Realisation of remorse in EFL teachers: a cross-sectional interlanguage pragmatics studyage Pragmatics: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Realization of Remorse in a Group of Chilean Spanish-Speaking EFL Teachers.

Abstract

The present cross-sectional study centres on interlanguage pragmatics and seeks to determine the manner in which a group of thirteen Chilean Spanish speaking teachers of English express remorse in English, in comparison with a group of thirteen native speakers of the English language. This comparison pursues to ascertain differences and/ or similarities in terms of linguistic expressions used, grammatical structures, and cultural authenticity. The data was gathered by means of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) containing fifteen situational prompts that elicit expressions of remorse by both groups of speakers. To establish whether cultural authenticity varies, i.e., if participants would utilise similar responses in similar everyday situations, a three-question questionnaire was attached to some of the situations. The findings show that both groups express remorse quite similarly in terms of linguistic utterances and grammatical structures but vary greatly when it comes to cultural authenticity; many of the speakers of the first group did not use swearing words or expressions in English, but said they would have in a similar and real situation. This study may contribute to a better understanding of how remorse is uttered and one of its results is a coding scheme for the most utilised realisations of remorse.