Cross-cultural Perceptions of Impoliteness by Native English Speakers and EFL Learners: The Case of Apology Speech Act

Abstract

This study investigated native English speakers’ and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perception of (im)politeness. Seventy-five native speakers and 177 EFL learners were administered a discourse completion task for the speech act of apology accompanied by responses violating politeness by various degrees. Participants were asked to assess the degree of (im)politeness embedded in each response and to write down their assessment comments. Content analysis of respondents’ comments indicated that both groups mentioned similar (im)politeness criteria. However, the analysis of frequency counts displayed significant differences between the two groups in their degree of preference for each (im)politeness criterion.

Keywords:

• Apology
• EFL Learners
• Native English Speakers
• Politeness
• Impoliteness
• Pragmatics

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zia Tajeddin

Zia Tajeddin is a professor of Applied Linguistics at Allameh Tabataba’i University, Iran.

Minoo Alemi

Minoo Alemi is a postdoctoral fellow at Sharif University of Technology and an assistant professor of Applied Linguistics at Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Iran.

Sajedeh Razzaghi

Sajedeh Razzaghi holds an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from Sharif University of Technology, Iran.