近年来中国大陆吸引了越来越多以英语为母语的留学生。留学生在中国留学期间是否学习到并在语言行为上体现中国文化的礼节方式是个很值得研究的话题。本文使用定性分析方式研究了美国大学生在中国上海暑期语言学习期间（八周）所习得的汉语称赞答复方式及学习称赞答复的过程。考察对象为四名在美国中西部一所私立大学学习汉语，以英语为母语的学生。其中两名二年级学生，两名三年级学生。数据来源为学生参加暑期学习班初期的问卷调查，每周一次的单独采访（一共六次），学生每周的博客，及本文作者的现场观察记录。分析结果发现四名学生学习到不同的称赞答复方式，称赞答复方式的学习过程复杂并受到个人在暑期学习期间社会经历的影响。本文并讨论了影响以英语为母语学生在中国短期留学期间学习称赞答复方式的各种社会及文化因素。 Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of English-speaking students studying abroad in China. Whether these students can learn and reflect in their behaviors certain uniquely Chinese-style speech acts during their sojourn in China merits investigation. This paper reports on a case study investigating what and how four American university-level students developed knowledge and skills of compliment responding in Mandarin Chinese when they were participating in an 8-week intensive summer language program in Shanghai. Among the four participants, two were from a 2nd-year Mandarin Chinese class and two from a 3rd-year class. The qualitative data were collected from one pre-study questionnaire, weekly semi-structured interviews (a total of 6 for each participant), participants’ weekly reflective blogs, and the researcher’s observation of participants’ social interaction with native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. The results showed that despite their similar academic, linguistic, and cultural background, each participant experienced a heterogeneous and dynamic developmental process and developed different awareness and skills of compliment responding in Mandarin Chinese throughout the study abroad program. The researcher discussed how each participant’s agency and individual social interaction with native speakers of Mandarin Chinese as well as local Chinese residents’ socialization efforts during the study abroad program intertwiningly shaped what and how the participants learned about Mandarin Chinese compliment responding strategies.