Apology Strategies in Arabic Used by Teenager Students: A Case Study

Abstract

This research focused on apology strategies in Arabic used by Saudi teenage students at Madrakah( ) Secondary School and the gender role in using apology strategies. The participants were ten males and ten females, all native speakers of Arabic. The data for this research were collected using a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) questionnaire adopted from previous studies done by Harb (2015) and Jebani (2011). It consists of ten situations. The data were analyzed and classified into five apology strategies: ((Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID), Responsibility (RESP), Explanation (EXPL), Repair (REPR), and Forbearance (FORB)). The results revealed that an IFID is the most used apology strategy by teenage students at Madrakah secondary school, followed by EXPL, REPR, RESP, and FORB. The results also show that gender greatly influences how various apology strategies are used. For instance, female students outperform male students by using apology strategies. In addition, teenage students at Madrakah Secondary School used an apology with a compliment to apologize to parents.