Wallah, I‛m Sorry : apologetic strategies used among L2 English speakers in Kuwait

Abstract EN

This study explores the speech act of apology generally and the apologetic strategies used by students at Kuwait University in particular.

The study examines two groups: graduates from private schools (British and American systems; taught mainly in English) and graduates from governmental schools (taught mainly in Arabic.) Ten situations were adopted for the discourse completion task (DCT) with the core objective of determining which group has greater access to the full range of apologetic strategies.

The results indicate that the students who graduated from private schools have greater access than their governmental counter parts.

They, hence, exhibit greater culture awareness of the English language.

Interestingly, the results show that the students who graduated from governmental schools were the only students who invoked the name of Allah (God) in their apologetic responses.