Apologies in Emails: Interactions Between Chinese EFL Learners and Their Foreign Peers

Abstract

This paper examines and compares apologies in emails between two groups of Chinese university students, namely first-year non-English major university students and third-year English major university students, to see if there are any patterns in the development of pragmatic competence in terms of apologies. Comparisons between the two groups are made for the perception of sociopragmatic variables as well. Data for this study were obtained from two scenarios eliciting apologies to an equal status. The participants were asked to write emails to their foreign peers to make apologies according to the scenario. A metapragmatic questionnaire was also constructed to examine the participants’ perception of the contextual constraints. The results showed that the Chinese learners of different proficiency levels perceived the sociopragmatic variables similarly in the situation of offense. Their preference of general apology strategies over situation-specific strategies also showed similar patterns. By contrast, the low group learners employed significantly more strategies of IFID (Illocutionary force indicating device) and taking responsibility but significantly fewer upgraders than did their high group counterparts. Consequently, the low group’s emails were significantly longer than those of the high group.