The Effect of Gender in Using Polite Apology: The case of First year undergraduate Students English at kasdi Merbah University - Ouargla

Abstract

The present study attempts to investigate the effect of gender (both speaker and he listener ) on the use of polite apology strategies. Thus, the starting point is to examine the effect of mastering the use of certain speech acts on promoting EFL learners' communicative competence and pragmatic competence in particular . Using polite apology appropriately is a tool for successful communication. That is why it is hypothesized that the speaker's and the listener's gender can affect the selection and use of polite apology. Findings from DCT showed that females use more polite forms when addressing people namely other females; whereas males use more polite forms to females rather than other males. On other occasions, the speakers' gender did not affect the use of polite apology . Implications suggest the implementation of speech acts teaching to promote EFL learners' communicative and pragmatic competence.