A number of studies on apology strategies have investigated apologies cross-culturally. Rarely have apology strategies been scrutinized in Iranian context of EFL learning; nor have the respondents' gender that trigger such apologies been taken into account. This study was aimed to compare Iranian male and female EFL learners in terms of apology strategies. The participants were 50 Iranian EFL learners: (25 male, 25 female) both graduate and undergraduate students studying at Islamic Azad University, Najafabad branch. Discourse completion tests (DCT) were used in this study. In addition, Cohen and Olshtain's (1981) model was used for the classification of the different types of apology strategies used by EFL learners. It was found that the apology strategies of the first class, namely illocutionary force indicating devices (IFIDs), were the most commonly used strategies by Iranian EFL learners.Indeed, 67.48% of the entire number of the strategies used by EFL learners belonged to this category. Around 15.14% of the strategies are offer for repair by Iranian EFL learners, while the remaining strategies were scarcely used by Iranian EFL learners. In terms of gender, the results of a chi-square test showed that there was no statistically significant difference between male and female EFL learners with regard to their use of apology strategies: χ (10) = 2.69, p = .98.
The development of speech-act theory has provided the hearers with a better understanding of what speakers intend to perform in the act of communication. One type of speech act is apologizing. When an action or utterance has resulted in an offense, the offender needs to apologize. In the present study, an attempt was made to compare the apology strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners and those of English native speakers in order to find out the possible differences and similarities. To this end, a discourse completion test (DCT) was given to 100 male and female Iranian EFL learners and English native speakers. The respondents were supposed to complete the DCTs based on nine situations, which varied in terms of power between the interlocutors and level of imposition. This study employed Cohen and Olshtain's (1981) model to classify various types of apology strategies. The obtained results revealed some similarities along with some (statistically insignificant) differences between EFL learners and American English speakers in terms of their use of apology strategies. Furthermore, it was found that the illocutionary force indicating devices (IFIDs), such as request for forgiveness and an offer of apology were the strategies mostly employed by the Iranian EFL learners while taking on responsibility such as explicit self-blame, and expression of self-deficiency were found to be the strategies mostly used by English native speakers. In terms of gender, the male and female respondents more or less used the same apology strategies in response to the situations. The findings of the present research can be used by language teachers as well as sociolinguists.
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