This study investigates Omani and Australian complimenting behaviour in higher educational settings. In particular, it explores how compliment responses are performed in a university context by Omani lecturers and students in Oman, and by Australian lecturers and students in Australia. It is motivated by the unavailability of scholarly studies exploring the relationship between verbal compliment responses and the complimentee’s thoughts, feelings and attitudes, and by the lack of studies examining compliment responses in Omani culture, or comparing Australian culture with Arabicspeaking cultures. To bridge these gaps in the literature, this thesis seeks to give an in-depth understanding, from a pragmatic perspective, of how Omani and Australian lecturers and students respond to compliments in higher educational contexts when interacting with people of their own cultures. It explores how compliments are understood, and takes into account the role of compliment topics, gender, relationship, hierarchical status and setting in shaping compliment responses. It ascertains the appropriateness of Omani and Australian compliments and compliment responses in intra-cultural contexts. Two qualitative methods, namely interviews and observation records, were adopted to collect data. A total of 17 Omani lecturers and students in Oman, and 18 Australian lecturers and students in Australia were interviewed in their own language. They were invited to put themselves in hypothetical situations, wherein they imagined themselves being complimented on five topics by other lecturers and students in different settings. Their imagined responses to the compliments, including their reported thoughts and feelings, and their understanding of the situations were noted. After the interviews, they were invited to record real-life examples of compliment exchanges using an observation record in which they provided their assessment about the observed situations. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data obtained from the interviews and observation records, and statistical description was used to analyse the quantitative data from the interviews. Then, the findings from both qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated to answer the research questions in detail, and to affirm the validity of the hypotheses. The findings reveal that some compliment responses are offered by members of both cultures, while others are culture-bound. Thanking is the most common shared compliment response, along with other responses such as downgrading and joking. However, responses such as remaining silent, invocation request, invocation and unreflective reasoning are only offered by Omani lecturers and students. By contrast, appreciation, and laughing are only provided by Australian lecturers and students. Gender, compliment topics and whether or not the complimenter is known to the complimentee are found to be main factors that influence the choice of compliment responses in the Omani and Australian university cultures. Difference in the hierarchical status of the complimenter and the complimentee is shown to have an influence only in the Omani university culture. The setting (public/ private) in which the compliment is offered, is likely to influence the choice of compliment responses by Omani lecturers and students slightly more than that by Australian lecturers and students. The study shows that while expressed compliment responses are commonly congruent with the thoughts, feelings and attitudes of Omani and Australian lecturers and students, this is not always the case: when the compliment triggers negative thoughts and feelings, they offer seemingly approving or evasive responses while silently disapproving of the compliments. This finding is enabled by the project design and the analysis of the interviews and observation records, which reveal the mismatch between expressed responses and unexpressed attitudes towards some compliments. The study also shows that politeness, modesty and generosity are the main underlying principles that guide the appropriateness of compliment responses among Omani and Australian lecturers and students. The study contributes to intercultural communication by offering a comprehensive understanding of the use of compliments and compliment responses in Omani and Australian university contexts. It provides Omani and Australian lecturers and students with detailed knowledge of the main issues that they should consider for appropriate use of compliment responses, and thereby enhancing intercultural interaction.

This study investigates Omani and Australian complimenting behaviour in higher educational settings. In particular, it explores how compliment responses are performed in a university context by Omani lecturers and students in Oman, and by Australian lecturers and students in Australia. It is motiv...