“Apology Accepted”: A Cross-Cultural Study of Responses to Apologies by Native Speakers of English and Chinese

Abstract

This study focuses on the strategies of responding to apologies from a cross-cultural perspective. It analyzes and compares apology response (AR) strategies adopted by three groups of English native speakers (ENS), Chinese native speakers (ENS) and Chinese EFL learners for potential cross-cultural differences. Results indicate that all three groups most favor the strategy of Indirect Acceptance to show politeness when responding to apologies. Given contextual factors such as social power, social distance and severity of offence, the three groups display different patterns of AR strategies. Chinese EFL learners’ AR strategies are similar to those of Chinese native speakers, indicating the influence of native culture on their pragmatic competence.