About this Project

       This curation collection was a product of our brain-child; based on our mutual passions and interests in teaching language abroad in East Asian countries (Japan & South Korea), we were thrilled to create a fusion of detailed materials, resources, and research. Aimed towards any passionate learner--meaning educators too!--of Korean, Japanese, or English language, wanting to dive deeper into pragmatics--specifically the speech act of compliments. For educators who desire to incorporate pragmatic functions of speech in various teaching contexts, this website can provide many premade classroom lesson ideas, activity outlines, and classroom worksheets and materials to show your learners! For teachers in-training who, like us, are determined to create motivating and communicative language learning experiences for future communities of learners--this website is for you to explore and immerse yourself in the possibilities. For any language learner, college student, educator, or curious web-surfer: we created this hoping to lead you to some amazing new discoveries about language learning and teaching. 

       At the intersection of language-learning and globalization in the past several decades, South Korea, Japan, and various English-speaking countries have seen a significant increase in EFL/ESL, KFL/KSL, & JFL/JSL learners. Geographically speaking, Japan and South Korea have experienced (now, & historically) very personal cultural and linguistic exchange, meaning, Japanese people have taken interest in learning Korean culture & language, and visa versa. Therefore, several sources from our research examine the intercultural differences and similarities in language that Korean and Japanese language learners may experience or encounter while learning each other's language. English on the other hand, has continued to increase globally as a foreign language of interest. In South Korea, English language learning is mandated in the national curriculum of education, making South Korea a hot-spot for English-speaking individuals to teach EFL classes to Korean learners. The latter also applies to Japan, with an increasing demand for EFL teachers that come from major English-speaking countries. With these three lingua-cultural contexts, we hope to provide a curation that makes learning & teaching material adaptable and easy to integrate--no matter what language you speak, and more-so, no matter what language you want to learn! By exploring the material and resources provided on this website, you can also get a better idea of what to look for, should you want to discover speech acts and other pragmatic functions in your target language. 

       Features of this website are created to help you attain the information you are looking for, based on the context in which compliments are used in real-life. Because languages and cultures are so powerful and dynamic, you will find that English, Korean, and Japanese compliments are structured and performed in very diverse ways. Although some of the website content is curated for language teachers, if you are a learner, we encourage you to investigate and possibly reflect on some of the lessons, or activities that you have experience doing, or potentially could experience in your learning environment! From social media posts and comments, online games, youtube videos, to grammar structures, phrases and sentence examples, and methodological academic research--we hope this project will bring you some beneficial insight, and spark your curiosity and creativity, even more than it sparked ours.  

Contact Us

For any questions or general inquiries about this project, you may contact us directly by email. We also welcome any feedback or comments!

• Ester Angulo: estera@uoregon.edu

• Britany Stagnoli: stagnoli@uoregon.edu