Apology Strategies Used by EFL Undergraduate Students in Indonesia

Abstract

Interlanguage speakers, regardless of proficiency level, often experience problems in communication due to their limited knowledge of how speech acts are commonly performed in the target language. The current study attempted to investigate the effects of English proficiency level on the apology strategy use by Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners from two English proficiency levels. The study employed a DCT (Discourse Completion Task) questionnaire and involved 21 A2 students and 21 B1 students majoring in English in their first-year period from an Indonesian university. Utilizing the apology strategy framework from Olshtain & Cohen (1983) and Blum-Kulka, House & Kasper (1989), the findings demonstrated no significant difference between the two subject groups in the overall use of apology strategies, whereas differences were noted at an individual strategy level. Nonetheless, the B1 group made more frequent use and a wider range of apology strategies than the A2 group. In addition, the study found two forms of pragmatic transfer made by the subjects and a new apology strategy.