalanguage (henceforth NSM) was used to carry out a comparative analysis. The compliment response behaviour of native Persian speakers was compared to that of Native American English speakers to see if it can provide evidence for the applicability of the NSM model. The descriptive technique was the cultural scripts approach, using conceptual primes proposed in the NSM theory. The cultural scripts were presented in both English and Persian metalanguages. The data were taken from a corpus of 50 hours of recorded live interviews from Persian and English TV channels. The results show the applicability of the NSM model for cross-cultural comparisons. The paper concludes with the pedagogical implications of the development of the theory of cultural scripts for teaching L2 socio-pragmatics in general and compliments in particular.
Crude application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
