Use of English Gratitude Expressions by Yemeni EFL Female Undergraduates- Female-Female and Female-Male Interactions

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The current study aims to explore English expressions of gratitude that are used by Yemeni female speakers in female-female and female-male interactions at Sana'a University, Yemen. The participants of the study consisted of 230 undergraduate students (115 males and 115 females). The data of the study were collected through a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) for eliciting the speech act of gratitude. It included twelve situations that were analyzed by using SPSS descriptive statistics program. The data were analyzed according to Cheng's (2005) taxonomy of gratitude expressions. The results revealed that Yemeni female speakers in F-F and F-M interactions utilized twenty-four English expressions of gratitude with different expressions of politeness markers in interacting with each other in the twelve situations and with difference in their frequencies and percentages. The results obtained from the data analysis also showed that the most frequent preferred strategy by all the participants in all situations is "bald thanking or using the word "thanks"". Furthermore, it can be observed that Yemeni female speakers use both two strategies ("bald thanking or using the word "thanks"" and "thanking and stating the favor") of English expressions of gratitude more than other strategies, especially in F-M interactions more than in F-F interactions. The reason behind this is because Yemeni female speakers tend to express themselves in their daily interactions, especially in F-M interactions because females appreciate any favor or service men offer or do it for them, so when receiving help from others, they have to thank them. Besides, women with their nature are more polite and use more politeness strategies than men and this is related to religious factors and social rules and conventions in Yemeni society. It is recommended that English teachers should make learners aware of using more suitable English expressions of gratitude in various situations. Consequently, learners can select what gratitude strategy that is most appropriate or required in a given situation.