The Apology Speech Act Realization Patterns among Persian EFL Learners, Russian EFL Learners and English Native Speakers: A Cross-Cultural Study

زبانشناسی و گویش های خراسان

Article 2, Volume 17, Issue 2 - Serial Number 39, September 2025, Pages 55-29   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/jlkd.2025.92497.1310

Authors

Seyyed Mohammad Reza Adel^{* 1}; Fatemeh Akbari²

¹Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English, Ferdowsi University of ‎Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

²Ph.D Candidate of Applied linguistics, Department of English, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran.

Abstract

This study aimed to examine apology strategies used by Iranian and Russian students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in both informal and formal contexts, as part of the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) project. Additionally, this study sought to explore the impact of social distance and social dominance on the frequency of apology strategies and internal intensifiers across Russian, Persian, and English languages. This research included 84 participants who engaged in two role-play apologizing situations, which were then coded according to Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper's apology taxonomy and analyzed. The results indicated that Persian and Russian EFL learners used more formulaic pragmatic structures compared to English native speakers (ENS), with the most frequent apology semantic formula used in Persian being Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices (IFID) and in Russian being Explanation or Account. Moreover, the values assigned to the external context variables affected the frequency of internal intensifiers in different situations. The study’s implications for intercultural communication are also discussed.

Keywords

Apology Strategies; Cross-cultural Study; Social Status; The Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns

References

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