The presentation of politeness in CFL textbooks: problems and implications

He, Yun 2025. The presentation of politeness in CFL textbooks: problems and implications. Researching and Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language 5 (1) , pp. 48-70. 10.3138/rtcfl-2024-0003

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Abstract

This study analyzes the presentation of politeness phenomena in Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) textbooks with a particular focus on compliment responding. The aim is to determine the degree to which CFL textbooks can facilitate the acquisition of this speech act ability and provide insights into textbook use and Chinese L2 pragmatics materials development. Using studies of L2 pragmatics in ELT contexts (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig et al., 1991; Boxer & Pickering, 1995; Vellenga, 2004) as an overarching framework, content analysis focused on the constructed compliment exchanges and relevant metapragmatic information in 17 CFL textbooks from seven series. The results revealed two major presentation problems. Quantitatively, non-acceptance strategies including rejecting the praise are used in almost 90% of the compliment responses by imaginary characters in the textbooks, as opposed to the overwhelming dominance of acceptance in native speaker (NS) performance. Qualitatively, rejection and modesty are either explicitly claimed or implicitly assumed in the metapragmatic comments to be polite/appropriate, in contrast with the NS's contextualized judgment of politeness/appropriateness. Overall, the textbooks cannot be effective for communicative ability development and therefore must be substantially modified or supplemented by addressing the aforementioned issues. Implications for CFL textbook selection, use, and development are discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Modern Languages
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
ISSN:	2053-1788
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 October 2025
Date of Acceptance:	10 June 2025
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2025 15:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181445

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