The Effect of Gender and Status on the Apology Strategies Used by American Native Speakers of English and Iraqi EFL University Students

Abstract

In fact, apology varies from one language to another. Thus, teachers and EFL learners must discern the similarities and the differences between their native language and the target one because what is deemed right in one language may not be considered right in the other. No study is conducted to compare apology strategies of Iraqi EFL university students along with that of the American native speakers of English in terms of gender and status. Therefore, the present study will explore these issues in order to clarify them.  As such, a discourse completion test has been designed and applied to Iraqi EFL university students and Americans native speakers of English. The results show that Iraqi EFL male leaners use more strategies with people of higher level, while the American males use more strategies with people of lower position. Moreover, unlike the Americans, Iraqi females use more apology strategies than Iraqi males.

Key words: speech acts, apology strategies, Americans, Iraqi EFL learners, gender, status