SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Sakarya University Journal of Education / 2026 / Volume: 16 Issue: 2

Apology Strategy use in L2 English

Vasfiye Geckin(IZMIR DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY)0000-0001-8532-8627
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-08-10
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

For pragmatically effective communication in the target language, contextualized and reflective learning opportunities can be encouraged in second language classrooms.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study examined intercultural pragmatic competence in the realization of apologies by B2 level Turkish learners of English (n=103).
📊
Key Findings & Data:The aim was to explore the way task type and gender influence the level of directness in the use of apology strategies in English within the Speech Act and Politeness Theory.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:For pragmatically effective communication in the target language, contextualized and reflective learning opportunities can be encouraged in second language classrooms.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:The Speech Act of Apologizing · Directness in Apologies · EFL

Abstract

This study examined intercultural pragmatic competence in the realization of apologies by B2 level Turkish learners of English (n=103). The aim was to explore the way task type and gender influence the level of directness in the use of apology strategies in English within the Speech Act and Politeness Theory. The participants were asked to complete a written discourse completion task and a multiple-choice discourse elicitation task. The qualitative data was analysed using categories of apology strategies identified in the framework proposed by Olshtain and Cohen (1983). Responses obtained from the multiple-choice discourse elicitation task constituted the quantitative data. A binomial generalised linear mixed-effects model was developed by taking gender (male vs. female) and task (production vs. recognition) as the main factors and directness (direct vs. indirect) of apologies as the outcome variable. The findings showed that only task type was a key predictor of directness in the apology strategies employed, with both male and female learners favouring indirect apology strategies such as explanations and efforts to repair the offense primarily while responding to the given apology scenarios. For pragmatically effective communication in the target language, contextualized and reflective learning opportunities can be encouraged in second language classrooms.

🔖

Cite This Article

Geckin, V. (2026). Apology Strategy use in L2 English. Sakarya University Journal of Education, Volume: 16 Issue: 2. https://doi.org/10.19126/suje.1679978

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (77)

  1. Aboud, F. (2019). Apology strategies among EFL postgraduate learners. Folklor Journal of Pragmatics, 25(1), 359-372. https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.947
  2. Abu Humeid, A. M. A. (2013). The effect of gender and status on the apology strategies used by American native speakers of English and Iraqi EFL university students. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(2), 145-173.
  3. Al-Harbi, H. M., & Mahfoodh, O. H. A. (2021). The production and comprehension of apology strategies: Effects of English language proficiency. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(Special Issue 1), 69-85. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.903317
  4. Almegren, R. (2018). The speech act of apology for Saudi EFL students. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 7(4), 144-158. http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.4p.144
  5. Austin, J. L. (1970). Philosophical papers. (J. Urmson & G. J. Warnock, Eds.). Oxford University Press.
  6. Aydın, M. (2013). Cross cultural pragmatics: A study of apology speech acts by Turkish speakers, American English speakers and advanced non-native speakers of English in Turkey. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Minnesota State University.
  7. Ayubadiah, F. (2014). A study on gender-based differences in apology strategies of English department students in campus setting. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Universitas Brawijaya.
  8. Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2013). Developing L2 pragmatics. Language Learning, 63(2), 266-292. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00738.x
  9. Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Do language learners recognize pragmatic violations? Pragmatic versus grammatical awareness in instructed L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly, 32(2), 233-259. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587583
  10. Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Griffin, R. (2005). L2 pragmatic awareness: Evidence from the ESL classroom. System, 33(3), 401-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2005.06.004
  11. Barron, A. (2019). Norms and variation in L2 pragmatics. In N. Taguchi (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics (pp. 447-461). Routledge.
  12. Bataineh, R. F., & Bataineh, R. F. (2006). Apology strategies of Jordanian EFL university students. Journal of Pragmatics, 38, 1901-1927. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.11.004
  13. Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
  14. Bean, M. J., & Johnstone, B. (1994). Workplace reasons for saying you’re sorry: Discourse task management and apology in telephone interviews. Discourse Processes, 17(1), 59-81.
  15. Beckwith, S., & Dewaele, J. M. (2008). The development of apologies in the Japanese L2 of adult English native speakers. Birkbeck Studies in Applied Linguistics, 3, 1-26.
  16. Beltrán-Palanques, V. (2013). Exploring Research Methods in Interlanguage Pragmatics. A study based on apologies. Lambert Academic Publishing.
  17. Birjandi, P., & Derakhshan, A. (2013). Pragmatic comprehension of apology, request and refusal: An investigation on the effect of consciousness-raising video-driven prompts. Applied Research on English Language, 3(1), 67-86. https://doi.org/10.22108/are.2014.15479
  18. Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Investigating cross-cultural pragmatics: An introductory overview. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House and G. Kasper (Eds.) Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies (pp. 1-34). Ablex.
  19. Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1984) Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, 5, 196-213. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/5.3.196
  20. Boxer, D., & Pickering, L. (1995). Problems in the presentation of speech acts in ELT materials: The case of complaints. ELT Journal, 49(1), 44-58. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/49.1.44
  21. Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.
  22. Canli, Z., & Canli, B. (2013). Keep calm and say sorry!: The use of apologies by EFL teachers in Turkish and English. Educational Process: International Journal, 2(1-2), 36-46.
  23. Coşgun, Z. (2002). Education and gender: Gender socialization in pre-school education. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Sakarya University.
  24. Darwish, S. M. A. (2014). Gender differences in the usage of apology: A case study of native speakers of English in Jordan’s private schools. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Middle East University.
  25. Eslami-Rasekh, Z. (2005). Raising pragmatic awareness of language learners. ELT Journal 59, 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/cci039
  26. Fox, J., & Weisberg, S. (2019). An R companion to applied regression (3rd ed.). Sage.
  27. Geçkin, V. (2025). The realization of apologies in a second language. Language and Dialogue, 15(2), 262-281. https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00194.gec
  28. Ghawi, M. (1993). Pragmatic transfer in Arabic learners of English. El Two Talk, 1(1), 39-52. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110431056-013
  29. Goffman, E. (1967). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Reflections, 4(3),7-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1955.11023008
  30. Golato, A. (2003). Studying compliment responses: A comparison of DTCs and recordings of natural occurring talk. Applied Linguistics, 24, 90-121. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.1.90
  31. Goni, F. (2017). The role of gender in the apology strategies of advanced Saudi EFL students. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. The British University in Dubai.
  32. Harb, M. (2015). On gender and apology strategies: The case of Arabic. Gender Studies, 14(1), 224-265. https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2016-0014
  33. Hatipoğlu, Ç. (2012). Apologies and gender in Turkish and British English. Journal of Linguistic Research, 1, 55-79.
  34. Holmes, J. (1989). Sex differences and apologies: One aspect of communicative competence. Applied Linguistics, 10, 194-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/10.2.194
  35. Holmes, J. (1995). Women, men and politeness. Longman.
  36. Ishihara, N. (2014). Theories of language acquisition and the teaching of pragmatics. In N. Ishihara and A. Cohen (Eds.) Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (pp. 99-122). Routledge.
  37. Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Pearson Longman.
  38. İstifçi, İ. (2009). The use of apologies by EFL learners. English Language Teaching 2(3), 15-25. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v2n3p15
  39. Jalilifar, A., Hashemian, M., & Tabatabaee, M. (2011). A cross-sectional study of Iranian EFL learners’ request strategies. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(4), 790-803. https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.4.790-803
  40. Kasper, G. (1997). Can pragmatic competence be taught? Honolulu: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
  41. Kasper, G., & Blum-Kulka, S. (1993). Interlanguage pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
  42. Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (2002). The role of instruction in learning second language pragmatics. Language Learning, 52, 237-273. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.2002.tb00017.x
  43. Lakoff, R. (1990). Talking power: The politics of language in our lives. Harper Collins.
  44. Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.
  45. Lenth, R., & Piaskowski, J. (2026). emmeans: Estimated Marginal Means, aka Least-Squares Means. (Version 2.0.3) [R package]. https://rvlenth.github.io/emmeans/
  46. Linnell, J., Porter, F. L., Stone, H., & Chen Wan-Lai. (1992). Can you apologize me? An investigation of speech act performance among non-native speakers of English. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 8(2), 33-53.
  47. MacGeorge, E. L, Graves, A. R., Feng, B., Gillihan, S. J., & Burleson, B. R. (2004). The myth of gender cultures: Similarities outweigh differences in men’s and women’s provision of and responses to supportive communication. Sex Roles, 50(3-4), 143-175.
  48. Mackey, A., & Gass, S. (2005). Second language research: Methodology and design. Lawrence Erlbaum.
  49. Maltz, D. N., & Borker, R. A. (1982). A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In J. J. Gumperz (Ed.) Language and social identity (pp. 202-203). Cambridge University Press.
  50. Martínez-Flor, A., & Beltrán-Palanques, V. (2014). The role of politeness in apology sequences: How to maintain harmony between speakers. ELIA, 14, 43-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/elia.2014.i14.03
  51. Martínez-Flor, A., & Usó-Juan, E. (2006). A comprehensive pedagogical framework to develop pragmatics in the foreign language classroom: The 6Rs approach. Applied Language Learning, 16(2), 39-64.
  52. Ngo, T. H. T. (2022). Using apology strategies in letters by EFL students at University of Foreign Language Studies – The University of Danang. International Journal of Language Instruction, 1(2), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijli.22121
  53. Ngo, T. H. T., & Luu, Q. K. (2022). Direct apology strategies and their lexicogrammatical realisations in English conversations: Implications for EFL students. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(2), 82-94. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22225
  54. Olshtain, E., & Cohen, A. (1983). Apology: A speech act set. In N. Wolfson and E. Judd (Eds.) Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 18-36). Newbury House.
  55. Özyıldırım, I. (2010). The level of directness in Turkish apology forms in relation to the level of education. Journal of Faculty of Letters, 27(1), 179-201.
  56. Povolná, R. (2012). Pragmatic awareness in teacher education. Acta Academica Karviniensia, 12(1), 148–158.
  57. R Core Team. (2021). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org
  58. Reiter, R. (2000). Linguistic politeness in Britain and Uruguay. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  59. Sari, M. K. (2016). Apology strategy in English by native speakers. Lingua Cultura, 10(1), 13-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.21512/lc.v10i1.815
  60. Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press.
  61. Searle, J. R. (1975). A taxonomy of illocutionary acts. In K. Gunderson (Ed.) Language, mind and knowledge (pp. 344-369). University of Minnesota Press.
  62. Shabani, M., Tahriri, A., & Teifouri, R. (2017). The effect of proficiency level and gender on the use of apology strategies by Iranian EFL learners. European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 5(3), 1-21.
  63. Taguchi, N. (2011). Pragmatic competence in Japanese as a second language: An introduction. Japanese Language and Literature, 45(2), 239-246. https://doi.org/10.2307/41459884
  64. Taguchi, N. (2014). Pragmatic socialization in an English-medium university in Japan. International Review of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching, 52(2), 157-181. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2014-0007
  65. Taguchi, N. (2019). The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and pragmatics. Routledge.
  66. Tamimi Sa’d, S. H., & Mohammadi, M. (2014). Iranian EFL learners’ sociolinguistic competence: Refusal strategies in focus. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 10(2), 48-66. https://izlik.org/JA52MW45BE
  67. Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. William Morrow.
  68. Thomas, J. (1984). Cross-cultural discourse as ‘unequal encounter’: Towards a pragmatic analysis. Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 226-235.
  69. Trosborg, A. (1995). Apology strategies in non-native and native speakers of English. In A. Trosborg (Ed.) Interlanguage pragmatics: Requests, complaints and apologies (pp. 389-410). De Gruyter Mouton.
  70. Trosborg, A. (2010). Pragmatics across languages and cultures. De Gruyter Mouton.
  71. Tuncel, R. (2011). Apologizing and speech act realizations of Turkish EFL learners. In International Conference on Management, Economics and Social Sciences (ICMESS’2011) Bangkok.
  72. Van Dyke, A., & Acton, W. (2022). Role-play and dialogic meta-pragmatics in developing and assessing pragmatic competence. Pedagogical Linguistics, 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1075/pl.22004.van
  73. Vásquez, C., & Sharpless, D. (2009). The role of pragmatics in the master’s TESOL curriculum: Findings from a nationwide survey. TESOL Quarterly, 43(1), 5-28. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00225.x
  74. Wilson, T. J. (2018). Gender differences in the use of apology strategies in English by Japanese university EFL learners. Bulletin of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, 5, 117-125.
  75. Xiao, F., Taguchi, N., & Li, S. (2019). Effects of proficiency subskills on pragmatic development in L2 Chinese study abroad. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(2), 469-483. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263118000128
  76. Yıldız-Ekin, M. T., & Atak-Damar, E. (2013). Pragmatic awareness of EFL Teacher Trainees and Their Reflections on Pragmatic Practices. ELT Research Journal, 2(4), 176-190. https://izlik.org/JA42SX27TW
  77. Zimmerman, D., & West, C. (1975). Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversation. In B. Thorne and N. Henley (Eds.) Language and sex difference and dominance (pp.105-129). Newbury House.