A Study On Apology Strategies Of Chinese EFL Learners

In humans' history, successful communication is very necessary. Apology is a means to guarantee successful communication among men, and yet the ways of performing it may vary according to different persons and reasons. Though much work has been done on the topic of apology as a speech act, little has been said on the English apology strategies used by Chinese EFL learners.The researches of apology strategies have got continuously improvements and depth in theories as well as in practical applications. On the one hand, as an important part of pragmatics, apology strategies have been studied from syntactical and lexical aspects. On the other hand, besides theoretical researches, the studies of apology strategies have involved with factors like:social status, social power, cultural differences and so on. Apology strategies have attracted substantial attention, most of which is given to cultural and social power differences of Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners' apology strategies use. The studies from the perspectives of gender and English language proficiency are not many, and the empirical researches are even fewer.The present study is an investigation into the apology strategies by Chinese EFL learners in terms of gender and English language proficiency. It is conducted with 60 subjects from West Anhui University in Lu'an. The 60 subjects include 30 males and 30 females, among whom 30 are freshmen while the rest are juniors. These 60 subjects are studied respectively from the perspectives of gender and English language proficiency.The study attempts to answer the following questions:(1) Are there any differences in the apology strategies used by male and female respondents? If yes, what are the differences?(2) Does English language proficiency exert any influences upon the speech act of apologizing?A 7-item questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Test (DCT) is used to collect the data for different selections of apology strategies by different genders and English language proficiency levels. The DCT is designed mainly on Olshtain's research (1989). The selected 60 questionnaires are all answered in English.The findings reveal that male and female respondents use the primary strategies of Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices (IFIDs). They also use other strategies situation-dependently. The findings further reveal that male and female respondents differ in apology styles. Females are more likely to use apology strategies than males when the offence involving in space or misunderstanding, while males are more likely to apologize when the offence involving in time-loss or inconvenience which they have caused. Females use combinations of apology strategies more often in one situation as a polite behaviour, while males like to use only one strategy in each situation and think apology-making is a face-threatening act.The study also finds that English language proficiency can exert influences on EFL learners' apology strategy choices. IFIDs are still the primary strategy used by Low Achievers (LA) and High Achievers (HA), but HA are more indirect in expressing and are more flexible in combination of the apology strategies.The study is hoped to be helpful for students to use the different linguistic forms appropriately in different situations. It is also supposed to have some implications for college EFL teaching and learning. Students can be treated equally to share the same chances of speaking English in student-centered class.