| The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate Korean baseline data on apologies as well as interlanguage apologies of Koreans in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) environment.;In particular, Korean and EFL speakers' apology behaviors are analyzed in terms of different social variables with particular attention to pragmatic transfer of first language norms. In general, many Korean EFL speakers mistakenly transfer their apology strategies to English, believing that these strategies are the same for both languages. Therefore, this study compares the findings of both Korean and interlanguage apologies in light of transfer phenomena.;A variety of data collection methods were used: role-playing, ethnographic observation and the scripts of Korean TV dramas. The Korean EFL participants are comprised of 60 undergraduate students who are majoring in English at a university in Korea.;The research questions of this dissertation are as follows: (1) How, and to what extent, do Korean students of English transfer their first language norms of apologizing when using English as a foreign language? (2) How, and to what extent, do the social factors (gender, age, social status and social distance) affect the choices of Koreans when speaking English? (3) How do apology strategies differ between what is appropriate in Korean L1 and English as a foreign language? (4) How do Korean speakers perform and react to the speech act of apology according to the influence of social factors in spontaneous situations?;The findings of this study showed the influence of social factors: social distance, social status, age, gender and severity of offense.;In regards to the "social status" factor, EFL speakers transferred their L1 pragmatic norms into English when using the "alerter" strategy. With respect to the "age" factor, EFL speakers in the Equal-age group showed the transfer phenomenon from their native pragmatic norms to English. Finally, concerning the "gender" factor, EFL speakers in the male-female group also transferred L1 pragmatic norms by using a higher proportion of the "repetition" strategy than with the remaining groups.;This study has important pedagogical implications for non-native speakers receiving overt instruction on speech acts in English as a foreign language. |
